Books like Greenhouse Summer
27 science fiction books to read after Greenhouse Summer, by Norman Spinrad, the closest match first.
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1. The Stand
by King, Stephen
- On the same lists
A popular novel, and possibly King's best, is an end-of-the world story caused by the accidental release of a mutating influenza virus that wipes out 99% of humanity.
You either love him or hate him (and if you do hate him, it's probably because every second sentence is a ridiculous metaphor), but there's no denying that Stephen King...
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2. Planet Of The Apes
by Boulle, Pierre
- On the same lists
The book that launched a cinematic saga is a version of Xenofiction taking place on another planet where apes are intelligent and civilized.
In the year 2500, a French journalist joins an expedition to a planet near Betelgeuse and finds a world ruled by intelligent apes, where humans are mute animals kept in...
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3. Empire Of The East
by Saberhagen, Fred
- On the same lists
ARDNEH (Automatic Restoration Director, National Executive Headquarters) was a super computer that averted nuclear war by—temporarily; or that was the plan—dicking with the local laws of physics and preventing nuclear...
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4. The Postman
by Brin, David
- On the same lists
Made into a much—wrongly!—maligned movie, Postman is set in a post-apocalyptic world, in which the United States has fallen apart into a lawless patchwork of civil disorder. That's what powerful...
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5. The Furies
by Keith Roberts
- On the same lists
Dinosaurs popping up everywhere? How about giant, semi-intelligent wasps? In this novel by the late Keith Roberts we get a different kind of menace, unleashed in apparent consequence of the...
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6. The White Plague
by Herbert, Frank
- On the same lists
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...
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7. Farnham's Freehold
by Heinlein, Robert A.
- On the same lists
This novel was first published in 1964, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation—a real apocalypse!—still fresh on people's minds. In this...
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8. The Drowned World
by J. G. Ballard
- On the same lists
Remember the fist apocalypse? You don't? I guess you're not all that old then. It's the one with the flood. Heard of it? Noah and the animals and the ship...
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9. The Quiet Earth
by Craig Harrison
- On the same lists
Here's a very cool novel by a New Zealand author, that was made into a pretty good film as well. Geneticist John Hobson wakes up from a nightmare and finds...
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10. Resurrection Day
by Brendan Dubois
- On the same lists
The British Empire v2.0? Hard to believe, I know. What could precipitate such an event? Well, if's a nuclear conflict in 1982 between the US and the USSR, which leaves...
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11. The Iron Dream
by Norman Spinrad
- Same author
In an alternate history, Hitler becomes a Sci Fi writer in the US.
I thought I was all out of Hitler jokes, until The Iron Dream came along, and offered up an alternate history Hitler who, instead of being the Fuhrer as we...
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12. The Children Of Men
by P.d. James
- On the same lists
The ultimate nightmare of the world's males came true in 1994. (In the novel anyway, though there are some suggestions that things are trending that way.) The sperm count of...
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Maddaddam book 1 Start here
13. Oryx And Crake
by Margaret Atwood
- On the same lists
It's difficult to summarize what this tale is all 'about.' That's maybe the hardest and most challenging aspect of this novel. It starts after the collapse of civilization and focuses...
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14. Lucifer's Hammer
by Larry Niven And Jerry Pournelle
- On the same lists
and Jerry Pournelle. Jerry Pournelle. The villainous asteroid has become a common trope of this sub-genre.
Its anticipated to zip close past Earth, so they send to a space-mission to visit it, and then end up realizing that the damn thing is going to hit us...
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15. Immortality Inc
by Robert Sheckley
- On the same lists
Many of those in the Transhumanist camp believe that sooner or later, in a twisted take on the 'reincarnation' mythos, we'll be able to effectively separate minds from bodies and...
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Quantrill book 1 Start here
16. Systemic Shock
by Dean Ing
- On the same lists
Ted Quantrill is a freak: he fastest gun in the West (and probably the world). After the total collapse of Russia, India and China band together (unlikely, I know, but...
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17. Bug Jack Barron
by Norman Spinrad
- Same author
One of the great taboos that the new wave broke was political engagement. This was an era when everyone engaged in politics, from Vietnam protests to feminist campaigns to Stonewall,...
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18. The Men In The Jungle
by Norman Spinrad
- Same author
On the planet Sangre (Spanish for 'blood') there exists a divided society so brutal that it makes your average Earth-bound slavery society look like a humanitarian enterprise. The sub-class is...
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19. The Void Captain's Tale
by Norman Spinrad
- Same author
Humans travel the universe using a technology that they don't fully understand. Ships are piloted by women who are sybiotically linked with the space drive—they are called the void pilot and they are rare.
Humans travel the universe using a technology that they don't fully understand. Ships are piloted by women who are sybiotically linked with the space drive—they are called the void pilot...
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20. Footprints Of Thunder
by James F. David
- On the same lists
This book was made into a movie, and a pretty good one at that, though by necessity not as complex and in-depth as the book. Crichton does have a habit...
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21. Modern Classics The Death Of Grass
by John Christopher
- On the same lists
Also known as No Blade of Grass, this was one of John Christopher's classic cosy catastrophes, although there is very little that is cosy in this post-apocalyptic tale.In Asia, a...
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22. The Disappearance
by Philip Wylie
- On the same lists
The apocalypse here is kind of personal. The world's just fine to start with, but... From one moment to the next all the women disappear from the world of men—and...
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23. World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War
by Max Brooks
- On the same lists
The zombie war told as interviews with the survivors, Max Brooks's chilling oral history.
The Zombie Apocalypse has become one of the most pervasive themes in sf and horror over the last few years, so much so that it has escaped genre and become...
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24. Earth Abides
by George R. Stewart
- On the same lists
A classic Sci Fi novel where an unexpected pandemic turns into an extinction level event.
Earth Abides is something of a rarity among the work of George R. Stewart. He wrote mostly biographies and studies of American history, and when he did write fiction, as...
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25. Stand On Zanzibar
by John Brunner
- On the same lists
In the 1960s, when overpopulation was a common worry for the future, it was often said that the entire population of the world could stand on the Isle of Wight....
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26. The Time Machine
by Wells, H. G.
- On the same lists
Follow a time traveller into an alien-like future Earth to witness the consequences of humanity's social and biological choices and evolution.
A mechanical contraption that lets you travel back in time. Classic steampunk from a classic author.
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Triffids book 1 Start here
27. The Day Of The Triffids
by John Wyndham
- On the same lists
The world changes when a meteor shower leaves most of the world's population blind. The event is augmented by the flesh-eating and mobile plants.
In Billion Year Spree, his epic history of science fiction, Brian Aldiss coined the term "cosy catastrophe" for the sorts of novels that John Wyndham wrote. Well, they are certainly...
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to Greenhouse Summer.
The shortlist
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