What is post-apocalyptic fiction?

I’m that guy who hasn’t met an end-of-the-world flick he doesn’t enjoy. Maybe I’ve been lucky to stumble into decent, if sometimes campy, movies and books about the collapse of society. Or perhaps there is something wrong with me. What could be a bigger red flag than watching society crumble under the weight of zombies or aliens or whatever?

Writing it.

Yes, like many authors and movie directors, I get a strange satisfaction out of ending the status quo—fictionally, of course. Let’s be honest. Everyone loves toilet paper and climate control. The ability to order a pizza is also something I’m hesitant to let give up.

At present, I have written seventy-four sci-fi books for publication. A few are yet to be released, but they’re done. And guess what? There were a lot of other books and stories before those. I’m a lifelong word gatherer. A storyteller. A daydreamer with varying degrees of discipline and a desire to share some of my creations.

I love crafting military sci-fi and space opera stories. But I also love fantasy (George R. R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, and to a certain extent, Bernard Cornwell, though he is probably closer to historical fiction than low magic fantasy). Speaking of which, the works of Patrick O’Brian (Master and Commander) and C. S. Forester (Horatio Hornblower) are among my all-time favorites.

Thrillers, comedies, and urban fantasies are on my physical and digital shelves.

Which brings us to the post-apocalyptic genre.

I never sought to learn the genre as writers sometimes do. When I did my pre-blogging research, it became evident that I definitely do have some favorites.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy left a deep mark on me. I’ll never write anything that dark, hopefully. But man, that dude can string together some words.

Years before I came across The Road, I read The Stand—and should get serious props for muscling through all 1,000 pages. Great book with all the Stephen King character-building you can handle.

A lot of people will disagree with me, but I thought Stephen King’s Gunslinger Series was a bit post-apoc, but also dystopian and fantasy. And horror, because why not?

The Walking Dead was at least two seasons deep before I found the time to dive in. At the time, I was working nights and was on callout for SWAT and EMCU at my department. Plus, there were the always necessary part-time security jobs that me and a lot of cops signed up for to pay the bills. But once I sat down and started watching, I was hooked… until season seven or eight when I’d just kind of had enough and was annoyed that they kept promising to explain the outbreak but never did. Not all post-apocalyptic stories involve zombies, but there have been a bunch over the last ten years and I watched at least half of them. (Had to stop when my dreams started featuring the undead on a regular basis. That’s what you get for binge watching that stuff, right?)

A friend recommended the Book of Eli, and, like the dummy I am, it took me years to watch it. Did I love it? Of course. It kicked so much ass.

So what about Mad Max? I watched the second movie first, and then all the others. I was thirteen and didn’t see it in the theaters. I was maybe fourteen by the time it made it to video or HBO. Either way, it spoke to me as a young man learning to drive… I’ve watched it so many times since then.

More recently, I enjoyed A Quiet Place, a newish spin on the genre. Alien invasions work well in a genre that requires a total collapse of everything we know and love.

What is post-apocalyptic fiction all about?

Survival, of course. Rebuilding and starting over—also, yes.

I think it comes down to characters you can cheer for and villains you want to see defeated. There is so much potential in this type of story world, and I am excited to explore it all. I hope you will check out my series when it’s published. Trying new things is scary. Breaking into a new genre niche is tough. My goal is to find a balance between artistic stimulation and keeping a roof over my family’s head. (They’re not interested in living off the land!)

In future blogs, I’d like to tackle each of these books, movies, and TV series individually. That will give me an excuse to watch and read them again.

Until next time, stay safe, and keep reading like you mean it.

Scott