Modern 'Realistic' Survival Fiction?

Outdoors » Essential Survival Guides & Fiction

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Modern 'Realistic' Survival Fiction?

Posted: 6/3/2011 9:56:18 AM EDT

I saw the book list which is staggering to say the least, so thought I'd ask for recommendations for something more specific. I really enjoy modern survival fiction with a 'realistic' twist (e.g. not interested in Zombie / SciFi stuff).

My favorites so far (and what I'm trying to find more of):
- One Second After
- Lights Out
- Patriots
- The Road

Anything along these lines you guys recommend I check out? I'm dying for a new book!

Thanks,
Mike BD]

Posted: 6/3/2011 10:39:22 AM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:
I saw the book list which is staggering to say the least, so thought I'd ask for recommendations for something more specific. I really enjoy modern survival fiction with a 'realistic' twist (e.g. not interested in Zombie / SciFi stuff).

My favorites so far (and what I'm trying to find more of):
- One Second After
- Lights Out
- Patriots
- The Road

Anything along these lines you guys recommend I check out? I'm dying for a new book!

Thanks,
Mike BD]

Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

J-

Posted: 6/3/2011 11:07:05 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

J-

This, if you keep in mind the era in which it was written (1950s). The concepts still apply but some of the technology is WAY out of date.

Posted: 6/3/2011 1:37:35 PM EDT

[#3]

Thanks! I'll definitely check it out - Anything else that takes place in recent years I should pick up as well?

Posted: 6/4/2011 5:59:36 AM EDT

[#4]

Tom Sherry's Books Deep Winter and 2nd book called Shatter - the third, called Remnant, I just couldn't get into.

I sure hope no one say's Rawles "Patriots", it's nothing but a guns and gear wet dream.

Posted: 6/5/2011 1:07:13 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Tom Sherry's Books Deep Winter and 2nd book called Shatter - the third, called Remnant, I just couldn't get into.

I sure hope no one say's Rawles "Patriots", it's nothing but a guns and gear wet dream.

Patriots!!! I liked it...

I didn't care for "One Second After" all that much. It kinda bored the crap out of me. "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" by Mathew Bracken left me wanting to kill the main character myself. His incessant whining was pure torture! Everybody has their own likes and dislikes. The "Jakarta Pandemic" wasn't too bad.

Posted: 6/6/2011 7:40:12 AM EDT

[#6]

I'm a big fan of Aftermath, the online story by a guy named Al Steiner. It's got a lot of gratuitous sex scenes in it(but he wrote it for a sex story website, so that makes sense), but even if you skip all the sex scenes, I think it's a well-written story, and the guy shows a good example of a defense-in-depth.
You have to register at the site, but you can download the whole book one chapter at a time and read it on your own computer.
The story is at http://storiesonline.net/sex-story/34601

I just noticed you didn't mention Lucifer's Hammer, by Niven and Pournelle. I've always considered that one of the best paperbacks available.

Posted: 6/6/2011 6:09:39 PM EDT

[#7]

You might also try Wolf and Iron. Might be hard to find as I think it's been OOP for a few years.

Posted: 6/6/2011 6:31:30 PM EDT

[#8]

Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

A comet hits the Earth, almost everyone dies, civilization falls. Set in the late 1970s.

Steve

Posted: 6/8/2011 2:35:09 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
I'm a big fan of Aftermath, the online story by a guy named Al Steiner. It's got a lot of gratuitous sex scenes in it(but he wrote it for a sex story website, so that makes sense), but even if you skip all the sex scenes, I think it's a well-written story, and the guy shows a good example of a defense-in-depth.
You have to register at the site, but you can download the whole book one chapter at a time and read it on your own computer.
The story is at http://storiesonline.net/sex-story/34601

I just noticed you didn't mention Lucifer's Hammer, by Niven and Pournelle. I've always considered that one of the best paperbacks available.

I always thought of Lucifer's Hammer to be the inspiration for Aftermath. Though I think Aftermath's inclusion of the long rainy period to be more realistics.

Funny that Niven dindn't include the rain so much in the 'Hammer but he did in Footfall

Posted: 6/10/2011 8:44:43 AM EDT

[#10]

I figured Lucifer's Hammer had some influence on Aftermath, too. I've thought for years Lucifer's Hammer would be a good "hub" idea for people in different parts of the country to write their story around. Each person could write their story about what survivors in that part of the country experienced. Aftermath could be one of many connected stories.

Posted: 6/10/2011 8:54:00 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
I figured Lucifer's Hammer had some influence on Aftermath, too. I've thought for years Lucifer's Hammer would be a good "hub" idea for people in different parts of the country to write their story around. Each person could write their story about what survivors in that part of the country experienced. Aftermath could be one of many connected stories.

That would work well, the same could be said of David's Lights Out scenario as well.

Posted: 6/12/2011 2:51:39 AM EDT

[#12]

I'm always amazed at the number of times the same 4 or 5 internet-originated books get mentioned in these threads.

edit:

If you're looking for those home-written SHTF -type stories, start here:

http://www.shtfinfo.com/shtffiles/books_and_reading

If you're looking for the commercially produced stuff, I posted a list of my collection in the thread I think you were referring to.

Posted: 6/24/2011 3:39:36 PM EDT

[#13]

Self-written, Texas reality-based SHTF fiction. Couple of run-on sentences I am still editing.

Big Ugly

Posted: 6/24/2011 4:15:51 PM EDT

[#14]

Lights out got me started in the genre, that guy is great.

Most of the books I have seen setup a main character, typically a retired nam vet as the hub of the story.
Barking out orders to civvies and setting up everything in military jargon makes for a convenient setup.
(I know they do this as a teaching aid more than anything)

In sudden SHTF, most people aren't going to have a group leader of this status. They will be at work when it happens, or even out
of town. The wife may be stranded on a highway full of parked cars, the kids in a school bus and sick relatives in nursing homes
with no power.

If SHTF comes on slowly, you may lose your job and suffer a gradual decline as a sick family member requires all your time.

Some guys with $3000 ar15's at the ready may find themselves too weak to hold it as the BG's contaminated the water supply to their subdivision.
Underground economies should surface, even children would command a higher price with the sickos.

Our enemies may not be heavy bearded guys with robes, but college kids with Engineering degrees and a taste for explosives.
Our enemies may be our neighbors.

When you use the term "reality" it can paint a pretty grim picture even for the most prepared.

Regards.

Posted: 6/25/2011 1:00:44 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Tom Sherry's Books Deep Winter and 2nd book called Shatter - the third, called Remnant, I just couldn't get into.

I sure hope no one say's Rawles "Patriots", it's nothing but a guns and gear wet dream.

Patriots!!! I liked it...

I didn't care for "One Second After" all that much. It kinda bored the crap out of me. "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" by Mathew Bracken left me wanting to kill the main character myself. His incessant whining was pure torture! Everybody has their own likes and dislikes. The "Jakarta Pandemic" wasn't too bad.

I thought Patriot was a complete piece of crap. Poorly written to say the least, and completely stupid if nothing else.
OK so we gun down a half dozen guys in their sleep, and then kneel to pray? WTF! Total crap. I literally had to force myself to read it.

Posted: 6/25/2011 2:43:23 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

I thought Patriot was a complete piece of crap. Poorly written to say the least, and completely stupid if nothing else.

OK so we gun down a half dozen guys in their sleep, and then kneel to pray? WTF! Total crap. I literally had to force myself to read it.

I just finished reading it a second time - I couldn't get all the way through on the first try. It's not as bad as I recall, though for my taste there's a bit too much focus on the Bible-type stuff. It also feels like a poorly disguised endorsement for the exact gear I'd expect Rawles to have.

And the "James Wesley, Rawles" nonsense is just that.

Posted: 6/25/2011 4:30:37 PM EDT

[#17]

I got Black Monday / R. Scott Reiss audio book from the Liberry. It’s pretty good.

“An epidemiologist in search of an antidote to a microbe that infected the worlds oil supply watches in horror as food becomes scarce, neighbor attacks neighbor, and governments collapse “

Plus, I'll vouch for Alas, Babylon & Lucifer’s Hammer

I’m looking into Aftermath right now. I want to get right to skipping some sex scenes.

Posted: 6/25/2011 4:59:39 PM EDT

[#18]

Cold Camp by TimJ. Its probably tied with Lights Out on my list.

Posted: 6/26/2011 5:53:19 PM EDT

[#19]

I read Big Ugly!

I really enjoyed it! I could not put it down.

I really hope you write more and make it available here.

Thanks Anglowulf!

Posted: 6/26/2011 8:18:27 PM EDT

[#20]

I wrote a story called Flip of the coin. Its posted here on ar.com I'd say it is more political\military than survival though.

Posted: 6/27/2011 9:40:27 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
. It's not as bad as I recall, though for my taste there's a bit too much focus on the Bible-type stuff.

Yeah I noticed through the iterations it kept getting more prominent. I wonder if that had to do with some religious fervor he was having at the time or if it was a response to a large portion of his readership?

It also feels like a poorly disguised endorsement for the exact gear I'd expect Rawles to have.

Well the book was written as a 'How-To' manual so I'd expect him to suggest and talk about gear he has used and likes. I'd also note in his screenplay version he changes both the camo pattern and .308 rifle to ones that are currently more common than the items originally in the story.

I guess enough people mentioned that H&K's were rare & pricey and hard to come by, and DPM was not longer a bargain.

Posted: 7/14/2011 8:36:32 PM EDT

[#22]

Thanks for the feedback, Big Ugly was my first. Starting another one now with much fewer mistakes.

It' called "GRIM". First 12,000 words or so...

Regards,

Anglowulf

GRIM

Posted: 7/16/2011 8:55:01 PM EDT

[#23]

http://carryondamaris.blogspot.com/2011/06/chapter-one.html

Good, realistic, survial story. She has all of her other stories linked here, too. Mostly from a woman's POV, but still entertaining to me. There is one zombie-themed story, but I still enjoyed it.

Posted: 7/26/2011 8:48:57 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Thanks for the feedback, Big Ugly was my first. Starting another one now with much fewer mistakes.

It' called "GRIM". First 12,000 words or so...

Regards,

Anglowulf

GRIM

Good stuff; keep it coming.

Posted: 7/26/2011 12:28:12 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
Thanks for the feedback, Big Ugly was my first. Starting another one now with much fewer mistakes.

It' called "GRIM". First 12,000 words or so...

Regards,

Anglowulf

GRIM

Reading "The Big Ugly" now. Awesome so far.

Posted: 7/26/2011 12:33:33 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Tom Sherry's Books Deep Winter and 2nd book called Shatter - the third, called Remnant, I just couldn't get into.

I sure hope no one say's Rawles "Patriots", it's nothing but a guns and gear wet dream.

I'll second that opinion on the Deep Winter books. First was pretty good... made me order the second. Barely made it through the third without giving up.

Posted: 7/27/2011 6:23:08 AM EDT

[#27]

I enjoyed Pax Americana back in the day. If anybody has a copy of all 88 chapters please feel free to share it , I would like to read it again.

Posted: 7/28/2011 7:28:39 PM EDT

[#28]

Hey thanks...
The Big Ugly is seems a bit embarrassing for me at the moment, my first book and it has quite a few errors.

I learned from my mistakes and GRIM is going in alot smoother, though it has a weird humor to it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Anglowulf

Posted: 4/2/2012 3:11:28 PM EDT

[#29]

Used up a holiday gift card today to buy:

The Return Man by V.M. Zito.
Premise: Post -apoc USA where the West Coast has been wiped out by plague

Plague Zone by Jeff Carlson. This is third in a series; I have the first two
Premise: continuation of the previous books. Life in a post-plague USA thats decimated the population

and

Everything is Broken by John Shirley.
Premise: a town has been functioning outside the aid of the Fed and State gov'ts until a tsunami wipes out the West Coast. Story apparently deals with the aftermath.

I will post a furher review after I'm done reading them.

Posted: 4/4/2012 4:29:31 AM EDT

[#30]

Half way through the Return Man, and so far I'm having major issues with the guys tactics.

It is essentially a zombie book. Everyone West of the Mississippi is the walking dead, and no one from the east is allowed across the river. This guy is the sole living guy in the West, and he goes around fulfilling contracts from living survivors who want their zombified relatives put down.

His tactics are horrendous and he has narrowly escaped death half a dozen times in the first half of the book by sheer luck.

He just entered a zombie filled train with only his Glock and no reloads, leaving all of his ammo and long guns in his iddling car alongside the train. The zombies then get off the train and swarm the car, cutting him off from any resupply or egress.

Basically, save your money unless you find it on the discount rack.

Posted: 4/4/2012 5:30:43 AM EDT

[#31]

How is the Plauge Zone series?

Posted: 4/4/2012 5:35:57 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
How is the Plauge Zone series?

I read the first two, haven't cracked the third. Basically there are nano-bugs that got released into the environment that killed everything below a certain altitude across the globe. The only surviving life below that altitude are swarms of ants, cockroaches etc that swarm and eat anything they find.

Posted: 4/5/2012 2:25:36 PM EDT

[#33]

The Jakarta Epidemic

It is not free, but its not real expensive in the Kindle edition. The price is now $3.55.

I found this story compelling, despite some goofy things.

The main character and his family are vegetarians for one thing.

There are some things I don't buy - like the scene where the main character's boss comes with a couple goons to his house to recover the company computer and vehicle. Just does not ring true.

There is a lot more faith in anti-virals as a defense against the flu then is probably warranted.

The meat of the story is pretty good. A former USMC officer, now a pharmaceutical rep, quits his job as a flu epidemic hits the world. The epidemic is deadly and widespread across the world. The US medical system is overwhelmed.

The story focuses on our hero and his efforts to help himself and his family survive the collapse of society as food and fuel become scarce, and the unprepared turn on the less unprepared.

There are a lot of events in the book I could criticize as being maybe unlikely, but I kind of came to the conclusion that there is no real way to know how this kind of an event will play out.

I am not sure there are any lessons to be learned from the book about how such an epidemic might play out. My guess is it overstates the magnitude of such an event. The Spanish flu of 1918 is a pretty good gauge of how things might go, and society did not collapse, and medical care for the flu was all but non-existent back then. I suspect we probably would muddle through a lot better than the book portrays, but the author has a right to his own idea of a proper storyline.

Most of it is written well enough that if you like this type of SHTF/TEOTWAWKI type books, you will probably enjoy it. At $3.99 for the Kindle edition, it is well worth it.

Posted: 4/5/2012 2:32:04 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I thought Patriot was a complete piece of crap. Poorly written to say the least, and completely stupid if nothing else.
OK so we gun down a half dozen guys in their sleep, and then kneel to pray? WTF! Total crap. I literally had to force myself to read it.

I just finished reading it a second time - I couldn't get all the way through on the first try. It's not as bad as I recall, though for my taste there's a bit too much focus on the Bible-type stuff. It also feels like a poorly disguised endorsement for the exact gear I'd expect Rawles to have.

And the "James Wesley, Rawles" nonsense is just that.

The nutty religious stuff and even nuttier militia nonsense turned me off too.

Posted: 4/5/2012 2:46:21 PM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:
Half way through the Return Man, and so far I'm having major issues with the guys tactics.

It is essentially a zombie book. Everyone West of the Mississippi is the walking dead, and no one from the east is allowed across the river. This guy is the sole living guy in the West, and he goes around fulfilling contracts from living survivors who want their zombified relatives put down.

His tactics are horrendous and he has narrowly escaped death half a dozen times in the first half of the book by sheer luck.

He just entered a zombie filled train with only his Glock and no reloads, leaving all of his ammo and long guns in his iddling car alongside the train. The zombies then get off the train and swarm the car, cutting him off from any resupply or egress.

Basically, save your money unless you find it on the discount rack.

I liked that he was fallible, and made mistakes. He was just an ordinary guy. Not an LEO, military, or former military. It seems as if every book you grab the guy was some Tier 1 operator, has awesome gear, and never screws up. Too cookie cutter!

I got an advance copy from the author several months ago and could only truly find a couple factual errors. Aside from that, like I said, I like the character.

Posted: 4/5/2012 6:33:29 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

I liked that he was fallible, and made mistakes. He was just an ordinary guy. Not an LEO, military, or former military. It seems as if every book you grab the guy was some Tier 1 operator, has awesome gear, and never screws up. Too cookie cutter!

I got an advance copy from the author several months ago and could only truly find a couple factual errors. Aside from that, like I said, I like the character.

It wasn't BAD for his first book, but I can't find it believeable that a guy who has survived by his wits for 4 years would go into a train full of zombies with only a Glock and a single mag, leaving his long guns in the car.

The twist with the wife and scientist coworker was interesting

Too many near misses and sheer-luck escapes.

Now working on "Everything is Broken"

Posted: 4/6/2012 8:14:52 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
It wasn't BAD for his first book, but I can't find it believeable that a guy who has survived by his wits for 4 years would go into a train full of zombies with only a Glock and a single mag, leaving his long guns in the car.
"

Death Wish? (suicide by zombie)

Ego? (Yeah I'm so bad-ass I can go in there with just a Glock and 1 mag....)

Bored? (Too easy with the AR & 30 rounders, Let's make it a challenge - will till he starts going in there with his knife only ala COD).

In any event doesn't sound like a character I can relate to.

Posted: 4/10/2012 12:28:15 PM EDT

[#38]

Now on to Daybreak Zero by John Barnes.

Thought I MUST have read this one at some point, but the hardcover only came out a year ago. Then I realized I had read the first book in the series called Directive 51 about a year ago

Everything thats plasticized on the planet melts into piles of glop. Something on the moon is shooting EMP pulses at the planet, etc

Posted: 4/10/2012 6:39:32 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
Self-written, Texas reality-based SHTF fiction. Couple of run-on sentences I am still editing.

Big Ugly

I downloaded and read the first 200 pages in two days

. Really a good read! thanks for posting it!

Posted: 4/15/2012 4:57:01 AM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:

Thanks for the feedback, Big Ugly was my first. Starting another one now with much fewer mistakes.

It' called "GRIM". First 12,000 words or so...

Regards,

Anglowulf

GRIM

is there another link for this that one dont work for me,preferably one that will work on my kindle thanks

Posted: 5/3/2012 9:48:19 PM EDT

[#41]

i liked Enemies Foriegn and Domestic, Domestic Eniemies, and im almost half way done with the final book Foriegn Enemies and Traitors. The first two are a lead up but the last is all SHTF scary similarities to our world today. I like it becasue it is a series of events and series of mistakes by the government that leads up to the collapse. and the "occupy" people are in the book kinda.

Posted: 5/8/2012 4:02:11 PM EDT

[#42]

Aftershock, by dotB, deals with survival after an earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific Northwest, however the story is set in a nautical environment at first, moving to an island later. It's posted on an adult stories website so I'll leave the link cold.

http://storiesonline.net/s/43310

Posted: 5/19/2012 4:36:35 PM EDT

[#43]

I just finished Lights Out and thought it was pretty good. The multitudes of battle scenes kind of wore on me after awhile. Overall a pretty good book.

Posted: 5/19/2012 5:29:32 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I thought Patriot was a complete piece of crap. Poorly written to say the least, and completely stupid if nothing else.
OK so we gun down a half dozen guys in their sleep, and then kneel to pray? WTF! Total crap. I literally had to force myself to read it.

I just finished reading it a second time - I couldn't get all the way through on the first try. It's not as bad as I recall, though for my taste there's a bit too much focus on the Bible-type stuff. It also feels like a poorly disguised endorsement for the exact gear I'd expect Rawles to have.

And the "James Wesley, Rawles" nonsense is just that.

+1 except that I couldn't get through it and have no intention of trying again. Too much other good stuff out there.

Posted: 5/21/2012 4:37:22 AM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
Self-written, Texas reality-based SHTF fiction. Couple of run-on sentences I am still editing.

Big Ugly

Just finished book 1 last night. Really enjoying this.

EDIT: Finished it up tonight. Are you planning to continue this story?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Modern 'Realistic' Survival Fiction?

Outdoors » Essential Survival Guides & Fiction

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us