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Survival & Prepper Books (Fiction)

Bob-Sig226

Bob-Sig226

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I couldn't find anything on the forum that covered survival or prepper books that are entertaining but also informative. I've read a few that use a fictional story to keep you interested as the author educates you on how to be prepared. I prefer this sort of book to the prepper field guide, etc. In addition, I've included a few books that are interesting thought provokers ~ survival (what if scenarios, such as, what if the economy collapsed, what if an EMF took out our power grids, etc.). Thought I'd start a list for those interested.

Prepper (fiction):
Patriots - James Wesley Rawles - loved it... lots of good info (lists of ammo, weapons, food prep, etc. - field guide in a story/scenario

Survival (fiction):
Day By Day Armageddon - J L Bourne
Beyond Exhile - J L Bourne
Alas Babylon - Pat Frank
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
One Second After - William Forstchen
 
Borrowed list from ar15. com

I have read only a handful of these. I just do a search for reviews of any given title to get a sense of the quality of the book before ordering it from the regional library service (if available).

48 - James Herbert
8.4 - Peter Hernon
A Hunter's Fire - Floyd D. Dale
Aftermath - Charles Sheffield
Aftermath - LeVar Burton
After the Bomb(series) - Gloria D. Miklowitz
After the Rain - John Bowen
Airship Nine - Thomas H. Block
Alas Babylon - Pat Frank
Amerika - Brauna E. Pouns
A Place Called Attar - J.D. Belanger
Arc Light - Eric L. Harry
Armageddon(short stories) - David Drake & Billie Sue Mosiman
Ashes, Ashes - Rene Barjavel
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Breakdown - William W. Johnstone
Cold Creek Cash Store - Russell Hill
Dark Advent - Brian Hodge
Dark December - Alfred Coppel
Death on a Warm Wind - Douglas Warner
Death Wind - William C. Heine(also published as The Last Canadian)
Defiance(also published as Vandenberg) - Oliver Lange
Denver is Missing - D.F. Jones
Doomsday Plus Twelve - James D. Forman
Domain - James Herbert
Down to a Sunless Sea - David Graham
Earth Abides - George R. Stewart
Emergence - David R. Palmer
Ende - Anton-Andreas Guha
Famine - Graham Masterton
Firebrats(series) - Barbara & Scott Siegel
First Angel - Ed Mann
Free Flight - Douglas Terman
Heartland - David Hagberg
I, Martha Adams - Pauline Glen Winslow
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
Ice! - Arnold Federbush
Ill Wind - Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason
In Iron Years - Gordon R. Dickson
Into the Forest - Jean Hegland
Invasion - Eric L. Harry
Jenny, My Diary
Jericho Falls - Christopher Hyde
Level 7 - Mordecai Roshwald
Living is Forever - J. Edwin Carter
Long Loud Silence - Wilson Tucker
Long Voyage Back - Luke Rhinehart
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Malevil - Robert Merle
Mister Touch - Malcolm Bosse
No Blade of Grass - John Christopher
Not This August - C.M. Kornbluth
Nuclear War(short stories) - Edited by Gregory Benford & Martin Greenberg
Omega Sub(series) - J.D. Cameron
On the Beach - Nevil Shute
One Just Man - James Mills
Out of the Ashes(series) - William Johnstone
Pandemic - Geoffrey Simmons
Path of the Pale Horse - Paul Fleishman
Patriots - James Wesley, Rawles
Power Play - Kenneth M. Cameron
Pulling Through - Dean Ing
Rankin: Enemy of the State - John Osier
Resurrection Day - Brendan DuBois
Shelter - Dan Ljoka
Some Will Not Die - Algis Budrys
Storm Rider(series) - Robert Baron
Survival 2000(series) - James McPhee
Survival Margin - David Graham
Survivors - John Nahmlos
Swan Song - Robert R. McCammon
The 40 Minute War - Janet & Chris Morris
The Big One - Kevin E. Ready
The Black Death - Gwyneth Cravens and John S. Marr
The City, Not Long After - Pat Murphy
The Day of the Star Cities - John Brunner
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
The End of the World(short stories) - Donald A. Wollheim
The Freeman - Jerry Ahern & Sharon Ahern
The Iron Rain - Donald Malcolm
The Kraken Awakes - John Wyndham
The Land of Empty Houses - John L. Moore
The Last Ranger - Craig Sargent
The Last Ship - William Brinkley
The Long Tomorrow - Leigh Brackett
The Long Winter - John Christopher
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
The New Madrid Run - Michael Reisig
The Plague - Albert Camus
The Postman - David Brin
The Rest Must Die - Richard Foster
The Rift - Walter J. Williams
The Sheep Look Up - John Brunner
The Stand - Stephen King
The Steel, The Mist, and the Blazing Sun - Christopher Anvil
The Survivalist (series) - Jerry Ahern
The Turner Diaries - Andrew MacDonald
The Wild Shore - Kim Stanley Robinson
Those Who Favor Fire - Marta Randall
Time Capsule - Mitch Berman
Tomorrow! - Philip Wylie
Vector - Henry Sutton
War Day - Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka
We, The Few - John L. Hawkinson
When the City Stopped - Joan Phipson
When the Almond Tree Blossoms - David Aikman
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
Wolf and Iron - Gordon R. Dickson
Wrath of God - Robert Gleason
Z for Zachariah - Robert C. O'brien
 
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Deep Winter and Shatter by Tom Sherry. They are the first 2 books of a trilogy about surviving a large earthquake in Wash state.I didnt like the third one as it got away from the survival stuff and into civil war/politics.
 
Alongside Night by J. Neil Schulman - Find the free download.

Cold Camp by TimJ - was online as a pdf.

When SysAdmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow.
 
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Rancho said:
I've been looking for a good book to grab my interest one or a few of these should do.. thanks guys
Click to expand...

Definitely recommend Patriots. He takes you through topics such as ammo selection, what guns to have in your bug out kit, retreat planning, what to keep in your bug out kit. He does this by wrapping all of this in a plausible story tied to a group of preppers. He goes on and on a few times about items such as scopes and gun caliber discussions, but it's actually very good when he explains why and ties it into the story. Strongly recommend.
 
I've read Patriots too, it's decent, but a bit over the top sometimes.
I've been curious about something in the book that I've never seen anyone else comment on.
In the section about the ultralights being fitted with M16's, he describes them as having their buttstocks removed to save space, and then being mounted on a plate bolted into the large hole in the receiver where the stock was removed.

Errr... there's some important bits inside the M16 stock!
 
I have read and re-read Patriots, Lights Out, and One Second After. All three are good, but I have to agree that Lights Out is the best of the bunch.

I recently read Alas, Babylon and was very impressed. It is VERY similar to One Second After, but it was written about 40 years earlier. Other than some of the technological stuff (telephones, radios, etc...) you wouldn't even know it was an older book.
 
mclina said:
I recently read Alas, Babylon and was very impressed. It is VERY similar to One Second After, but it was written about 40 years earlier. Other than some of the technological stuff (telephones, radios, etc...) you wouldn't even know it was an older book.
Click to expand...

Well, that, and being able to buy .22 at the hardware store!
 
Some parts of the country you can buy ammo at the hardware store.[laugh] Shoot you can buy your alcohol, deer feed, and ammo as a drive through. [smile][laugh]
 
I can remember buying .22 ammo at the feed store when I was a teen and we used to spend our lunch hour shooting rats at the farm.
 
If you're looking for a REAL survival book....127 hours (Betwen a rock and a hard place) by Aron Ralston.
(Apparently, all hanging boulders are now callled "Ralstons" (Roll-stones) in his honor. [laugh] )



As fiction, Deliverance by James Dickey was missed.....
As was Tunnel Through the Sky (Henlein)
 
Well, he did screw up on a lot of the basics (e.g., not letting anyone know where he was headed and when he was to be back) , and my recommendation wasn't meant to be an haigiography of the guy. But...he DID survive!

If you read the book, he comes off as a pretty accomplished outdoorsman, with a hell of a lot of lucky breaks in his past. HIs numerous previous bullet-dodges I think helped him to screw up. (See the thread on here about what to bring on a day hike, and the different suggestions) What he did [STRIKE] may not have been bright [/STRIKE] was stupid, but he was not unique in it.

The difference between ballsy and stupid is: with ballsy, you didn't get hurt
[or trapped for a few days, and have to amputate your arm].
 
screw Aron Ralston... I have had to guide more people like him out of the mountains than I care to remember. Fools that take no precautions and that are ill prepared. I am not even a search and rescue guy..

Anyway I'm heading over to the book store to see if I can get a couple of these books on the list..
 
Rancho said:
screw Aron Ralston... I have had to guide more people like him out of the mountains than I care to remember. Fools that take no precautions and that are ill prepared. I am not even a search and rescue guy..

Anyway I'm heading over to the book store to see if I can get a couple of these books on the list..
Click to expand...

Get Alas Babylon and One Second After. Great books that you will read multiple times. Alas Babylon I have probably read at least a dozen times since I first read it in middle school. It made me start looking at the different capabilities/ skills of the people that were my neighbors and what sort of food supplies were available around my house then. OSA drove me nuts the first time I read it. I dont believe that an EMP scenario would be anywhere near that bad. The next 2 times I read it it opened my eyes to the fact that food is king and the ability to grow food is paramount. I also think the author did a spectacular job with showing the results of his scenario. I would get Lucifers Hammer and Patriots out of the library. I love Lucifers Hammer but it is one of those read once books. Patriots is one of the most poorly written books I have ever read. I actually have a copy I will send you if you want to read it. PM me your address if you want it.
 
One of the best "really hits home" stories I've read is 'Free Men' by Robert Heinlein.

You'll probably have a tough time finding it, but it's worth it. More of the mindset of survival than the mechanics. But when the time comes, it isn't the gear that gets you through, but your brain. If the brain is prepared and trained properly, you will always win.

"A free man can take care of himself."
 
Chris said:
One of the best "really hits home" stories I've read is 'Free Men' by Robert Heinlein.

You'll probably have a tough time finding it, but it's worth it. More of the mindset of survival than the mechanics. But when the time comes, it isn't the gear that gets you through, but your brain. If the brain is prepared and trained properly, you will always win.

"A free man can take care of himself."
Click to expand...

Excellent story, BTW.
wiki said:
originally appeared in the Heinlein collection, The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein (Ace F-375, 1966) and later collected in Expanded Universe.
Click to expand...
 

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