Apocalyptic Literature Rodeo with John Oliver!

I found this hilarious promo for Apocolypse How by Rob Kutner which is a new Apocalyptic how to book.

I only wish you could look inside the book on Amazon so I could get a better idea of what’s inside….

The solar powered apocalypse

I’ve been reading quite a bit of post apocalyptic fiction lately, becoming completely enthralled by Jeff Carlson’s Plague Year and the followup novel Plague War in which any piece of land below 10,000 feet has become uninhabitable due to a nasty bit of nanotech. The nanotech pulls apart humans in order to create replications of itself and has divided not only the U.S. but countries worldwide. The two books have proven to be an enjoyable ride and kept me up late last night while I finished Plague War. You can check out the book trailer as well as the first few chapters of Plague War and Plague year at Jverse.com.

The book got me thinking that in all of the post apocalyptic fiction I have been reading lately nobody has used been using solar power to survive. Even in the altered future gasoline is still one of the most important resources for individuals and governments.

I find this somewhat surprising given the provenance of solar powered accessories in the marketplace. There are solar powered ties, purses, backpacks, tables and even mini solar powered “receivers” which can be found in many stores. I hope that some new fiction in the future has at least one survivor which gets by through the use of a solar powered item that would be within the grasp of an everyday person.

I know if I sense an upcoming plague or disaster of epic proportions I’ll be busting in to my local Bestbuy, scavenging every battery in site as well as the collection of solar backpacks. Hitting up the sporting goods store next door to get decked out in the finest outdoor apparel and switching my cavalier for a Hummer on the way to stock up on non perishable food, then heading for the hills. See you there!

Wastelands: A Post-Apocalyptic Anthology Done Right

My wife recently got me Wastelands, an Anthology edited by John Joseph Adams for an Easter gift.  I am only a few stories into the book but I wanted to share some initial thoughts and what it has done right so far.  One of the strongest parts of the anthology thus far is the decision by Adams to focus on stories which portray life after the apocalypse, forgoing zombies and other provocateurs and focusing on the struggles and stories of individuals in a dramatically different world.  This method of selection has led to some wonderful stories which allow me to connect with the individual characters and at some level understand them.  So far the stories have evoked a strong response from me due in part to the attempts of characters to “do good” in some manner and either failing or coming to a realistic and forlorn conclusion.  Don’t get me wrong a I love me a good ole’ zombie “mmm brains” novel but these stories are in a manner easier to connect to.

One of the items which Adams includes in the anthology is a reference section in the back, a bibliography of sorts which compiles other books from this sub genre of science fiction.  As a reader I cannot begin to express how awesome this is to me.  Many times after finishing an anthology or collection I have been left at a loss as to where to find more material to read that is within the same vein as the original writing, something not always accomplished by reading the authors’ other  published work.  This reference has provided me a list of authors and books to add to my “To Read” notebook in One Note.

I’ll do my best to post a follow up review when I finish the collection.

Wastelands includes stories by authors such as Stephen King, Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow and Tobias Buckell.