The Walking Dead: Season 2, Save the Last One gets at the heart of the matter: is it better to be dead in the post apocalyptic world? While Carl struggles for his life, Rick and Lori contemplate whether he might be better off dead. In their own way each of the characters, at least temporarily, decides that it is better to be alive than dead. This episode has some good old zombie killing action but it did seem a little dark – I mean I sometimes had difficulty seeing what was happening…maybe it was just my TV, or my eyes, or maybe it was a bad recording. Anyway, as always, it was a great show.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a dark story about a man and his son on a quest for safety and hope in a post apocalyptic world.
The cause of the disaster remains a mystery throughout the book and there are only some brief, non-specific references to the event itself. Whatever the cause, much of the world is set on fire and the smoke and debris blocks out the sunlight causing everything to die.
Having watched the movie prior to reading the book, I was surprised to see how closely the movie follows the story. The darkness in The Road is vivid and relentless. In fact, the smothering effect of their environment is much more impressive than the raider-cannibals that are a constant threat. The Road is based entirely on the struggle of the man and his son. While they are physically striving to get “south” to a safer,warmer place, mentally and emotionally they are trying to keep “the fire” of goodness and hope alive. Unlike many of its counterparts in the genre, The Road is a very well written novel and has a great deal of depth and substance. It is clear that The Road surpasses most of the other books that I have listed here in terms of its literary merit but I also found it to be a little more bleak and less inspiring than some of the other books that I have read recently. Perhaps some of what draws me to this type of fiction is a fascination with the human will to survive and our ability to adapt to and prepare for difficult situations. The dark, lifeless world that Cormac McCarthy creates in The Road leaves one wondering if survival would be a good option which is perhaps his driving point.
Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse, written by James Wesley Rawles tells a story about a group of people struggling to survive a drastic collapse in the financial system which leads to the worst depression in history. JWR is certainly one of the pioneers in economic collapse fiction and is perhaps one of the best known “preppers” in America. In some ways, Patriots is used by James Wesley Rawles as a pulpit where he is able to express his views on issues such as gun control and organized militias. However, if you can get past the long legal/political rants throughout the book, there is a good deal of useful information. In fact one of the criticisms about the book is that the characters are constantly going into great detail about the weapons and equipment that they use. If you approach this book with the intent to learn something about how to prepare for a disaster, you will get more out of it than if you are looking for a work of fine fiction. The characters in Patriots are developed on a very shallow level and lack any depth whatsoever. I would recommend this book only to those that are looking for information on ways that they could prepare for a disaster. The lack of character depth and the extensive politcal ranting left me less than satisfied in terms of entertainment value and fictional merit.
The Passage is an ambitious apocalyptic novel written by Justin Cronin that begins in the near future and spans almost one hundred years into the future. It is similar to Stephen King’s The Stand in that a virus that is being engineered in a secret government lab is released into the world. The government is working with a newly discovered virus trying to create “super soldiers”. This virus is unique in a number of different ways and takes on a life of its own through the death row inmates that are used as “guinea pigs” in the experiments. Obviously, the plan to create these “super soldiers” goes awry and the virus actually turns the victims into powerful, vampire like creatures that feed on the blood of other humans and animals. These vampire like creatures are responsible for both the spread of the virus and the destruction of the human population. The Passage is a haunting story that definitely left an impression in my mind. It is difficult to forget the armored steel passenger trains that are built during the crisis to transport survivors to safety. The Passage is a long story that is well worth the time. While some of the creations in The Passage are not new, Justin Cronin’s depiction of vampires versus survivors in a post apocalyptic world is entirely unique and satisfying.
Rick Grimes loses loses some blood in this episode called “Bloodletting” as some new characters are introduced and previous characters are developed. “Bloodletting” has a little less action than normal but I guess the more that you “know” the characters, it’s more exciting when they are getting chased by man eating zombies!
One is an interesting post-apocalyptic novel written by Conrad Williams and released in 2009. The cause of the disaster in One remains a mystery although its effects are devastating and kill most of the people on earth. The main character, Richard Jane, is a deep sea diver that works on oil rigs and happens to be deep under water when the incident occurs. Presumably, the mass of water above him shields him from the devastation. The story follows Richard in his search for his five year old son that was living in London at the time of the disaster. The world that Richard finds is a desolate, dreary place that has become overridden with zombie type creatures that are “stealing” female survivors for some mysterious, horrifying reason. One has an “extraterrestrial” feel to it. It leaves you wondering if the entire incident was some type of an alien attack and that the aliens are intent on reproducing and populating the earth. This was a dark tale of survival. It reminds me of a dream where you decide to fight against what is trying to “get you” even though you know you are going to die. One offers little in the way of practical tips for preparation for disaster but it does provide an interesting and entertaining perspective on the apocalypse.
Lucifer’s Hammer was written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle in the late 1970’s. The story follows the discovery of a new comet named Hamner-Brown, later named “Lucifer’s Hammer”, as it unexpectedly slams into the earth causing widespread devastation and destruction. The book introduces a number of interesting characters and follows their lives pre and post-disaster. The scope of the disaster in this story is incredible as the impact from the comet causes tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes all over the planet. A lot of the most interesting parts of Lucifer’s Hammer take place in the post-comet world. The authors really “push the limits” in their exploration of the ways in which knowledge and science could be used to “even the odds” for survivors in a post-apocalyptic scenario. Survivors use some rather “unique” methods to defend themselves from the ruthless-raider-cannibal types. It is doubtful that the authors would be permitted to describe some of their unorthodox defensive measures if the book was released today.
Lucifer’s Hammer is different from other apocalypse-themed books in that it doesn’t demonize technology and science as is often the case with many other fictional works in this genre. Instead, the authors explore how knowledge, science and technology could be utilized to recover from an apocalyptic disaster. Overall, I would recommend Lucifer’s Hammer for its unique perspective and for its pure entertainment value.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a dark story about a man and his son on a quest for safety and hope in a post apocalyptic world.