Soft Apocalypse
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Erik Davies
-
By:
-
Will McIntosh
About this listen
What happens when resources become scarce and society starts to crumble? As the competition for resources pulls America's previously stable society apart, the "New Normal" is a Soft Apocalypse. This is how our world ends; with a whimper instead of a bang.
"It's so hard to believe," Colin said as we crossed the steaming, empty parking lot toward the bowling alley. "What?" "That we're poor. That we're homeless." "I know." "I mean, we have college degrees," he said. "I know," I said.
There was an ancient miniature golf course choked in weeds alongside the bowling alley. The astroturf had completely rotted away in places. The windmill had one spoke. We looked it over for a minute (both of us had once been avid mini golfers), then continued toward the door. "By the way," I added. "We're not homeless, we're nomads. Keep your labels straight."
New social structures and tribal connections spring up across America, as the previous social structures begin to dissolve. Soft Apocalypse follows the journey across the Southeast of a tribe of formerly middle-class Americans as they struggle to find a place for themselves and their children in a new, dangerous world that still carries the ghostly echoes of their previous lives.
©2011 Will McIntosh (P)2011 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
One Second After
- By: William R. Forstchen
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already cited on the floor of Congress and discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a book all Americans should read, One Second After is the story of a war scenario that could become all too terrifyingly real. Based upon a real weapon - the Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) - which may already be in the hands of our enemies, it is a truly realistic look at the awesome power of a weapon that can destroy the entire United States.
-
-
A Civil War Re-enactor Saves a Community?
- By Cidney on 07-05-12
-
The Death of Grass
- By: John Christopher
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A viral strain has attacked rice crops in East Asia causing massive famine; soon a mutation appears which infects the staple crops of West Asia and Europe such as wheat and barley, threatening a worldwide famine. Christopher's classic post-apocalyptic novel follows the struggles of architect John Custance and his family as they make their way across an England that is rapidly descending into anarchy.
-
-
Excellent, frightening story
- By Linda B on 03-28-11
By: John Christopher
-
World War Z: The Complete Edition
- An Oral History of the Zombie War
- By: Max Brooks
- Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War Z: The Complete Edition features 21 additional Hollywood A-list actors and sci-fi fan favorites performing stories not included in the original edition. New narrators include Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, Spiderman star Alfred Molina, The Walking Dead creator Frank Darabont, rapper Common, Firefly star Nathan Fillion, Shaun of the Dead’s Simon Pegg, and members of the casts of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and more!
-
-
Will never pre-order again
- By Ignatz on 05-18-13
By: Max Brooks
-
The Mountain in the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.
-
-
Enjoyable and interesting
- By AudioReader on 10-10-22
By: Ray Nayler
-
Blood and Lies
- Agent of the Throne: Warhammer 40,000, Book 1
- By: John French
- Narrated by: Colleen Prendergast, Steve Conlin, Cliff Chapman, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Ianthe, war is all too familiar. A former soldier in the Astra Militarum, she now serves Inquisitor Covenant as an agent of the Throne. Her first mission sees her investigating a cult called the Children of Eternity. Falling foul of the local Enforcers, Ianthe soon learns that war in the shadows is seldom straightforward and that the local, angry law-keepers are the least of her troubles.
-
-
Good little short story
- By WELSBERN on 04-06-21
By: John French
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Dystopia before dystopia was cool...
- By Amber on 05-28-14
-
One Second After
- By: William R. Forstchen
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already cited on the floor of Congress and discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a book all Americans should read, One Second After is the story of a war scenario that could become all too terrifyingly real. Based upon a real weapon - the Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) - which may already be in the hands of our enemies, it is a truly realistic look at the awesome power of a weapon that can destroy the entire United States.
-
-
A Civil War Re-enactor Saves a Community?
- By Cidney on 07-05-12
-
The Death of Grass
- By: John Christopher
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A viral strain has attacked rice crops in East Asia causing massive famine; soon a mutation appears which infects the staple crops of West Asia and Europe such as wheat and barley, threatening a worldwide famine. Christopher's classic post-apocalyptic novel follows the struggles of architect John Custance and his family as they make their way across an England that is rapidly descending into anarchy.
-
-
Excellent, frightening story
- By Linda B on 03-28-11
By: John Christopher
-
World War Z: The Complete Edition
- An Oral History of the Zombie War
- By: Max Brooks
- Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War Z: The Complete Edition features 21 additional Hollywood A-list actors and sci-fi fan favorites performing stories not included in the original edition. New narrators include Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, Spiderman star Alfred Molina, The Walking Dead creator Frank Darabont, rapper Common, Firefly star Nathan Fillion, Shaun of the Dead’s Simon Pegg, and members of the casts of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and more!
-
-
Will never pre-order again
- By Ignatz on 05-18-13
By: Max Brooks
-
The Mountain in the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.
-
-
Enjoyable and interesting
- By AudioReader on 10-10-22
By: Ray Nayler
-
Blood and Lies
- Agent of the Throne: Warhammer 40,000, Book 1
- By: John French
- Narrated by: Colleen Prendergast, Steve Conlin, Cliff Chapman, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Ianthe, war is all too familiar. A former soldier in the Astra Militarum, she now serves Inquisitor Covenant as an agent of the Throne. Her first mission sees her investigating a cult called the Children of Eternity. Falling foul of the local Enforcers, Ianthe soon learns that war in the shadows is seldom straightforward and that the local, angry law-keepers are the least of her troubles.
-
-
Good little short story
- By WELSBERN on 04-06-21
By: John French
-
Parable of the Sower
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.
-
-
Dystopia before dystopia was cool...
- By Amber on 05-28-14
-
Wool
- The Silo Saga, Book 1
- By: Hugh Howey
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world outside has grown toxic, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. The remnants of humanity live underground in a single silo. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they want: They are allowed to go outside.
-
-
THIS is a strong female character
- By Alex on 03-23-23
By: Hugh Howey
-
American Apocalypse Box Set
- Books 1-4
- By: AJ Newman
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce, Sara Morsey
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joe doesn't care about politics, or what happened. The grid is down, and every day is a struggle to survive. He just knows his world went to Hell when the EMPs ended life as he knew it. Joe scrambled to hide from all of the craziness, but kept his sanity, and improved his lot in life by reading some witty survival notes that his dead grandma had left him. She'd been a prepper all her life, and she had been close to Joe. Joe grows and learns, but can he survive? Listen to this complete series to find out how a regular guy survives in a post-apocalyptic world.
-
-
Disregard bad reviews.
- By jeff on 04-19-22
By: AJ Newman
-
The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
-
-
My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
-
Black Swan the Complete Box Set
- A Saga of America's Coming Financial Nightmare
- By: Mark Goodwin
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shane Black is trapped in New York, and vicious protesters are burning the city to the ground. He has no gun, no way out, and he’s 1,000 miles from home. America’s financial doomsday. A wayward son. The epic struggle to survive. Country music icon Shane Black is this year’s headliner for the New Year’s Eve bash in Times Square, but when violent riots break out, he’ll need more than a six string to escape the maelstrom. After decades of abuse as the world’s reserve currency, the US dollar’s day of reckoning is at hand.
-
-
well written
- By CRith on 11-12-20
By: Mark Goodwin
-
Fairy Tale
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Seth Numrich, Stephen King
- Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.
-
-
A Boy and his Dog at the end of the World
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 09-06-22
By: Stephen King
-
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
- Monk & Robot, Book 1
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Em Grosland
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
-
-
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
- By Daniel Cascaddan on 07-15-21
By: Becky Chambers
-
EMP Lodge Series: Six Book Complete Boxset
- By: Grace Hamilton
- Narrated by: Andrew Tell
- Length: 41 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Megan Wolford, life as she knew it came to an end after the world was decimated by an EMP. Now, she does her best to survive and protect her daughter, Caitlin. But when the young girl falls ill with a mysterious virus, Meghan must leave the safety of their home and embark on a dangerous journey to forage for medical supplies.
-
-
Don’t bother
- By doug jackson on 03-11-22
By: Grace Hamilton
-
Lucifer's Hammer
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 24 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival--a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known....
-
-
Good story from front to back
- By DJM on 07-30-09
By: Larry Niven, and others
-
Ever Winter
- By: Peter Hackshaw
- Narrated by: Dan Stevens
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Far from the savage remnants of humanity, Henry and his family have managed to survive the grip of desolate, perpetual winter on a vast tundra that was once an ocean teeming with life. When the family is discovered, their peaceful existence is shattered and their lives changed forever. Henry’s siblings are kidnapped, leaving him alone in the ruins of their home. Broken, altered, and tormented by all that has befallen him, he is driven to wreak vengeance upon those who assume him dead...by any means necessary.
-
-
Not sure whether to read or listen? LISTEN!!!
- By KH on 01-30-21
By: Peter Hackshaw
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Under the Dome
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Raul Esparza
- Length: 34 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.
-
-
Glad I Listened to 11-22-63 First
- By Russell on 02-09-12
By: Stephen King
-
Scythe
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
-
-
Teenage Thumbs up
- By Lila R on 04-01-17
By: Neal Shusterman
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Zombies: More Recent Dead
- By: Neil Gaiman, Carrie Vaughn, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and others
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt, Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The living dead are more alive than ever! Zombies have become more than an iconic monster for the 21st century: They are now a phenomenon constantly revealing as much about ourselves - and our fascination with death, resurrection, and survival - as our love for the supernatural or post-apocalyptic speculation. Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction.
-
-
A well blended mix
- By The Lone Mopper on 07-30-15
By: Neil Gaiman, and others
-
Allison Hewitt Is Trapped
- A Zombie Novel
- By: Madeleine Roux
- Narrated by: Piper Goodeve
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One woman's story as she blogs about - and fights back against - the zombie apocalypse.
Allison Hewitt and her five colleagues at the Brooks and Peabody Bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak hits. Allison reaches out for help through her blog, writing on her laptop. It may also be her only chance to reach her mother. But as the reality of their situation sinks in, Allison's blog becomes a harrowing account of her edge-of-the-seat adventures.
-
-
lots of potential but disappointing
- By Linda B on 04-29-11
By: Madeleine Roux
-
Until the End of the World
- By: Sarah Lyons Fleming
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cassie Forrest isn't surprised to learn that the day she’s decided to get her life together is also the day the world ends. After all, she’s been on a self-imposed losing streak since her survivalist parents died: she’s stopped painting, broken off her engagement to Adrian and dated a real jerk. Rectifying her mistakes has to wait, however, because Cassie and her friends have just enough time to escape Brooklyn for her parents’ cabin before Bornavirus LX turns them into zombies, too.
-
-
a feel good zombie apocylapse
- By Mike Naka on 02-23-14
-
Superheroes
- By: Peter S. Beagle, Daryl Gregory, James Patrick Kelly, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Joe Barrett, Christina Delaine, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern gods and goddesses, remote, revered - and like the pantheon of heroes and heroines of ancient myth - possessing great power tempered with flaws. Now, find within this anthology great tales by gifted and award-winning authors who move superheroes from the four-color panels of comic books to the fantastic pages of fiction, stories that will remind anyone who ever wanted to wear a cape or don a cowl of the extraordinary powers of the imagination!
-
-
Pretentious tired old concepts
- By BookofJoy on 12-29-14
By: Peter S. Beagle, and others
-
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
- By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Rebecca Mitchell, Michael Healy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.
-
-
Only a few decent stories in this bunch.
- By Jerry on 12-06-14
By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, and others
-
The Last Policeman
- The Last Policeman, Book 1
- By: Ben H. Winters
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
-
-
Not your regular mystery
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 09-20-16
By: Ben H. Winters
-
Zombies: More Recent Dead
- By: Neil Gaiman, Carrie Vaughn, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and others
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt, Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The living dead are more alive than ever! Zombies have become more than an iconic monster for the 21st century: They are now a phenomenon constantly revealing as much about ourselves - and our fascination with death, resurrection, and survival - as our love for the supernatural or post-apocalyptic speculation. Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction.
-
-
A well blended mix
- By The Lone Mopper on 07-30-15
By: Neil Gaiman, and others
-
Allison Hewitt Is Trapped
- A Zombie Novel
- By: Madeleine Roux
- Narrated by: Piper Goodeve
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One woman's story as she blogs about - and fights back against - the zombie apocalypse.
Allison Hewitt and her five colleagues at the Brooks and Peabody Bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak hits. Allison reaches out for help through her blog, writing on her laptop. It may also be her only chance to reach her mother. But as the reality of their situation sinks in, Allison's blog becomes a harrowing account of her edge-of-the-seat adventures.
-
-
lots of potential but disappointing
- By Linda B on 04-29-11
By: Madeleine Roux
-
Until the End of the World
- By: Sarah Lyons Fleming
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cassie Forrest isn't surprised to learn that the day she’s decided to get her life together is also the day the world ends. After all, she’s been on a self-imposed losing streak since her survivalist parents died: she’s stopped painting, broken off her engagement to Adrian and dated a real jerk. Rectifying her mistakes has to wait, however, because Cassie and her friends have just enough time to escape Brooklyn for her parents’ cabin before Bornavirus LX turns them into zombies, too.
-
-
a feel good zombie apocylapse
- By Mike Naka on 02-23-14
-
Superheroes
- By: Peter S. Beagle, Daryl Gregory, James Patrick Kelly, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Joe Barrett, Christina Delaine, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern gods and goddesses, remote, revered - and like the pantheon of heroes and heroines of ancient myth - possessing great power tempered with flaws. Now, find within this anthology great tales by gifted and award-winning authors who move superheroes from the four-color panels of comic books to the fantastic pages of fiction, stories that will remind anyone who ever wanted to wear a cape or don a cowl of the extraordinary powers of the imagination!
-
-
Pretentious tired old concepts
- By BookofJoy on 12-29-14
By: Peter S. Beagle, and others
-
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
- By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Rebecca Mitchell, Michael Healy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.
-
-
Only a few decent stories in this bunch.
- By Jerry on 12-06-14
By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, and others
-
The Last Policeman
- The Last Policeman, Book 1
- By: Ben H. Winters
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
-
-
Not your regular mystery
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 09-20-16
By: Ben H. Winters
-
The Water Knife
- By: Paolo Bacigalupi
- Narrated by: Almarie Guerra
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, detective, leg breaker, assassin, and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel "cuts" water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet while the poor get nothing but dust.
-
-
The fight for water in a drought fueled apocalypse
- By Lore on 09-24-15
By: Paolo Bacigalupi
-
The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
-
-
My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
-
The Talisman
- By: Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 28 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a brisk autumn day, a 13-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America - and into another realm. One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery.
-
-
Still Good
- By Bill S. on 03-24-10
By: Stephen King, and others
-
Bleeding Violet
- By: Dia Reeves
- Narrated by: Suzy Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas, in search of a new home. But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. She discovers secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen, and no one is safe.
-
-
Didn't like it. Sorry, not sorry
- By Cii'Em on 02-15-16
By: Dia Reeves
-
Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse
- By: Victor Gischler
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edgar Award nominee Victor Gischler “specializes in morbid humor, dark sarcasm, and comic noir, complete with violence and mayhem” ( Library Journal). Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse picks up 10 years after the end of the world. Former insurance salesman Mortimer Tate leaves his secluded cabin and discovers a desolate landscape complete with cowboys, bandits, and cannibals, where the only traces of civilization are found at Joey Armageddon’s Sassy-a-Go-Go club.
-
-
Post-apocalypse with a touch of old west thrown in
- By Michelle on 04-17-12
By: Victor Gischler
-
Black Marks
- By: Pete Aldin
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No good deed goes unpunished. Detroit is a hole where even a werewolf's sins can be buried. Or so Jake Brennan hopes. Hiding from his hunters, shooting heroin to negate the effect of the full moon, he is beginning to turn things around. And the day he is witness to a brutal attack on ER doctor Gwen Cheevey, Jake is forced to transform into something new: a hero. But when a clip of his good deed goes viral, Jake's days of hiding are over. To keep Gwen safe, Jake will need to embrace the beast within.
-
-
Black Marks Absolved
- By Spooky Mike on 05-16-18
By: Pete Aldin
-
The New Hunger
- A Warm Bodies Novella
- By: Isaac Marion
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The end of the world didn't happen overnight. After years of war, societal breakdown, freak storms, and rising tides, humanity already hovered near the edge. Then came the most unexpected threat of all: the world's corpses rising up to deliver the final blow.
-
-
Not worth more than $1.00 or so
- By cristina on 11-20-15
By: Isaac Marion
-
The Unnoticeables: A Novel
- The Vicious Circuit, Book 1
- By: Robert Brockway
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl, Emily Foster, Scott Merriman
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are angels, and they are not beneficent or loving. But they do watch over us. They watch our lives unfold, analyzing us for repeating patterns and redundancies. When they find them, the angels simplify those patterns and remove the redundancies, and the problem that is "you" gets solved.
-
-
Left wanting
- By Michelle L. Baron on 08-08-15
By: Robert Brockway
-
Gone
- Gone Series, Book 1
- By: Michael Grant
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for the young. There are teens, but not one single adult. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no Internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents - unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers - that grow stronger by the day. It's a terrifying new world.
-
-
Please rerelease this book w new narration
- By Kim on 02-12-17
By: Michael Grant
-
The Breakers Omnibus
- Books 1-3 and Prequel Novella
- By: Edward W. Robertson
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 42 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books 1-3 and the prequel novella of the Breakers series.
-
-
So glad I downloaded this one.
- By Stevie Havoc on 11-16-15
-
I Am Not a Serial Killer
- John Cleaver, Book 1
- By: Dan Wells
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it. He's obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn't want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he's written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation. Dead bodies are normal to John. They don't demand or expect the empathy he's unable to offer. Perhaps that's what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there's something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat - and to appreciate what that difference means.
-
-
WRONG CATEGORY - THIS IS NOT A MYSTERY
- By guy on 02-27-19
By: Dan Wells
-
Cold City
- Repairman Jack: Early Years Trilogy, Book 1
- By: F. Paul Wilson
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you've never read a Repairman Jack novel, this is the place to begin. It's 1990. A twenty-one-year-old named Jack has dropped out of college, leaving his old life behind to build a new one in New York City. Manhattan's rough edges are jagged enough to shred any unwary newcomer, but perhaps not one who is determined to stay off the grid, at any cost, in the busiest metropolis on earth. And to do so, he'll have to take jobs of a less than legal nature.
-
-
Fun, as long you don't think too much
- By Andrew Pollack on 01-17-14
By: F. Paul Wilson
What listeners say about Soft Apocalypse
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarda
- 09-06-11
Very good story
This is a coming of age story, set in a possible future, one where none of us would like to visit. The author puts us inside the narrator and we see the world he sees. Since it is his world, he feels no need to fully explain it or try to tell how it came about. I think anyone who is aware of the problems we now have and what is coming slowly to us, will not need to have things explained. We see these things happening all around us.
The story is simple, but effective. And frightening. It comes to us, as all things do, one step at a time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- cgstitcher
- 08-18-15
Takes Lots of Chances
One thing that took me a while to get used to was the deliberate use of an unlikeable protagonist. It always felt like he should step up to the plate and be a better friend, a more authentic person, someone with values, but he just didn't have it in him.
I listened to this quite a while ago, though, and a lot of weird, vivid scenes are flooding back to me as I recall the bizarre hero's journey. So it obviously made an impression.
There was an instance of animal violence that went too far for me, to the point of sullying my overall enjoyment of the book. (And this was not even the grossest part of the story, when the protagonist gets mugged by some insurgents. That, I actually admired in its nastiness.)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- serialnumber55
- 02-17-13
If only the bamboo were edible!
Any additional comments?
The end of the world, according to this novel, is not a whimper, but a long series of whimpers punctuated with occasional hope and a final resigned leap. As the ordinary expectations of life slowly drain away into drawn-out misery, revolutionary geniuses construct a scenario that may not be much better. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roger
- 04-02-13
Refreshing take
A different view on how society could deteriorate. An easy listen that's not really too far fetched. Sure this book had a few corny parts, but the girlfriend thing wasn't as bad as some reviews make it out to be. It's a decent non-violent (for the most part) apocalyptic story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. Hilton
- 07-02-17
Not your typical dystopian story.
This tale revolves around interpersonal relationships more than most stories of the genre. Can an art major learn to recognize threats and deal with them? Does love matter if you live without an expectation of a life together? What does hope look like in a hopeless world? A good read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pam
- 07-18-12
What happens when the money runs out
This story is sad, violent, realistic, sad, and sad. In a future where society collapses not because of zombies, or a terrible disease, or a war, but because of economic ruin -- there's not much to be cheery about. But I found "Soft Apocalypse" to be an intriguing take on the sci-fi dystopia. People do things to survive that they are not proud of. Yet they try to cling to the sense of self they had before the collapse, and they strive to find a "normal" life... Somewhere.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike
- 10-09-12
Still thinking about it...
What made the experience of listening to Soft Apocalypse the most enjoyable?
I think that listening to this book as the Presidential Election draws nearer really seems to make the storyline plausible... Following the daily news I felt the story actually was pertinent as a warning on the choices we make today...
Who was your favorite character and why?
I did enjoy the Main Character because he wasn't a "Superman" but seems average. I enjoyed the "believability" of his actions and consequences as they related to this story.
What does Erik Davies bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Erik Davies helped the story along by not over-doing the different voices... which can really detract from a great book if not done right.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
"Not with a Bang...but with a whimper..."
Any additional comments?
Its not the Best Book, its not the Best Story...its not even the most plausible storyline. But it is a GOOD book, well written, with solid Characters and more than enough thought provocation on the subjects it touched upon that I still find myself thinking about this book almost daily. To me, that's money well spent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-16-23
Interesting concept
This is more of a societal collapse and it’s compelling for sure. How would you live if all the rules changed in a short amount of time?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michelle
- 01-20-15
Apocalypse is gradual, not sudden.
When you have read as many post-apocalypse books as I have, you begin to look for books that do something different. Most apocalyptic events depicted are sudden. EMP, nuclear war, asteroid impact, zombie virus, pandemic that gets out of hand. In this book we get a "soft apocalypse." In other words, it is gradual. A combination of malnutrition, and related viruses, environmental degradation, economic collapse, rising unemployment, and Genetic engineerring gone wrong, cause the eventual apocalypse. Over a period of several years, a group of ordinary people learn to adapt and survive in a gradually declining world. I highly recommend this book to all of my fellow apocalypse fans out there.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeff Koeppen
- 08-18-24
Believable Dystopian Adventure
Soft Apocalypse is a good dystopian novel set over a number of years in which a world economic crisis and ensuing depression results in a slow, gradual collapse of civilization. Throw the introduction of some engineered viruses which cause disfigurement, polio-like symptoms, and death, and you have a full-fledged disaster.
The story centers around protagonist Jasper who loses his job and home, and with no income joins with others in his predicament to form a band who try to procure food by selling power from solar power generating gadgets they have. Eventually, the still-employed-with money "haves" turn on the "have-nots" and Jasper and his ilk are shunned and become societal outcasts, even though they are educated, have professional skills, and were previously gainfully employed.
The story takes place in Georgia, mostly Savannah, but also between Savannah and Athens as Jasper and others who are homeless have to keep moving to stay alive as society breaks down and violence and lawlessness settle in, and as the government and law enforcement lose their grip on society. Despite all that is going on around them, Jasper and his band maintain their decency and humanity in as we watch their part of the US collapse.
I thought this was a really believable near-future dystopian novels, more so than many others I've read. I think part of that is how well the author explains how the economy, the energy grid, and social structures collapsed; and, having gone through COVID, us modern folks could buy in to how fast moving viruses more potent than what we dealt with could cause mass casualties and general fear or even hysteria.
Between chapters the novel skips in time, sometimes by months and sometimes by years. I didn't mind this so much but wondered sometimes how Jasper and friends survived over the intervening periods of time with the way things were going out in the world. What caused me to knock my rating of this book down a notch were the hard-to-fathom coincidental bumping in to and rejoining with characters that Jasper was separated or broke up with from earlier in the book, despite having years and (you would think) many miles between them as people were on the move. I won't give any details but one meeting in particular was particularly eye-rolling.
Overall, though, I thought this was a good read. It has a believable plot for the most part, was increasingly dark, and the ending was interesting.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!