Post-Apocalyptic Earth + Medieval Fiction?

[Barbarian MD]

Not really sure where the idea came from, but I'm suddenly interested in reading a book set in the United States, in a distant future that has reverted to a very civilized but medieval-ish culture after an apocalypse. Think less desert landscapes and barbarians and Mad Max or New Vegas and more along the lines of established castles and swords and horses and new countries amid the wreckage of skylines and perhaps artifact technology.

Anything fit the bill? Thanks!

[Metahuman1]

En, Robert E. Howards Hyboria kinda sorta in the original author penned material, with a nice does of Lovecraft to top it off.


There's an old comic book called The Atomic Knights that works kinda like this. (Just, don't bother reading there stuff that ties into the stupid battle for Bludhaven event.)

[Jurai]

I think Shannara was like that, though it was more Druids and Sorcerers than castles and knights.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Barbarian MD
...more along the lines of established castles and swords and horses and new countries amid the wreckage of skylines and perhaps artifact technology.

The Pastel City by M. John Harrison does this perfectly. Cunning swordsmen, mounted swashbucklers, towers and queens, and most definitely some artifact technology.

And a psycho nutbar scavenger dwarf in homebuilt power armor.

:smalltongue:

[Kitten Champion]

That's the basis for Stirling's Emberverse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series), I believe.

I haven't read them, but it's on my to-do list.

[Cheesegear]

I want to recommend a book, but the fact that it actually is PA is a huge spoiler for the book. But if I don't tell you what the series is, you're probably never going to read it, but the fact that I need to mention it in this thread immediately gives away the spoiler. But it's written by a guy who knows what he's doing, so hopefully even if you know the spoiler beforehand you can still read the awesome story anyway.

The Jerusalem Man by David Gemmell.

[veti]

One of the classics of 20th century SF: A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller.

[Zaydos]

Not sure if they're US or European but Poul Anderson's Vault of the Ages pretty much fits perfectly (medieval tech, castles, knights, post-apocalyptic setting no magic iirc), Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East (has magic). The Earth is unrecognizable and pure fantasy (so probably not at all what you're looking for) Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories are post apocalypse when magic has returned, Jack Vance's The Dying Earth.

Howard's Hyboria actually took place before written history, along with Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperboria.

[t209]

One of the classics of 20th century SF: A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller.
I actually read and loved that book, which I got it from my high school's library book recycling section. ThenThe society moved from medieval to Renaissance to start nuking eachother again. This time, the church is ready for the apocalypse by going to space.

[dysprosium]

The Books of Swords series by Fred Saberhagen also would fit this bill.

[Foeofthelance]

There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo comes to mind. The council in charge of running the planet ends up having a civil war, leaving no power for the rest of the place. There are a few more fantastical elements, though: genetically modified orcs, elves, and of course dragons. And there is some artifact use, in that the council members can still teleport, use holograms, and so on, while one of the protagonists has functional power armor of a sort.

[Zaydos]

Oh yes, if "Lost Colony" literature where the colony has regressed to middle ages is acceptable (it's post civilization collapse, just not on Earth) Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern probably counts though I found it quite disappointing, and so too does Jack Vance's The Dragon Masters which follows a similar plot (human colony reduced to middle ages breed dragons to fight invasion from another world) 5 years earlier.

[Jayngfet]

Wheel of Time probably counts. Of course the timeline went through several advancements and apocalypses but there's several references to what's clearly the 20th century and the cold war at various points.

[McStabbington]

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's so much more than that, but in terms of feel and themes, you'll find it a perfect fit.

[pita]

This describes Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns perfectly. The second and third books in the series really hammer it in.