List of nuclear holocaust fiction
This list of nuclear holocaust fiction lists the many works of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction that attempt to describe a world during or after a massive nuclear war , nuclear holocaust , or crash of civilization due to a nuclear electromagnetic pulse .
Films
Title
Year
Author and notes
Five
1951
Unknown World
1951
Invasion U.S.A.
1952
Captive Women
1952
Day the World Ended
1955
Teenage Caveman
1958
On the Beach
1959
Nevil Shute (novel); John Paxton (screenplay)
The World, the Flesh and the Devil
1959
The Time Machine
1960
H. G. Wells (novel); David Duncan (screenplay)
The Last War
1961
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
1961
The Creation of the Humanoids
1962
La jetée
1962
Panic in Year Zero!
1962
This is Not a Test
1962
Ladybug Ladybug
1963
Fail-Safe
1964
Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler (novel); Walter Bernstein (screenplay)
Dr. Strangelove [ 1]
1964
Peter George (novel); Peter George, Stanley Kubrick , and Terry Southern (screenplay)
The War Game
1965
Late August at the Hotel Ozone
1966
Written by Pavel Juráček
In the Year 2889
1967
Planet of the Apes [ 2]
1968
Pierre Boulle (novel); Michael Wilson and Rod Serling (screenplay)
The Bed Sitting Room
1969
Beneath the Planet of the Apes [ 2]
1970
Colossus: The Forbin Project [ 1]
1970
Glen and Randa
1971
Battle for the Planet of the Apes [ 2]
1973
Zardoz
1974
A Boy and His Dog
1975
Harlan Ellison (short story); L.Q. Jones , Alvy Moore and Wayne Cruseturner (screenplay)
Barefoot Gen
1976
Tengo Yamada (screenplay), Keiji Nakazawa (manga) The story of Gen Nakaoka and his family, who lived in Hiroshima at the time it was atom-bombed, and their struggles and trials amidst the nuclear holocaust.
Damnation Alley
1977
Roger Zelazny (novel)
Wizards
1977
Virus
1980
Malevil
1981
Mad Max 2
1981
Also known as The Road Warrior .
The New Barbarians
1982
Future War 198X
1982
Anime movie produced by Toei Animation about World War III breaking out in the 1980s that triggers a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
2019, After the Fall of New York
1983
Special Bulletin
1983
Testament [ 3]
1983
The Day After [ 3] [ 1]
1983
WarGames [ 3]
1983
The Terminator franchise[ 3] [ 1]
1984, 1991, 2003, 2009, 2015, 2019
Based on characters created by James Cameron (with acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison )
Countdown to Looking Glass
1984
Threads [ 3]
1984
One Night Stand
1984
Def-Con 4
1985
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome [ 1]
1985
O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization
1985
Radioactive Dreams
1985
Dead Man's Letters
1986
The Sacrifice
1986
When the Wind Blows
1986
Based on the 1982 graphic novel
Whoops Apocalypse
1988
Based on the ITV series
Akira
1988
Miracle Mile
1988
By Dawn's Early Light
1990
Hardware
1990
Judge Dredd
1995
Star Trek: First Contact
1996
Most of the film takes place in the mid-21st century as civilization rebuilds after nuclear war. Continuation of Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series.
The Postman
1997
Der 3. Weltkrieg , a.k.a. World War III
1998
Six-String Samurai
1998
Deterrence
1999
The Matrix (franchise)
1999, 2003, 2021
On the Beach
2000
Equilibrium
2002
The Dark Hour
2007
City of Ember
2009
The Book of Eli [ 4]
2010
The Divide
2012
Cloud Atlas
2012
Dredd
2012
Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl
2014
Mad Max: Fury Road
2015
Z for Zachariah
2015
Friend of the World
2020
Brian Patrick Butler (screenplay); takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Based on Dr. Strangelove and La Jetée .
Television programs
A Carol for Another Christmas (ABC , 1964), Rod Serling TV film
A Day Called 'X' (CBS , 1957)
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network , 2010–2018)
American Horror Story: Apocalypse (FX , 2018)
Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi , 2003, 2004–2009)
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC , 1979)
By Dawn's Early Light (HBO , 1990)
Countdown to Looking Glass (HBO , 1984)
Dark Angel (Fox , 2000–2002)
Der Dritte Weltkrieg (ZDF , 1998)
Fail Safe (CBS , 2000)
Fallout (Prime Video , 2024–)
Genesis II (CBS , 1973)
Jericho (CBS , 2006–2008)
Level Seven (BBC , 1966), adapted by J. B. Priestley for Out of the Unknown
On the Beach (Showtime , 2000)
Planet Earth (ABC , 1974)
Special Bulletin (NBC , 1983)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox , 2008–2009)
Testament (PBS , 1983)
The 100 (The CW , 2014–2020)
The Day After (ABC , 1983)
The Martian Chronicles miniseries (NBC , 1980)
The War Game (BBC , 1965)
Threads (BBC , 1984)
Whoops Apocalypse (ITV , 1982)
Woops! (Fox , 1992)
World War III miniseries (NBC , 1982)
Television episodes
Novels
After The Bomb by Gloria D. Miklowitz
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem (regarding Hatfork)
Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley
Arc Light by Eric Harry
Armageddon's Children By Terry Brooks (2006) (Genesis of Shannara Trilogy book 1)
The Ashes Series by William W. Johnstone
The Beast of Heaven by Victor Kelleher
Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1960)
Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Commander-1 by Peter George
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
Dark December by Alfred Coppel [ 5]
Dark Mirrors (original title) Schwarze Spiegel by Arno Schmidt
Davy and other works by Edgar Pangborn
The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles by Robert Moore Williams
Deathlands series by a variety of authors writing under the pen name James Axler
Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb by Philip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Domain by James Herbert
Doomday Wing by George H. Smith
Doomsday Plus Twelve by James D. Forman
Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham
Earthwreck! by Thomas N. Scortia
The Eclipse Trilogy by John Shirley
The Egghead Republic by Arno Schmidt
Einstein's Monsters by Martin Amis
End of the World by Dean Owen (novelization of the film Panic in Year Zero! )
Ende: A Diary of the Third World War by Anton-Andreas Guha
Endworld series by David Robbins
Eon by Greg Bear
The Erthing Cycle by Wayland Drew
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
Fire Brats by Scott Siegel and Barbara Siegel
First Angel by Ed Mann, published by Soldier of Fortune magazine
Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson [ 6]
Free Flight by Douglas Terman
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
A Gift Upon the Shore by M. K. Wren
God's Grace by Bernard Malamud
The Guardians series by Richard Austin
The Hot War series by Harry Turtledove
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad
Jenny, My Diary by Yorick Blumenfeld
Domain by James Herbert
The Last Children of Schewenborn by Gudrun Pausewang
The Last Ship by William Brinkley
The Last War , a 1986 novel by Martyn Godfrey
Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald
The Long Loud Silence by Wilson Tucker
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
Long Voyage Back by George Cockcroft, under the pen name Luke Rhinehart, 1983
Malevil by Robert Merle
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
The Metrozone Series by Simon Morden
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Not This August by C.M. Kornbluth
Obernewtyn and subsequent novels in the series by Isobelle Carmody
On the Beach [ 1] by Nevil Shute
One Second After by William R. Forstchen
The Outward Urge , by John Wyndham and Lucas Parkes
The Pelbar Cycle Book One (Beyond Armageddon ) by Paul O. Williams
Plan of Attack , a 2004 thriller by Dale Brown
The Postman , a 1985 post-apocalyptic novel by David Brin
Prayers for the Assassin , by Robert Ferrigno
Prime Directive , by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens ; a Star Trek novel where an alien civilization is apparently destroyed by a sudden, unexpected nuclear war among its own people
Pulling Through , by Dean Ing ; first half of the book is a novel on a family surviving a nuclear blast, the second half is a non-fiction survival guide
Red Alert , by Peter George
Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
The School for Atheists by Arno Schmidt
Second Ending , by James White
The Seventh Day by Hans Hellmut Kirst (original title Keiner Kommt Davon )
Shadow on the Hearth by Judith Merril (1950) – a novel about a traditional housewife's ordeals in the aftermath of nuclear attack
The Silo Series by Hugh Howey (2011) – A nuclear exchange is used to cover up a nano-bot attack.
Single Combat by Dean Ing (second in the Ted Quantril trilogy)
A Small Armageddon by Mordecai Roshwald
Star Man's Son by Andre Norton (1952) – a post-apocalyptic novel that takes place about two centuries after the Great-Blowup. It is titled Daybreak – 2250 AD in reprint editions.
The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun by Christopher Anvil
The Survivalist by Jerry Ahern
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Systemic Shock by Dean Ing (first in the Ted Quantril trilogy)
Tengu (Novel) by Graham Masterton
Test of Fire by Ben Bova
There Will Be Time by Poul Anderson
This Is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow
This Time Tomorrow by Lauran Paine
Time Capsule by Mitch Berman
Tomorrow! by Philip Wylie
Trinity's Child by William Prochnau (1983)
Triumph by Philip Wylie
The Valley-Westside War by Harry Turtledove
Vaneglory by George Turner
Viper Three by Walter Wager
Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka
When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs
Wild Country by Dean Ing (Third in the Ted Quantril Trilogy)
The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson
Without Warning by John Birmingham
The World Next Door by Brad Ferguson
The World Set Free by H. G. Wells
Worldwar series by Harry Turtledove – alternate history : World War II turns nuclear in 1943; another nuclear war in the 1960s
Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
Short stories
Short story collections
Comics
2000AD /Judge Dredd , set in a post-war Earth where the majority of the United States is called the "Cursed Earth"
Akira features Tokyo after a nuclear conflict.
AXA , set in the aftermath of a nuclear- and biological war with heroine AXA fighting against evil
Barefoot Gen , Japanese manga about life after the Hiroshima bombing
Cobalt 60 by Vaughn Bodē , Mark Bodē and Larry Todd , set in a post-apocalyptic world
Fist of the North Star , a Japanese comic franchise set in a post-nuclear Earth
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , a Japanese graphic novel, later partly adapted in film, set in a far, post-apocalyptic future, rife with themes of bioethics, environmentalism, genetics and psionics
The Punisher: The End , a one-shot issue of Marvel Comic 's Punisher by Garth Ennis and Richard Corben
Strontium Dog , set in a post-nuclear war earth where many humans have been deformed by the radiation and are branded as "mutants"
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd , is set in an England which has survived through a nuclear war which devastated the majority of the rest of the world.
Animation shorts
Games
Name
Year
Notes
2300 A.D.
1986
Role-playing game
Aftermath!
1981
Role-playing game
Balance of Power
1985
A computer strategy game of geopolitics during the Cold War
Blast Corps
1997
Nintendo 64 video game
Burntime
1993
A role-playing video game for DOS and Amiga
DEFCON
2007
A real-time strategy game for Windows, Mac and Linux
Fallout series
1997 (1st)
2018 (latest)
A post-apocalyptic role-playing video game for several platforms; early games were top down 2D while the last four are 3D; spiritual successor to Wasteland
Far Cry 5
2018
An action-adventure first-person shooter game set in the fictional Hope County, Montana that has been taken over by a cult who believe the end of the world is about to occur. Towards the end of the game, radio broadcasts begin hinting that the world outside is in chaos and a nuclear war is imminent. If the resist ending is chosen, nuclear explosions appear around the player suggesting a nuclear holocaust has occurred.
Far Cry New Dawn
2019
An action-adventure first-person shooter game standalone sequel of Far Cry 5 , set 17 years after the events of Far Cry 5, where the nuclear exchange known as "the Collapse" devastated the world, survivors attempt to rebuild the community in Hope County. Their efforts are however threatened by the Highwaymen, a roving band of organized bandits led by twin sisters Mickey and Lou.
Gamma World
1978
A post-apocalyptic role-playing game
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
2015
A top-down shooter game which is a sequel to Hotline Miami ; features a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States at the end of the game
M.A.D. Global Thermonuclear Warfare
2001
PC Strategic simulation game released by Small Rockets
Metro 2033
2010
A survival horror first-person shooter set in post-apocalyptic Moscow
Metro Last Light
2013
A survival horror first-person shooter which is a sequel to Metro 2033
Missile Command
1980
An action video game which was wildly popular in the 1980s, widely recognized in popular culture
The Morrow Project
1980
Role-playing game
Neocron
2002
A post-apocalyptic cyberpunk MMORPG for Windows
Norad
1981
An action strategy game for the Apple II, where the player defends the United States against a nuclear attack.[ 9] [ 10]
Nuclear Throne
2015
A twin-stick shooter roguelike following a group of mutants in a nuclear wasteland
Nuclear War
1989
A turn-based strategy game for Amiga and DOS
NukeWar
1980
A turn-based strategy game for Apple II, Commodore 64, and other early home computer systems
Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet
2004
A post-apocalyptic visual novel
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
2009
An action role-playing video game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Superpower 2
2004
A real-time strategy wargame
Supremacy: The Game of the Superpowers
1984
A board wargame
Theatre Europe
1985
A turn-based strategy video game about a fictional war in Europe between NATO and the Warsaw Pact , in which both sides use nuclear and chemical weapons against each other
Trinity
1986
An interactive fiction game examining the futile nature of nuclear war
Trojan
1986
Arcade game and platformer set shortly after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, which is now overrun by occultists who are bent on terrorizing the surviving population with psychological and biochemical warfare
Twilight: 2000
1984
A role-playing game
WarGames
1984
A video game based on the game in the hit movie
Warzone 2100
1999
An open-source real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game
Wasteland
1988
A post-apocalyptic role-playing video game
Wasteland 2
2014
A post-apocalyptic role-playing game; a sequel to Wasteland
60 Seconds!
2015
A game where the player helps a family of 4 to survive inside a nuclear bunker
See also
Further reading
References
^ a b c d e f Brians, Paul (1993). "Terminator vs. Terminator - Nuclear Holocaust as a Video Game" . Washington State University . Retrieved 3 April 2023 .
^ a b c Ronai, Steven (15 December 2017). "Fear on The Planet of the Apes" . Sequart Organization . Retrieved 30 March 2023 . While society's dread of a nuclear holocaust remained a central theme, Planet of the Apes movies successfully mined other anxieties prevalent in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
^ a b c d e Hurley, Jessica (2014). "War as Peace: Afterlives of Nuclear War in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ". In Blouin, Michael; Shipley, Morgan; Taylor, Jack (eds.). The Silence of Fallout: Nuclear Criticism in a Post-Cold War World . Cambridge Scholars Publishing . p. 192. ISBN 978-1-4438-4479-6 .
^ Valentin, Mel (15 January 2010). "Book of Eli, The (2010)" . Should I See It. Retrieved 10 March 2011 .
^ Dark December at Fantastic Fiction
^ "Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction" .
^ The Edge of the Knife at Project Gutenberg
^ "Flash Boom: Experiencing the Atomic Bombing of Japan Through the Film "Pikadon" " . The Airship .
^ Edwards, Benj (22 September 2016). "7 Forgotten Apple II Gaming Classics" . PCMAG . Retrieved 16 March 2020 .
^ InfoWorld . InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. 27 May 1991. p. 64 . Retrieved 16 March 2020 .
External links