Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

I was also going to suggest Sherry Thomas.  In Private Arrangements, there’s a lovely bit where the hero and heroine are discussing engineering, and it becomes clear that he has become a self-made man in New York.  But then I remembered that he is also a peer.  Sorry.

I’m a fan of apocalyptic fiction, too. Most of what I’ve come across, though, is post-apocalyptic books. Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series is set some time after the world is reshaped by the return of magic. It’s a great series for urban fantasy lovers and has post-apocalyptic tones everywhere.

I’d also recommend checking out cyberpunk. Marianne de Pierres’ Nylon Angel (first in a trilogy) is set mostly in a wasteland in Australia. It’s been a while since I read it, so I don’t recall why it was a wasteland, just that it was an extremely harsh place to live in.

A new book (which is on my immediate TBR list) by Cherie Priest called Boneshaker. It’s supposed to be pretty good. A bit of steampunk with zombies.

Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom isn’t post-apocalyptic, but has some overtones of it.

Faith Hunter has a trilogy that starts with Bloodring. It’s set quite a long time after “angels” come to Earth and cut down the human population to a 6th or something. They establish near-absolute control for a while (after destroying entire cities across the globe) and religion begins rule again. It’s got a bit of romance.

Lilith Saintcrow has some post-apocalyptic, urban fantasy series. She also wrote a free story called Selene, which is set within a few years of said “apocalypse.” I’m hoping she eventually writes a story set WITHIN the apocalypse, because the history hints in Selene and the Dante Valentine series are pretty intriguing. :P

Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, again urban fantasy (and with vamps no less, gross!), is also post-apocalyptic. With the vamps being the reason for said apocalypse. Bad fangies, BAD! *snicker*

Twist by Colby Hodge was ok. It’s from an *entire line* of apocalyptic romance (they all have anime-ish covers). Personally, I liked Driven by Eve Kenin a lot more from the same line. I have the sequel on a wishlist somewhere. :P http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/Genre.cfm?L1=2&L2=3 Think it’s called the Shomi line or somesuch.

This.

Just this.

http://gabrielgadfly.com/poetry/a-love-to-die-for

You must add Carla Kelly to your 19th C. list.  Her books, especially the later ones, feature people who work for a living—surgeons, mill owners, farm managers, sea captains, not just lords and ladies.  Some of my favorites following this theme are The Lady’s Companion, Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind and Libby’s London Merchant.

Kelly also wrote a wonderful collection of American Western stories called Here’s to the Ladies.

@ Darlene—Carla Kelly sounds cool! The thing that bores me a bit about historicals is the endless parade of landed gentry. I usually find myself drawn more to the bawdy ladies’ maids and other staff than the incessantly proper hero and heroine. I’d love to read about some gritty working class historical folks. I’ll add her to my TBR list. Thanks!

My post-apocalyptic fiction recommendations:
Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler are two great sci-fi novels (they’re pretty short reads, too) but they’re not really romances; although, the female protagonist does fall in love with a much older man.

Ooh! Ooh! I love apocalyptic and post-apoc. stories. My husband, my 17-y-o daughter, and I all gobbled up S.M. Stirling’s “The Change” series, which is at this point two trilogies. In the first, we follow a disparate group of people—a pilot, an SCA enthusiast, and a medieval historian—coping with the sudden and inexplicable failure of all explosives. No guns, no cars, no power plants—nothing that relies on combustion works.  In the second, the next generation in this world faces off against a fanatical anti-technological religion determined to make sure no one ever goes beyond human-powered labor again.

Ross and I also enjoyed “One Second After” by William Forstchen. I almost didn’t pick this one up at the library because the forward is by Newt Gingrich and I thought it was going to be a right-wing screed. (I made Ross read it first.) The hero is a little Heinlein-esque, but the book lays out a very convincing account of what happens in a small NC college town after an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack wipes out America’s electric grid and computers, Forstchen doesn’t pull any punches, especially about what that would mean to our long-haul-food dependent society.

(On a personal note, I can not use the acronym for electromagnetic pulse properly, and keep referring to this as “the book about the EMT attack.” Which has led my kids to yell, whenever we pass an ambulance, “Mom! EMTs! Watch out!”)

I initially liked the characters in Ruby in the Smoke and the working world they live in, but I ran across the same problem I have with Pullman’s other books - I don’t think he cares enough about his characters. To me, they’re always missing some kind of roundedness or reality that you need to write a great book about people, instead of a great book about the things and ideas that surround them.

I think I need to check out Sherry Thomas and Courtney Milan.

Crossing threads a bit, I have to recommend a fantastic manga (Japanese graphic novels) series, EMMA by Kaoru Mori.  The main storyline features a very sweet romance between a Victorian maid and the scion of a wealthy business family with social ambitions.  There are also some lovely side stories that delve into the lives of both servants and upper-class (but not aristocrats). 

The artwork is GORGEOUS, fantastically detailed, and very well researched.  I’d highly recommend it to any romance-lover who wanted to dip their toes into exploring manga.

I really really dig the whole post-apocalyptic survival thing, too.  And I WHOLEHEARTEDLY second the ‘Monster Island’ recommendation.  The ‘ick’ factor is pretty high at times, but the stories and characters are awesome.

Alison Sinclair’s Darkborn is one of the best UF/post-apocalyptic books I’ve read in years. The world has been split into at least three groups (those who can’t live in darkness, those destroyed by light, and whatever is “out there” beyond the edge of their cursed land). It’s the first in a series and I’m DYING for the next one.

Vivi Anna writes post-apocalyptic erotic romance (the first one is Hell Kat). I haven’t read her, but I’ve heard good things.

As for historicals, I can think of a number of them that involve non-nobles:

Tracy Grant’s Secrets of a Lady and Beneath a Silent Moon (and she has more coming from Kensington soon; I can’t wait!).

Pam Rosenthal’s two RITA noms (one of which won!), The Slightest Provocation and The Edge of Impropriety. Her novel The Bookseller’s Daughter has a shopgirl as the heroine, but the hero is the son of a French Duc (younger son).

Julia Ross’s The Wicked Lover. One of my all-time favorite books!!!

And my own second book, Lord Scandal, is about a plain mister and divorcee, no titles to speak of amongst them, regardless of what the title might imply (and my entire new series is about younger sons, but it’s not starting till 2011).

I think Mary Jo Putney has a new series coming out that’s all younger sons too (must be something in the water, LOL!).

One of the first post-apoc romances I read was Oracle by Katherine Greyle aka Jade Lee (I think?). There’s also a series I really enjoyed by Dorchester called the 2176 series with Grant, Nance, Maverick, O’Shea and Grant again contributing. It’s not as hardscrabble as something like The Postman, but I definitely kept copies of all the books.

I think there’s an apoc. romance post over at The Galaxy Express, too.

Big fat YES to the Emma (for cross-class) and Y: the Last Man (post-apoc) recs.

Raney, if Y hits the spot, you might also like DMZ: near-future graphic novel series in which the US is split by a civil war and Manhattan is a war zone.

For romances without titled people—I think some of them must be out of print, but I love Malcolm Macdonald’s books.  Many of them are romances, some are not.  Most of them are set in the 19th century, some are not.  Here’s a link for further exploration: http://www.malcolmmacdonald.org/bookcase.htm

OMG, I am in love with this thread!  I have loved zombie and post apoc. movies forever and have recently started looking for novels with this theme.  I have bought The Road (out in movies now) but have not read it yet and HAVE read World War Z already along with the Zombie Survival Guide by the same author.

Keep it coming ladies, I’m making a list and I’m gonna troll the ebooks when I get home tonight and try to stock up.  Cold winter nights like this when the streets are deserted and nothing is moving except the snow drifts puts me in the perfect mind for a last-human-on-earth type story.

For another non-noble hero:
Her Man of Affairs, by Elizabeth Mansfield

I totally dig post-apocalyptic tales.  And zombies.  Not to mention other things that go bump in the night.  While not romances by any stretch of the imagination, the Deathlands novels (one was made into a SciFi movie a few years ago) by James Axler butter my biscuit.  Stephen King’s The Stand is a total classic (and has some romantic entanglements), and The Cell (which had zombies) is pretty good, too.

There’s a great new horror series by Abbadon books http://www.abaddonbooks.com/  Not .sure if they’re available in the US or not, but they’re called the Afterblight Choronicles and they are darn good reading (Everyone gets killed off by a plague except those with O neg blood.).  Each novel is written by a different well-known British horror writer.

Those are all that come to mind at the moment. Sorry, none of them are apocalyptic romance, but it’s a darn good idea for a new genre.  Hmmm…

Just thought of a good book that had an apocolyptic (sp?) feel to it.  Douglas Coupland’s Girlfriend In A Coma was a very weird but thoughtful novel that has a twist end of the world finale that I scratched my head over for a while.  The whole book had a dreamy WTF feel to it, but then I’ve found that Douglas Coupland’s writing is all that way.  I first read his Miss Wyoming

and loved his sense of humor and general not-give-a-damn attitude.

Yay for love after the end of civilization! I second the recommendation for Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker. There’s only the faintest hint of romance, but the story and the steampunk and the zombies were all awesome.

S.M. Stirling’s Change series is all right, though I find them just a little preachy. My personal favorite of his is The Peshawar Lancers, where a comet hit the Earth in the late nineteenth century, causing severe global climate change and a mass migration to the Southern Hemisphere. Great alternate history, mixed with romance and mysticism.

And there’s always the classics! John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids has a worldwide epidemic of blindness and wandering carnivorous plants as a special bonus.

I happen to be in the middle of writing a blog post about a book on my keeper self that fits Brandy’s request.

Thief of Hearts by Teresa Medeiros from 1994 is one of my all time favorites and it’s about an Admiral’s daughter and both a pirate and a bodyguard.

Another one is Heather and Velvet also a Medeiros from the 90s is about the daughter of a scientist and a highwayman. It has a classic Fabio cover too.

I do not read post apocalyptic stuff…but happend across this post at Book Binge after reading this one.

Judith’s review of Spider-Touched by Jory Strong.

In a post-Apocalyptic world where supernaturals have emerged from hiding, wealthy humans live secure while the masses struggle to survive. Civil rights belong to the powerful—and ultimate freedom to those brave enough to risk their souls by embracing ancient enemies…

Ya’ll might want to check it out. Here is the link:

http://thebookbinge.com/2010/01/guest-review-spider-touched-by-jory.html

A huge second for Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games and its sequel, Catching Fire. These are outstanding books for any genre, but especially for a look at what could happen after the revolution.

Although they’re more mystery than romance (but the romance does come along) both of Anne Perry’s Victorian series feature common people. William Monk and Hester Latterly first appear in The Face of a Stranger. The other series is about Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, starting with The Cater Street Hangman.

Even though I don’t like zombie fiction, I devoured (ha!) Max Brooks’ World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide.

The series by Jeri Smith-Ready starting with the prequel “The Wild’s Call” may qualify for the PA list…  It is definitely PA and has romance…  I have only read this prequel (as it is free for Kindle) and it wasn’t bad—though I can’t speak to the rest!

Quick shameless friend-plug in case anyone reading is looking for a mid-apocalyptic m/m/f erotica with copious bondage—my RWA chaptermate Michelle Polaris has such an ebook out, called Bound Odyssey.

Out of print now but available on Amazon is The Gandalara Cycle by Richard Garrett and Vicky Ann Heydron. Vol 1 is the first three books, vol 2 the second three, and The River Wall completes the story. It’s classic sci/fi fantasy but the setting feels apocolyptic…extreme desert with only one city that has a ready water supply (if I remember). There is some romance but mostly it’s straight up quest. Two good twists to the story, one involving the MCs and the other explaining the setting.

Here’s some good zombie and post-apocalyptic books. This is one of my favorite genres!

Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne

Razor Girl by Marianne Mancusi

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeiffer

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

and of course, the DVD and book it’s based on, Children of Men.

Science fiction is full of post-apocalypse stuff and some of it contained romance too though generally they had to “tone it down” to keep their readers.  Jacqueline Lichtenberg wrote a classic series Sime-Gen novels in the 80s.  Humans was divided into two groups, Gen who produced an energy substance needed by the Simes to survive but taking it caused the death of the Gen.  Noone knew whether a child would turn into a Sime or a Gen.  First Channel is the most overtly romantic of the series though there are some sexual overtones in earlier parts of the series as taking the energy was pleasureable for the Sime. 

On a harser note, early SF editors were intolerant of much of the “softer” elements like romantic relationships and of women authors.  That’s why some of the best women authors chose masculine pseudonymns.  For women readers who wanted some romance or sex with the science fiction (like our doomsday reader) you had to search it out.  There was a lot of hiding of sexual elements and a lot of fade-outs and suggestiveness in science fiction.  How far we have come now!  Getting the balance between sexuality, romance, and a fast moving plot is easier when you don’t have to keep restraining the sex and/or romance or hiding it.

The only romance I can remember with zombies is Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair.  I remember it being funny, but I didn’t like it as much as I love her other sci-fi romances.

I’ve also really enjoyed Carla Kelly’s Regencies.  My favorite is The Wedding Journey which features a shy army surgeon and a daughter of a fellow soldier.  It’s set in the battlefield instead of the ballrooms.

Tami beat me to it, but “Breather’s Lament” is extremely good for a different slant on zombies.  A unique POV and (maybe) a little more literary in scope?

Isn’t the 3rd Jane Austen spoof going to be about zombies?  Or zombies and President Lincoln?  I can’t call the details to mind now.

And, Sunshine by Robin McKinley as mentioned above is wonderful.

For post-apocalyptic, there’s always Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx & Crake” and the sequel.

I love Sheri S. Tepper’s Sci Fi which are often post-apocalyptic.  (Although not everyone likes her stuff.)  You might look at the plot of “The Companions” and see if it sounds interesting to you.  I’d try that first.

Also, The Giver by Lois Lowry is post-apocalyptic.  Has won awards, I think.

Donald McQuinn’s trilogy of Warrior, Wanderer, and Witch are set in the post-nuclear war Pacific Northwest. It’s been years since I read them (and I think they’re out of print) so I can’t tell you if there’s any romance in them.

I’m currently gathering up the SM Stirling books to read.

Scott Westerfield’s YA books Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras, are set in our future and something happened, but the post-apocalyptic setting isn’t as much a player as the rest of the story. Highly recommended though.

Oh, found this list of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books when looking for the completely list of the McQuinn books.

http://wiki.post-apocalyptic.info/

I’ll second John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids - but he wrote several post-apocalyptic novels, and my favourite is The Chrysalids, which also has a romance woven through it. The Kraken Wakes is another, but I found it pretty hard to get through.

One from the YA corpus that I remember being completely absorbed in is Children of Dust by Louise Lawrence.

Eve Kenin’s post-apocalyptic stories that begin with Driven are fairly decent. I love this sub-genre, too. The potential for story tension and conflict is off the charts exploring themes of how tremendous stress brings out the worst in humanity. Contrast that with a romance symbolizing hope and the flavor is perfect.

P.S. If you want to dip a toe into the moment itself, for nuclear holocaust books Nevil Shute’s On The Beach is definitely a keeper (though I know his style and characterisation does not please everyone), and Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel When the Wind Blows cannot be recommended too highly.

(Spamword: recent27. I wish I was recently 27…)

I was smiling as I read Raney’s question because she just described Joss Ware’s new series.  I have read the first book in the series, Beyond the Night, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic setting.  Actually, I highly recommend it to anyone, period.  I thought it was fantastic—romance in a wholly original setting.  And yep—there are even zombies.

I’m such a fan of the book, I’m actually running a contest through my blog this week and giving away a signed copy of Beyond the Night.  Just thought I would mention that in case anyone interested wants to try to win the book for free.  ;-)

Julie James

I wonder if Jordan Summers’ Dead World books would count as apocalyptic?  They’re “futuristic paranormal romance set in an ecologically desolate 2160.”

You should keep an eye on this website.  Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty are collaborating on “hot paranormal apocalyptic action.”

A book I read as a young teen, that has always stayed with me is The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson. Everyone over 12 is killed by a virus, and the kids are left to try and figure things out. It’s NOT too Lord of the Flies, though, I promise! The target audience is a bit young for romance, although the seeds are there at the end of the story.

Brandy - have you considered veering over into Medieval historicals? There are still lords and ladies, but not quite the plethora, and the stories can be grittier. For reads without too much peerage, I’d recommend Carrie Lofty, Madeline Hunter’s medievals (a merchant is one of the heroes), Kimberly Killion… anyway I’m sure you can find some great recs on Medieval reads. Don’t want to hijack the thread too much, here!  :)

spamword - girls69. Actually, that spurs me to recommend Sharon Shinn’s newest, Santa Olivia.

I love post-apocalyse romances.  Eve Kinen’s DRIVEN and HIDDEN were pretty good. And I really enjoyed Jory Strong’s GHOSTLAND and SPIDER-TOUCHED.

I recommend Faith Hunter’s Bloodring and Jordan Summers’ Red for post-apocalyptic fans.  Both have two sequels (possibly more to come for Red), so if you like them there are several there to enjoy.

A really post apocalyptic read is Swan Song by Robert McCammon-it’s about as long as Stephen King’s The Stand but with stronger female characters,including the girl whose name is featured in the title.

The book has a multiple character storyline as various people struggle to survive after a nuclear attack and one of the more interesting plot points is that many of the folks directly exposed to the nukes develop these hard lesions on their faces that slowly become cocoons and then open up to reveal that person’s inner beauty(or beastly nature). Pretty cool concept,if you ask me!

Oop-meant to say “really good” read! Curse my quick fingers!

Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South was a contemporary when she wrote it, but is now a nice period romance about England.  The hero is a self-made nouveau riche industrialist, and the heroine is the daughter of the impoverished ex-clergyman hired to tutor him.  Moderately gritty, and interesting secondary characters.  It’s genuinely 19th century, so no sex scenes, and some difficult language, but one of the funniest closing lines ever.  If you want more explicit sex scenes with the characters, check out the fanfic around the BBC miniseries.  (I read it with class of 12th graders, and was startled when one boy told me he had been going online to read the fan fiction about the novel!)

Zombie and apocalypse novels and movies are pretty much my favorites.  Breathers is definitely a good book, although the romance elements don’t really take a forefront.  There’s a trilogy by Rhiannon Fritter, “AS THE WORLD DIES,” that I read recently that has romance, zombies, rebuilding of society…  Fun reading. 

Most of the other zombie novels I’ve read don’t really have a lot of romance, but are still a lot of fun.  THE MORNINGSTAR STRAIN books are really good.  HUNGRY FOR YOUR LOVE is an anthology of zombie romance, some with sentient zombies and other stories with love/lust developing between survivors. 

Just saw a really good movie, CARRIERS, that is a heartbreaker…  One of the best low budget movies I’ve seen…

Seconding Sally Lockhart and Lilith Saintcrow. I am an absolute whore for anything with a Victorian setting, and Jennifer Donnelly has written two of my favorite historical romances (with a third coming out at some point). The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose both follow the stories of successful career women. One starts as a poor factory girl and grows her own business; the other begins as a stifled member of the gentry and becomes a doctor. Her romance is delicious, her historical detail is fantastic, and both are 600 pages plus, so there’s lots to love ;)

Just finished reading Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Gray, and it was awesome.  Takes place post-post-apocolyptic in a new society where color perception is everything; the working class views the world only in shades of gray.  Burgeoning romance between an unlikely couple.  It looks like it’s going to be a series of 3 books? No zombies, though.

I forgot to mention the early Anne Perry novels.  Marketed as mysteries, but definitely with a strong romantic component.  I think the first one was The Cater Street Hangman with two middle class sisters, one who marries up (to a peer) and one down (to a policeman).  Nice continuing characters.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an early copy of Joss Ware’s Beyond The NIght (releases next week)....it’s just what you’re looking for, Raney.
First and foremost romance, but in this great, post-apocalyptic world complete with zombies!
It’s like this book was written for you! (and everybody else who likes romance with their post apoc)

Did anyone mention the trilogy that starts with Magic Time by Mark Zicree and Barbara Hambly? It’s post apocalypic fantasy and extremely good.

this is very pertinent to my interests!  i loved octavia butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, sci-fi heavy, but very relationship and romance focused as human survivors and an Alien race intermingle.  i also love that the aliens are not of the star trek bit of putty on the nose sort.  VERY alien.  like, totally different sexes and appendages!  WOA!  almost tentacle porn there, if you are fond of such things.  i am.  tee hee

i also love Gail Dayton’s New Blood, which is not truly post-apocalyptic, but rather a society transformed and diminished through it’s own misogyny and has a very steam punk vibe going on. 

now if only someone would write a steam punk tentacle romance.  oh please, won’t someone?  i will bake you cookies.

@roccermom RE:

this is very pertinent to my interests!  i loved octavia butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, sci-fi heavy, but very relationship and romance focused as human survivors and an Alien race intermingle.  i also love that the aliens are not of the star trek bit of putty on the nose sort.  VERY alien.  like, totally different sexes and appendages!  WOA!  almost tentacle porn there, if you are fond of such things.  i am.  tee hee

I devoured Lilith’s Brood (unless Butler has another xenogenesis trilogy I don’t know about) and loved it, but her aliens totally icked me out…which i suppose is a testimony to her great writing skills because her description of them was palpable—unlike another author I have not forgiven *cough* Philip Pullman *cough* for his motorcycle-gazelle creatures.

I second - or I guess it’s third! - the recommendation for Ware’s Beyond The Night. I’m a writing buddy of hers and got a chance to see the book early.  Raney, this book definitely has a group of survivors banding together against hostile forces - plus it has a to-die-for romance and zombies with a really interesting speech impediment.  Beyond The Night totally won me over to post-apocalyptic romances and I’ll be hunting down some of these other recommendations as well.

@Obskuretris

apparently i have a terribly old copy of the books; a little googling reveals all.  mine is just called Xenogenesis.  hooray for thrift stores!
as to the other, cough… cough, author; i sort of thought of them as Dali elephants on wheels, but i also, was filled with WTFery.

@Lady T
i just three nights ago had a Swan Song-esque dream!  i read that in high school and all this time i thought i was the only person who ever had….it’s actually on my library list now.

Although they’re more mystery than romance (but the romance does come along) both of Anne Perry’s Victorian series feature common people.

Also on the Victorian/Edwardian Mystery front is Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series. They’re archeologists in Egypt. While Amelia and Emerson find their HEA in the first book, Amelia fancies herself a matchmaker, and so there’s usually a secondary romance to go along with the mystery. And, of course, once Ramses and Nefret grow up, it really gets interesting. Lots of angst there.

For a semi-contemporary (the first book was written in the 70’s), try her Vicki Bliss series. Light-hearted romantic suspense, and John Smythe is to die for….

I think there’s an apoc. romance post over at The Galaxy Express, too.

Here it is, by guest blogger Ella Drake:

http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2009/07/post-apocalyptic-sf-romance.html

(Thanks, Jody!)

Also, the January issue of RT Book Reviews has an article on post-apocalyptic romance.

Gosh, I read the first volume of THE WALKING DEAD ages ago and I remember liking it. Need to look it up again.

Post-apocalypse

Ariel
by Steven R. Boyett

older but reprinted as he has a new book coming out in a bit

Wow, more books to add to my list. There is a paranormal romance series, I wish I could remember who wrote that is basically about vampires and there were zombies in lesser roles. I pretty sure that at least two of the books were about the zombies and their readjustment to society. They were young women who were ravaged by a rouge vamp and as he didn’t completely kill them,  they came back as zombies. They were taken under the wing of the vamps in charge in that area and actually worked in the bookstore of one of their wives and baby sat for the vamp’s human little boy. A pretty good series that I enjoyed.

Well, this might be a little more “literary” for you, but Zombie Haiku is hilarious.  It’s a story about the transition into a zombie, written completely in haiku form!  (can you say “cool!”?)

I’m a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction and my favourite is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood. It’s about a woman in an ultra-conservative future where women are forced to become breeders for powerful men. But in it all, a romance emerges. Atwood has two other post-apocalyptic books, Oryx and Crake and The Year of The Flood. Neither are romances but both are amazing reads.

As for non-titled historical characters, I love the couples in Joanna Bourne’s books. In The Spymaster’s Lady, they are both, well, spies. In My Lord and Spymaster, he’s a merchant marine and she’s a self-made shipping tycoon. Both are so well written you want to cry. Great reads.

I don’t think it’s been mentioned—Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover is my favorite of hers, and features a post-industrial collapse society of decadent pleasure seekers living in floating mansions, surrounded by robot slaves.  And then someone falls in love with a robot… dreamy writing, and definitely a 3-hanky book.  =P

Margaret Atwood and Sherri Tepper, both amazing writers. Love their vision! And Sunshine? My favorite vampire book ever.

And joykenn, I’m amazed to find someone else who has read and loved Jacqueline Lichtenberg’s Sine/Gen books!  I devoured those when I was younger, and about 15 years ago I went on a quest to acquire them all used. They are among my most prized books.

For those who want zombie romance, I suggest Half Past Dead, containing romance novellas by Zoe Archer and Biana D’Arc. D’Arc’s “Simon Says” features the hero fighting zombies, but in Archer’s “The Undying Heart,” the hero is a zombie.  And it works!

I have Boneshaker and Red both in my TBR pile.

Great conversation!!

For post-ap fic, I can’t recommend The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway highly enough - very funny with some sweet romantic relationships. It’s a doorstopper, but I couldn’t stop reading it (others found it bloated, be warned).

I normally don’t do this, but I can’t resist: my word is groups69. Kinky, baby.

It’s not really romance, but it’s good apocalyptic science fiction: E.E. Knight’s Vampire Earth series. The first book is The Way of the Wolf. It’s a series that features neither traditional vampires nor traditional werewolves, but it’s full of intense action and a very interesting feel of what the world would look like if an alien race took over the planet and kept “farms” of people around to suck the life out of. The hero, David Valentine, is brought up in the second generation after the apocalypse and is part of the resistance movement.

I’m not personally into zombies, but I know a lot of people who are!

One book that’s coming out shortly is My Zombie Valentine. I think others already mentioned Hungry for Your Love and Happy Hour of the Damned. There’s also Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which came out in May.

In the YA realm, there’s Generation Dead by Dan Waters- truly original- and a sequel, Generation Dead: Kiss of Life. Those are a little more romance oriented, but there are also Zombie Queen of Newbery High and Zombie Blondes, in addition to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. There also is an excellent graphic novel called Death Valley that is a lot of fun. Not a word I usually use in reference to zombies.

For more straight zombie stuff, The World is Dead by Kim Paffernoth got high marks from my zombie loving husband and, having read a couple of the stories, it’s not a traditional take. The cover art is a turnoff, but the anthology itself is very strong.

Postapocalytic romance is not an area I’ve really ventured into. But as someone else suggested, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games and Catching Fire are excellent. And I totally love Y: The Last Man. Probably the best postapocalyptic book I’ve read is The Postman, but there’s nothing romantic about it.

I’ve got a post up on The Romance Dish about zombies in history and romance, to get a little historical and cultural perspective on this undead trend.

http://www.theromancedish.com/2010/01/guest-author-zoe-archer.html

And I love non-titled characters in historical romance (which is obvious in my writing—meritocracy FTW!).

I definitely LURRRVE Robin McKinley’s Sunshine. Postapocalytic w Vampires as baddies.  And awesome desserts.  Really.  I’ve read it about 6 times.  And if you saw my TBR pile, that’s saying something.

Zombies, um not really my thing but I did recently read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  A rewrite of the classic—Elizabeth Bennett with mad ninja skills.  Kinda cool.

And I definitely second (or third) the Anne Perry recommendation.  Both the Pitt and Monk series.  Fabulous.  Slow paced, but very thoroughly and accurately Victorian.  Very thought provoking, not suspense/thriller, but mystery with ongoing romance between common Victorian people.

Trying48: Trying to write down all 48 books I now want to order from the other comments!

So, one of my favorite books of the last year Bones of Faerie would maybe work for some folks here. It doesn’t have zombies, but is a post-apocalyptic fantasy.It’s essentially a fairy tale quest novel in a world in which faerie unleashed magic in the “real” world and now it’s taken over. Plants eat people. The book takes place in the ruins of parts of Missouri.  And there’s a bit of a romance. Seriously. It’s good fun. And if the first chapter doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will.

Santa Olivia, btw, is Jacqueline Carey and not Sharon Shinn.

Emma Bull has written some post-apoc stuff, I think. She’s also credited as writing the first true urban fantasy book (War of the Oaks), last I heard.

Lyda Morehouse has a series starting with Archangel Protocol. Wen Spencer. ‘Nuff said.

David Moody for the zombie lovers.

If you’re including ebooks and more erotic romance…Man, I could create an entire page’s worth.

Anya Bast’s Water Crystal (EC), Kallysten has a few, Barbara Karmazin, Kaitlyn O’Connor, Mandy M Roth (I think), Mary Wine’s Beyond series (very post-apoc). Think Delilah Devlin, Lora Leigh (her older books - I’m not a fan, but then I usually don’t dig super Alphas), Jaci Burton might’ve written something, Lori O’Clare did (I think - I never read ‘em), Sherri L King had one or two. I remember one of hers took place on a planet that has no sunlight (though it used to) and is overrun by vampires. Humanity dying, etc.

And I can’t recommend Madison Hayes enough. She wrote a pretty short erotic romance called Miss December. It’s set during a time when most of the human race is infertile (just like Wine’s Beyond series). She’s also written some other books that might appeal. Her writing is great.

“The first two Sally Lockhart mysteries by Philip Pullman, The Ruby in the Smoke and ‘The Shadow in the North’. Neither are strictly romances…”

Someone might have already mentioned this in the thread but I would warn romance readers about the Sally Lockhart books because…
*
*
*
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
*
*
*
Sally’s love interest burns to death in the 2nd (?) book. So, not exactly a HEA.

I can’t believe no SB’s mentioned Laura Lee Guhrke’s “Girl Bachelor” series! They are about a group of educated working women, called girl-bachelors in the news articles of the Victorian era, who work at jobs such as clerk, writer, caterer, etc. They live together in a respectable boarding house. Some of the men they fall in love with are lords, but through achievement rather than heredity, I think. Most of the men are merely professionals as well, however. I especially liked the newspaper one, AND THEN HE KISSED HER. It had a very different pacing and development of the two main characters completely separately from each other, very different from the average romance. Give the Girl Bachelor series a try for non-peerage characters.

Someone might have already mentioned this in the thread but I would warn romance readers about the Sally Lockhart books because…
* *
* S
P O
I L
E R
S *
* *
Sally’s love interest burns to death in the 2nd (?) book. So, not exactly a HEA.

Okay, more         * S P O I L E R S *[/b ]