The White Plague

Author: Frank Herbert

This story is set in Ireland, which doesn't happen in most post-apocalyptic tales. Doesn't happen in most of SF, if the truth be told. Molecular biologist becomes bi-polar as a result of the grief over a bomb killing his family. Plans revenge and releases a plague with the property that it's carried by men but kills women. Targets: Ireland, England and Lybia. Read the book to figure out why. He goes back to Ireland to sabotage any efforts to find a cure. (The man has serious issues!) World order breaks down, of course, and the curious male-transmitters and women-victims, creates some extra social strain. Governments take drastic action to sterilize infected areas with 'panic fire' and nuclear bombs. The world's armed forces come under the command of a single supreme commander. Logic dictates that polyandry (many-husband) marriages are going to be likely. Women, though scarcer, are likely to assume more the status of breeders than partners in such arrangements. Why it's on the list: A believable story, extrapolated, without too much suspension of disbelief from the time in which it was written (early 1980s), executed with the imagination of one of the premier authors in the genre. Ratings: Grimness: 5, Bizarreness: 1, Hope: 1, Fun-factor: 1.