Why am I passionate about this?

“We had to put our money into bowls of vinegar,” my Aunty Mary once told me, “because they thought we’d infect them.” It’s hard to believe that this happened in living memory but in the early 1960s, smallpox came to the Rhondda valleys of South Wales where my family lived. Patients were put into a local isolation hospital. When people from the valleys went to the capital city, Cardiff, some shop-owners insisted that any coins were put into vinegar – a supposed ‘cure’ for the plague that dates back to the Middle Ages. Is it any wonder that I grew up with a fascination for the end of civilization as we know it?


I wrote

The Snow

By Huw Collingbourne,

Book cover of The Snow

What is my book about?

It came with the snow. Overnight the world changed. Bodies lie unburied. Gangs of bestial semi-humans roam the streets hunting…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of A Wrinkle in the Skin

Huw Collingbourne Why did I love this book?

In this wonderful novel, massive earthquakes cause a geological catastrophe that changes the world’s geography overnight. The upheaval of the ocean floor forms a land bridge that connects the island of Guernsey with mainland Britain. By removing the sea from the English Channel, Christopher creates a peculiar, surreal landscape which, we soon discover, is populated by some peculiar and surreal people. I particularly enjoyed the captain of the grounded ship who tries to run his vessel as though nothing has changed. John Christopher was the grandmaster of the post-apocalyptic genre.

By John Christopher,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Wrinkle in the Skin as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One night, the island of Guernsey convulsed. As shock followed shock, the landscape tilted violently in defiance of gravity. When dawn came and the quakes had stilled to tremblings, Matthew Cotter gazed out in disbelief at the pile of rubble that had been his home. The greenhouses which had provided his livelihood were a lake of shattered glass, the tomato plants a crush of drowned vegetation spotted and splodged with red.

Wandering in a daze of bewilderment through the devastation, he came to the coast, looked out towards the sea ...

There was no sea: simply a sunken alien land,…


Book cover of Earth Abides

Huw Collingbourne Why did I love this book?

Global pandemics are far more enjoyable to read about than to live through. Probably the most influential novel about a pandemic is Earth Abides, written way back in 1949. The main character, Isherwood Williams, is bitten by a rattlesnake while out in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the west of the USA. After recovering from this, he returns to civilization only to discover that civilization no longer exists because a plague has spread across the world, killing much of the population. The initial chapters of this book are wonderfully evocative and terrifying. Though I must admit that I found the later chapters, when small bands of people try to rebuild society, a bit dull. That’s one of the odd things about this type of fiction – the worse things get, the more fun they are to read about!

By George R. Stewart,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Earth Abides as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this profound ecological fable, a mysterious plague has destroyed the vast majority of the human race. Isherwood Williams, one of the few survivors, returns from a wilderness field trip to discover that civilization has vanished during his absence.

Eventually he returns to San Francisco and encounters a female survivor who becomes his wife. Around them and their children a small community develops, living like their pioneer ancestors, but rebuilding civilization is beyond their resources, and gradually they return to a simpler way of life.

A poignant novel about finding a new normal after the upheaval of a global crisis.


Book cover of The Stand

Huw Collingbourne Why did I love this book?

Stephen King has acknowledged that Earth Abides was a source of inspiration for his blockbuster novel, The Stand. This is a huge book (1,420 pages in the edition I have) with a vast array of characters. In addition to the pandemic itself, King brings in storylines involving elements of fantasy, religion, and horror. In spite of its immense size, the novel generally manages to keep the story moving along at a brisk pace though. I found the opening chapters by far the best; they convey a creepiness about things being “not quite right” (a dying man driving his car into a petrol station, for example) which, to my mind, is a good deal scarier than the more overtly apocalyptic events towards the end of the book. 

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Stand as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by virus and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published.

Soon to be a television series.

'THE STAND is a masterpiece' (Guardian). Set in a virus-decimated US, King's thrilling American fantasy epic, is a Classic.

First come the days of the virus. Then come the dreams.

Dark dreams that warn of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of…


Book cover of The Day of the Triffids

Huw Collingbourne Why did I love this book?

Speaking of first chapters, they really don’t come much better than the first chapter of The Day Of The Triffids. The story begins in a hospital. We learn that there was a dramatic meteor shower the night before. Almost everyone went outside to watch. Bill Masen is a rare exception since he was in a hospital ward with his eyes bandaged. When he takes off the bandages he realises that he is one of the very few people who is still able to see. That would be bad enough. But what is worse – much worse! – is that the world is now infested with huge, walking, stinging, killing plants – Triffids. If you haven’t read this book, you’ve missed a treat. It is an absolute classic of post-apocalyptic science fiction.

By John Wyndham,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked The Day of the Triffids as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When Bill Masen wakes up in his hospital bed, he has reason to be grateful for the bandages that covered his eyes the night before. For he finds a population rendered blind and helpless by the spectacular meteor shower that filled the night sky, the evening before. But his relief is short-lived as he realises that a newly-blinded population is now at the mercy of the Triffids.

Once, the Triffids were farmed for their oil, their uncanny ability to move and their carnivorous habits well controlled by their human keepers. But now, with humans so vulnerable, they are a potent…


Book cover of Tomorrow, When the War Began

Huw Collingbourne Why did I love this book?

Not everyone would agree that this book is a post-apocalyptic novel. After all, it hasn’t got an apocalypse. No plague. No natural disaster. No killer plants. Even so, it has everything else that characterises the genre. Overnight, society falls apart and nothing will ever be the same again. But there is a small band of survivors who are prepared to fight against all odds. So what is the catastrophe that caused this? For reasons which are never fully explained, a foreign power has seized control of Australia. Their army moves in, sets up internment camps, and imprisons the population. A group of teenagers escaped imprisonment because they happened to be camping in the wilderness when the invasion occurred. This book (the first of seven) tells their story. A cracking read. Recommended. 

By John Marsden,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Tomorrow, When the War Began as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

'Compulsively readable' New York Times

Somewhere out there Ellie and her friends are hiding.

Their country has been invaded. Everyone they know has been captured. Their world has changed overnight.

They've got no weapons - except courage.

They've got no help - except themselves.

They've got nothing - except friendship.

How strong could you be, if the world was full of people trying to kill you?

Fans of Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins and Michael Grant - prepare to be hooked by the Tomorrow series.


Explore my book 😀

The Snow

By Huw Collingbourne,

Book cover of The Snow

What is my book about?

It came with the snow. Overnight the world changed. Bodies lie unburied. Gangs of bestial semi-humans roam the streets hunting for prey. But for one man, the end was a new beginning. Snowbound, in an isolated cottage, Jonathan Richards wakes from illness to discover that the world he knew has gone. He sets out on a perilous journey across Britain, searching for safety – but finding only death, destruction, and danger.

The Snow takes you into a post-apocalyptic world where survival is the only goal. But survival at what cost?

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Brighter Than Her Fears

By Lisa Ard,

Book cover of Brighter Than Her Fears

Lisa Ard Author Of Brighter Than Her Fears

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

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What is my book about?

The 19th century women's rights movement and the rise of public education intertwine with one woman's story of struggle, perseverance, and love.

Alice Harris is pressed to marry a Civil War veteran twice her age when her family’s inn fails in 1882 in western North Carolina. She remakes herself by learning to farm tobacco, campaigning for the city’s first public schools, and immersing herself in the large and divisive Carter family. But marriage offers a tenuous promise of security. When tragedy strikes, Alice turns to the courts to fight for her independence and discovers an unexpected love.

Lisa Ard's debut…

Brighter Than Her Fears

By Lisa Ard,

What is this book about?

The 19th century women's rights movement and the rise of public education intertwine with one woman's story of struggle, perseverance, and love.

When her father dies and the family inn falls to ruin in 1882, western North Carolina, thirty-year-old Alice Harris is compelled to marry Jasper Carter, a Civil War veteran twice her age. Far from home and a stranger in a new family, Alice remakes herself. She learns to farm tobacco, mothers her stepson, and comes to love her husband.

However, Alice uncovers pending trouble with the family's land holdings, which threatens their livelihood on the farm. The growth…


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