Pandemic Plunderings*

So: you’re in lockdown, with little else to do but read for the foreseeable future? Here’s some related books that may help pass the time. (Note: I’ve tried to stick to virus-related offerings.)

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Albert Camus: The Plague (1947)

I’ll start with an obvious one. Not really genre, but an effective tale about how a disease spreads amongst the various people of a French/Algerian city. I’m sure it has influenced many of the books mentioned below. The effect of the plague on society in the city is shown through the characters of a doctor, a priest, a journalist, a city clerk and others. It has been suggested that it is based on the events of a cholera outbreak in the 1800s, but also could be seen as an allegory whereby the ‘plague’ is actually fascism. Still quite chilling and rather appropriate at the moment, sadly.

George R Stewart: Earth Abides (1947)

This one is more genre-based, and is one of my personal favourites. Although first published the same year as Camus’s work, it was the winner of the first International Fantasy Award in 1951. I had forgotten how much the story became biblical allegory towards the end, but it was not enough to be annoying to me. One of those quietly apocalyptic stories, but one that has an uplifting message at the end – whatever happens, we endure and survive.

Stephen King: The Stand (1978)

Another obvious read, but one that Stephen King has been at pains to point out that ‘Captain Trips’ (the name for the influenza killer virus) is NOT the coronavirus. A big immersive story, although there is still some debate over whether the author’s preferred (and much longer) version is better than the original one. Was inspired in part by George Stewart’s novel.

Richard Matheson: I Am Legend (1954)

And after a long novel, a much shorter one. Matheson’s story is included here as it is a story of endurance, how the last remaining human in Los Angeles survives after a pandemic that has turned the population into vampires. One of Richard’s best-known works these days, in part due to the movie version starring Will Smith. As a piece of writing however it is still effective – tight, precise text, telling its tale with a minimum of padding and about 175 pages. A nice twist at the end that was not given in the movie. I reviewed it here.

Richard Adams: The Plague Dogs (1977)

Richard is perhaps only known for his seminal novel about rabbits, Watership Down. This is the book he wrote afterwards, a much darker tale (not that Watership Down was a bundle of laughs) and one that will affect anyone who has ever owned a pet. The story is of Rowf and Snitter, two dogs that escape from an animal laboratory in the Lake District. They are hunted down because of the mistaken belief that they are carrying a disease that will kill humans. Deeply affecting. I’m pleased that the coronavirus does not seem to be carried by dogs or cats.

Frank Herbert: The White Plague (1982)

Another novel from an author that is best known for other work. Whilst Dune is pretty much known by most genre readers, this contemporary story is pretty unknown. It tells of John Roe O’Neill, a scientist whose family are killed by an IRA bomb. Driven to madness, O’Neill creates a plague that kills women and uses men as carriers – the idea being to wipe out populations in Ireland, Britain and Libya, with threats to other countries if they don’t do as he says.

Published in the 1980’s, this is perhaps ‘of its time’. There are parts that are dated, admittedly – the role of the IRA in British and Irish society for example has changed enormously since the Black Friday Agreement, and there’s also the possibly misogynistic idea that this is basically a disease on women! – but there are some genuinely chilling moments in how people and governments react. A Crichton-ian novel of how science can be used for bad as well as good. Very different to Dune!

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in a Time of Cholera (1985)

Another non-genre offering, which is, I believe, a love story with a sickness setting (which is why I’ve included it here as an outlier). I haven’t read it myself, but it’s interesting to me because I know people that are fans, regarding it as an iconic ode to romance in times of difficulty, whilst others who have made their opinion known to me have described it to me as ‘unfinishable, pretentious twaddle’. One that divides readers, then!

Emily St. John Mandel: Station Eleven (2014)

One I have reviewed for SFFWorld (here) in 2015. A gently unsettling novel about what happens after a global flu epidemic. It’s not overly dramatic, but it is memorable as it slowly edges into your subconsciousness.

Michael Crichton: The Andromeda Strain (1969)

I mentioned Michael earlier. Here’s a novel that may be better known for the Robert Wise movie version than the original novel, Michael Crichton’s debut. (The 1971 film’s recommended as well, by the way.) Jurassic Park may be two decades away, but here’s an early version of humanity and science/technology coping with adversity. The ‘plague’ is – Quatermass-style – brought from space, but the key angle here is how science is important in solving the problem (even when technology goes wrong!) The movie has recently been cleaned up and released for Bluray, as well, if you wish to compare the book and the movie. For a change, and if I remember right, they are remarkably similar.

Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt (2002)

The beginning of this alternate history talks of a global plague which wipes out 99% of Europe’s population (before the Black Death does). The result is a world where the Chinese and Muslims dominate, which is told over hundreds of years by characters who are reincarnated. At over 600 pages, this is ambitious and very long, very talky – not for everyone.

Cormac McCarthy: The Road (2006)

“This is a chucklefest from start to finish…” no, that’s never said about this non-genre writer’s novel. It’s a dark, bleak novel about the ultimate journey taken by a boy and his father after a global apocalypse. Not to be read as a pick-me-up. Some aspects of this are echoed in the next book.

Joe Hill: The Fireman (2016)

This may be more to a genre reader’s tastes. In Joe’s apocalyptic story, a fungal spore causes people to spontaneously combust. This is pretty impressive to start with, although it’s more about how the survivors cope afterwards than how they got there. Definite touches of the King style narrative, which should not be surprising. There’s touches of Matheson as well, and the author also claims Crichton was an influence as well. It’s undoubtedly dark, but not as unremittingly bleak as the McCarthy tale and less talky than the Robinson. Whilst I enjoyed it a lot, it was perhaps a little too long for me (reviewed here.) My colleague Rob liked it much more, I think (review here).

The Doomsday Book: Connie Willis (1992)

One of my own favourites, despite the awful title, although reading it today is now a little odd. Published in 1992, it portrays 2050 with landline telephones and no Internet or social media – why it’s almost like we’re back in the Dark Ages! Technology aside, this is one to be read for the characters and still – still, nearly thirty years on – packs an emotional punch. Probably the one most expected to be reread by me soon.

Wanderers: Chuck Wendig (2019)

And bringing it up to date. In his review Rob thought this was one of his favourite books, if not his favourite book of last year. A strange disease causes people to become wandering, sleepwalking zombies. Another one that taps into that lucrative Stephen King vibe.

The Eyes of Darkness: Dean Koontz (1981)

A late entry. This one has picked up some renewed interest recently because, although written in the 1980s, it ‘predicts’ a global pandemic called Wuhan-400 that originated in Wuhan, China – coincidentally the place where the current coronavirus is alleged to have started. I haven’t read this one myself, but Dean is often regarded as a comparable writer to Stephen King, so this thriller may appeal to fans looking for something similar.

These are the ones I immediately thought of, but I am sure that there are others. Are there any blindingly obvious ones that I’ve missed, or just favourites of yours worth a mention?

*Thanks to Rob Bedford for the title!

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