Book recs?

[ceebee_eebee]

Hey, flist. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I'm kind of obsessed with books about plagues. History, fiction, whatever. But I think I've read all the ones I've been able to find at this point and I'm dying for some new ones. Do any of you have a taste for this type of speculative fiction? Got any good recs for me? I'd be SO appreciative.

Comments

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

I have an odd attraction to post-apocalyptic speculative fiction and have been thinking about some of it again lately, what with the incessant reports about swine flu. Some of it was nuclear-induced, though, not plague.

The Stand by Stephen King

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

Those last two are post-nuclear and deal with survival afterward, although I think no one ultimately survived On the Beach. (I also love seagoing adventures, and found OtB haunting with its last, lonely submarine crew hunting the world for other survivors.)

The Last Ship by Brinkley involved a couple of Navy crews (an American warship and a Russian submarine, as I recall) who were the only known survivors of nuclear war.

James Tiptree, Jr. (the AKA of Alice Sheldon), along with all her other greatly disturbing science fiction, wrote a short story in which a dire plague spread through the world via air travel; I think it wiped most people out. Can't remember the title, but can remember reading it!

Here's a non-fiction book that may not exactly fit what you're looking for, but it was one of the scariest books I've read about food: Spoiled: the Dangerous Truth About a Foodchain Gone Haywire by Nicols Fox, from 1997.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I can't believe how awesome everyone is for pointing out books I've never heard of. I was so afraid I'd tapped out the whole genre. EEEE! So excited for new books!