More like Marked
anchored on:north americanear futureurban fantasyecological collapseafterlife & underworldbig city+2 more
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- Make Room! Make Room!
Harry Harrisonstandalone novel1966
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktensenorth americabig city
Make Room! Make Room! is a 1966 science fiction novel written by Harry Harrison exploring the consequences of both unchecked population growth on society and the hoarding of resources by a wealthy minority. It was originally serialized in Impulse magazine.
- The Sheep Look Up
John Brunnerstandalone novel1972
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarknorth americabig city+1 more
The Sheep Look Up is a 1972 dystopian science fiction novel by British author John Brunner, dealing with the deterioration of the environment in the United States. It was nominated for the 1972 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
- Tell the Wind and Fire
Sarah Rees Brennanstandalone novel2016
similar byurban fantasynear futuredarktenseforbidden lovefantasynorth americabig city
In this near-future retelling of the Dickens classic "A Tale of Two Cities," a deadly revolution breaks out in a New York City divided by light and dark magic.
- The Water Knife
Paolo Bacigalupistandalone novel2015
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktensenorth america
The Water Knife is a 2015 science fiction novel by Paolo Bacigalupi. It is Bacigalupi's sixth novel, and is based on his short story, The Tamarisk Hunter, first published in the news magazine High Country News. It takes place in the near future, where drought brought on by climate change has devastated the Southwestern United States.
- Ill Wind
Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beasonstandalone novel1995
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktensenorth america
From the flaps of the Forge first printing: "A supertanker has crashed off the shores of San Francisco, producing the largest oil spill in history. Desperate to avert an ecological - and public relations - disaster, a multinational oil company releases an untested virus designed to break up the spill. A virus that spreads like wildfire on the wind, destroying anything made of petroleum - destroying gasoline in automobile tanks, plastics, nylon, the very fabric of modern civilization itself. Dr. Spencer Lockwood, one of the few scientists to recognize the danger, tries to alert government and industry to the impending danger. But his warnings go unheeded and the devastation mounts. As America descends into savagery, Lockwood forges a courageous band of scientists to carry out a daring plan to restore order. But humanity's last hope my be snuffed out by a ruthless general driven by an insatiable desire for power. A riveting and inspiring saga of ecological catastrophe and human survival, Ill Wind is all the more frightening because it could actually happen. Kevin Anderson, a technical consultant for the Air Force, and Doug Beason, a former science advisor o the Reagan administration, have drawn upon the latest breakthroughs in biotechnology to create a disaster scenario that is terrifying in its plausibility."
- Earthworks
Brian W. Aldissstandalone novel1965
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktense
Earthworks is a 1965 dystopian science fiction novel by British science fiction author Brian Aldiss. The novel draws its premise from prevalent fears about population growth and overcrowding of the Earth.
- The Future
Naomi Aldermanstandalone novel2023
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktense
The Future is a 2023 science fiction novel by English writer Naomi Alderman, published by Simon & Schuster. The novel is set in a future dystopia where the world has been altered by environmental crisis and a powerful technocracy.
- Slow Apocalypse
John Varleystandalone novel2012
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktensenorth americabig city
"Despite wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as 9/11, the United States' dependence on foreign oil has kept the nation tied to the Middle East. A scientist has developed a cure for America's addiction--a slow-acting virus that feeds on petroleum, turning it solid. But he didn't consider that his contagion of an Iraqi oil field would spread to infect the fuel supply of the entire world ... In Los Angeles, screenwriter Dave Marshall heard this scenario from a retired U.S. Marine and government insider who acted as a consultant on Dave's last film. It sounded as implausible as many of his scripts, but the reality is much more frightening than anything he can envision. An ordinary guy armed with extraordinary information, Dave hopes his survivor's instinct will kick in so he can protect his wife and daughter from the coming apocalypse that will alter the future of Earth--and humanity ..."--
- War Against the Chtorr
series7 books1983
similar byecological collapsenear futuretensedarknorth america
The War Against the Chtorr is a series of science fiction novels by American writer David Gerrold. The Chtorr series was originally planned as a trilogy, but as the story became more intricate, Gerrold realized that three books would not be enough for him to tell the entire story. For a time, he was uncertain how many books there would be in the end but plans on seven. As of 2022, four books have been completed. As of 2017, a fifth and sixth were in the works, 24 years after the publication of the fourth book.
- Hummingbird Salamander
Jeff VanderMeerstandalone novel2021
similar byecological collapsenear futuretensenorth america+1 more
Hummingbird Salamander is a 2021 novel by American author Jeff VanderMeer. It is set in a near-future dystopia affected by climate change, and narrated by a corporate security consultant, "Jane Smith," who is drawn into a mystery incited by her receipt of a taxidermied hummingbird from an extinct species.
- American War
Omar El Akkadstandalone novel2017
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarknorth america+1 more
American War is the first novel by the Egyptian-Canadian journalist Omar El Akkad. It is set in the United States in the near future, ravaged by climate change and disease, in which the Second Civil War has broken out over the use of fossil fuels.
- The Crystal Drop
Monica Hughesstandalone novel1992
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktensenorth america
In the summer of 2011, the death of their mother sends Megan and her younger brother Ian on a dangerous journey across a Canada ravaged by drought and the collapse of civilization.
- The Hopkins Manuscript
R. C. Sherriffstandalone novel1939
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktense
The Hopkins Manuscript is a dystopian science fiction novel by R. C. Sherriff, first published in 1939 by Victor Gollancz. In 1958 it was reissued in a revised edition as a Pan paperback under the title The Cataclysm. The novel was later republished under its original title by The Macmillan Company in 1963 and by Persephone Books in 2002.
- Brown Girl in the Ring
Nalo Hopkinsonstandalone novel1998
similar byurban fantasynear futuredarkfantasynorth americabig city
Brown Girl in the Ring is a 1998 novel written by Jamaican-Canadian writer Nalo Hopkinson. The novel contains Afro-Caribbean culture with themes of folklore and magical realism. The novel received critical acclaim, winning the 1999 Locus Award for Best First Novel. It was shortlisted for numerous other awards, including the Otherwise Award, Philip K. Dick Award, and Crawford Award.
- Lucifer's Hammer
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournellestandalone novel1977
similar byecological collapsedarktensenorth america
Lucifer's Hammer is a science fiction post-apocalypse-survival novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle that was first published in 1977. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978.
- Road Out of Winter
Alison Stinestandalone novel2020
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktensenorth america
Road Out of Winter is a 2020 science fiction and post-apocalyptic novel by Alison Stine.
- Word and the Void
series5 books1991
part of Shannara
similar byurban fantasydarktensefantasynorth america+1 more
Shannara is a series of high fantasy novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with The Sword of Shannara in 1977 and concluding with The Last Druid which was released in October 2020; there is also a prequel, First King of Shannara. The series blends magic and primitive technology and is set in the Four Lands, which are identified as Earth long after civilization was destroyed in a chemical and nuclear holocaust called the Great Wars. By the time of the prequel First King of Shannara, the world had reverted to a pre-industrial state and magic had re-emerged to supplement science.
- MaddAddam
series3 books2003
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarknorth america
Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, MaddAddam, 2003-2013) is set around a genetically engineered pandemic unleashed deliberately by the brilliant, disillusioned scientist Crake, who intends the deadly 'BlyssPluss' pill to wipe out humanity and clear the way for the gentler, engineered Crakers he has designed to replace it. Told from the perspectives of survivors including Crake's old friend Jimmy (now calling himself Snowman), the trilogy pieces together the pandemic's causes and its aftermath from multiple, overlapping vantage points.
- Mother of Storms
John Barnesstandalone novel1994
similar byecological collapsenear futuretense+2 more
From the flaps of the Tor first edition: "It is 2028. A strike to destroy an illegal Arctic weapons cache has a catastrophic side effect. Massive amounts of energy are liberated from the polar ice, suddenly warming the Earth's climate. In the middle of the Pacific, a gigantic hurricane thousands of miles across is forming, larger than any in human history. A storm with winds of supersonic speed. A storm that changes direction at whim. A storm that refuses to die. A storm so vast it spawns dozens more in its wake... Blinded by intrigue, expedience, and greed, the world's politicians and power brokers have ignored the killer storms threat until it is too late. Already the death toll is in the tens of millions, as it savages the Pacific coast, while its devil's brood of smaller storms are wreaking havoc across the face of the planet. While the survivors scramble for advantage, a handful of courageous men and women undertake a daring, desperate plan to save humanity from total destruction - a plan so visionary it may alter forever the future of the human race."
- Ship Breaker
series3 books2010
similar bydarktensenear futurenorth america+2 more
Nailer works a light-crew scavenging copper wire and scrap from beached oil tankers on a Gulf Coast reshaped by rising seas and vanished order, until a wrecked clipper ship washes ashore carrying a half-drowned girl from the wealthy world he'll never belong to. Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker follows Nailer as helping her pulls him out of his abusive father's orbit and into a much larger, more dangerous game involving her family's fortune. The sequels The Drowned Cities and Tool of War widen the same flooded, resource-scavenging future to new characters and coastlines.
- Floodland
Marcus Sedgwickstandalone novel2000
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktense+1 more
Floodland is a children's fantasy novel by Marcus Sedgwick, published on 2 March 2000 by Orion Children's Books. Floodland won the Branford Boase Award in 2001 for an outstanding first published novel.
- The Last Gasp
Trevor Hoylestandalone novel1983
similar byecological collapsenear futuredarktense
From the flaps of the Crown first edition: "When British marine biologist Gavin Chase stepped out into the windswept wastes at the Halley Bay antarctic research station one morning, the last thing he expected to see was a sled team coming out of nowhere carrying a half-mad, half-frozen Russian scientist babbling an incomprehensible warning. But that warning would threaten the future of the human race and force Chase to make some of the hardest decisions of his life. Months later, at a Geneva environmental conference, Chase meets Cheryl Detrick, the daughter of Theo Detrick, the grand old man of diatom research. Chase, the Detricks, and Soviet scientist Boris Stanovnik theorize that the oxygen-producing microscopic plants of the world's oceans are dying and the level of atmospheric pollutants has finally exceeded the ability of the planet's ecology to recycle them. There is also good reason to believe that the superpowers are planning to wage a new type of environmental warfare. Sooner or later there will be nothing left to breathe. So begins a race against the future. Chase and Cheryl, now lovers, struggle to avert ecological catastrophe as agents of the military-industrial complex hunt them down... and as a growing belt of unbreathable gases spreads outward from the equator, uprooting millions. Their enemies are Lloyd Madden, an insane military mastermind planning to seed the earth with poison and then repopulate it with a race of mutants, and Joseph Earl Gelstrom, a wealthy chemical manufacturer who has Cheryl's father killed to hide his involvement. But Gelstrom himself falls victim to pollution sickness, and he repents. To raise money to finance a research team, Chase must make an unholy alliance with the dying Gelstrom, but this is too much for Cheryl, who leaves him. As more and more of the world becomes uninhabitable, as industries and governments collapse and chaos reigns, as the oceans fill up with dioxin, as the climate changes and mutant life-forms encroach upon the last refuges of humankind, Chase leads a last desperate mission to find and rescue Cheryl and to lead his team of scientists to safety."
- The Sixth World
series3 books2018
similar byurban fantasynear futurefantasynorth america+2 more
Trail of Lightning opens Rebecca Roanhorse's series set after a supernatural disaster destroys most of North America, following Maggie Hoskie, a Navajo monster-slayer navigating a post-apocalyptic landscape of monsters and Native American gods. Maggie's uneasy mentor-turned-adversary Neizghani anchors much of the first book's conflict. Winner of the 2019 Locus Award for Best First Novel, the series continues with Storm of Locusts and draws its cosmology directly from Navajo tradition rather than an invented pantheon.
