This Is How The World Ends

5 Comments

1. Pete says:

   April 14, 2005 at 2:08 pm

   I’m rooting for #7, it would seem fun. While I don’t know any books on the topic, the obvious SF movie that comes to mind is the “Terminator” series…

   We need you, Johnnnn Connah!

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2. Jeff says:

   April 14, 2005 at 2:55 pm

   The gravimetric effects of a passing black hole (propelled by a gamma burst, no doubt) affects the tender electronics of our robot servants, sending some into a murderous rage while other terrorist-bots burrow into the earth (a la The Matrix) and create numerous volcanic vents. The sudden environmental trauma triggers an evolutionary fail safe in humanity, sending some into dormancy while others revert to a savage subhuman race.

   And so on and so on…

   If we’re going to go, let’s go with some fucking style!

   Reply
3. Summer says:

   April 14, 2005 at 6:47 pm

   The only genetic code unlocking story I can think of off the top of my head is “Darwin’s Radio” by Greg Bear. It doesn’t exactly match the given scenario, though.

   Haven’t read “Darwin’s Children” yet, either.

   The scenario might fit a little with “Childhood’s End”, where people just stopped having kids after a certain point, but that was helped along by outside forces.

   “Infectress” by Tom Cool could be considered a terrorist act, as well as “The White Plague” by Frank Herbert… biological devices were used in those stories, so that’d fit the viral pandemic scenario, too.

   Maybe I think think up some more later.

   Reply
4. scribblingwoman says:

   April 14, 2005 at 10:29 pm

   Apocalypse soon … keep radios handy

   SFSignal links to a Guardian story about possible end-of-the-world scenarios (was it a slow news day?), and adds various sf…

   Reply
5. John says:

   April 14, 2005 at 11:06 pm

   My 2/100ths of a dollar:

   1. Climate Change – The Drowned World, The Burning World and The Crystal World – all three by J.G. Ballard.
   2. Telomere Erosion – Evolution by Stephen Baxter; The Time Machine by H.G Wells; Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut.
   3. Viral Pandemic – I Am Legend by Richard Matheson; The Andromeda Strain by Michael Chrichton; The Last Man by Mary Shelley; The Death of Grass by John Christopher (actually, it’s bacteria that’s the cause of the trouble, but hey); The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch (another stretch – spores are the cause of unprecedented plant growth, stifling out rival life forms.)
   4. Terrorism – New York Nights by Eric Brown
   5. Nuclear War – This is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow; The Absolute at Large by Karel Capek.
   6. Meteorite Impact – The Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster
   7. Robots Taking Over – R.U.R. by Karel Capek (read it in its original Czech!); With Folded Hands and The Humnaoids – both by Jack Williamson.
   8. Cosmic Ray Blast – The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham; The Last Day by Richard Matheson; Last Night of Summer by Alfred Coppel; “Inconstant Moon” by Larry Niven
   9. Super Volcanos – The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel
   10. Earth Swallowing Black Hole – Earth by David Brin.

   Reply