Do you have a Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Obsession?
Readers have been fascinated by the survival of the human race for centuries. Did you know that Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man in 1826? Sure, it wasn’t truly accepted and appreciated until the 1900s, but imaginations of a terrifyingly disastrous future stirred long before Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes was first adapted to the silver screen in 1968.
For me, my quasi-obsession with post-apocalyptic fiction began in 2008 when I first read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The pain and hardship Father suffered to protect Son from evil and yet instill goodness in the face of death and darkness left a permanent mark on my psyche. Since then, I have lived many adventures searching for the last thread of humanity when humanity itself is threatened, and collecting survival experiences.
“I began researching zombie culture as less of a fan and more as a possibility and I asked myself what I would do as a survivor in a true zombie apocalypse. One of the first important notes I made was that I would want to survive.” - Richard Schwarz
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When faced with a pandemic affecting millions of humans on every continent, it will be hard to find somewhere safe to close my eyes at night. The ocean as a source of freedom: well, I hadn’t thoroughly investigated this concept until reading this Colin Drysdale story. The shores have always been a mental boundary for me, the end of places to run. But no longer. Now I just need to learn how to sail…and fish.
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Life after an alien invasion will be tough on the survivors. Cassandra Duffy demonstrates the weakness in human nature even in times of peril, but this lesson shows me how important it is to form a community based on trust and not superiority. Finding others who complement my strengths and counterbalance my weaknesses will provide a greater chance of survival for the whole group. Now I need to work on my steampunk engineering skills.
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Written in 1912, Jack London sets his story of primal-human survival in 2073. After a plague sweeps across the world in 2013, one person per million remained immune, left to maintain life and pass the knowledge of all that was lost. It will be easy to forget so much when faced with the death of a species, but it is vital to remember what came before. Keeping a witten record of memories and stories will ensure that civilization survives for the generations that follow the crash of the digital age.
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What would it be like to come back from an off-grid vacation to a world that had totally changed? I like to think that I am capable of taking charge in such a post-apocalyptic world, and that my survival instincts have been well developed to not only survive…but thrive.
“He jammed his trusty Alice Pack with six quarts of water and then did a review of the remaining items: electrolyte tabs, shemagh, sunscreen, first aid kit, Mora knife, headlamp, poncho, 20′ of 550 cord, spark rod, signal mirror, Iodine tabs, 2 remaining protein bars, sunglasses, brimmed hat, faded gloves, and a Ziploc with a soaked cotton shirt. He would later don the latter garment during the heat of the day have keep cool.”
JT Sawyer has definitely shown me the importance of being ready. I have a Camelbak bag used for hiking that I need to repack!
Terrorists, pandemic, nuclear fallout, financial collapse, extinction level natural event: it could happen in a dozen different ways, but the question is “ARE YOU READY?”
