Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Any good aspirational post-apocalyptic fiction about rebuilding society? (programming.dev)

submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by sobchak@programming.dev to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world

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I just finished reading Parable of The Sower, and while it's probably one of the greatest books I've ever read, most of the book is focused on survival in a world where every random homeless person and drug user wants to kill the protagonist (you can tell it was written shortly after the crack epidemic and when there was a lot of panic about crime). It was strange that most of the book was just about survival. The protagonist knew they must build something new, but they never quite got to that point in the book.

There doesn't seem to be much aspirational speculative fiction where people start building something better after a collapse of society and speculates how that may be done or how the new society may function.

The only fiction I can think of off the top of my head that covers a little bit about rebuilding society is the movie The Postman that I watched when I was a kid (I don't remember if it was good or not). Perhaps Parable of the Talents actually does start covering the building of a better society? (But I read an excerpt, and it looks like it's going to be, very presciently, about a murderous christian nationalist movement that wants to "make America great again"). I know there's stuff like Star Trek, but that's mostly set long after the rebuild; it doesn't cover in-depth how they got to that point (AFAIK).

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[–] maxy@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago

Cory Doctorow's "Walkaway" may fit, depending on what you're after.

Society hasn't collapsed exactly but they are building something new from scraps of deserted technology far away from civilisation. The setting is near-future, their motto: "The first days of a better nation." It is about a group building their own bed&breakfast for themselves and others to escape from the "default" society. There is a global support network of others attempting the same. They build in old ruins with 3D printers and abandoned fuel cells.

(Another topic of the book is mind uploading. The book is all on earth, no space travel. The main focus is on politics and society and a cultural rebellion against old money. I think the main characters are a bit weak in the sense that they are too similar and I sometimes confused them and it didn't matter. But it was still fun to read for the political ideas being spelled and acted out, and yes, for the enthusiasm of building something new.)