post-apocalyptic fiction | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Book Review: Grave Predictions: Tales of Mankind’s Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, and Disastrous Destiny edited by Drew Ford

Grave Predictions: Tales of Man’s Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, and Disastrous Destiny edited by Drew Ford

Dover Publications, 2016

ISBN: 9780486802312

Available: paperback

In Grave Predictions, Drew Ford has selected some of the best representations of post-apocalyptic and dystopian short fiction available: stories both beautiful and terrifying. These include tales from some of the most outstanding authors of the genre, such as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Each story is far ahead of its time, with its own distinct presentation of the future, and evokes a range of emotions from the reader. It’s amazing how science fiction writers have more of a pulse on the future than most people care to recognize.

Eugene Mouton’s “The End of the World,” first published in 1872, presents a tragic story about global warming before it even had a name, and culminates in the proclamation that “THE EARTH IS DEAD.” In W. E. B. Du Bois’ “The Comet” (1920), Jim Davis, an African-American man, is sent down to the vaults on a task by the bank president, only to emerge to cold, dead world. It’s reminiscent of the Twilight Zone’s “Time Enough at Last” in that respect. As he makes his way down the city streets he finds Julia, a wealthy white woman, who is seemingly the other survivor. The theme of racial tensions and the breaking down and reconstruction of barriers is central to this story. Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” (1951) focuses on a writer who walks aimlessly through the city at night when he is stopped by robotic police for aberrant behavior. No one walks around the streets anymore when they have the warm glow of their televisions screens, after all. “Upon the Dull Earth” (1954), by Philip K. Dick is the tragic story of Silvia, Rick, and the fate of the world. Silvia summons angels, believing they are her ancestors who will someday usher her home. She intends to use lamb’s blood, but when she accidentally draws her own blood, they appear to take her home. Rick cannot accept her death, and tries to bring her back, even though it may mean the destruction of his world. In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “2 B R 0 2 B” (1962), the United States population has been limited to forty million people: someone must die in order for someone else to be born. Edward Wehling, Jr.’s wife is about to have triplets, but there is only one volunteer for euthanasia. Desperate, he finds a last minute solution to ensure his children will live. There is a witness to Edward’s predicament, who makes a fateful decision as well.

Other titles in this anthology include Arthur C. Clarke’s “No Morning After” (1954); Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967); Urusla K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973); Brian M. Stableford’s “The Engineer and the Executioner” (1976); Stephen King’s “The End of the Whole Mess” (1986); Joe R. Lansdale’s “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” (1992); Greg Bear’s “Judgment Engine”; Mark Samuels’ “The Black Mould” (2011); Ramsey Campbell’s “The Pretence” (2013); and Carmen Maria Machado’s “Inventory” (2013). Highly recommended.

Contains: racial epithets, abuse, body horror, disturbing imagery

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Book List: Dark Futures

There are a lot of people out there right now who are pretty scared and angry about what’s going on in the world, with reason. Our imaginings about the future can be pretty terrifying. Luckily, fiction gives us futures that, while they may be bleak, also leave us with a ray of hope for humanity. And, since they are fiction, we are only visitors there (and thank goodness). In this world, we still have libraries to help us escape and offer refuge. More than ever, I encourage you to use yours to find whatever stories or resources you need to keep your hope alive.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Twenty years ago, the great actor Arthur Leander had a heart attack and died onstage, the same night that a flu pandemic that quickly decimated civilization began to spread. Now a small band of survivors, calling themselves The Traveling Symphony, move from one tiny community to another, playing classical music and performing Shakespeare in a effort to keep the arts alive, as survival alone is not enough to keep us human. Station Eleven shifts back and forth between the pre-apocalypse storyline about Arthur Leander and his odd artist wife, and the post-apocalypse story of The Traveling Symphony and its often grim and dangerous path. It might sound like this is “literary”, and the jumping-back-and-forth does slow things down and keep you flipping pages, but it is a fascinating story about the power of the arts even in apocalyptic times.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller

After a nuclear holocaust that led to desolation, death, and mutations, the scientists were executed, and technology and knowledge were destroyed. There is one tiny order of monks that has dedicated itself to preserving any possible scrap remaining: the Order of Leibowitz, named after a Jewish scientist. The book is actually a set of three novellas, all involving the Order of Leibowitz, at different times. The first novella tells the story of Brother Francis, who is convinced he has met Leibowitz in the desert, and discovers a cache of documents that belonged to him in a previously undiscovered fallout shelter. The second novella takes place as a secular scholar, Thom Taddeo comes to examine the collection of scientific knowledge assembled at the abbey, at the beginning of a new age of enlightenment. The third novella takes place another six hundred years in the future, when advanced technology is easily available and humanity is on the brink of nuclear war once again. It’s a brilliant, if dense, novel, well worth reading.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I’m pretty sure we all have basic knowledge about Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s cautionary tale about the evils of trusting (and preferring) the trivialities we see on screens to the knowledge we can find within the pages of books. Guy Montag is a fireman, and his job is to burn books, but a neighbor’s distress on having her books burned causes him to have a crisis of faith. Spoiler: there are people out there trying to preserve literary culture in spite of society’s, and the government’s, dictates.

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Article 5 is the first book in a YA series that takes place after a terrible war has decimated most of the former United States. The government is now run by religious fundamentalists who have declared certain moral offenses punishable by death. Article 5 is the name of the provision condemning any woman who has sex outside of marriage. Teenage Ember is evidence of her unmarried mother’s transgression, and when the Moral Militia come for her, they take Ember to a “reform school” for girls in the same situation, to be educated into moral women, where they are punished if they violate any rules. Ember’s ex-boyfriend Chase, drafted into the Moral Militia years ago, breaks his training, and the rules, to get her out. While Ember is not particularly likable, and Chase’s character isn’t well developed (probably because Ember is the narrator, and she doesn’t seem to have any idea what’s going on), and the plot doesn’t make much sense, the bleak world that Simmons has drawn resonates eerily with what is going on in the world today. She’s built a terrifying near-future, but not one completely without hope.