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More or Less Natural Catastrophes

• Aldiss, Brian. The Long Afternoon of Earth. (1962) -- Earth's rotation stops
• Ballard, James. The Wind from Nowhere (1962) -- 550 mph wind destroys civilization
• ---. The Drowned World (1962) -- Increased solar radiation causes melting ice caps
• ---. The Crystal World (1966) -- Earth starts to crystallize, beginning in African forests
• Christopher, John. The Long Winter [The World in Winter] (1962) -- Modern ice age drives whites to Africa.
• Christopher, John. The Ragged Edge. (1965) -- Massive earthquakes cause widespread devastation plus drain away seas.
• Preusss, Paul. Core (1993) -- Wandering magnetic poles and other anomalies make it necessary to bore a hole to the liquid core of the earth
• Barnes, John. Mother of Storms (1994) -- Giant hurricane triggered by nuclear testing
• Moran, Richard. Empire of Ice(1994) Earth Winter (1995) -- Volcanic activity blocks warm sea currents and causes darkened skies
• Sterling, Bruce. Heavy Weather (1994) -- The Greenhouse effect has caused intensification of all weather phenomena, including the monster tornadoes these trackers chase.

Catastrophes from the Stars

• Wyndham, John. Day of the Triffids (1951) Humans first blinded by explosions in orbit; then large, walking vegetables with fatal stingers begin to take over.
• Wyndham, John. The Kraken Wakes (1953) -- Aliens in the oceans start melting earth's ice-caps.
• Christopher, John. The Year of the Comet (1955)
• Liber, Fritz. The Wanderer (1964) -- Rogue planet passes near earth.
• Cooper, Edmund. All Fool's Day.(1966). -- Solar storms cause world-wide suicides except for artists and other weirdos.
• Comptom, D.G. The Silent Multitude. (1966) -- Spores from outer space eat concrete, so civilization literally crumbles.
• Hoyle, Fred and Geoffrey. The Inferno. (1973) -- Stellar explosion at core of the galaxy; Scottish astronomer plans for survival.
• Cowper, Richard. The Twilight of Briareus.(1974) -- Radiation from supernova causes sterility and climate changes, but aliens arrive to aide humanity in racial rebirth.
• Niven, Larry. Lucifer’s Hammer (1977) -- Comet passes close to earth.
• Sargent, Pamela. Sudden Star (1979) -- "White hole" is only the beginning of trouble.
• Benford, Gregory and William Rostler. Shiva Descending (1980) -- Meteor threatens to hit.

Plagues

• Shelley, Mary. The Last Man (1826)
• Stewart, George. Earth Abides (1949)
• Christopher, John. No Blade of Grass (v.t. The Death of Grass) (1956) -- Plague strikes all the world's grasses.
• Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn. Time of the Fourth Horseman* (1976) -- Old diseases coming back; effort to solve population problem through "controlled plagues."
• Chriton, Michael. The Andromeda Strain (1969)
• Sargent, Pamela. The Sudden Star (1979) -- New plague causes society to disintegrate.
• Herbert, Frank. The White Plague. (1982) -- Biologist takes revenge for his wife's murder by releasing a plague which may kill all the women in the world.
• Brin, David. The Postman (1985)
• Murphy, Pat. The City, Not Long After. (1989) -- San Francisco has been depopulated by a new plague; hippies now threatened by military.

Nuclear Accidents and Wars

• Heinlein, Robert. "Blowups Happen" (1940) -- Tensions in a nuclear power plant.
• Sturgeon, Theodore. "Thunder and Roses" (1947)
• Merrill, Judith. Shadow on the Heath (1950) -- Aftermath of nuclear war through eyes of housewife; basis for the movie Testament.
• Tucker, Wilson. The Long, Loud Silenc (1952) -- Nuclear & biological war East of the Mississippi.
• Del Rey, Lester. Nerves (1956) -- Power plant tensions.
• Shute, Nevil. On the Beach (1957) -- Bombs fall; no one survives.
• Frank, Path. Alas Babylon (1959) -- Classic nuclear disaster story; a few survive in Florida to rebuild civilization.
• Maine, Charles Eric. The Tide Went Out. (1958) -- Nuclear tests cause oceans to drain away under earth's crust.
• Coppel, Alfred. Dark December (1960) -- Journey across America after nuclear war.
• Anderson, Poul. Twilight World. (1961; based on 1941 short story, "Tomorrow's Children) -- One of first works to deal with genetic mutations caused by nuclear war.
• Burdick, Eugene. Fail-Safe (1962) -- Suspenseful account of plane which starts nuclear war by accident.
• Wylie, Philip. Triumph (1963) -- Meticulous account of WWIII; earth barely survives.
• Moorcock, Michael. The Black Corridor. (1969) -- Astronaut saves a few people from nuclear war but suffers intense psychological horrors.
• Merele Robert. Malevil (1974) -- Classic post-holocaust, cosy survival.
• Ing, Dean. Systemic Shock. (1981) -- Nuclear cum biological warfare has destroyed most of U.S. Mormons and other religious groups control survivors.
• Anderson, Poul. Orion Shall Rise. (1983) -- After nuclear war, Maori battle high-techers.
• Ing, Dean. Pulling Through (1983) -- Novella plus essays about how to survive nuclear attack, including plans for how to build a fallout shelter and construct a fallout meter.
• Silverberg, Robert. Tom O'Bedlam. (1985) -- Rise of religious prophet after nuclear "dust war."
• Morrow, James. This is the Way the World Ends. (1986; Ace, 1989.)* -- After a nuclear war, a survivor faces trial as a war criminal for buying a protective suit and otherwise accepting the arms race. Black humor.
• Barrett, Neal. Through Darkest America. (1987) -- Holocaust kills all livestock; cannibalism replaces beef. Sounds horrible.
• Card, Orson Scott. Folk of the Fringe*. (1989) -- Collection of stories about post-nuclear Mormons.

Post-Holocaust Scenerios

• Benet, Stephen Vincent. "By the Waters of Babylon" (1937) -- After the "Great Burning" man returns nearly to the stone age but begins to rebuild. Establishes classic pattern.
• Norton, Andre. Star Man’s Son a.k.a. Daybreak 2250 A.D. (1952) -- Young man and his telepathic giant cat set out to explore ruins of cities. Fight wi giant rats.
• Simak, Clifford. City (1952) -- Dogs carry on civilization in our absence.
• Brackett, Leigh. The Long Tomorrow (1955) -- Young men leave their puritanical homes to search for the wonders of "Bartorstown" where some old technology is retained.
• Wyndham, John. Re-Birth [The Chrysalids] (1955) -- After nuclear war, mutants are rooted out. But some mutants have telepathic powers and represent real hope for future.
• Miller, Walter M. A Canticle for Liebowitz (1959) -- One of the truly great SF novels: traces new cycle through medieval, renaissance, and technological phases as we build ourselves back only to do it again.
• Aldiss, Brain. Greybeard (1964) -- Nuclear tests in space doom us to sterility.
• Dick, Philip K. Dr. Bloodmoney; Or, How We Got Along After the Bomb (1965) -- a paraplegic gets along in Southern California suburbs where paranormal powers are emerging.
• Zelazny, Roger. Damnation Alley (1969) -- Hell’s Angels take over.>Aldiss, Brian. Barefoot in the Head (1970) -- After a world-war fought with psychedelic chemicals a messiah arises. Prose based on James Joyce.
• Goulart, Ron. After Things Fell Apart. (1970) -- Balkanized America and female assassins.
• Sullivan, Shelia. The Calling of Bara*. [Summer Rising] (1975) -- 2044 AD: inflation, nuclear accidents, strikes, general breakdown of infrastructure have resulted in anarchy. Woman takes her son, gifted with strange powers to safety in Ireland.
• Crowley, John. Beasts. (1976) -- Balkanized US and genetically engineered animals.
• Wilhelm Kate. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1976)
• Crowley, John. Engine Summer. (1979) -- After collapse of technological civilization, a few survivors live in Amerindian-style commune.
• Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn. False Dawn.* (1978) -- Mutant heroine fight her way across a devastated America.
• Hoburn, Russell. Riddley Walker (1980) -- Brilliant, first-person narration in de-volved version of English, telling story of partial rediscovery of gunpowder. Mystical; amazing. Cult classic.
• Williams, Paul. Pelbar Cycle (1981-85) Seven Novels: The Breaking of Northwall*, The Ends of the Circle, The Dome in the Forest, The Fall of the Shell, An Ambush of Shadows, The Song of the Axe, and The Sword of Forebearance. -- A millennium after nuclear war, small groups living Amerindian cultures trying to get together.
• Tilley, Patrick. The Amtrak Wars. (1983-89) Five Novels: Cloud Warrior, First Family, Iron Master, Blood River, Death-Bringer-- Mystics vs. militarists in 30thC North America.
• Palmer, David R. Emergence.* (1984) -- Supergirl survives and roams the country looking for companions.
• Streiber, Whitney and James Kunetka. War Day (1984) -A Journey across the U.S. five years after a "limited" nuclear war. Chillingly realistic
• Grant, Richard. Saraband of Lost Time (1985) and Rumors of Spring* (1987) -- Poetic journeys through landscape devastated by technologies; the last forest begins to grow explosively: quest to find out why.
• Powers, Tim. Dinner at Deviant's Palace (1985) -- Post-nuclear California: re-enactment of Orpheus story.
• Swanwick, Michael. In the Drift (1987)
• Goldstein, Lisa. A Mask for the General* (1987) -- Banking Collapse leaves US a depressed police state; New Age tribes in California live on edge of the law.
• Colander, Valerie Nieman. Neena Gathering. (Pagent Books, 1988).* -- Coming of age story of young girl in West Virginia after chemical warfare has transformed many into terrible looking monsters.
• Jones, Gwyneth. Kairos. (1988) -- Attempt to change reality of a polluted, ozone-depleted world through drugs fails.
• De Lint, Charles. Svaha.* (1989) -- Environmentally degraded 22nd century; Amerind hero.
• Ingrid, Charles. The Marked Man. (1989) -- Enviormental abuse leads to genetic manipulation, followed by DNA plague.
• Dickson, Gordon. Wolf and Iron. (1990) -- Economic collapse leads to holocaust; classic tale of survival with friendly wolf.
• McQuinn, Donald. Warrior (1992), Wanderer (1993), Witch (1994) -- far future rebuilding in Pacific Northwest after nuclear and biological disasters.

Over-Population

• Kornbluth. Shark Ship (1958) -- Leads to cannibalism.
• Ballard, J. G. Billenium (1961)
• Del Rey, Lester. The Eleventh Commandment (1962) -- Catholic church in control means no birth control.
• Harrison, Harry. Make Room! Make Room! (1966)
• Blish, James and Norman L. Knight. A Torrent of Faces (1967)
• Nolan, William F. Logan’s Run -- Mandatory euthanasia.
• Brunner, John. Stand on Zanzibar (1968; Hugo win and Nebula nom) -- Complex, movie-plotted look at effect of over-population as manipulated by big business and big government in U.S. and Africa.
• Ehrlich, Paul. "Ecocatastrophe." (1969) -- Short story which presents a condensed version of his predictions in The Population Bomb (1968).
• Pendelton, Don. 1989: Population Doomsday.* (1970)
• Silverberg, Robert. The World Inside (1971) -- Life inside giant high-rises.
• Farmer, Philip Jose. Dayworld (1985) -- Based on short story "The Sliced-Crosswise Only-on-Tuesday World" (1971) -- In the 35th century people spend 6 days out of seven in suspended animation.
• Heresy, John. My Petition for More Space (1974)
• Clem, Ralph, ed. No Room for Man (1979) -- Collection of short stories.
• Pool, Frederick and Jack Williamson. Land's End. (1988) -- People living under sea due to pop explosion; various catastrophes including underwater alien.

Other Man-Made Catastrophes

• Cooper, Edmund. Seed of Light. (1959) -- Industrial pollution means domed cities.
• Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle (1963) -- Ice-Mine, created by military to freeze mud --destroys world.
• Ballard, James. The Burning World (1964) -- Industrial waste causes drought.
• Aldiss, Brian. Earthworks. (1965) -- Chemical pollution leads to complete soil exhaustion.
• Blish, James. "We All Die Naked." (1969) Novella in Three for Tomorrow. -- Cited as first prediction of the Greenhouse" effect.
• Thomas, Theodore L. and Kate Wilhelm. The Year of the Cloud. (1970) -- World disaster caused by compound which fractionally increases viscosity of H2O.
• Disch, Thomas, ed. The Ruins of Earth. (1971) -- Collection of short stories about ecological disasters.
• Brunner, John. The Sheep Look Up. (1972) -- One of the very best: devastatingly accurate portrayal of ecological holocaust caused by massive mis-management.
• Wylie, Philip. The End of the Dream. (1972) -- Bitter scenario of ultimate ecological holocaust.
• Hayes, Ralph. Last View of Eden.* (1981) -- Story of what happens when a powerful drain cleaner/solvent is accidentally mixed up with bags of animal feed. (Made into a movie with Ron Howard?).
• Streiber, Whitney and James Kunetka. Nature's End. (1986) -- Carefully envisioned, methodical account of environmental processes (destruction of the rain forests, uncontrolled population growth) which bring the world to the brink of a terrible choice: the Depopulation movement advocates a death draft by which 1/3 of earth's population will die; they are opposed only by a small band of super-intelligent children.
• Turner, George. The Drowning Towers [The Sea and Summer] (1987) -- Greenhouse effect, rising oceans, over-population, unemployment, and economic collapse make life in 21st century Australia quite a struggle.
• Brin, David. Earth.* (1990) -- Story of near-future earth (fifty years from now) which has managed to solve a few of the current environmental problems -- endangered species, however, have been moved into Life Arks because of irrevocable habitat destruction. Question of our planetary responsibility is most acutely raised when military research releases a small Black Hole into the center of the earth.
• Tobias, Michael. Fatal Exposure.* (1991) -- Ozone hole over Seattle causes massive die-offs, blindness, panic among residents of Seattle as the government attempts to cover up.

Parody Langford, David and John Grant. Earthdoom! (1987) -- Spoof of disaster stories.

Critical Sources on Holocausts and Catastrophes

• Brians, Paul. Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction 1895 1984. 1987.
• Broderick, Mick. Nuclear Movies: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of International Feature Length Films Dealing with Experimentation, Aliens, Terrorism, Holocaust, and Other Disaster Scenarios, 1914 1990. [2nd ed.]1991.
• Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time: The Apocalyptic Temper in the American Novel of the Nuclear Age. 1990.
• Ketterer, David. New Worlds for Old: The Apocalyptic Imagination, SF, and American Literature. Doubleday, 1974.
• Mannix, Patrick. The Rhetoric of Antinuclear Fiction: Persuasive Strategies in Novels and Films. 1992.
• Rabkin, Eric S., Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander. The End of the World. 1983.
• Schwenger, Peter. Letter Bomb: Nuclear Holocaust and the Exploding Word. 1992.
• Shippey, T.A. "The Cold War in SF: 1940-1960." In Science Fiction: A Critical Guide. Ed. Patrick Parrinder. Longman, 1979.
• Slusser, George E. & Eric S. Rabkin, eds. Storm Warnings: Science Fiction Confronts the Future. 1987.
• Yoke, Carl B. Phoenix from the Ashes: The Literature of the Remade World. 1987.

Also see Paul Brians’ Author Biblio on: Aldiss, Ballard, Christopher, Wylie, Wyndham