I’m A.M. Geever, and I write post-apocalyptic and disaster fiction. I’ve always been curious about what we are as humans—good or bad, or a mix of both? I'm fascinated by how ordinary people rise—or break—when the world falls apart. Disasters and apocalypses strip life down to its essentials: survival, love, loyalty, and the choices that define us. While I'm woefully unprepared for a zombie apocalypse or other disasters, I’ve spent years imagining "What would I do if...?" That curiosity fuels my writing and my reading. The books on this list captured that same feeling for me—gritty, hopeful, and deeply human stories that keep you wondering: if society crashed tonight, who would you become?
I could not stop listening to Deadly Lockdown because it was so exciting. I had to know what happened next.
I’ve thought of how I would get through different disaster scenarios (as you do), and a pandemic is the one that actually scares me. I’m not worried about zombies or an EMP, but a deadly disease? Egad. The pace of this story never lets up, and the characters were ones I cared about. I found them frustrating at times, but whatever they chose, I believed it.
One thing I really liked was the medical accuracy. Misty Zaugg is a physician, and her expertise made this ‘What if?’ story feel all the more real. And scary.
A deadly illness. Panicked lockdown. And two sisters who’ll stop at nothing to save each other.The second wave of the Siberian Flu catches the country completely unprepared.Instead of killing the old and frail, the young and healthy are dropping . . . in hours, not days.Kate, a new doctor, will sacrifice everything to break her and her sister free from a controlling stepfather and a dead-end small town existence. Moments from landing the critical job she needs, St. Louis falls apart around her.Now it’s a race to survive. She has to fight through a city turning deadlier by the second…
I read Dies the Fire about twenty years ago and think of it often.
An unexplained phenomenon changes the laws of physics, so goodbye electricity! Gunpowder doesn’t burn either. From there, it’s mass die-offs and different factions trying to figure out what to do next.
I love stories that go deep into world-building, and this book does. From the sinister turn the Society for Creative Anachronism takes to the Wiccan and other communities that stand against them, the detail is rich but not overwhelming.
I loved seeing how people adapted and how early decisions took on a life of their own in ways no one could have anticipated.
S. M. Stirling presents his first Novel of the Change, the start of the New York Times bestselling postapocalyptic saga set in a world where all technology has been rendered useless.
The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable—and plunged the world into a dark age humanity was unprepared to face...
Michael Pound was flying over Idaho en route to the holiday home of his passengers when the plane’s engines inexplicably died, forcing a less than perfect landing in the wilderness. And…
When they got twinkly and dreamy in popular fiction, I was unimpressed. Then I read The Passage. These are your grandfather’s vampires, boys and girls, and they want to kill you. I loved the blend of horror, science fiction, and the dystopian near-future United States where the story begins.
From the scientist who wants to cure death to the quest a hundred years after the Virals appeared, this book is filled with a raw humanity and the struggle to survive that captivated me. It’s a long book, but when I finished, I dove right into the next one. I had to know what happened, and I needed another dose of vampires that scared the sh!t out of me.
Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. THE PASSAGE. Deep in the jungles of eastern Colombia, Professor Jonas Lear has finally found what he's been searching for - and wishes to God he hadn't. In Memphis, Tennessee, a six-year-old girl called Amy is left at the convent of the Sisters of Mercy and wonders why her…
Sarah Lyons Fleming writes exceptional zombie apocalypse fiction.
I love her masterful characterization, the struggles beyond zombies she explores, and the human dramas that unfold. Her characters always face dilemmas beyond the immediate crisis, making them feel real. Unlike much post-apocalyptic fiction, Fleming avoids the "suddenly turning on your neighbors" trope—while people can be jerks or even evil, her approach feels more nuanced.
It was hard to choose which series to recommend because they're all great, but her Cascadia series is truly special. With well-drawn characters, gripping plots, superior storytelling, realistic relationships, and harrowing zombie encounters, Fleming's books demand rereading.
The audiobook versions are amazing if you prefer that format.
In the zombie apocalypse, your worst enemy may be yourself.From the Until the End of the World and City Series universe comes the story of the virus on the West Coast. Where the end of the world is only the beginning…Rose Winter has enough problems. With a marriage going down the tubes and a dreaded anniversary party on the horizon, the last thing she needs is the zombie apocalypse. She wanted to get drunk and sing karaoke, not murder her undead neighbors. It’s clear the party’s over, however, and now Rose has more problems—a missing husband, an overbearing houseguest, and…
This book one of The Savage North Chronicles, is a great read.
I enjoy Lindsey Pogue’s books because she has a talent for creating flawed, sympathetic characters whose personal challenges compound the disastrous state of the world.
This book also incorporates a slightly supernatural element I found refreshing. I felt the frigid temperatures and life-threatening weather they faced, the moral dilemmas, and the struggle to adapt to a radically altered reality.
Surprising plot twists and a colorful and memorable cast of characters will suck you right there with them, wondering how you’d survive and which surprising psychic ability you’d end up with.
Sometimes the most shattered souls make the fiercest protectors.When a virus decimates civilization, those remaining must survive in an unrecognizable world.Elle awakes from her fever forever changed. Her touch is lethal and power courses through her veins like liquid fire. With four orphaned children depending on her, Elle is terrified of more than Alaska’s brutal winter and the collapsing city—she’s terrified of the darkness growing inside her.Jackson lost everything to the outbreak: his family, his purpose, his hope. Trading his badge for a bottle of bourbon, he holes himself away, desperate to numb the pain. But when Elle and the…
Darkest Light is about regular people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. When a solar storm knocks out electronics all over the world, things get interesting real quick.
I write character-driven fiction, and that’s what this story is about: the characters and the challenges they face. How rising to the occasion—or not—changes them. Lots of exciting and scary stuff happens, but this story begins and ends with what a new mother, a US Marshal, and a fugitive bank robber do in the face of disaster. Some will be redeemed, others not so much. Darkest Light will keep you on the edge of your seat as the disaster unfolds, wondering what you’d do if it happened to you.
