Apocalyptic Short Stories

Into the darkness within; or else the light.... When Margaret Atwood wrote these words, she left open the possibility that even our darkest tales may harbor a glimmer of hope. In Or Else the Light, the third and final entry in the Dystopia Triptych, more than a dozen of the best minds in science fiction conclude their stories with a descent into darkness, or perhaps a ray of light.

Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence—the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon—these are our guides through the Wastelands. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction—including George R. R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King—Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.

In a dystopian America 50 years from now, a battle-weary enforcer for a domestic terrorist cell trying to overthrow the ruling class questions his faith in the cause.

A man and a dog walk through a ruined world, fighting monsters. Is everything as it seems?

A fresh post-apocalyptic anthology: the end of the world seen through the salvage and ruins, featuring Emily St. John Mandel, Carmen Maria Machado, and more.

Three audiobooks from the Coilhunter Chronicles: Coilhunter, Rustkiller, and Dustrunner. Welcome to the Wild North, a desolate wasteland where criminals go to hide - if they can outlast the drought and the dangers of the desert. Or the dangers of something else.

Nine-tenths of the world’s population is dead. A biological scourge - a dark blight swimming through human veins - was to blame. Adam is thrust into a world of loss and would no sooner set out in search of a woman for whom he is willing to travel across the broken globe to see again, if only to serve as her piece of comfort for a loss that they both share.

A glittering landscape of twenty-five speculative stories that challenge oppression and envision new futures for America - from N. K. Jemisin, Charles Yu, Jamie Ford, G. Willow Wilson, Charlie Jane Anders, Hugh Howey, and more.

The Stoker Award-winning editor of the acclaimed, eclectic anthology The New Dead returns with 21st Century Dead and an all-new lineup of authors from every corner of the fiction world, shining a dark light on our fascination with tales of death and resurrection - and with zombies!

With more than 10 stories from exciting new voices and a few veterans of the universe, the second anthology highlights the lives and struggles of humanity's best and worst years after system advent.

This collection from grand master Robert A. Heinlein includes five short stories sure to please science fiction fans everywhere. The title story tells the tale of a young man who meets a time-traveling bartender whose origins - and relation to the young man - are more complex and stranger than the Ouroboros ring on the barkeep's finger.

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Now, for the first time ever, comes a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.

When her lover succumbs to the virus plaguing the remains of the civilized world, Lindsay is left alone on a sailboat she can't operate. With nuclear bombs deployed to destroy the infected and the storm season just beginning, she must find a way to survive - without losing her mind in the process. Get ready to dive into the first book in the In Caves & Catacombs series.

When an EMP catastrophe shuts down power worldwide, Melanie Pearson must embark on a grueling trek to reunite with her family. But before she can cross the savage wastelands, she’ll need to help her boss find his own son first. And Melanie quickly realizes she may have made a deal with the devil himself….

The Doomsday siren calls on civilization's last day. Natural disaster. Nuclear war. Pandemics. These are the ways the world ends. Now, in the aftermath of ruined cities and humanity gone savage, mankind will once again find his oldest allies and closest friends amidst the debris of all that once was. The Walking Dead meets The Incredible Journey in 14 incredible tales of nobility, self-sacrifice, and unconditional love as told by today's most talented independent authors.

The stories in this second anthology explore the legends of the Outlands, beyond the border of humanity's immediate control, where strange and powerful creatures roam.

Earth has fallen far from its splendor and progress. Humanity’s long-held fear of an asteroid colliding with the world has come to pass, and the repercussions are devastating. Resultant natural disasters, plagues, and famines have taken billions of lives. With mankind’s future uncertain, scientists set to work creating a virtual Earth in which people can live in the mind rather than in physical form.

Waiting for Martin is set in a nebulous future-never in which catastrophic environmental change has returned ancient beings to Earth, as well as raining down a disastrous helping of new ones. A family of children try to make their way home to their older brother, who is their guardian, when a bit of environmental fallout gets in their way.

Man's best friend will stand by his side, even in the apocalypse. But when one becomes separated from the other, what transpires over the course of the next 24 hours will test the limits of even the best-trained canine. Will Oaklee still be man's best friend...After Z?

In this 2024 re-release, the apocalypse has ended for Adrian Ring, and the rebuilding of the world has begun. But have all the stories of the old world's death been told? Elsewhere on Earth, there is a plane filled with innocents, and a criminal could wipe it from the skies with a tide of undeath. A young man in Manhattan is going mad with hunger and fear. A veterinarian races to save her animal patients, and their owners, one by one. A drunk lunatic is driven to self-destruction, craving the undead horde and the absolution they will give him.