Book picks similar to
Rainier Erupts! by Thomas P. Hopp


distopian
post-apocalyptic-dystopian
shtf
survival

Devil Dog


Boyd Craven - 2016
    The loss of electricity brings out the darker side of human nature across the city. Because he's a homeless Marine veteran living in the freight tunnels and old sewers beneath Chicago, he's far better prepared than most people. A small community of good folk do exist, but they are often outnumbered and outgunned. Only the tunnels provide the safety he needs. Devil Dog becomes the reluctant savior of women and children, who are treated as barter items by the worst of the worst. Gangs rule topside, and when the SHTF, Dick takes down a lot of the new predatory men. Doing the right thing makes him a hated man by many, and he becomes their prey. To preserve his life and the kids he takes care of, he limits his interactions with the folks who live "Topside". That is, until he runs across someone who he thinks might be his daughter. Nonstop Action, Gritty, Prepper Type 'O Stuff.

Two Thousand Grueling Miles


L.J. Martin - 2019
    It’s conquer the wilderness, protect your mother and sisters, or die trying. A grueling challenge…2,000 miles of rutted trail with little or no civilization, no water or far too much, wild animals, wicked weather, and savages both red and white. The good news: you have family and friends, and hundreds more making the trip. That is, until disease and accidents threaten everything.  The Oregon Trail is the artery that brought lifeblood to the west, long before wagon or rail. It was the ultimate challenge for thousands who wanted land and opportunity.  Two Thousand Grueling Miles is a true family adventure tale full of can’t put it down action!

Half Past Midnight (Half Past Midnight #1)


Jeff Brackett - 2011
    Currently, the clock is set at six minutes before midnight.What happens after the hands reach midnight?Survivalist Leeland Dawcett finds out when he and his family are plunged into the nightmare of their country returned to a third-world state.No phones. No computers. No television.At first, Leeland thinks basic survival is the answer.Until he crosses the path of the wrong guy...Someone who wants to do more than just survive...

Happy Land - A Lover's Revenge: The nightclub fire that shocked a nation


OJ Modjeska - 2020
    

The Rift


Walter Jon Williams - 1999
    They won't stop barking. . . . And then the earth shrugs—8.9 on the Richter scale in the world's biggest earthquake since 1755. It hits New Madrid, Missouri, a sleepy town on the Mississippi. Seismologists had predicted the disaster . . . but no one listened. Within minutes, there is nothing but chaos and ruin as America's heartland falls into the nightmare known as the Rift—a fault line in the earth that wrenchingly exposes the fractures in American society itself. As a strange white mist smelling of sulfur rises from the crevassed ground, the real terror begins for the survivors, including a teenager separated from his mother, an African-American engineer searching for his daughter, a TV preacher whose visions of hell have become all too real, and a sheriff cum Ku Klux Klansman who seeks racial vengeance in the midst of disaster.It can happen. And sooner or later, it will.

EMP No Power, Book 1


J.S. Donovan - 2016
    Against unshakable odds, Harper Murphy, army quartermaster and single mother, combats the tides of chaos in this deadly post-EMP struggle.

Homeostasis Lost


Kyan Yauchler - 2013
    They each wake early one late spring morning to find that nothing works—phones, cars, clocks. Everything involving electricity is dead. As the reality of what has happened comes to light, they begin to leave their homes, some in search of answers, others in desperate need of help. People around them are dying, planes are crashing, riots are forming, and no one can do anything about it. The three eventually cross paths and head into an uncertain future together in hopes of again finding balance—homeostasis—in this new world without power. That is, if they can survive.

Farthest North: America's First Arctic Hero and His Horrible, Wonderful Voyage to the Frozen Top of the World


Todd Balf - 2012
    Some had lost limbs to scurvy and frostbite; some had succumbed to Arctic hysteria; all of them were starving, reduced to eating the rats that seemed impervious to the vise-like cold. All but a handful of the fifty-odd sled dogs were long dead, victims of rabies and lockjaw. Thousands of miles away, people in America were convinced the crew of the Advance was dead, too. But one person remained undaunted: Elisha Kent Kane, the unlikely captain of the ill-fated ship whose previous trip to the remote and mysterious Arctic had made him one of the most famous men in the United States. Small of stature, poetic, and sickly, Kane was nonetheless determined to fulfill his voyage’s mission: to find survivors of the celebrated Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, and to prove the existence of a legendary Open Polar Sea that circled the North Pole. Before William Peary and Frederick Cook, there was Kane, the man who set the stage for the golden age of Arctic exploration that would follow. Under his calm yet unrelenting leadership, the crew of the Advance spent two years exploring the frozen realm of the Arctic Archipelago, going farther north than any expedition had before. But when it was finally time to return home, the ice had other ideas.

Among the Dead


Timothy W. Long - 2013
    When she learns that a rescue mission is heading back into the chaos, she jumps at the chance to tag along and put her unique skill set and, more importantly, swords to use.Lester finds a new way to deal with the situation: ignore reality with drugs. When he manages to find himself threatened, he joins with an unlikely ally to take the fight to the dead.Meanwhile, Mike makes use of his journalistic skills to find the source of the virus, in the process discovering a way to escape the city. Two mysterious words fuel his mad quest: Lazarus Black.“Definitely a zombie novel to check out.” --HorrorNews.net on AMONG THE LIVING“One of my favorite zombie novels.” --BuyZombie.com on AMONG THE LIVING“Very entertaining... this is a Zbook I give 5 stars to...” --Alaskan Book Cafe on AMONG THE LIVING

Cry Havoc


A. American - 2016
    There’s war and rumors of war. There’s the false recovery of the economy. Failing faith in the US economy is extremely high. Foreign banks have either slowed their purchases of Treasury Bonds or, in a few cases, begun unloading them.We have a current election that is rife with corruption, extreme partisanship and outright fraud. It would appear the left in the country is ready to do about anything to see their candidate elected. While this is very concerning today, what does it mean to the election process as a whole? What will the next one look like? Does anyone believe they will actually improve? Or will the next batters up to the ultimate Homeplate simply make it even worse, take it even further down the rabbit hole?In reality, it matters not who wins. They can only be there for eight years. But the election sets precedent for the next one; and the next one will push the limits even further, if there is one. We’ve all heard of the spooky bank holiday. This sort of thing usually happens on a weekend, and on Monday morning you simply cannot access your account. You have no access to your money. Don’t think it can happen? Neither did the people of Greece. Or Germany when they were limited to fifty Euros a day. What would you do? Do you keep cash on hand? Do you trust your bank? If you put twenty thousand dollars into the bank and then ask for ten thousand back, you have to fill out forms and justify your need for it. Then they tell the government about it and you face further sanctions.Here in America, we think we’re free. Well, we are currently listed as number twenty on the scale of freedom. Think about that. Number twenty! Chile is ahead of us! But we have our guns and all of those other countries don’t. And indeed we do, for now. But what if, if, they were to take those away? What do we do then? And before you say you would take to the streets and fight back, think for a minute what that really means. Then watch a few videos on Syria or Ukraine. It’s all fun and games until someone puts a tank main-gun round through your house.What follows is just one idea of what this could look like. I’m not saying this is the way it would go. It’s just some thoughts on it. On how people could act. What the government may do in response and how people might respond in turn.

The Last Day on Earth


R.M. Allinson - 2013
    "A pre-post-apocalyptic joy ride thriller philosophy jam"Sometimes Lucy Black wishes that the authorities had never confirmed that an asteroid, even bigger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, was on a collision path with Earth, and never admitted that all attempts to divert the massive asteroid had failed.That was two months ago.Today is the day it's due to hit.

The Legacy: James (The Legacy Series Book 1)


Tricia Wentworth - 2020
    Qualify for the Culling. Find a woman. Win the presidency.It was a carefully cultivated plan that dictated all his life’s decisions . . . until two women upend everything.Twenty-one years after his parents won the presidency, a Culling is called. James has waited his entire life for this moment, a chance to carry on his parents’ legacy. Meanwhile, whispers in Denver of an “Heir’s Curse” make a Reed winning the presidency seem impossible. A presidential heir has never won a Culling before, but there has also never been a Culling where three heirs could qualify. James and his siblings are determined to break the so-called curse and prove them all wrong.But when forced to choose between the easy love that could secure the presidency and a difficult one, what will James do?*This is book 1 of 4 in the spinoff for The Culling series.

Lights Out


David Crawford - 2005
    This remarkable piece of fan fiction is shared daily on forums such as AR15.com, Backwoods Home, Frugal Squirrels and The Survival Podcast Forum. The novel examines how normal Americans might cope with a true national disaster shutting down the nations electrical grid and follows the downward spiral created by such an event.

From the Shadows (The Light Book 3)


Jacqueline Brown - 2018
    When their comfort comes to an end, each member of the group must decide their path. Some will stay behind. Some will journey on. But all will learn that even the most hoped for moments can be filled with unimaginable sorrow.

The Last Orphans


N.W. Harris - 2014
    In a span of mere hours, the entire adult population is decimated, leaving their children behind to fend for themselves and deal with the horrific aftermath of the freak occurrence. As one of the newly made elders in his small town, Shane finds himself taking on the role of caretaker for a large group of juvenile survivors. One who just happens to be Kelly Douglas—an out-of-his-league classmate—who, on any other day, would have never given Shane a second glance. Together, they begin their quest to find out why all of the adults were slaughtered. What they find is even more horrifying than anything they could have expected—the annihilation of the adults was only the beginning. Shane and his friends are not the unlucky survivors left to inherit this new, messed-up planet. No, they are its next victims. There is an unknown power out there, and it won’t stop until every person in the world is dead. A spine-tingling adventure that will have you gasping for breath all the way until the last page, The Last Orphans is the first book in an all-new apocalyptic series.