Lucifer’s Hammer

Year Zero

good lord no.  Those books are nothing more than outlandish prepper porn.

The books are pretty good until tate tries to write about combat....the books suck after that and it became a chore to read them.   The series would havebeen better if it had been shorter.   His wife's series (A Great State) was much better IMO

"On The Beach" by Nevil Shute

The 1959 film is free on YouTube: LINK

Hell Divers - Nicholas Sansbury Smith There are nine books in the series right now, post apocalyptic/science fiction they take place a few hundred years in the future after a major nuclear war. It has some Fallout vibes, mutated animals/people, killer robots, alleged bunkers with survivors, scavenging needed supplies from a major company that did shady shit, etc.  I got into them when they offered the first one or two for free on Audible and I needed something new between my monthly credits, since then I've used credits to get the rest because the stories are pretty good and the guy that have reading them does a really good job. The author does some other post apocalypse and zombie type books but none of them has been as good has the Hell Divers ones.

This, and this one isn't terrible either.

FIFY.

Friend recommended the series. I forced myself to read the first 5 books, hoping it would get better. Nope.

Franklin Horton's

- Borrowed World Series
- Locker Nine Series
- (and Mad Mick series for a little more HSLD fantasy. All 3 series are set in the same 'US grid down' scenario, following different protagonists.

Read Horton's BW and LN series, then read the Going Home series to laugh at just how abominably horrible, the Going Home series is.

For even more entertainment, the author of the Going Home series tried going on the show 'Alone' and tapped out within 24 hours. Apparently, they didn't allow him to bring a 'Magic Backpack With Everything and The Kitchen Sink' (folks who've read the books will get the reference/joke)

Yup, I'll second that one.
The Silo Saga Omnibus: Wool, Shift, Dust

Earth Abides by George Stewart. Written in the 40's but its a great read. I first heard it on a radio program that was replayed in the 70's. Got the book from the library and read it in a couple of days. I was 14. I have always had a copy, loaned them out, gave them away.

"War Of The Worlds" by H. G. Wells.

The original radio broadcast

Consider this a tag.

It took me twenty years to finish Warday. It spooked me that badly as a early teen.

Peter Heller the Dog Stars

And you'll enjoy his other books too.

A Wrinkle in the Skin

So far I have enjoyed every Horton book

Not technically post apocalyptic but Kurt Schlicters Kelly Turnbull series is awesome.

All about America splitting up and pre and post the “split”

First book in the series is Peoples Republic.

https://www.amazon.com/Go-Go-Girls-Apocalypse-Victor-Gischler/dp/1416552251

The good- the story was good. The technical aspects were good. It's written the way you'd want it to happen but a tad bit optimistic.  The first three books had a gut wrenching plot line that I think was very realistic.  It's pretty deep in plot lines and there are a lot of characters. I liked that aspect.  Has lots of "how to" info sprinkled in.  This may or may not annoy you.

The bad- I had to buy $120 worth of books to finish the story.  It drags a little in places. A little holster sniffer in places.  

My opinion- "our side" turns out big in this story. I just don't see it happening that way in real life. The story is a recipe for success. If the freedom loving Americans could organize as the book was written we'd all be better off. But I don't think we can.  I thought the local and state level goverment character were over done until covid hit. Now I think the author nailed it. He was some sort of insider at a state level.

Conclusion- I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it.

Notes- I think I heard on a podcast or email it's getting a re-write. This may or may not have happened, I don't know. I also dont remember the reason for the re-write. I read them as they were first published so all of the above pertains to the original edition.

I very rarely read a book twice. I donated the series to a church rummage sale and it sold quick.

Truth.

The story and the damn formating had me read the book over night in one setting.  

Brutal.  But good.

I have repeatedly recommended As Wind in Dry Grass.  The other two are also good.

Dang.  I was really looking forward to reading this.  

The deep winter series.
Three books:
Deep winter
Shatter and
Remnant

The Commune series has been my favorite so far. The Trackers was pretty good though the narrator sucked at the beginning of the first audio book. Mountain Man series is good until the end of book 4. Lucifer's Hammer is great but a bit old. Extinction Cycle is pretty decent.

@RikWriter

I just ‘met’ this guy in another thread and apparently he’s got a lot of books. Maybe he’s already been mentioned here, not sure. Seems like more SciFi but cool stuff regardless

Tag

As have I.  I've also enjoyed the S M Anderson books mentioned above. I'm currently on book 4 of The Eden Chronicles.

If you're ever trying to do a sneaky soft-sell on prepping to a female family member (i.e., wife), Terri Blackstock's "LAST LIGHT" series is a bit of a family/spiritual/romance/chick flick of a survivalist  apocalypse starter. Different read than all the macho ones, but sneakily slides in the "what ifs" that those sort of folks maybe haven't thought of yet. All the moms and ladies I know that read it came away saying things like: "Hey. Maybe we should buy some MRE's and what's our grid down plan anyway?"
Last Light Synopsis

The Survivalist series by A. American.

The Giver

Tag a Rooney!

Seveneves is a newer one by Neal Stephenson.  

Plot was decent, but he missed a few things that probably would have happened in real life (Orion Nuke boost to orbit, shifting orbits to polar, etc).

Reminds me of the time I was reading Patriots, Surviving the Coming Collapse to my wife and me each night.
I just happened to finish on the night of 9/10.

You can imagine the phone calls I was getting from her the next morning.  (Not to make light, nor diminish the absolutely horrific phone calls made by others that day.

Tate said the books were written as a quasi how-to guide for people to follow to help them prep.  As a result some of the information has changed (such as how .40 was the popular pistol caliber in the books) and he wanted the books to reflect that.  I also got the impression he was changing the romance part of the book to reflect changes in his personal life.

While some will buy the new version also, I wouldnt waste the money if you read the original

Wolf and Iron Gordon R Dickson

The Amtrak Wars Patrick Tilly

The Return Man V M Zito

Suffer The Children Craig DiLouie

I enjoyed the Deathlands series quite a bit.

They are by no means literary masterpieces,  but they do the job.

Attached File

Great action and a lot of details about small arms. Ignore the couple Amazon reviews, it's hardcore conservative and gun ownership. It was even reviewed by legendary gun writer Leroy Thompson.

"Goodfella's meets Day of the Dead meets Red Dawn! Max Denno definitely has a fresh take on the zombie movie storyline - I almost didn't think anybody could bring anything new to it - Denno did. I would like to see it hit the silver screen!"

- Patrick Desmond of House of Horrors .Com

“God Of The Dead is a frightening and accurate statement on exactly what is wrong with the world today. Finally someone gets it right when portraying the wise guy culture. Instead of coming off as a cartoonish version of The Godfather, we get a look into what life would be like for these guys. Add to that a brilliant zombie story, the likes of which I have never come across, and this could be the one that gives Romero a run for his money. Gritty, dark and apocalyptic to the end, God Of The Dead is a lock for the new fan favorite! Great job! I absolutely loved the script novel!!!!"

- William Victor Schotten Director/Producer, Schotten FilmWorks makers of Dead Life, Sabbath, Dread and Bloodlock

"Your book was awesome! It was better than I expected. Good action, humor, and suspense. I'm glad to see a well-written Zombie book. Good work!"

- Timothy W. - Shelfari.com member (His comments regarding the "unleaded"/no adult language version of God of the Dead)


"Any book that combines gangsters, zombies, and machineguns is fine with me. Add a priest willing to dig out his Vietnam bring back M-16 to protect his flock from zombies and it gets better still. God of the Dead ranks among the best of the zombie-killing genre that is so popular today."

- Leroy Thompson
Defense & Firearms Industry Writer/Author
(One of the world's top small arms writers for over three decades [5 decades now] & author of dozens of books on V.I.P. protection, firearms, military equipment, and tactics)

"There were many things I liked personally about God of the Dead. I won’t spoil it, but the first appearance of a zombie was incredibly well done. Other scenes are artfully described and very effective."

-Scott Kenemore of Scott Kenemore’s Zombie Blog

"This book has one of the most unique layouts I've seen in a novel. It's not written in a regular format, but as a film script. I like to be able to visualize a story as I read it and I find it very easy to do when the story is written in this format. It's also a good story. It's a dark survivalist novel that mixes zombies with something like a Godfather type story that plays along with it... Max has an eye for detail when it comes to the attacks and they really pulled me back into the book. He also does a good job on giving us background stories of the characters that really lets you get to know who they are."

- Rhonny Kachur
Dollar Bin Horror Blog

https://www.amazon.com/God-Dead-Max-Denno-ebook/dp/B0074B6OFI

@Minty68

Toooooo scaaary...

"Lucifer's Hammer" by Larry Niven shows its age somewhat, but is still a hell of a good read. It starts off a bit slow to get you used to the people, because they will be under enormous stress very soon. The scene that stays with me is the news guy who had talked to one of the scientists who pointed out that an object hitting the earth at pretty much any angle will leave a circular crater. "Go look at a map of North America and look at the circular lakes." Guy can't sleep for a week--

Snuck this book from my moms night stand when I was 10 or 11…. Probably not the best thing for a Pre teen to read lol. Changed my outlook on the world a little.

I think it’s a pretty good description of what the world would be like post nuclear war. It’s kinda like the road but with a small amount of hope sprinkled in.

One of my favorites, One second after

“America Right Now” by Let’s Go Brandon.

Real shit, Monica!

Really though, who needs books about apocalypse?

I like DiLouie's Infection trilogy a lot. The intersection of military and civilian resistance was well done and the combat stress effects were thoughtful in their effects on people, instead of the "everyone turns shithead" trope from hollyweird.

Franklin Horton's series are right up arfcom's alley.

Pro-2A, 'situational awareness', prepper, "need a group to survive" etc., without anywhere near the level of ridiculousness in the Going Home series.

*** (the parts that always come to mind about the ridiculousness of the Going Home series:

- he never just "pulls out a knife from his pack". It's "pulls out his Esee blah, blah, blah from his Maxpedition blah, blah, blah". I seriously wondered if the author owned some kind of survival gear store, and was writing the books as an infomercial to hawk his shit.

- protagonist grumbles about his 60lb pack, but has TWO different sleep/shelter systems, and THREE different cooking systems (which of course, the author details explicitly by make and model)

- everyone the protagonist encounters falls into one of 2 categories:
1) so woefully unprepared, they don't have the right footwear, or even a container to carry water
2) so abundantly prepared that they can throw him a feast in the middle of SHTF and the breakdown of logistics/supplies, and/or give him shit like NODs.

Yep.

The other 2 in the trilogy (One Year After, and The Final Day) are good, too.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

oh

3 book series starts with https://www.amazon.com/dp/1544987234?tag=arfcom00-20

written by an Arfcommer

Hell yeah. The series that introduced me to the G11.
Looked into acquire the entire series a few years ago and was shocked at how many there were in the series and cost.

I sold most of mine before a move, sadly.

Would like to read them again.

Fire from the Sky - N.C. Reed (First of a series)

Tertiary Effects series and Walking in the Rain series - William Allen