Happy Earth Day!
When I was younger Earth Day to me meant an opportunity to learn about ways to conserve our precious planet and how to pass that information onto others around me. Now that I am much older and live planet conscious everyday of my life, Earth Day has become an excuse to read or watch some of my favorite post apocalyptic or dystopian works. This genre of literature has quadrupled in popularity in recent years. Some call it the Hunger Games effect, but honestly this genre was solidified to be one I sought out, after I read Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series (2005) and was hooked for good.
However when I go back into time, I recall reading many dystopian works in high school & college years and so I am not surprised by the fact that I still crave to read about this genre. Maybe it is my doom & gloom outlook when it comes to the destruction of society, but somewhere inside me I think maybe I will learn some essential skills in order to survive when the apocalypse finally comes. It is no surprise that I have read a lot of the classics (and highly recommend if you haven’t read them yet) including Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd, and Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
I feel like I could name 50 more titles, but that would be boring…but also do not forget some of the more horror leaning PA or Dystopian works that fall into the zombie or mutant sub-genres. One amazingly brilliant young adult zombie post-apocalyptic series I would highly recommend is the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant. I tell everyone I know to read that series as it is written brilliantly, there is a lot to learn from and it feels so damn real once you are emerged into the story.
Now with all of the PA & Dystopian genre titles hitting the big & little screens with the Hunger Games Catching Fire Movie to be released in November 2013 and the Divergent Movie in production as well as Delirium TV pilot in the works…I can guarantee these books will be fiercely published and adapted, so be sure to read the classics so you know which factions the stories are being derived from. We must always learn from our past in order to be successful in our futures.
So I pose this question to you? What is your favorite Post-Apocalyptic or Dystopian work?
Let us know in the comments & maybe a giveaway will be in order if we get at least 15 comments!
*edit* If we reach 15 comments; I will pick one of you to win a poster prize pack and a dystopian or PA ebook of your choice (up to $10)!!!
Oh & Happy Earth Day, let’s be sure to enjoy it while it lasts!
The books the made fall in love with the post-apocoliptic genera again was Hunger Games. However, the series I read when I was young was Ender’s Game. That was my first step into science fiction/post apocoliptic reading. So I guess I have an young boy named Ender and a planet of bugs to thank for my many great years of reading.
Oh yes, Samantha! I forgot about Ender’s Game! Great choice to add to the list for sure!