Apocalyptic Fiction
Explore the best apocalyptic fiction books with our curated list of gripping end-of-the-world tales. Discover dystopian classics, post-apocalyptic survival stories, and thrilling sci-fi novels that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Book
Earth Abides
by George R. Stewart
A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic, ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded or hoped for.
Book
On the Beach
by Nevil Shute
A novel about the survivors of an atomic war, who face an inevitable end as radiation poisoning moves toward Australia from the North.
Book
Lucifer's Hammer
by Larry Niven
“The first satisfying end-of-the-world novel in years . . . an ultimate one . . . massively entertaining.”—Cleveland Plain-Dealer The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known. . . . “Take your earthquakes, waterlogged condominiums, swarms of bugs, colliding airplanes and flaming what-nots, wrap them up and they wouldn’t match one page of Lucifer’s Hammer for sweaty-palmed suspense.”—Chicago Daily News
Book
Swan Song
by Robert McCammon
An ancient evil roams the desolate landscape of an America ravaged by nuclear war. He is the Man with the Scarlet Eye, a malevolent force that feeds on the dark desires of the countless followers he has gathered into his service. His only desire is to find a special child named Swan -- and destroy her. But those who would protect the girl are determined to fight for what is left of the worldĹ and their souls. In a wasteland born of rage, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, the last survivors on earth have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of humanity....
Book
This Is the Way the World Ends
by James Morrow
George Paxton was an ordinary man until something extraordinary happened--nuclear holocaust. Now George Paxton is about to discover what happens after the end of the world. "Astute, highly engaging, and finally moving".--Los Angeles Times.
Book
The Rift
by Walter J. Williams
A massive earthquake centered in New Madrid, Missouri, wreaks destruction on America's heartland, leaving a huge fracture in the earth and chaos in its wake, as the terrified survivors struggle to cope with catastrophe and the turmoil that follows. Reprint.
Book
The Last Ship
by William Brinkley
In the aftermath of nuclear war, the Navy destroyer "Nathan James" and its crew--including twenty-six women--searches the seas for a place where survival would be possible.
Book
The Stand
by Stephen King
Horrific disaster as a plague virus sweeps the U.S., leaving only a handful of survivors.
Book
A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller (Jr.)
The winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Miller's bestselling work is a true landmark of 20th-century literature--a chilling and still-provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future.
Book
Dr. Bloodmoney
by Philip K. Dick
Dr. Bloodmoney is a post-nuclear-holocaust masterpiece filled with a host of Dick's most memorable characters. Epic and alluring, this brilliant novel is a mesmerizing depiction of Dick's undying hope in humanity.
Book
Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition
by Russell Hoban
This acclaimed story is set in an England that has suffered a nuclear holocaust. Society has regressed to an Iron Age, semi-literate state represented by the special language that the author created especially for this book.
Book
Warday
by Whitley Strieber
Two writers travel across the U.S. that remains after a "limited" nuclear war.
Book
Revelations
by Clive Barker
Pestilence, floods, war, social upheaval, drug crime, wicked leaders, conspiracies, corruption even visions of death-dealing aliens -- this superb collection of stories takes an unforgettable imaginative journey into terror and transcendence. Each decade of the twentieth century is assigned to one of the top fantasy/horror authors of the modern age who evokes the particular madness of that decade as it contributes to a prophecy for the next century. Decade by decade as the millennium approaches in these powerful, chilling tales, the tension builds toward a dramatic revelation that is both a prophetic warning and a visionary answer for all humankind. A singular publishing event, "Revelations is a stunning anthology-novel by modern superstars of fantasy and horror, including" New York Times -- bestselling author Clive Barker, David J. Schow, and Remsey Campbell.
Book
Year Zero
by Jeff Long
Archaeologist Nathan Lee Swift is coaxed by his mentor to steal an ancient vial of blood from Golgotha in Jerusalem. When the relic is opened, a 2,000-year-old plague is unleashed. As the pestilence threatens to wipe out humanity, Nathan Lee must race with a desperate strategy to find a cure: the use of human lab rats cloned from blood from the year zero.
Book
Some Will Not Die
by Algis Budrys
The plague struck, and ninety percent of Earth's population died. Those who survived tried to maintain some sort of civilization...which meant more killing, as it turned out. But bit by bit, generation by generation, people began to succeed. With occasional setbacks.