WORKS OF REFERENCE
The following works are some that serve as valuable models of reference for the development and progress of my project, since these are some which provide me with essential insight, information, and models of works that strengthen my piece. Some of the works I found are:
[1] Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. Vintage, 2006. Print.
A dystopian science-fiction and coming-of-age story with a cast fated since birth to never see an advanced age, and its dystopia is one all-too-familiar: a world in which certain classes live well, and others are effectively doomed.
WHY IT PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN MY WORK:
This is important for my work because it serves as a model of the unfortunate and destined fate for my main character: From the very start of my story, Kyle is destined to die, since he is infected with a deadly virus which kills its hosts the first time or second time around of infection.
[2] Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984 (Signet Classics). Signet Classic, 1961. Print.
This world is more horrifying than any alien invasion, nuclear wasteland or supernatural-disaster. The story is based in 1984, in a place called Oceania. Oceania is governed by the “all-controlling Party”, which has brainwashed its people into unthinking obedience to its leader, Big Brother. The story focuses around Winston Smith, who is a member of the party and lives in a world shattered by nuclear war.
WHY IT PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN MY WORK:
This works is important for the development of the evil (or rather unfriendly organizations) organizations found in my story that bring stress and misfortune to Kyle’s life and his family: Dr. Richard Ward and his affiliates.
[3] Earth Abides, By George R. Steward
Stewart, George. Earth Abides: A Novel. Reprint, Del Rey, 2006. Print.
This story begins with a rampant disease killing off most people in America. A young grad student, Isherwood Williams, has managed to survive in the mountains — but after he emerges from his “temporary” sabbatical, he finds civilization entirely collapsed. After a mostly fruitless cross-country road trip searching for fellow human life, Isherwood agrees to have children with another survivor whose name is Emma. They form a new society, but without electricity or other modern advantages, they must revert to a semi-primitive lifestyle: hunting and gathering for food, in order to survive.
WHY IT PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN MY WORK:
This work is good for my project because it provides me with a great example of the type of interpersonal skills (survival skills) necessary in such a world. My main character also much learn similar skills because his world consists of a similar pandemic-like setting and environment.
[4] I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. Ed., 1954. Print.
Like Earth Abides, it also begins with a pandemic. But there’s a twist: the disease doesn’t just decimate the population, it also turns them into vampire-like mutants who want to infect all other humans. The only remaining hope for civilization appears to be Robert Neville, a lone man driven to discover the scientific cause of the disease and find a cure, before he himself is affected. His wife and daughter have already perished from the disease; even the dog he takes in as a last-ditch companion ends up becoming infected.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This piece plays an important part in my work because it serves me as another good model of character traits and personality similar to what I have for my main character, in my work: drive to live/ loving of his family.
[5] The Stand, by Stephen King
King, Stephen. The Stand. Book Club, Doubleday and Company, 1978. Print.
The Stand is a post-apocalyptic tale that stems from a deadly virus, but King’s development of it is singular. He terrifyingly describes the initial outbreak of “Project Blue” and the military’s failure to contain it. The deadly sweep of influenza extinguishes 99% of the world’s population, leaving society in rags.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important for my work because it serves as a good model and guideline to the setting build-up (major conflict happening in the world, at a similar time, and place) taking place in my own work.
[6] Brushfire Plague, by R.P. Ruggiero
Ruggiero, R. Brushfire Plague. PrepperPress.com, 2013. Print.
The Brushfire Plague, focuses on a story about a virulent plague that erupts across the globe. In this story, the character of Cooper Adams faces a daily battle for survival as society unravels. As he gathers a group of people, he works on discovering together the origins to the plague that is killing millions of people. However, in his pursuit to learn the truth, Cooper must combat looters, organized gangs, and those protecting the Brushfire Plague's secrets.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important to my work because it helps with the development of the environments found in my own story and the setting. It serves as a model, to the type of world I like to create in my own piece.
[7] Dark Advent, by Brian Hodge
Hodge, Brian. Dark Advent. Cemetery Dance Publications, 2016. Print.
In this work, a deadly plague left only a handful of survivors to face a savage new world. The new world was different from how they once saw it. In order to survive, a group of people found shelter in a deserted department store, but beyond their temporary heaven, an insidious evil was lurking!
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important for my story because it serves as another model to a concept I tried to incorporate in my own piece: after Kyle wakes up and leaves the hospital, he is exposed to a brand new apocalyptic world. In many ways, the examples used in this book are guidelines to my own piece.
[8] Survivors, by Terry Nation
Nation, Terry. Survivors. London: Orion Books, 2008. Print.
A group of survivors exposed to a severe pandemic, migrate south to get away from danger. In matter of a few weeks, many people died all over, leaving the healthy people struggling to survive and practicing survival skills. The few survivors of the human race are forced to fall back on the most primitive skills in order to live and re-establish some semblance of law and order.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important for my work because it serves as a model to a concept I tried incorporating in my work, in relation to my main protagonist. Mt main protagonist is someone who finds himself traveling from place to place, in order to meet his goal: find his family again. In the process, he must learn and practice survival skills. This book processes similar events that also aids me in creating such scenes.
[9] Lights Out, by David Crawford
Crawford, David. Lights Out. First Edition, First Printing, Halffast Publishing, 2010. Print.
The hero of this story must find himself trying to unite his family once more, after civilization is faced with an apocalyptic event. He focuses on saving and protecting his friends, family, and even neighbors in this new world.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important to me because it relates to the main goal of main character in my story. He too aims to reunite his family and protect them from a changed world, due to the epidemic event taking place in the country.
[10] Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake (The MaddAddam Trilogy). Anchor, 2004. Print.
Faced with a deadly plague, Jimmy finds himself struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human. Along his journey for survival, he constantly mourns the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful Oryx whom they both loved. In his journey, he is accompanied by the green-eyed children of Crake, through a wasteland of a place that used to be a great city,
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
I picked this work as another important one because it served as another model to my main character’s journey, though places that have been damaged and wrecked because of the epidemic. Along the way, he also meets up with other people, who serve a purpose in his journey, as he gets closer to finally reaching his family.
[11] Out of the Ashes, by William W. Johnstone
Johnstone, William. Out of the Ashes. Pinnacle Books, 2008. Print.
In a post-apocalyptic America, a man finds himself searching for his family. This forces him to join an organization called the Renaissance Forces. In order to meet his goal, he relentlessly searches for his family through the ruined cities with the help of this organization. Ultimately, Raines finds his family, and then leads his great nation out of the ashes.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work serves as another model of importance to my work because it provides me with further ideas and examples of how my main character relentlessly searches for his family. And ultimately, he also is able to join with them, under certain circumstances.
[12] Wolf and Iron, by Gordon R. Dickson
Dickson, Gordon. Wolf and Iron. 1st ed., Start Science Fiction, 2013. Print.
After an economic collapse, a lone man travels across the country and eventually starts a new community. After the collapse of civilization (when the social fabric of America has come apart in bloody rags), every man is on his own and only the strong will survive.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This works is another one of importance for my own because it helped me with additional ideas on how my main character travels alone in his journey to find his family. Part of the personality of Kyle is a lonely person during his quest, without any friends or family accompanying him.
[13] World Made by Hand, by James Howard Kunstler
Kunstler, James Howard. World Made by Hand: A Novel. 1st ed., Grove Press, 2009. Print.
A pandemic and nuclear terrorism all play a drastic role in the story of people who are forced to learn basic skills in a village, in order to survive. For the townspeople of Union Grove, New York, the future is not what they thought it would be. Because transportation is slow and dangerous, food is grown at certain places at great expenses. And the outside world is largely unknown.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important to my work because it provided me with insights on survival skills and survival practices useful for my main character, since he is also found in stress under a difficult time. Also, this work is relevant with a concept I planned on incorporating in my work, which was with Kyle adapting to a new life experience after waking up from a coma.
[14] The Plague, by Albert Camus
Camus, Albert, and Stuart Gilbert. The Plague. Vintage, 1991. Print.
This story is one of a horrific tale of human survival and resilience, and of ways in which humankind confront death. In a small town in North Africa, the plague begins as a series of warnings, which are ignored by the people. It gradually becomes a scary reality, driving its victims to almost unearthly extremes of suffering, madness, and compassion
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work is important to my work because it serves as another model, since an issue found in the world of my own story. Just as with any apocalyptic world, there is hardship. In this work, hardship a deadly plague affects the population so bad that they experience extreme cases of suffering and madness. I felt inspired by this idea of hardship, so I used it to help me build a similar experience for the main character as he survives in his world.
[15] Journal of the Plague Years, by Norman Spinrad
Spinrad, Norman. Journals of the Plague Years. Gateway, 2013. Print.
How the plague Plague's, but its consequences were all too obvious: quarantined cities, safe-sex machines, Sex Police, the outlawing of old-fashioned love. Four people hold the fate of humanity in their hands... A sexual mercenary condemned to death as a foot soldier in the Army of the Living Dead; a scientist who's devoted his whole life to destroying the virus and now discovers he has only ten weeks to succeed; a God-fearing fundamentalist on his way to the presidency before he accepts a higher calling; and a young infected coed from Berkeley on a bizarre crusade to save the world with a new religion of carnal abandon. Each will discover that the only thing more dangerous than the Plague is the cure.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
I found this work important for my work because it addresses issues of a deadly, unpredictable virus or plague that came out of nowhere. The ideas found in this work are some I found inspirational for the development of the virus in my own work. In addition, it presents a high level of seriousness to the plague, and those who are affected by it. This is something I incorporated in my own work with my main character. He is someone who also has a limited amount of life-time after being infected with the virus.
[16] The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Robinson, Kim Stanley. The Years of Rice and Salt: A Novel. Illustrated, Spectra, 2003. Print.
This story takes place sometime in the in the 14th century, where there is a plague that killed millions of people in Europe. It is set in a world where the plague mutates to such an extreme that it killed off all its hosts and therefore died itself. In some ways the plague resembles the famous bubonic plague that had a catastrophic impact on Europe, leaving it marked in history.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
This work was also important to my project because it helped me with generating ideas on how to make the plague or virus in my story appear more serious and deadly. In this work, the plague is so deadly that it always guarantees to kill its hosts. With this in mind, I felt comfortable to make the virus in my own work function similarly.
[17] Station Eleven, by Emily St., John Mandel
Mandel, Emily St. John. Station Eleven. Reprint, Vintage, 2015. Print.
Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, and a group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region. They all risk everything for the sake of art and humanity.
Moving back and forth in time, a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains. In the process, he is connected almost in fate with other four people people: the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
One important story concept that this story focuses on is that it is heavily based on a group of people. And the attention given to them is evenly shared, this making them important and essential for the story’s build up. I was so fascinated by this idea, that I also worked in my story with a small number of character, where each one served an essential purpose for the overall story’s message.
[18] Find Me, by Laura Van Den Berg
Berg, Van Laura Den. Find Me. Reprint, FSG Adult, 2016. Print.
Find Me tells a darkly and funny tale of a woman struggling to find her place in the world.
She is alone by choice and nature. She spends her days working the night shift at a grocery store. But suddenly, a sickness that impairs the memory of its victims emerges, thus sweeping the country with death. However, this unlucky person turn to be luckier than other as she is one of the few who is immune to this side-effect of the plague.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
Something that caught my attention from this work, which then I was inspired to incorporate it in my work, was the idea that victims of the plague suffered memory loss. So, I felt compelled to have some sort of similar experience for my main character, as he also suffers of memory loss after recovering from the virus the first time around.
[19] Ammonite, by Nicola Griffith
Griffith, Nicola. Ammonite. Reprint, Del Rey, 2002. Print.
In a planet named Jeep, there exists a deadly virus that shattered a founding colony. The virus managed to kill the men and altered the few surviving women. Years later, after the colony lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrived to exploit Jeep–and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. But after being terrified of spreading the virus, the company abandoned its employees, and left them afraid and isolated from the natives. Confronting this crisis, a scientist by the name of Marghe Taishan arrives to test a new vaccine. But she soon realizes that the virus is too strong, and it ends up changing her in ways she never imagined.
WHAT IMPORTANT PART IT PLAYS IN MY WORK:
I found this work to be important to my project because of it appeals to the extinction of human kind. This is something that I felt I need to incorporate in my own work, since it related in many ways because of the deadly virus. So I focused on making sure my version of it sounded deadly enough to be killing people with ease.