49 Of The Best Post Apocalyptic and EMP Books to Immerse Yourself In

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1. Can anyone help me find a book I read several years ago about a young girl living in the Everglades with an older woman who had set up her home as a survival scenario. Something has happened and there appears to be no one left in the world but them. All communication is slowly dying – radios, telephones, now cell phones are blinking out. The story line covers the initial impact then interlopers begin to come closer, threatening the two women’s living area. I think the older woman dies, there’s a boy and girl who become allies, and roving gangs who steal and destroy what the others need for their own survival. The end is hopeful – the implication being that a small group of teens will rebuild and repopulate the world. The book was just newly published when I read it and it was her second book of the genre. The title gave no hint of the subject if I remember correctly. So frustrating!!!

2. Here is a novel that almost NEVER gets mentioned – Down to a Sunless Sea – about a plane full of passengers flying out of New York City right before the kick-off of WWIII and their harrowing Journey to find safe places to land and eventually to escape to

3. i love the ashfall series by mike mullen also am working through t l paynes emp series she has several series on the subject ive read the “days of want” series and am now working on the companion series ” fall of huston”

4. The trilogy:
   Arena 1, Arena 2, Arena 3
   So great

5. Lights Out.. I believe it’s written by Ted Kopple. He talks about the VERY REAL preparations undertaken by the Mormon community. Very interesting

6. Parable of the sower and it’s sequel parable of the talents (by octavia butler) are perhaps I think some of the best books of all time and certainly some of the apocalyptic books I’ve ever read they are also shockingly relevant to todays world
   Also Octavia butler has another series called the Lilith’s brood trilogy that while perhaps not as good it is still very interesting read

7. Trying to find a book about a post apocalyptic or dystopian world where people gain magic powers. One of the main characters finds a sword in some rubble that helps him fight his boss who gets turned into a dragon. Another guy can play music and hide people like themselves in some sort of underground oasis. They’re attempting to kill a big bad guy who is trying to harvest the world for evil. I know its vague but any hints would be helpful.

8. Looking for a book series written by a woman that I read years ago. Story woman is a prepper. US suffers an earthquake. Book has real life prepper information within the storyline. Anyone??

9. Can’t believe you didn’t mention “The Stand”.

10. YES!!

11. Malevil by Robert Merle. 1972 novel. One of the best I have ever read.

    • I loved this book so much I read it three times. Hmm, it’s been awhile. I may need to go back and read it again.

12. Last Stand
    By William Weber
    The 1st book is awesome and great for preppers.
    The 2nd to the 4th are more patriot type books.
    Overall a great series.

13. 299 Days

14. Still one of my very favorite novels.

15. Unbelievable that you rank One Second After as a classic, while it’s source, Alas, Babaloon is considered an also-ran. The latter is literature, the first a hack job plaigerism.

    • Both are great. Two different books. Both in my top 10 of the genre. Why does it have to be one or the other?

16. The Stand by Stephen King
    The Wool Trilogy by Hugh Howey

17. Malevil by Robert Merl. Published in 1972 in French, It has been printed and issued in hard back by Reader’s Digest volume five of 1974 In English, and I am still trying to find a copy in electronica format but it deals with the aftermath in France of a nuclear air burst from a small village that deals with survival of a farming community but written back before cell phones have yet been invented

18. Cell by Stephen King

19. The Deep Winter series by Thomas Sherry featuring a volcanic eruption, pandemic, economic collapse, war with China and civil war.

20. Nora Roberts chronicles of the one is a great trilogy with mystical creatures and evil uncanny. Fantastic read

21. The Ashfall Series by Mike Mullin

    • YES!!!! Wish he’d write more

22. The Long Summer. Brand new. Man, this book is epic. Characters I genuinely came to love. Some to hate. Like 400 pages more or less.

    • Thanks Jerry – it is available on Amazon here.

23. NEED HELP TO FIND BOOK TITLE!
    Here’s what I posted on Goodreads:
    Post nuclear attack survival

    At the beginning of the novel, a little girl survives a nuclear attack because she’s wandered down to the cellar of a gas station convenience store while her mom is gassing up the store. In the now buried cellar is the owner /old man. They survive on the supplies in the cellar
    The might try digging out, but he’s afraid of the radiation. They survive there for months. He gets sick and is dying, so he has her dig out.
    The main character is a woman 20s? 30s?
    There is a search of some kind, lots of traveling & encounters with gangs of bad guys.
    The sun is obscured for many years until the end in a heart breaking finale.
    What is the title of this book!

    • Swan Song , written in 1987 Robert McCammon.

      • Swan Song is correct.

    • Emergence David R Palmer?

24. Farnham’s Freehold ~ Robert Heinlein

    • Dark. Tide Rising Series by John Ringo. The zombie like plague is well thought out and isn’t beyond comprehension. Heroes, villains, cowards, brave, lazy and focused, in other words people in trouble.

25. The Last One by Alexandra Oliva. It focus on a contestant on a reality survival show that doesn’t realize a pandemic has broken out in the world. The story follows her as she tries to win the game as the “challages” get harder and harder. I liked the aspect of the character not knowing what was actually happening in the world yet focusing on what it mentality takes to win and survive.

26. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham is a landmark piece of post apocalyptic fiction.
    I have always found Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett to have a very strong PAF feel to it if you’re interested in the psychology of a bleak and lonely future.

27. I noticed someone mentioned the out of the ashes series above. I have to say that is my favorite, though a little political. “Out of the Ashes” series by William Johnstone.

    Though they got a little weird later on dealing with “night people” cannibals. The initial ones were awesome,,,a dealing with a lot of the issues that our government tries to control right now. But a very good read.

28. Didn’t see the going home series’s by A. American

29. The DEATHLANDS collection is fantastic!! I read it years ago. Is it available in hardback?
    The out of the ashes collection is very good.
    Elbert

30. I can’t believe no one has mentioned Commune!! Four books in the series and really awesome for both the story line and information. First three are on audible now and fourth coming soon oh, and amazon has all four in print

31. World Made by Hand, James Kunstler

    • World Made By Hand is one of the best dystopian novels ever.

32. Greetings everyone.

    Every single one of the books mentioned here are fantastic, fun reads. I noticed someone included The Stand by Stephen King. Might I suggest a few of my own picks? My favorite author by far is hands down, the King of Horror, Stephen King. With that, I posit he did not write just one post apocalyptic book or movie. My favorite is Cell, with the King asking in his typical style What would happen if… not that an EMP was set off, but worse, our cell phones were used as a terrifying new weapon? Ha ha. Ok, so with that fav out of the way, I can not say enough about the seven Gunslinger books he wrote about a gunslinger hunting the dark man. Great survival mentality and sideways looking examples of survival “tricks”. The other ones I will mention are not exactly my faves but get a nod because they are at the very least great books by the King and entertaining. Under the Dome (the book not the series); The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, a little girl versus a grizzly in the woods and how she survives…or not; Rose Madder, the King addresses mental illness and survival; Gerald’s Game, ok so it is not an end of the world book, but when I read it I definitely could see that in her eyes it was the end of her world and she is tasked with survival, this was one I did not like, but made it through. My favorite is Lizzy’s Story, and is the story of a middle aged widow’s survival, if I say anymore than that it will be ruined and everyone needs a surprise (not necessarily a good one), and who among us can fondly remember Stephen King’s first dip into the film industry? What, do I hear small voices whispering “Maximum Overdrive” from 1986. Many more including “The Running Man” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in a futuristic world being run by game shows, Dreamcatcher starring Timothy Olyphant and Morgan Freeman in a pre-apocalyptic and start of the end due to an invasion?

    I could go on about more of his books, movies, and tv shows. It is getting late and I need to be able to drop off to sleep. Most of his work disturbs me enough to cause a restless sleep or is it “Insomnia” in the land of “Hearts in Atlantis” (with Sir Anthony Hopkins starring in the movie btw). Lol. Sleep sweet my fellow preppers. I will hopefully see you in Middle Earth somewhere in between Gondor, Rivendale, and the Kingdom of Rohan with some wonderful suggestions on how to survive the night in the Fanghorn forest in the midst of my travels.

    Janette from Oregon

33. Day by day Armageddon and tomorrow war by J L Bourne are both outstanding series’s.

34. Best i have read is “The Jakarta Pandemic” by Steven Konkoly. While the earth is not destroyed and there are no zombies or aliens, it is about survival of a neighborhood where some are prepared and some are not. great read for suburban survival.

35. The Dog Stars is my favorite. The characters are incredible. The audio version is amazing.

36. Wow, great list! Noted!

    about the book “Childhood’s End”…

    I read this story and after about 10 minutes I was able to figure out who the aliens were what was really happening. Unlike 2001 a Space Odyssey which keeps you guessing this one didn’t. To me, this was a book about holding kids back until their ready for something they will never be ready for unless your stop holding them back. The storyline is easy to follow and reminds me of how easy it is to follow the storylines the press tries to feed us every day.

    recommended.

37. I must honestly say that the story in One Second After read like a Walking Dead episode and the writing is pretty bad. On that note, The Walking Dead graphic novels deserves place on the list.

    On a way-out-there book idea-L Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth is set in a post apocalyptic world- millennia in the future. The apocalypse event was invasion by a species from another planet. No matter what you think the man, and science fiction, this was an entertaining book.

    • What? I have read probably a hundred post-apocalyptic books, and so far, One Second After is one of the most well written, well researched, and realistic of them all. I just read it for the first time about a year ago and I loved it. The second one is just as good.

38. Folks on the z by Orson Scott Card

39. These books are Juvenile Fiction but I have found them enjoyable.(I have teens) The Stranded Series by Theresa Shavers are about when Canadian high school students on a trip to Disney are stranded by an EMP. Each book is about a different group and how they get back to their province in Canada. One group goes by Land, one group goes by boat, and one group stays at Disney and then their journey to get back to Canada. Their main teacher is a prepper, and her advice and skills help all three groups. Another book in the series is when they make it back to their town, and their story to rescue their town that has been taken over by a gang of violent, armed men. The series is fairly plausible in it’s descriptions of society after an EMP attack and main characters do die, so there is some realism to the stories.

40. Chrysalids (aka Re-Birth) by John Wyndham (primitive bugging out)

41. The Survivalist series by A. American, and the One Second After/One Year After are all very good books. Enjoyed reading all except the last 2 of The Survivalist Series which I’m getting ready to buy.

42. THE SURVIVALIST series by Jerry Ahern
    Out of the Ashes series by J. William Johnstone

    • Finally someone mentions Ben Raines, all time favorite. Got the Audio book and need to get it turn into CDs.

      • Under classics, where the blankitty-heck is Davy, by Edgar Pangborn? Pangborn’s Tales of a Darkening World stories also include novels The Judgement of Eve and The Company of Glory and the short fiction collection Still I Persist in Wondering. Davy and the John Crowley’s unforgettable Engine Summer remain my personal faves in the subgenre. I don’t really think of Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun part of this list, but it’s my all-time favorite book of fiction, period; if it’s inclusion gets more folks to check it out, great. There’s a handful on this list I’m unfamiliar with; thanks for that.

43. it would be useful if these books are available in e-versions via Scrbd fo example .

    • All are available via Amazon on Kindle

44. Once again, a Great article!

    I have read almost all these books, and I have noted the ones I haven’t and are going to go to Amazon and buy them.

    I must say (IMHO), that for a person new to the survival genre, he/she should read “One Second After – William Forstchen”!!! It is Amazing. Oh, he now has the sequel out to this book called “One Year After”.

    • Thanks for the recommendation, I’ve heard good things about that book, will check it out.

      • Good list. I’ve read most of them.
        Started with Deathlands as they were published many yrs ago. My fav is Lights Out. Which is one I read every year since it was published a chapter at a time on survival website …
        Keep up with this good works.

        • Yes, “Lights Out” is well written and provides insight on how to deal with many problems of an EMP. It’s worth reading several times over.

    • R.E. McDermott, A. American and Bobby Akart! I cannot believe these fellas’ books weren’t listed on here! They’re great!!

      • A. American is a terrible writer, though. As an editor myself, I found reading him unbearable.

    • And these are so realistic and very difficult to take in. Just plain scary real

      • I was alluding to the 0ne Second After and One Year After.
        Should become required reading

    • The Survivalist series by Jerry Ahern was one of the 1st apocalypse series I’d read. A series of the same name by Arthur Bradley is pretty good, has many, “hints” in the story. Like how glow sticks work.
      He’s written several non-fiction books on EMPs and survival.

      World War Z by Brooks is a great book. So far I’ve written down three from the list that I haven’t read. Have reread several of the aforementioned titles. Like Lights Out, both by Koppel and the other author, can’t remember his name but I know the story almost by heart.
      Thanks for the site, primalsun. As well as to all that have commented.

45. Earth Abides

    • Yes, one of the best books I’ve read.

      • Absolutely! The first post-apocalyptic book I read, probably when I was about 12 years old. That’s the book that hot the whole ball rolling for me to always be prepared. Omnia Paratus!

46. My favorite series is called “Deathlands” and it’s sequel “Outlanders” by James Axler
    The first series is set about 100 years after the nuclear holocaust a band of people roam about what’s left of the USA and deal with evil along the way.
    The Second is set about 100 years after Deathlands. It is similar to Deathlands.
    The are published in book and (my favorite) Graphic audio… a movie in your mind… as they put it.

47. The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

48. Steven King’s The Stand

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