This is an index of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic media mentioned on this blog or in my sources. I would consider these to be definitive works. This list will grow as the blog grows. In the meantime, if you’re looking for comprehensive lists of the thousands of works in the apocalyptic genre, click here or scroll to the bottom of the page.
End Times/Last days/Pre-apocalypse
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Novel (1990). By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
Last Night. Movie (1998). Directed by Don McKellar.
Global devastation (flood, ice, etc.)
2012. Movie (2009). Directed by Roland Emmerich.
Cat’s Cradle. Novel (1963). By Kurt Vonnegut.
The Children’s Hospital. Novel (2006). By Chris Adrian.
The Drowned World. Novel (1962). By J. G. Ballard.
Waterworld. Movie (1995). Directed by Kevin Reynolds.
Human disability (blindness, infertility, etc.)
The Children of Men. Novel (1992); adapted into film (2006). By P.D. James.
The Day of the Triffids. Novel (1951); adapted into film (1962) and as a television series (1981) and miniseries (2009). By John Wyndham.
Sleepless. Novel (2010). By Charlie Huston.
Meteor impact
Lucifer’s Hammer. Novel (1977); adapted as a comic book (1993). By Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Nuclear holocaust
Alas, Babylon. Novel (1959). By Pat Frank.
The Day After. Television miniseries (1983). Directed by Nicholas Meyer.
Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb. Novel (1965). By Philip K. Dick.
On the Beach. Novel (1957); adapted into film (1959) and for television (2000). By Nevil Shute.
Swan Song. Novel (1987). By Robert R. McCammon.
Pandemic/Plague (natural or bio-engineered)
Earth Abides. Novel (1949). By George R. Stewart.
The Last Man. Novel (1826). By Mary Shelley.
Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009). Novels with contemporaneous setting and time. By Margaret Atwood.
The Stand. Novel (1978); complete and uncut edition (1990); adapted as a television miniseries (1994); adapted as a comic book series (2008–). Related works are the short story “Night Surf”, published in the collection Night Shift (1978), and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997). By Stephen King.
Twelve Monkeys. Movie (1995). Directed by Terry Gilliam.
Post-apocalypse survival/societies
Always Coming Home. Novel (1985). By Ursula K. Le Guin.
Amnesia Moon. Novel (1995). By Jonathan Lethem.
A Canticle for Leibowitz. Novel (1960). Followed by Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (1997). By Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Chrysalids. Novel (1955). By John Wyndham.
Cloud Atlas. Novel (2004). By David Mitchell.
The Gate to Women’s Country. Novel (1988). By Sheri S. Tepper.
A Gift Upon the Shore. Novel (1990). By M. K. Wren.
Lilith’s Brood. Anthology of three novels: Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago (2000). By Octavia Butler.
The Postman. Novel (1985); adapted into film (1997). By David Brin.
Riddley Walker. Novel (1980). By Russell Hoban.
The Road. Novel (2006); adapted into film (2009). By Cormac McCarthy.
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. Short story anthology (2008). Edited by John Joseph Adams.
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Novel (1976). By Kate Wilhelm.
Societal collapse
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Nonfiction (2005). By Jared Diamond.
Mad Max. Movie (1979); followed by Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Directed by George Miller.
The Mote in God’s Eye. Novel (1974). By Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
World Made By Hand. Novel (2008). By James Howard Kunstler.
Technological collapse/revolt
Terminator film franchise: The Terminator (1984); Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991); Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003); Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles television series (2008-2009); Terminator Salvation (2009). Original two films directed by James Cameron. The franchise includes film novelizations, book series, comic book series and video games.
Undead takeover
I Am Legend. Novella (1954); adapted into film as The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971) and I Am Legend (2007); adapted as a comic book miniseries (1991). By Richard Matheson.
The Passage. Novel (2010). By Justin Cronin.
The Walking Dead. Comic book series (2003–); adapted as a television series (2010–). Created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Novel (2006). By Max Brooks.
World War III
A Boy and His Dog. Novella, collected in The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1969); adapted into film (1974). By Harlan Ellison.
The Folk of the Fringe. Short story collection (1989). By Orson Scott Card.
Bigger lists
These are comprehensive indexes elsewhere on the Web of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic works.
January 9th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
I suggest “Climate Wars” by Gwynne Dyer. Links are in my article Climate Wars including a CBC Ideas 3-part audio by the author.
January 22nd, 2011 at 10:54 pm
Great list! I’m sure I’ll be returning to it as a reference for my own reading. Thanks for compiling it.
Cinda
March 31st, 2011 at 7:43 pm
[...] This does not make me feel better. I read Sleepless. I know these are just the first signs of the apocalypse. Fortunately, I’ll likely be in the first wave and won’t have to deal with the carnage [...]