First published 2013
This collection gathers outstanding post-apocalyptic stories published during a turbulent recent decade. The tales span multiple doomsday scenarios: cataclysmic climate change, political chaos, societal collapse, nuclear war, and pestilence. Each story operates on the premise that humanity endures even when civilization crumbles. Some survivors face grim realities while others find triumphant rebirth. The stories explore what existence becomes when familiar structures disappear. Death and disaster mark these narratives, but renewal and persistence drive them forward. Bacigalupi selected these works to help readers imagine life beyond catastrophe. The collection continues a literary tradition stretching from Gilgamesh through Norse Ragnarok prophecies to Saint John's Revelations to contemporary works like Cormac McCarthy's The Road and zombie apocalypse fiction.
Genres: fiction, post-apocalyptic, apocalyptic
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, renewal, resilience
Period: 21st Century
384 pages · Kindle Edition · Prime Books
Content warnings: death