In 2009 Borders Books asked if I would do a two-week (!) guest stint on their fantasy & SF blog. To be honest, I can’t remember if they picked the topic of if I did. In any case, the posts centered around post-apocalyptic fiction and film.
Since these continue to flourish, I thought it would be fun to repost my Borders blog gig. It’s a look at my favorite post-apocalyptic books and movies, and an examination of why they’re popular. (I didn’t address the popularity of post-apocalyptic scenarios in Young Adult fiction a la The Hunger Games because I’m not familiar enough with the market to write about it with any real authority. But its increasing popularity continues to fascinate me.) Anyway, here’s the intro. We’ll dive into the meat tomorrow.
Not with a blog but a writer
My first novel, Ariel, and its sequel Elegy Beach a quarter-century later, are a bit unusual in that they’re postapocalyptic fantasy novels. The Road Warrior of the Rings, or somesuch. Which was kind of unusual in 1983, when Ariel was originally published.
I grew up with a soft spot for postapocalyptic fiction & movies (and I suppose it’s worth mentioning here that the post aspect has always interested me more than the actual apocalypse part, so I dunno about playing favorites with the how of it all), and I’ve done a lot of thinking about what the appeal is for an audience. I’ve written a surprising amount of fiction that could be classified as postapocalyptic, and a surprising amount more if I’m allowed to include stories featuring characters making their way through desolated landscapes. It’s definitely one of my tropes.
I’m curious about the current resurgence of postapocalyptic fiction and films even as I’m clearly part of it. (Coincidentally enough my postapocalyptic zombie novella “Like Pavlov’s Dogs,” originally published in Skipp & Spector’s Book of the Dead, has just been reprinted in John Skipp’s magnificent Zombies anthology. So I have three postapocalyptic works in print at the moment. Hmm.) People always look for some deep sociological meaning behind such trends. Anyone want to theory up on this one?
I remember a LOT MORE postapocalyptic settings in books, films and even role-playing games back in the 1980s, when the Cold War made it seem like we were one button push away from nuclear oblivion. One wonders if Ariel would have sold at all if it hadn’t been 1983, if that makes any sense.
I’m not much on current trends, but I do recall that when I’d go to Blockbuster with my boyfriend for Bad Movie Night (we would rent a crappy movie–deliberately picking something that looked as godawful as possible–and buy a chocolate cake and make a night of it) that postapocalyptic movies were very common, especially in the direct-to-video end of the spectrum. It made sense–desolate landscapes, abandoned buildings and raggedy clothing are easy enough to obtain for a cheap film shoot. (Might explain also why zombie movies are so popular, though the makeup can get expensive depending on how elaborate you get.)
I talk about a lot of this (including zombies) in the subsequent entries, so I won’t steal my own thunder here. I feel pretty confident that Ariel would have been published at a later date, considering the Ariel ripoffs that have been published since then. The reprint is doing pretty well.
RE current trends, post-apocalyptic scenarios are everywhere in YA fiction.