Apocalyptic Books

In an attempt to provide a relatively comprehensive apocalyptic book list , I have scoured the internet and come up with what I believe to be a substantial list of books divided into the following categories: Nuclear War, Zombies, Plague, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), Asteroids/Comets and Economic Collapse. Please understand that I use the term “apocalyptic” to cover a wide variety of fiction that includes post-apocalyptic and many other sub genres. You may or may not agree that all of these books belong lumped into the apocalyptic category and that is fine. My intent is not to split hairs with semantics but to provide a resource for fans of “end of the world as we know it” fiction. Keep in mind that this list is a work in progress and I will add new books as I find them. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a book that you would like added to the apocalyptic book list. Thanks and enjoy!

Nuclear War

Many of these books were written during the height of the cold war and as such have some dated subject matter. In case you weren’t alive during this time, people around the world lived with the possibility of widespread, instantaneous nuclear destruction by fire, blast wave and radiation. It’s no surprise that some of this preoccupation with nuclear destruction was expressed in the fiction of the time.

Zombies

For some reason, which is clearly beyond the scope of this website, the zombie fiction genre has really taken off in the last 20 years. Possibly fueled by some great remakes of zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead and some awesome originals like 28 Days Later and Zombieland. Whatever the reason for the zombie insurgence, we now have enough zombie apocalypse entertainment to fill the rest of our days.

Plague/Pandemic 

 

EMP

Asteroids/Comets

Economic Collapse

The Last Stonestepper

The Last Stonestepper

Matthew Hayes is on a flight to Hollywood to meet with studio executives that are interested in buying his recently completed, highly regarded screenplay when all hell breaks loose. Suddenly, many of the passengers behave as though they are stoned, fascinated by the appearance of their own hands, while others are overcome with a sinister urge to kill. Humans are divided into two categories in Elliot Logan’s apocalyptic horror novel The Last Stonestepper. The first category, the “stonestepper”, as described by the protagonist, Matthew, is one that takes a very cautious approach, searching for rocks to step on to cross a creek. The second category is made up of less cautious people of action, that will run straight through a creek to get to the other side with no concern for getting wet. This is how people are divided in The Last Stonestepper when some type of event alters the consciousness of a significant portion of the population. The speculation is that the event is caused by some type of cutting edge military technology gone awry. Those that are unaffected possess some type of mental resiliency that is lacking in the majority of the population. Those affected by the event are transformed into either cold-blooded killers or drooling, vacant imbeciles that seem lost in some type of pleasant dream world. But this story certainly isn’t advocating for the destruction of the world’s quitters and slackers. In fact, the protagonist happens to be one of these “stonesteppers” that is undergoing a slow transformation, unlike the rest. As he fights for his life, he is slowly drawn into a vivid and pleasant memory of a day at the beach with his girlfriend.

The Last Stonestepper is a very enjoyable book. The frequent appearance of the ominous “man in the pinstriped suit”, that is visible only to the protagonist, is an element reminiscent of characters we’ve seen in Stephen King novels. Many of us writers, readers, dreamers and other “stonesteppers” will likely relate to Matthew’s temptation to retreat from misery and suffering into some fictional realm. Suspenseful and downright scary at times, The Last Stonestepper gives you that heightened awareness of your peripheral vision like great horror should. Elliot Logan has also captured some very human, emotional elements in this apocalyptic horror novel that make it unique in the genre and well worth reading.