The LSG Guide to Apocalyptic Fiction
These books are the ones that, the readers among us, think are the best of the bunch. No age limit was set so some of the books are old, some new, and a couple are even forthcoming (albeit too slowly you know who you are!).
Firstly there is a top 5, drawn from all of our preferences. The rest are simply listed in alphabetical order. The only two criteria applied for inclusion were that all are apocalyptic and that all have both feet planted firmly on the ground i.e. no zombies or devilish hocus pocus and that the scenarios are loosely based around it could happen.
There are however two exceptions: Stephen Kings The Stand which alas does involve devilish hocus pocus but also a genuinely apocalyptic event, and John Wyndhams The Kraken Wakes which features not only an alien invader but also global flooding.
Three of the top five had the same number of votes so their ultimate positions were dictated by how high they were in each members list.
The Top Five
1. The Day of The Triffids by John Wyndham.
Seminal story of an Earth dominated by monstrous stinging plants from a pioneer of the genre
2. Lucifers Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerrry Pournelle.
Apocalyptic fiction from the two men who allegedly wrote Ronald Reagans famous Star Wars weapons speech. A comet strikes the earth triggering tidal waves and earthquakes.
3. The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham.
More classic Wyndham alien invaders surface from beneath the sea and begin thawing our polar caps.
4. The Death of Grass by John Christopher.
Excellent tale recounting changes on Earth when the balances of nature and consequently society are upset.
5. The Night of The Triffids by Simon Clark.
Authorised sequel taking up the story 25 years after the original through the eyes of Bill Masens son David.
Others
A meeting at Corvallis by SM Stirling
The third part of the Dies the fire Trilogy
After the Fire 1,
After the Fire 2,
After the Fire Chronicles, all by John Lockley
A trilogy following the lives of a group who survive a Legionnaires type outbreak who form a community.
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
A familys struggle for survival following a nuclear war.
Albion by Brenda Vale
A young mans travels through a post industrial depopulated barter economy Britain of the future.
All Fools Day by Edmund Cooper
The story of life after some unusual sunspot activity causing a mental stability affecting disorder called The Radiant Suicide.
Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Armageddon is unleashed through mans obsession with furthering science.
Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence
A young girl and her family survive a nuclear war in Europe.
Clays Ark by Octavia E Butler
A disease of extra-terrestrial origin forces people to isolate themselves in a bid to make a new life.
Crystal World by JG Ballard
The leaking of time starts to crystallise our world. Rumours abound that Ballard wrote this under the influence of mind-bending drugs.
Dawn by S Fowler Wright
The follow up to Deluge.
Deluge by Richard Doyle
Wind and rain push a thirty foot wave up the Thames and through London in the seventies.
Deluge by S Fowler Wright
A genre first and widely cited as inspiration for Wyndhams Kraken Britain under flood in the thirties.
Dies the Fire by SM Stirling
First of a trilogy chronicling the reversion to a medieval way of life following an electrical storm that renders all guns and electrical goods useless.
The Drought by JG Ballard
A mirror to The Drowned World what happens when the rain stops.
The Drowned World by JG Ballard
An exploratory expedition travels to a flooded London after solar flares cause flooding and scorching temperatures.
Empty World by John Christopher
A young boy fights fear and loneliness after an accident kills his parents and a plague sweeps the world.
Earth Abides by George R Stewart
An intellectual loner forms a community following a plague that wipes out most of mankind.
Famine by Graham Masterton
Grain and fruit crops fail throughout the States and Botulism spreads.
Fast the Shadows Fall by David E Crossley
Even less is known of this third unwritten(?) entry in the There Falls no Shadow trilogy.
Genesis of a Hero by John Eyres
Independent sequel to Terry Nations Survivors, tenuously connected by being about Abby Grants son Peters enlistment and estrangement from Wormleys organisation.
Greybeard by Brian Aldiss
The last of the old people eke out an existence following mankinds sterility from nuclear testing.
I Spied a Pale Horse by Mark Timlin
One mans fight for survival with his friend and his dog following a modern day Black Death.
Lights Out by ? HalfFast
E-book on Frugalsquirrel.com about survivors of a nuclear attack.
Malevil by Robert Merle
A group of friends become stranded in a chateau following a nuclear explosion causing a return to a more primitive way of life.
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Life in Australia as the fallout from a nuclear war drifts nearer.
The Only Lovers Left Alive by David Wallis
A plague leaves only the under eighteens to rule world.
Patriots by James Wesley Rawles
US story of a group of Christian survivalists dealing with a stock market crash, an economic collapse and a second civil war.
Pendulum by John Christopher
Feudal gangs of teenagers take over the land following an economic depression that strips civilisation of its power.
Plague by Graham Masterton
A mutated bacilli washes up on the Florida shoreline killing millions as it spreads.
The Protectors War by SM Stirling
The second part of the Dies the Fire Trilogy.
The Purple Cloud by MP Shiel
Very early book in the genre telling the story of the last man left alive following the arrival of a mysterious purple cloud.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Dark, depressing and downright miserable, this book comes highly recommended. About a man and his son travelling across a post-apocalyptic America after a major event.
The Rift by Walter J Williams
The story of the chaos that follows a massive earthquake.
Slow the Shadow Creeps by David E Crossley
(Too) Little is known of this un-released second book of the trilogy that follows on from There Falls no Shadow.
The Stand by Stephen King
THE Stephen King book (for me) that follows the trials and tribulations of a group of plague survivors(with some devilish hocus pocus).
Survivors by Terry Nation
First class novel that follows largely the same path as the highly original TV series with the odd differing twist.
There Falls No Shadow by David E Crossley
Exciting read following the coming together of a group of super-flu survivors.
Thirst by Guy N Smith
Ecological disaster following the crash of a tanker of weed killer into a Welsh reservoir.
When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie
Cult book telling of a runaway planet hurtling towards earth and the carnage it causes.
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Willhelm
Chilling solution to the furthering of the human race post apocalypse.
The Wind from Nowhere by JG Ballard
Mankind turns on itself in a bid to survive following a global super-hurricane.
World in Winter by John Christopher
The story of a Nigerian led exploration to Britain after a new ice age causes Britons to flee to Africa for a warmer life.
Wrinkle in the Skin by John Christopher
A Guernsey man searches for his daughter on the mainland following an earthquake that causes the sea to recede.
It would be cheaper if I was back working full time 
