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Posted: 7/28/2021 12:51:27 AM EDT
EMP, Zombies, et cetera.

While it is a guilty pleasure, I realize that with few exceptions, it is utter garbage.

The stuff that comes up on my amazon feed seems mostly to be written by middle schoolers with a C average. (obviously the algorithm reflects my sub standard choices)

Also, What is with how the standard is to go serial and have a series of 12+ episodes getting weaker and weaker....  Yuck

Same goes for tactic-cool operator stuff.  Makes me sad, but I still find myself going back to the trough...

At least I have John Ringo, even though he never really finishes a story arc.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 12:53:59 AM EDT
[#1]
Did you like Lucifer's Hammer?
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 12:54:47 AM EDT
[#2]
Just read the news.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:00:06 AM EDT
[#3]
There are all time greats, for sure

Lucifer's Hammer
Light's Out
One Second After
Earth Abides
Alas, Babylon
The Scarlett Plague
The Stand
ETC

and good mediocre - at least good food for thought
Unintended Consequences
Patriots by that weirdo James Wesley Rawles

and a metric sh*t ton of crap.  I wish the genre attracted better writers.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:01:30 AM EDT
[#4]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Did you like Lucifer's Hammer?
View Quote

Heck Yeah!
One of the best!
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:01:55 AM EDT
[#5]
Write one yourself.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:03:46 AM EDT
[#6]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Write one yourself.
View Quote


Boo this man!

My friend, do not confuse my enjoyment of reading with having the skill to write a good book.
I would just add to the sub par crap that is out there in abundance already.
But I do appreciate that you like my prose.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:04:35 AM EDT
[#7]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Heck Yeah!
One of the best!
View Quote




I have to agree!   Wish that would be made into a good movie!
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:07:43 AM EDT
[#8]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Just read the news.
View Quote


I prefer to read at higher than a 5th grade level, thanks.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:12:10 AM EDT
[#9]
Ringo is great until he outsources the writing when he gets bored like he did with Black Tide.
Zombie Rules is a great series.
The Remaining is very good.
The Arisen series is great.
William Allen has some excellent teotwawki books as does Stephen Fuchs.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:26:03 AM EDT
[#10]
The Remaining
(The Remaining #1)
by D.J. Molles (Goodreads Author)
4.09  ·   Rating details ·  11,254 ratings  ·  796 reviews
In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker 40 feet below the basement level of his house, Captain Lee Harden of the United States Army waits. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting over 90% of the populace. The bacterium burrows through the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than base, prehistoric instincts. The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators, with an insatiable desire to kill and feed. Some day soon, Captain Harden will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new wasteland, to complete his very simple mission: Subvenire Refectus To Rescue and Rebuild.

I read most of this series, overall pretty decent. First book was good but as the series goes on it gets to be much of the same thing.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:26:18 AM EDT
[#11]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Ringo is great until he outsources the writing when he gets bored like he did with Black Tide.
Zombie Rules is a great series.
The Remaining is very good.
The Arisen series is great.
William Allen has some excellent teotwawki books as does Stephen Fuchs.
View Quote


Off to research this....
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:45:59 AM EDT
[#12]
I used to read a lot of Jerry D Young's stuff.  He was prevalent on a survival site I was on.  His website vanished, and   I lost track.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 1:51:17 AM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I used to read a lot of Jerry D Young's stuff.  He was prevalent on a survival site I was on.  His website vanished, and   I lost track.
View Quote

Yeah, his stuff is still around.
Fun stuff, but not really well written.  But he put out a lot of good stuff to think about.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 2:26:08 AM EDT
[#14]
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 2:35:34 AM EDT
[#15]
Not the typical apocalyptic.

John Ringo's take on Larry Correia's series.
https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter-Memoirs-3-book-series/dp/B074C1RQ16?ref=dbs_m_mng_rwt_0000_ext

Monster Hunter Memoirs
Grunge, Sinner, & Saints

Ridiculously good reading.

Link Posted: 7/28/2021 2:39:14 AM EDT
[#16]
J. L. Bourne's stuff ain't bad.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 3:14:10 AM EDT
[#17]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
The Remaining
(The Remaining #1)
by D.J. Molles (Goodreads Author)
4.09     Rating details   11,254 ratings    796 reviews
In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker 40 feet below the basement level of his house, Captain Lee Harden of the United States Army waits. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting over 90% of the populace. The bacterium burrows through the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than base, prehistoric instincts. The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators, with an insatiable desire to kill and feed. Some day soon, Captain Harden will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new wasteland, to complete his very simple mission: Subvenire Refectus To Rescue and Rebuild.

I read most of this series, overall pretty decent. First book was good but as the series goes on it gets to be much of the same thing.
View Quote
Sounds like 2020 but not as stupid.   I'll check it out.

Link Posted: 7/28/2021 3:24:59 AM EDT
[#18]
Wool series by Hugh Howey

Breakers series by Edward W. Robertson

Both of these are excellent post-apocalyptic writing.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 3:27:30 AM EDT
[#19]
It’s the kindle/audible model.

Write a good one or two, give them away for free to get people hooked.

Then sell the next 20 subpar books in the series for $10-$15 each.

Brilliant really from a marketing perspective.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 3:32:58 AM EDT
[#20]
Zombie -- Black Summer on Netflix.  Season two was just recently added.  I hope it is as good as the first.

Apocalypse -- To The Lake, also on Netflix.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 3:48:11 AM EDT
[#21]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Ringo is great until he outsources the writing when he gets bored like he did with Black Tide.
Zombie Rules is a great series.
The Remaining is very good.
The Arisen series is great.
William Allen has some excellent teotwawki books as does Stephen Fuchs.
View Quote

I finished Zombie Rules not too long ago on Youtube, because I listen while I'm working. It wasn't bad at all, though it's definitely not Lucifer's Hammer level of good
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 3:58:55 AM EDT
[#22]
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 4:10:25 AM EDT
[#23]
Strongly recommend Seveneves.  Extremely well written.

https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514/

Link Posted: 7/28/2021 5:14:10 AM EDT
[#24]
Go to the survival fiction forum here and look up sharkman6 and D C Bourone.

You’re welcome.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 5:17:33 AM EDT
[#25]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Zombie -- Black Summer on Netflix.  Season two was just recently added.  I hope it is as good as the first.

Apocalypse -- To The Lake, also on Netflix.
View Quote


Season 2 kicks ass.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 5:24:09 AM EDT
[#26]
Audio book "America falls" series on youtube has me entertained. (not zombies)

Black summer season 2 was great. (zombies)
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 5:58:56 AM EDT
[#27]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I don't read this stuff but I get it "suggested" in my feeds based on other stuff I read. Most of it looks awfully written. I'm surprised there aren't good writers moving into it or ghost writing as there is a demand.

A lot of it is "right wing" like "the Democrats start putting patriots in fema camps and heroic bearded vet bros must" etc so probably a lot of writers either aren't interested since their liberals or they're afraid of being canceled by major publishers

Wolf and Iron is an old shtf book I read ages ago I don't see mentioned here
View Quote



Wolf and Iron gets too much praise in my opinion. It has too many false starts that never get fleshed out and at the end of the day, the wolf isn't even that interesting.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:11:08 AM EDT
[#28]
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:14:27 AM EDT
[#29]
Some oldies but goodies that come to mind:

Larry Niven’s short story Inconstant Moon
Dean Ing’s Systemic Shock and Single Combat (you might like The Rackham Files as well)
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:15:42 AM EDT
[#30]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
It’s the kindle/audible model.

Write a good one or two, give them away for free to get people hooked.

Then sell the next 20 subpar books in the series for $10-$15 each.

Brilliant really from a marketing perspective.
View Quote



I had a bunch of books get recommended recently , they all looked good .....all kindle only .

Fuck off , I want a real book
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:17:34 AM EDT
[#31]
Zombie Apoc fiction is my guilty pleasure as well. Some of my favorites:

White Flag of the Dead series by Joseph Talluto
Surviving the Dead series by James Cook
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse  series by Shawn Chesser
A New World series by John O'Brian
Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo
Slow Burn series by Bobby Adair

And if you like SyFy pretty much everything from our very own Rick Partlow.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:34:52 AM EDT
[#32]
Post apocalyptic, the Passage series is good with the first one being great.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:41:42 AM EDT
[#33]
Quoted:
EMP, Zombies, et cetera.

While it is a guilty pleasure, I realize that with few exceptions, it is utter garbage.

The stuff that comes up on my amazon feed seems mostly to be written by middle schoolers with a C average. (obviously the algorithm reflects my sub standard choices)

Also, What is with how the standard is to go serial and have a series of 12+ episodes getting weaker and weaker....  Yuck

Same goes for tactic-cool operator stuff.  Makes me sad, but I still find myself going back to the trough...

At least I have John Ringo, even though he never really finishes a story arc.
View Quote


I read it too, and the terrible writing I encountered that was actually being sold encouraged me to start writing as well. I might suck at writing compared to some authors, but I’m damn sure better than a large % I encountered on Amazon.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:52:58 AM EDT
[#34]
I really enjoyed Southern Watch.

Called (Southern Watch Book 1)

A demon hunter without a home. A cop without a cause. A seemingly unstoppable evil rising in a small town...

WARNING: Contains violence, coarse language and sexual situations.

Archibald "Arch" Stan was a local cop in Midian, Tennessee that was good at his job, good at being a husband, and exceptionally good at hiding his disappointment at not being able to figure out what was missing in his life that made it all seem so empty.

Lafayette Hendricks looked like a drifter, a broken-down hitchhiker blown through Midian on the prevailing winds. When Arch catches him in a fight on the town square, though, things start to get weird, fast, because the guy he's fighting doesn't die when he gets shot. And Hendricks is carrying a sword.

Pretty soon, Arch's whole life is turned upside down by Hendricks's revelation that there's a secret world operating under the one he's been living in his whole life - one filled with demons, chaos, and unspeakable evils, one of which is already in town, stirring trouble. And if the two men don't band together to keep watch on the darkness falling on Midian, then this small town might just get swallowed up by the forces of evil - with the rest of the world to follow shortly behind.

If you like Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Stephen King, Michael Anderle, Shayne Silvers, Shannon Mayer, or J.R. Rain, you will LOVE the first installment of the Southern Watch series.
View Quote


MissingImage
Failed To Load Product Data



And you can buy it in paperback (used $1.95)!
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 6:55:23 AM EDT
[#35]
The 10-book "Survivalist series" by 'A. American' was pretty good. (first book is "Going Home")

Basically in the first book, the main character is 250 miles from home when there's some sort of EMP I believe? Been a while.. I know he has to walk home, and has a GHB (Get Home Bag) with him. One of the other characters jokes that has "everything but the kitchen sink" in it, which isn't far from the truth... I'd like to know how heavy the pack would be in real life.

The editing in the first few books were poor but get better in later books. The supporting characters are great, slick conversations I thought. It is rare that I come to actually care about characters in a book, and you'd hate to see them killed off....

There's plenty of name-dropping for gear here, and as long as you can suspend your disbelief it is entertaining, and hauntingly prophetic at times. Slight spoilers: There are FEMA camps, pyschos in power, and roving gangs of criminals.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:06:33 AM EDT
[#36]
The Road
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:27:47 AM EDT
[#37]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I didn't know it got any praise I barely remember it
View Quote



I bought it due to the recommendations here and halfway through the book I realized I'd already read it. That's how forgettable it is, lol.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:34:20 AM EDT
[#38]
Whatever you do, OP, don’t say anything negative about the Shakespearian masterpiece by John Ross, “Unintended Consequences.....” GD knows articulate, engaging, masterful art—exspecially the flawless shit.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:41:08 AM EDT
[#39]
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:46:16 AM EDT
[#40]
Honestly, I thing this genre has always attracted a fairly low brow level of writing.

I think I recall reading a SHTF series where the main hero had a pair of Detonics Combat Master pistols in dual shoulder rigs?  I may be confusing some details...

My personal guilty pleasure in the past for SHTF action was this series:

Attachment Attached File


which is basically post-apocalyptic Snake Plissken and his super hot, sexually willing but slightly mutated girlfriend (plus a gang of misfits) wander the wastelands and right wrongs.  Or something.  There's a fairly significant sci-fi aspect to this series, so maybe it's not pure "SHTF" fiction.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:46:54 AM EDT
[#41]
I really enjoyed the Adrian Ring series written by Chris Philbrook. It’s a bit different as it’s a 1st person narrative written in the format of a journal but I found it pretty entertaining.

Plus most of the characters aren’t stupid….which is an added bonus.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:47:47 AM EDT
[#42]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History


Wool, The Road and Swan Song are all personal favorites of mine
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:51:27 AM EDT
[#43]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


Wool, The Road and Swan Song are all personal favorites of mine
View Quote

Yeah, I really liked the Wool series. Dust and Shift are on another bookshelf.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 7:53:10 AM EDT
[#44]
Day By Day Armageddon gets good reviews for being entertaining.

If you’re willing to branch out from TEOTWAWKI fiction, try Jack Carr and Mark Greaney.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 8:02:30 AM EDT
[#45]
The Siege of New Hampshire series by Mic Roland is really good.  5 books total, if I remember correctly.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 8:06:38 AM EDT
[#46]
Jerry D Young liked to bill himself as "emergency preparedness expert". He's a Col Sanders look alike joke.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 8:08:04 AM EDT
[#47]
I really liked the 299 Days series by Glen Tate - believable and pretty accurate as to what’s going on now. His wife also did a great series called “The Great States”.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 8:09:37 AM EDT
[#48]
There is some great classics, as others have pointed out.  But, I agree with OP on anything published in the last 5 years.  I joke that now they get paid by the word.  So, never use one word to paint a vivid, entangling, picture that draws you into the action while setting a scene that will redefine your world view, when you can write a fucking paragraph.
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 8:23:34 AM EDT
[#49]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Not the typical apocalyptic.

John Ringo's take on Larry Correia's series.
https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter-Memoirs-3-book-series/dp/B074C1RQ16?ref=dbs_m_mng_rwt_0000_ext

Monster Hunter Memoirs
Grunge, Sinner, & Saints

Ridiculously good reading.

View Quote


RIP Iron Hand
Link Posted: 7/28/2021 8:26:51 AM EDT
[#50]
Have you read The Stand?
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