Apocalyptic Science Fiction

Twenty-five years have passed since the cataclysmic event that left over three hundred million people in the dark and forever changed America, and the world. In the aftermath, Major Aaron Styles and his brave soldiers embarked on a perilous mission to hunt down those responsible, while Carl and Ella Raydon fought to bring their children to safety on their family ranch. As rumors began to circulate that Christian fundamentalists were behind the disaster, the faithful found themselves under siege, facing persecution and oppression from a world that had turned its back on God. The government ...

The world’s food supply grows aggressively, occupying every inch of earth, no matter how inhospitable. World hunger is averted. Humanity flourishes. RC-714 is digested, absorbed…and passed on. The Change affects small fast-breeding mammals first. They multiply with the same aggressive speed as the ExoGen plants, but an insatiable hunger drives them to violence. A war between species breaks out. When RC-714 reaches humanity, along with every other large creature on the planet, civilization implodes.

In Avenging Home, we see how the long-running battle between Morgan's people and their number one nemesis plays out. While Morgan thinks this is the biggest threat they face, there are things on the horizon he cannot yet see that are going to dwarf these problems. Morgan has lived in a vacuum. He's had little information about the outside world. While he's used radios to listen to what he can, there's been precious little real information.

Books has settled the Smoky Mountains following the events of the Territory Wars. His freehold doesn't have much worth trading that neighboring settlements need, but he and many other inhabitants don't necessarily consider this a bad thing. The low economic desirability of their freehold is what has allowed them to avoid fighting.

Two years ago, the end began. In 2036, a rapidly destabilizing climate culminated in a worldwide snowstorm that froze the entire planet. Billions are now dead due to starvation, disease, civil unrest, and the plummeting temperatures. What remains of humanity now live in small settlements or isolated makeshift villages, carving out miserable lives in this grim new reality. Some, like Chris Weston, choose to travel among the vast winter wastelands between the bastions of civilization. In the aftermath of the great collapse, Chris finds himself strangely suited for this new world.

For a decade now, the world has known of the existence of the immuno-degenerative and epidermal decomposition virus (strain two). The world governments and several civilian agencies have, so far, managed to keep the unimaginable from happening. They achieved it by keeping the outbreaks under control and preventing a global pandemic.

Grace Hardwick's dad is a science fiction writer who makes his living destroying the world. When Grace decides to go away for her first year of college her dad, Robert, can't help but think of all of the potential ways that society could collapse and strand his daughter hundreds of miles from home. Then, near the end of her freshman year, it happens.

“Aubrey clenched her hand over Alice’s mouth to muffle the cries of pain being caused by the pressure she was putting on her stomach wound. In the distance, she could hear their pursuers talking. Deacon was barking orders. Looking around at the abandoned warehouse, she saw ways to get out, but not for both of them, and she wasn’t leaving her twin behind. Certainly not for Deacon to find.” Ex-FBI agent Elijah Turk and twins, Aubrey and Alice Raydon, along with Cousin Evan Raydon, have opened a thrift store in St. Louis in the new America. They thought they could finally live a ...

In the middle of the coldest winter on record, a super EMP destroys the power grid. No electricity. No cars or phones. Worst of all, no heat. The country is plunged into instant chaos. But for 26-year-old Hannah Sheridan, it's the best day of her life. For the last five years, she's been held captive by a sadistic psychopath, until the EMP releases the lock of her prison. Hannah emerges from her underground cell into a hostile winter landscape with no way to call for help, no vehicle that will drive, armed with nothing but the clothes on her back and her own determination to survive.

In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: They can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.

In this barren home, siblings Conner, Rob, Palmer and Violet daily carve out a future. They live in the shadow of their father and oldest sister, Vic, two of the greatest sand divers ever to comb the desert’s depths. But these branches of their family tree are long gone, disappeared into the wastes beyond, leaving the younger siblings scratching in the dust, hopeful for a better life. On the other side of No Man’s Land, Anya was born beside the abundant mines knowing her prospects would be to marry, have a family, and work in ore, in service to the Empire of the East.

For many billions of years, humans - having conquered the curse of aging - spread throughout the entire Milky Way. They are able to live all their dreams, but to their great disappointment, no other intelligent species has ever been encountered. Now, humanity itself is on the brink of extinction because the universe is dying a protracted yet inevitable death.

Eight years ago, the world as we know it ended. Now, the last US government stronghold has sent a military recon team from Camp David to the bombed-out city of Seattle, but the mission turns deadly when a horde of horrifying mutant creatures are released onto the streets. Oliver Marcus and Trisha Pike, the only survivors of their nine-man team, are rescued by a group of scavengers led by their superhuman leader, River Kingston. Driven by the need to find her lost husband, River is drawn in by Mycroft, the invisible puppet master behind New Texas.

With "wonderfully logical detail...exciting storytelling and moving characterization" (Anthony Boucher), science fiction master Poul Anderson explores what happens when the next stage of evolution is thrust upon humanity and animals. As Earth passes out of a magnetic field that has suppressed intelligence for eons, the mental capacity for all mammals increases exponentially, radically changing the structures of society.

Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.

The reanimating virus left billions dead. The UK and Ireland remained safe. Until now. Deano and BD, a father and son a universe apart. Nothing in common. Not wanting anything in common. But today all that will change. Bedlam has been unleashed. The streets are swarming with infected and survival is all that matters. To make it, they’re going to have to trust each other, depend on each other, fight for each other like they never have before. The city is bleeding. Nowhere is safe. Will they find refuge before nightfall or is it already too late? One thing’s for sure.

In a powerless, desolate small town, Becky and Micah struggle to find essential supplies amidst looted stores and abandoned homes. With hope dwindling, they embark on a perilous journey through the wreckage, driven by a faint glimmer of survival. Each step reveals the harsh reality of their world and the relentless spirit needed to endure. This is a gripping tale of resilience and determination in the face of desolation.

The EMP has officially crippled the nation and her infrastructure sits in ruin. Can a burned-out DEA agent, a Guatemalan-born cartel daughter, and an estranged brother find their way back to their families, or will they succumb to the perils of a nation in steep decline? The Complete Age of Embers is a no-holds-barred post-apocalyptic adventure series chronicling a nationwide descent into a powerless world.

Hugh Howey is known for crafting riveting and immersive tales of boundless imagination. Now comes Machine Learning, an impressive collection of Howey's science fiction and fantasy short fiction, including three stories set in the world of Wool, two never-before-published tales written exclusively for this volume, and 15 additional stories collected here for the first time. These stories explore everything from artificial intelligence to parallel universes to video games, and each story is accompanied by an author's note.

When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.