Book picks similar to
A Country of Eternal Light by Darby Harn
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The Postman
David Brin - 1985
This is the story of a lie that became the most powerful kind of truth. A timeless novel as urgently compelling as War Day or Alas, Babylon, David Brin's The Postman is the dramatically moving saga of a man who rekindled the spirit of America through the power of a dream, from a modern master of science fiction.He was a survivor--a wanderer who traded tales for food and shelter in the dark and savage aftermath of a devastating war. Fate touches him one chill winter's day when he borrows the jacket of a long-dead postal worker to protect himself from the cold. The old, worn uniform still has power as a symbol of hope, and with it he begins to weave his greatest tale, of a nation on the road to recovery.
Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban - 1980
As Riddley steps outside the confines of his small world, he finds himself caught up in intrigue and a frantic quest for power, desperately trying to make sense of things.
Nod
Adrian Barnes - 2012
Or almost no one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand, can still sleep, and they’ve all shared the same mysterious dream. A handful of silent children can still sleep as well, but what they’re dreaming remains a mystery. Global panic ensues. A medical fact: after six days of absolute sleep deprivation, psychosis sets in. After four weeks, the body dies. In the interim, a bizarre new world arises and swallows the old one whole. A world called Nod.
The Sleep of the Gods
James Sperl - 2009
In another few weeks she and her family would finally commence their dream trip of a lifetime. But then came the call. The one her high-ranking military husband, Warren, had warned might someday arrive. With a fateful string of cryptic words, and violating every security protocol, Warren informs Catherine of an impending world-altering event.With the clock ticking and her mind reeling, Catherine finds herself suddenly thrust into a nightmare of global, apocalyptic proportions. Left to fend for herself and her three children in the wake of Warren’s information, Catherine must abandon any semblance of her former life and commit to the only thing that now matters: survival. But confronting her at every turn is the event itself and the enigmatic origins surrounding it and all that it has wrought.
It Hit The Fan: Piney River Apocalypse
John Sullins - 2019
When a Missouri school teacher is fired from his job, he heads to a small river to get away from his problems and the virus. It might be the best decision he ever made.
Dark Road
David C. Waldron - 2012
A disastrous solar storm has knocked out power grids throughout the northern hemisphere, and life as we know it in America will never be the same. The Taylor family, Eric, Karen, Chuck, and Sherri were able to evacuate from their neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee before society collapsed, and join with the Tennessee National Guard to begin building a successful and thriving community in Natchez Trace--called Promised Land. First Sergeant Mallory Jensen was promoted to Major, thanks to orders from higher authority codenamed ARCLiTE...Dark Road follows the family of Dan and Marissa Clark. Increasingly desperate under the despotic rule of the HOA leader, Carey, wary of the rapidly increasing threat from contagious disease, and slowly but surely starving to death; what will happen when a family with two young children, and a better destination in mind, decides to undertake a journey outside the purported safety of their patrolled neighborhood--only to discover that it's patrolled to keep neighbors in, as well as marauders out?The community at Promised Land continues to grow--holding elections, annexing a town, and even celebrating their first wedding. But when Mallory reaches out to other military camps in the region, she discovers that ARCLiTE--and the forces behind it--may not be at all what they claimed to be...and suddenly everything is up in the air.PROFESSIONALLY EDITED AND FORMATTED
Friends of the Family (The Colter Saga)
Joel Baker - 2009
To escape, they decide to return to Jesse's childhood home of Haven. On the perilous journey they encounter a deserted genetics lab. That evening the results of a genetic experiment, five massive dogs working as a team, walk into their camp. The dogs finally disappear back into the dark. On a second visit, the dogs become friends of the family. As they near Haven, a sheriffs warning about a brutal gang, triggers a buried childhood memory for Jesse and the gangs involvement in the death of his parents. The gang decides to visit Haven. The Colters set a brutally effective trap. Jesse is severely injured, but survives. Sarah and Jesse, with the help of their friends, build a future and slowly things get better. At the end Jessie is alone and dying. It's his time, and he feels complacent. He's an old man with a bent back and a deep love for Sarah, sitting in a small clearing on the side of a mountain overlooking Haven.
The Lightest Object in the Universe
Kimi Eisele - 2019
Working his way along a cross-country railroad line, he encounters lost souls, clever opportunists, and those who believe they’ll be delivered from hardship if they can find their way to the evangelical preacher Jonathan Blue, who is broadcasting on all the airwaves countrywide. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Beatrix and her neighbors turn to one another for food, water, and solace, and begin to construct the kind of cooperative community that suggests the end could, in fact, be a promising beginning. But between Beatrix and Carson lie 3,000 miles. With no internet or phone or postal service, can they find their way back to each other, and what will be left of their world when they do? The answers may lie with fifteen-year-old Rosie Santos, who travels reluctantly with her grandmother to Jonathan Blue, finding her voice and making choices that could ultimately decide the fate of the cross-country lovers. The Lightest Object in the Universe is a story about reliance and adaptation, a testament to the power of community and a chronicle of moving on after catastrophic loss, illustrating that even in the worst of times, our best traits, borne of necessity, can begin to emerge.
A New Dawn (The Tribe)
A.J. Penn - 2014
With the very real threat of human existence becoming extinct, can they endure against all odds to secure a future and the promise of a better tomorrow? A continuation from The Tribe: A New World
The E. E. 'Doc' Smith Omnibus
E.E. "Doc" Smith - 2007
Then the enemies are forced to become allies when everyone becomes lost in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy and must fight their way back through primative planets and against alien fleets. As always with Smith, romance and action are equally mixed. The Seaton is forced back into action to stop a menace that threatens every civilized planet in the galaxy, but to do it he must create the greatest starship ever conceived. Finally read Triplanetary, the story that helped launch the Lensmen series. A brainy man and heroic woman fight against ruthless space pirates for life and love.
The Line
Teri Hall - 2010
The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It's said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line. Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel's dad died in the last war. It's a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help. Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?
Arena One: Slaverunners
Morgan Rice - 2012
2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the violent gangs, predators who live in the big cities. They patrol the countryside looking for slaves, for fresh victims to bring back into the city for their favorite death sport: Arena One. The death stadium where opponents are made to fight to the death, in the most barbaric of ways. There is only one rule to the arena: no one survives. Ever. Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death. Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission. What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena?
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany - 1975
The catastrophe is confined to Bellona, and most of the inhabitants have fled. But others are drawn to the devastated city, among them the Kid, a white/American Indian man who can't remember his own name. The Kid is emblematic of those who live in the new Bellona, who are the young, the poor, the mad, the violent, the outcast--the marginalized.
On the Beach
Nevil Shute - 1957
Among them is an American submarine captain struggling to resist the knowledge that his wife and children in the United States must be dead. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from somewhere near Seattle, and Captain Towers must lead his submarine crew on a bleak tour of the ruined world in a desperate search for signs of life. On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.
Artificial Evil
Colin F. Barnes - 2012
Gerry Cardle reluctantly runs the Death Lottery. It's a job he despises, yet one which keeps his name off the list. Until one day, despite his agreement with The Family, his name is inexplicably drawn next.With his world crashing down around him and with just seven days left to live, Gerry realises that the system has been breached by a malicious artificial intelligence. In order to save his life and preserve the safety of those within the city, he must do the unthinkable: flee to the abandoned wastelands outside the dome. Bitter, resolute, and with nothing left to lose, Gerry will have to do whatever it takes to survive--even if it means sacrificing his freedom, and possibly worse--his life.