It used to mean the revelation of hidden things revealed by God to some sort of prophet. But since the 2nd century, the meaning has drastically changed to the destruction of Earth as we now know it. (See Wikipedia to read all about it.)
So please tell me.
Am I the only one who finds something bizarrely fascinating about the world coming to an end?
No matter how odd I may sound to voice this thought, I know I’m not alone. Scads of spec fiction stories worldwide provide testament to this very question.
Doom is intriguing. That’s all there is to it.
So how will the world end (according to spec fiction)? Let’s see. There is
- Zombie Apocalypse a la The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
- Uncontainable Virus from The Stand by Stephen King
- Demon Chaos from The Word and the Void series by Terry Brooks
- Infected Gas thanks to Scott Westerfeld in his Uglies series
- Machines get to smart like The Terminator (love, love love this)
- Alien invasion such as The Host by Stephanie Meyer
What am I forgetting?
I leave you with three questions:
How will the apocalypse come?
How are you prepared?
Will you survive?
PJ Hoover likes to imagine she will survive the apocalypse. After all, somebody has to account for that small percentage.
Parker Peevyhouse
lindajoysingleton
Joni Sensel
Chris Eboch
Nick
Greg R. Fishbone
Before M. Night made a movie, I had a running theory that nature was trying to kill us. Allergies will get worse and more widespread. We’ll all develop asthma-esque conditions and slowly suffocate under a blanket of pollen. I’ll survive by torching plant life (sorry enviros!) and eventually my body will adapt to leech nutrients from steel, iron, and other abandoned infrastructure.
Oooh, which M. Night movie, Martha? I don’t think I’ve seen that one.
This is a really cool theory! I love it!
M Night’s movie, The Happening, was way more crazy and violent than my theory. Be warned!
A Giant Marshmallow Man will come to life and leave a path of destruction in his wake.
I plan to survive by crossing the energy streams of highly powerful proton packs, exploding the Marshmallow Man into a giant puddle of fluff..
I will survive. In addition to my proton back, I will bring a supply of sticks. When I get hungry, I will roast pieces of the Marshmallow Man on a stick.
Nice, Duckofalltrades! A giant marshmallow man! This is akin to the Cotton Candy glob in Scooby doo, but so much more fun! Can I join you for the roast? I’ll bring the chocolate and graham crackers
I would like to join your Apocalypse, please.
I always wonder if this is a remnant of the 19th century.
Considering that the dominant national culture is based on a shared Puritan ancestry and that eschatology made up a large part of the Puritan belief system, it stands to reason that a sneaking suspicion that all of this is too good to last is still a large part of our unconscious. We’re all still wondering a la TS Eliot, if we’re going to go, “not with a bang, but a whimper.” More secular ideologies may posit various monster-and-mayhem or alien oriented scenarios to take the place of some religious/God appearance conclusion, but we’re all still wrapped up in the idea of The End, it’s true.
I’m such a wimp that I’d fail all the spec fic tests of survival — I’m a theorist, not an action person. I object to running and screaming pointlessly. I always hate when people trip and fall in horror films. I think I’d just manage to survive like the characters in Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It – very bored, very thin, but alive for at least awhile.
Disturbingly thought-provoking, this…
I love your prose on it, Tanita! It’s way deep!
I always imagine myself a survivor. In horror movies, I always imagine ways I’d get myself out. Of course imagination and actual practice are two very different things.
I’ve been meaning to read Life as we Knew it. Should I move it up on the list?
Life as We Know It is the best book for daydreaming about survival that I know, what with its exciting (I mean it) grocery shopping maddness and other mundane how-to-make-it issues. I enjoyed it as much for this as for the plot, and still daydream about how many bags of rice each child could carry out of the store…
Ok, then, I’m sold, Charlotte. I’d heading to the store TODAY to buy it. With you and Tanita both recommending it, how could I not?
You guys have sucked me in, too – just looked up the books – the covers are gorgeous!
I highly recommend it, too, PJ. Not to be missed. And of course you’re not alone in being a fan of these books. The Stand is a particular favorite of mine, one I re-read (or re-watch) every few years. I think that a virus end of the world is appealing, because it leaves the infrastructure relatively intact for the survivors.
As for other ways, I’ve seen a couple of books lately in which global warming causes the end of the world, through flooding. Then there are the fairy wars in Bones of Faerie. I don’t know what’s most likely to happen (hopefully none). But of course part of the appeal of thinking about it is imagining yourself as a survivor… Otherwise, it’s just depressing…
Thanks, Jen! I also loved The Stand and the whole idea of the virus. It seems so unstoppable. I loved the mini-series they did for TV. For whatever reason, it was one of those that did just stick with me long after the fact.
Oh man, I’d be one of the first victims of the Big Die-Off, I just know it. (that’s why I love these books – I can pretend to be a survivor – not that I’d want to be a survivor in the world of, say, McCarthy’s The Road).
For a great Revenge of the Nerds (the Society for Creative Anachronism/Renaissance Faire/Wiccan type of nerd) post-apocolyptic series, try S.M Stirling’s “Dies the Fire” (and its sequels).
Oh, Eva! A victim of the first big die-off. I do love how you phrase this, though
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to check out Dies the Fire!
Oh, there are so many to choose from: viruses, birds, robots, aliens, zomibies. Me? I think it will be the pigeons. They’re everywhere and already gathering their forces. They look harmless and innocent with those little bobbing heads. So how I plan to survive is to get on their good side early. Feed them every chance I get, and maybe snap a couple of shots of them with my camera so they feel like movie stars. Then they’ll pass me by. Or maybe I’ll just move to Wyoming.
I’ll just watch for the signal from the dolphins when they start saying “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
Polite those dolphins, huh, Heather
So pigeons. Now this is unique. You could pretend to be one. I think you’re onto something with this!
Oh man, you’re making me laugh.
I actually saw the BIGGEST pigeon yesterday. That guy will be King after the Pigeon Apocalypse.
Thinking about this some more, the most utterly horrible apoclypse book of them all has to be On the Beach, by Neville Shute. It is so horrible plausible, and so utterly hopeless. I pretty much wish I had never read it, because it so sad and scary.
I love Z is For Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien, same guy who did Rats of Nimh.
In Z, a girl is surviving alone on a farm after nuclear fallout… until someone finds her and wants to join her.
Reading this book, you ask yourself if you’d rather be a lone survivor or risk proving the “hell is other people” adage.