Book picks similar to
The Last Pilgrims by Michael Bunker


fiction
post-apocalyptic
apocalypse
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Memoria


Alex Bobl - 2012
    What else would you need in the world finally free from wars and crime? But the bubble bursts when a humble lawyer Frank Shelby becomes a murder suspect on the run. Betrayed by his friends and hunted down by mysterious killers, Frank has to penetrate Memoria and find evidence of their real plans before it's too late for all of us.

Origins


Kristen Middleton - 2012
    Seventeen year old Cassandra Wild thought living in the chaos of her mother’s home daycare and dealing with her developing feelings for Bryce, her new Martial Arts’ instructor, was a struggle, until the night her world turned upside down.When an untested vaccine kills more than just a rampant flu virus, Cassie learns how to survive in a world where the dead walk, and the living…run!

Rift


Andreas Christensen - 2014
    The RIFT Saga begins here.In the ruins of what was once North America lays the Covenant, a nation forged by the iron will of the Moon people, who descended from their dusty refuge on the Moon after the Fall. The Moon people are wealthy, ruled by a strong government who protects its citizens from the dangers from outside their borders. Their greatest achievement is having learned the secret of immortality, and every citizen has the opportunity to live nearly forever if they choose to, a life of riches and abundance.The English are the descendants of the original inhabitants of this place, and they live very different lives from that of the Moon people. They only live to serve the greater good, and citizenship is something few have the opportunity to earn. At the age of fifty all non-citizens are subjected to mandatory euthanasia. In order to maintain a sustainable society, they are told.Every year a number of girls and boys at the age of eighteen are selected for Service to the State. The brightest and most talented are sent to become Students. The strong, the fighters and the athletes become Janissaries, a band of soldiers protecting the northern border from the enemies of the Covenant. The Wardens, a secretive organization known to operate far to the west, near the Rift, which makes up the border to the wastelands, sometimes choses one or two initiates, but nobody knows what becomes of them. And then there is the Corpus, where the whip rules and backs are bent.Those who complete their Service, may become citizens. And although they will never be equal to the Moon people, they will have access to all the riches and opportunities granted by the Covenant leadership to its citizens.As Sue is nearing Selection Day, she secretly hopes to be chosen, despite having to leave her mother and brother behind. She doesn't crave glory or wealth though. A man or woman with citizen status can do a lot of good, and although few return to their home towns, Sue hopes to return to give her family a better life on the other side of Service.But the Covenant is rotten to the core, and as she begins to learn its secrets, Sue must question everything she has always taken for granted. Soon she will find herself in dire peril, for she has seen the truth and there will be no turning back after that...This science fiction dystopian trilogy is set more than two centuries after the events of Exodus, in a future dystopian society forged from the ashes of global disaster."Mr. Christensen has absolutely found his genre, and I hope he keeps the stories coming!"

The Moon Dwellers


David Estes - 2012
    After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, seventeen-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason.Against all odds, Adele must escape from the Pen and find her family, while being hunted by a deranged, killing machine named Rivet, who works for the President. She is helped by two other inmates, Tawni and Cole, each of whom have dark secrets that are better left undiscovered. Other than her friends, the only thing she has going for her is a wicked roundhouse kick and two fists that have been well-trained for combat by her father.At the other end of the social spectrum is Tristan, the son of the President and a sun dweller. His mother is gone. He hates his father. Backed by only his servant and best friend, Roc, he leaves his lavish lifestyle in the Sun Realm, seeking to make something good out of his troubled life.When a war breaks out within the Tri-Realms, Tristan is thrust into the middle of a conflict that seems to mysteriously follow Adele as she seeks to find her family and uncover her parents true past.In their world, someone must die.

Yesterday's Gone: Episode 1


Sean Platt - 2011
    everyone on Earth vanished.Well, almost everyone.A scattered few woke alone in a world where there are no rules other than survival... at any cost.A journalist wanders the horrible reality of an empty New York in search of his wife and son.A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species.A mother shields her young daughter from danger, though every breath fills her with terror.A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone. Until the knock at the door.A fugitive survives a fiery plane crash. Will he be redeemed, or return to what he's best at: the kill?An eight year old boy sets out on a journey to find his missing family. What he finds will change him forever.These survivors aren’t alone...Someone or something is watching them.And waiting...Strangers unite.Sides are chosen.Will humanity survive what it never saw coming?The only certainty is that Yesterday’s Gone.You’ve never read anything like Yesterday’s Gone – the epic, groundbreaking, thrilling new series. Look for a new 100 page episode each month.

The Blackout


Stephanie Erickson - 2012
    Molly is an English professor at a local liberal arts college when the world suddenly goes dark. Her husband, Gary, is a corporate pilot on the other side of the country. Grounded by what appears to be a catastrophic power outage, he has no way to communicate with his wife, let alone get home to her. Not knowing whether her husband is alive or dead, Molly struggles to adapt to her new environment: without power, running water, transportation, a stable food supply, or any long-distance means of communication. Without knowing the cause of the outage, Gary must decide whether to wait for things to go back to normal, or to make the long and dangerous journey home on foot. Both must learn to survive after the Blackout.

The City Center


Simone Pond - 2013
    Not about her city. Not about their leader, Chief Morray. But when Joseph gives her a secret journal from the past, the truth is revealed. She escapes with Joseph to the Outside, sending Chief Morray on an obsessive pursuit to retrieve his property. Ava has to decide if she should keep running, or return to the city center to save her people.

The Death of Grass


John Christopher - 1956
    The rest of the world looks on with concern, though safe in the expectation that a counter-virus will be developed any day. Then Chung-Li mutates and spreads. Wheat, barley, oats, rye: no grass crop is safe, and global famine threatens.In Britain, where green fields are fast turning brown, the Government lies to its citizens, devising secret plans to preserve the lives of a few at the expense of the many.Getting wind of what's in store, John Custance and his family decide they must abandon their London home to head for the sanctuary of his brother's farm in a remote northern valley.And so they begin the long trek across a country fast descending into barbarism, where the law of the gun prevails, and the civilized values they once took for granted become the price they must pay if they are to survive.

A Different Alchemy


Chris Dietzel - 2014
    Entire cities are abandoned. But following a senseless act of violence, one man travels north, toward forgotten lands. Is it possible for a loving husband and father, surrounded by reminders of mankind's impending extinction, to reclaim what he lost?A Different Alchemy is the tale of a man realizing that everyone has their own pain and their own way of dealing with it. It is the story of how one father's loss can mirror an entire society's sorrow. It is also a lesson about the importance of forgiveness.

2012 Lunar Contact


J.D. Clarke - 2012
    It is the riches of our moon. Unfortunately their mining of the moon threatens Earth. An intrepid group of astronauts are given the mission of making contact with the aliens that have so far ignored humans. What follows is anything but what was planned, as they get swept up into a war between beings that travel space and operate on a technology beyond Newtonian physics.

Work. Rest. Repeat.


Frank Tayell - 2014
    The soil was poisoned. The air became toxic. Billions died. Those who survived took refuge in great towered cities, and began constructing giant colony ships that would enable them to escape the ruined Earth. The work wasn’t completed in their lifetime. The seas rose to swamp the diseased land, and lap against the city walls. Their descendants laboured on, and now the first of the spaceships is nearing completion. But these cities aren’t dictatorships. An election is scheduled to choose a leader for this last exodus of humanity. With twenty-four hours until voting is due to begin, two workers are murdered. It is the first serious crime in generations, and it is down to the young Constable Ely to solve it. The election must take place. The ships must be launched. Above all, production must come first. (54,000 words)

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?

A Land of Ash


David Dalglish - 2010
    We're 40,000 years overdue. A LAND OF ASH Lava flows stretch for hundreds of miles. A cloud of ash billows east, burying the Midwest, destroying crops, and falling upon the Pacific Coast like a warm, dead snow. The remnants of the United States flees south as the global temperatures plummet. Amid this total devastation are stories of families, friends, sons and fathers and wives: the survivors. Within are eleven stories focusing on the human element of such a catastrophe, from an elderly couple gathering to await their death to a father sealing his shelter in hopes of keeping the air breathable for his daughter. Contributing to this collection include many popular and up-and-coming independent authors, including David McAfee, Daniel Arenson, and more.

The Old Man and the Wasteland


Nick Cole - 2011
    Man is reduced to salvaging the ruins of a broken world. One man’s most prized possession is Hemingway’s Classic ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’ With the words of the novel echoing across the wasteland, a survivor of the Nuclear Holocaust journeys into the unknown to break a curse. What follows is an incredible tale of survival and endurance. One man must survive the desert wilderness and mankind gone savage to discover the truth of Hemingway’s classic tale of man versus nature.Part Hemingway, part Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a suspenseful odyssey into the dark heart of the Post-Apocalyptic American southwest.A book lover’s action flick.

Victim Zero


Joshua Guess - 2013
    He's a brilliant biologist and geneticist, a leading researcher in the constant fight against disease and death. He works in secret on a miraculous organism with the potential to change the world.But he isn't the only one.Victim Zero is a story about life and loss, self-awareness and the hard choices between what is right and what is necessary. As the world spirals down and the dead begin to rise, Kell must learn the difference between surviving and living.Set in the world of Living With the Dead, Victim Zero tells the story of how The Fall began. From before the outbreak itself, during the crisis and beyond, this novel chronicles the journey of a man who holds the weight of the entire human race on his shoulders.