SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

One of my favorite subgenres of sci-fi, I'm discovering, is novels that have a little bit of hard sci-fi mixed into them with outbreaks/infections/epidemics/etc. happening. I loved The Genius Plague and Darwin's Radio, for example. I love that mix of pretend/real science and the thrill that comes with trying to beat a plague. Any recommendations? I also haven't really ever run into that theme in fantasy, so that would be welcome, too!

I read Wanderers by Chuck Wendig last year. Enjoyed it for the most part. Lots of content warnings though.

The Stand by Stephen King
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (although this is really about what happens after or before)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cell also by Stephen King

Spotted a new one the other day by a Robin something: Pandemic. That looked good.

I’m sure I have a few others.

There was one by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro that I proofread back in the 1980s called Taji's Syndrome -- basically near-future medical SF, not the sort of thing she's usually known for, but obviously I still remember it after thirty years!

The Power by Naomi Alderman sounds vaguely similar, not a pandemic really but something that definitely affects large parts of the population and changes the face of society.

It's a well-loved genre, JW. Lots of good books (and a few decent movies too) out there. Quite a few overlap into end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it and/or zombies. Not sure if that's your jam.

Have you tried The Passage? I've never quite gotten through the other two books, and the TV series was apparently pretty lame, but I really liked this first book in the trilogy.


Or Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain? Pretty old school now, but a classic of its kind.

I know this is nuts but I’ve actually read all recommended so far except Taji’s... I read too much. I loved Wanderers. Also love Mira Grant’s stuff for this idea.

Stardoc and other books by S.L. Viehl have them every now and then

What kind of content does wanderers have

If you do like Crichton, you might also like Gravity by Tess Gerritsen. Normally I don't like thrillers at all, but my husband talked me into reading that and I did enjoy it.
Much older, probably worth calling 'classic,' is Lester del Rey's Nerves.

@Atl (view spoiler)[There is a graphic rape scene and generally lots of violence, gun violence in particular. (hide spoiler)]

There are probably others, I read a lot of horror to start with so I’m kind of numb to most other content warnings. I just remember that one in particular. I don’t know if someone else remembers the others?

The White Plague by Frank Herbert. Still relevant today.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. A classic for a reason.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. I’m not a fan but YMMV.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Really good.

XOM-B by Jeremy Robinson, which is the most interesting and unique take on a zombie plague.

Blood Music by Greg Bear. Scary.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

The Children of Men by P.D. James. I’ve only seen the movie, but that was excellent.

Blindness by Jose Saramago. Same about the movie.

Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler, who is one of the best, full stop.

Kingdom of Needle and Bone is pretty good. Mira Grants other series, Feed is technically a zombie apocalypse but it's a medical zombie apocalypse. You might also want to check out The End is Nigh- it's an apocalypse anthology and most of it was meteors, but there are three good plague stories in there too.

For a fantasy rec I'd actually really recommend Briar's Book, which deals with magical plague and focuses a lot on the research aspects of it? It's a very unusual take on fantasy illness and I loved it.

The The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God) might help to temporarily soothe that particular itch of yours.

Another book comes to mind but the outbreak and epidemic isn't mentioned in the blurb and should be considered a spoiler (view spoiler)[ Children of Ruin (hide spoiler)]

The Expanse series starting with Leviathan Wakes also has elements of a breakout virus causing a pandemic.

Sara, I can’t see the spoilers , can you message me?

Girl With All The Gifts and also The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is an excellent example of this genre. It's written as though it was an oral history

You would like The Migration, by Helen Marshall https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... It was published in 2019.

Another group I'm in has a small list and most of them have not been mentioned so far. I'm not sure if they have hard SciFi elements, but maybe worth a glance....

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I'm thinking I might have to read Severance soon.

Contagion
Salvation Day
The Andromeda Evolution (sequel to Andromeda Strain)
This Mortal Coil
Plague Ship
Infinite Ground
Beginning Operations (James White's entire Sector General series is about an intergalactic hospital in space where human and alien doctors try to diagnose and treat strange aliens. It's from the 50s but holds up well.)
Chasm City (can be read as a standalone)
Infected and its sequels
Pandemic
The Cobra Event
Darwin's Paradox

Some great suggestions on here...I'll add a couple.

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

The Fireman by Joe Hill

Diane wrote: "You would like The Migration, by Helen Marshall https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... It was published in 2019."

That sounds really creepy........

Jonathan Maberry
He is one of my fav science gone wrong authors. Also if you have watched V-Wars on Netflix, he wrote the story it is based on.

Robin Cook
Can't really go wrong with him either. His is usually medically based science with conspiracies and so on. Outbreak the movie was also based on his book, but the book is so much better than the movie.

Mira Grant
She has a couple of series that are great science pandemic stuff. First one is zombie based and the second is medicine based.

Science gone wrong is one of my favorite genres.

Add another vote for Mira Grant.

The Children of Men book was a very good read, I definitely recommend it.

Some additional recs
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis.
Extreme Makeover, Dan Wells.

The Lock-In series by John Scalzi is mostly post-epidemic I enjoy how he explores the implications of how life changes in the aftermath. There's a prequel Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome, novella about the epidemic itself. (And it's free to read on Tor.com)

A great list so far. I'd add:

Fever by Deon Meyer who is a South-African author

The Plague Charmer or Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

Thanks for all the recommendations! If anyone else has more, bring them on! Now reading Gravity by Tess Gerritsen and I grabbed Fever as well.

I hope you enjoy Fever :-)

Trust in Axion is a good one. A particle in fundamental physics breaks out and disrupts matter. It's like a viral outbreak but not, if you see what I mean.

legend Marie Lu