What to Read After the End of the World

Hey, campers! We all survived the End-of-the-World, AKA The Mayan Apocalypse. That's good news, unless you gave all your stuff away or ran up your credit card debt.

Back to literature. You might have noticed that there are two types of apocalyptic novels: Apocalyptic, and Post-Apocalyptic. The first deals mostly with "How the world ends". The second deals mostly with "What people do to survive and rebuild after the world ends". Some are hybrids, dealing with both the end and the aftermath. Different readers may prefer one type over the other. In that vein, I've listed below my favorites by type.

You'll notice very few straight up end-of-the-world novels. Readers want hope, generally. But sometimes we love to wallow in the misery of a hopeless story. I recently watched the movie "Melancholia". Without spoiling it, the movie was utterly hopeless to the bitter end, so much so that it literally depressed me for a couple of days afterward. However, my main criteria for any "great" story is that it touches me deeply. In that sense, Melancholia was a great story.

End of the World:
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute

After the End of the World:
- Shore of Monsters by David Nix (that's me)
- Blood Red by Moira Young
- City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
- Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
- Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt
- A Gift Upon the Shore by M. K. Wren
- The Postman by David Brin
- Through Darkest America by Neal Barrett Jr.
- Z for Zechariah by Robert C. O'Brien
- Daybreak 2250 A.D. (Star Man's Son) by Andre Norton

End of the World and What Comes After:
- The Passage by Justin Cronin (reading this right now, in fact)
- Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
- A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller (although this is harder to place; more like what comes after, and then the end of the world again)
- The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
- The Death of Grass (No Blade of Grass) by John Christopher
- Earth Abides by George Stewart
- The Tripods by John Christopher
- Vault of Ages by Poul Anderson

Why You Should See the Movie "John Carter"

Do you love science fiction? Or epic stories? Or great romances? Yes? Well, perhaps you have seen the trailer for the upcoming Disney film "John Carter" and thought, "What is that?" Maybe you are thinking it is a cheesy knock-off of "Avatar". Maybe you are thinking that you've seen all of that in Star Wars, or Aliens, or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Right?

Then hold on, and check this this out. The movie "John Carter" is based on a book called "A Princess of Mars". The first parts of it appeared in pulp magazines in 1912 - exactly 100 years ago. The guy who wrote it - Edgar Rice Burroughs - also invented another character you know and love: Tarzan. When Burroughs wrote the character of John Carter, nothing like him had ever existed before in literature. In short, Carter is a normal guy from Earth transported to Mars, where the low gravity makes him super-strong and agile. As a result of John Carter, a whole new genre was born: modern science fiction as we know it. Most great science fiction written in the past century, Star Wars and Avatar included, are knock-offs of John Carter, not vice-versa. Lone warrior underdog taking on the evil empire against all odds, and he gets the princess along the way. Heard of it? John Carter, in a nutshell.

So, go see "John Carter". It is the original template from which all modern science fiction is made. And if you have time, go read "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs. That way, when the movie becomes the blockbuster of the year, you can say, "Oh yes, I loved the book!" Bragging rights are worth something.

Addendum, January 21, 2013: Okay, so it didn't become a blockbuster. In fact, the movie has been hailed as one of the all-time great flops. This is why I don't bet at the racetrack. It's still an good movie, especially for sci-fi nerds like me.