List of nuclear holocaust fiction  

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This list of nuclear holocaust fiction lists the many works of speculative fiction that attempt to describe a world during or after a massive nuclear war, nuclear holocaust, or crash of civilization due to a nuclear electromagnetic pulse.

Films

Television programs

• A Day Called 'X' (CBS, 1957)
• The War Game (BBC, 1965)
• Level Seven (BBC, 1966), adapted by J. B. Priestley for Out of the Unknown
• Genesis II (CBS, 1973)
• Planet Earth (ABC, 1974)
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC, 1979)
• World War III miniseries (1982)
• Whoops Apocalypse (ITV, 1982)
• Special Bulletin (NBC, 1983)
• Testament (PBS, 1983)
• The Day After (ABC, 1983)
• Countdown to Looking Glass (HBO, 1984)
• Threads (BBC, 1984)
• By Dawn's Early Light (HBO, 1990)
• Woops! (Fox, 1992)
• Fail Safe (CBS, 2000)
• On the Beach (Showtime, 2000)
• Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, 2003, 2004–2009)
• Jericho (CBS, 2006–2008)
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox, 2008–2009)
• Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 2010–)
• Last Resort (Fox Broadcasting Company, 2012–2013)

Television episodes

• The Motorola Television Hour: "Atomic Attack" (1954 ABC-TV series Season 1, Episode 15) A family living 50 miles away try to flee from the fallout of an atomic bomb that fell on New York City. Based on the novel _Shadow on the Hearth_ (1950) by author Judith Merrill.
• Twilight Zone: "Time Enough at Last" (1959)
• Playhouse 90: "Alas, Babylon" (1960)
• Twilight Zone: "The Old Man in the Cave" (1963)
• Star Trek: "Space Seed" (1967)
• Star Trek: "Assignment: Earth" (1968) The crew goes back in time to find out how the human race was able to survive the Cold War.
• Twilight Zone: "A Little Peace and Quiet" (1985)
• Twilight Zone: "Quarantine" (1986)
• Twilight Zone: "Shelter Skelter" (1987)
• Twilight Zone: "Chosen" (2002)
• A few episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise depict that both humans and Vulcans were close to extermination caused by nuclear war.

Novels

• A Gift Upon the Shore by M. K. Wren
• Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
• Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem (regarding Hatfork)
• Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley
• Arc Light by Eric Harry
• Armageddon's Children By Terry Brooks (2006) (Genesis of Shannara Trilogy book 1)
• The Ashes Series by William W. Johnstone
• Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1960)
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
• Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence
• The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
• Commander-1 by Peter George
• Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
• Dark December by Alfred Coppel
• Dark Mirrors (original title) Schwarte Spiegel by Arno Schmidt
• Davy and other works by Edgar Pangborn
• The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles by Robert Moore Williams
• Deathlands series by a variety of authors writing under the pen name James Axler
• Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb by Philip K. Dick
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick
• Domain by James Herbert
• Doomday Wing by George H. Smith
• Doomsday Plus Twelve by James D. Forman
• Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham
• Earthwreck! by Thomas N. Scortia
• The Eclipse Trilogy by John Shirley
• Einstein's Monsters by Martin Amis
• End of the World by Dean Owen (novelization of the film Panic in Year Zero!)
• Endworld series by David Robbins
• Eon by Greg Bear
• The Erthing Cycle by Wayland Drew
• Fahrenheit 451
• Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
• Fire Brats by Scott Siegel and Barbara Siegel
• First Angel by Ed Mann, published by Soldier of Fortune magazine
• Free Flight by Douglas Terman
• The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
• God's Grace by Bernard Malamud
• The Guardians series by Richard Austin
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Last Children of Schewenborn by Gudrun Pausewang
• The Last Ship by William Brinkley
• Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald
• The Long Loud Silence by Wilson Tucker
• The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
• Long Voyage Back by George Cockcroft, under the pen name Luke Rhinehart, 1983
• Malevil by Robert Merle
• Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
• Not This August by C.M. Kornbluth
• Obernewtyn and subsequent novels in the series by Isobelle Carmody
• On the Beach by Nevil Shute
• One Second After by William R. Forstchen
• The Outward Urge, by John Wyndham and Lucas Parkes
• The Pelbar Cycle, Book One (Beyond Armageddon) by Paul O. Williams
• Plan of Attack, a 2004 thriller by Dale Brown
• The Postman, a 1985 post-apocalyptic novel by David Brin
• Prayers for the Assassin, by Robert Ferrigno
• Red Alert, by Peter George
• Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois
• Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Prime Directive, by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (A Star Trek novel where an alien civilization is apparently destroyed by a sudden, unexpected nuclear war among its own people.)
• Pulling Through, by Dean Ing (first half of the book is a novel on a family surviving a nuclear blast, the second half was a non-fiction survival guide)
• The School for Atheists by Arno Schmidt
• Second Ending, by James White
• The Seventh Day by Hans Hellmut Kirst (original title Keiner Kommt Davon)
• Shadow on the Hearth by Judith Merril (1950) A novel about a young housewife's ordeals in the aftermath of nuclear attack
• The Silo Series by Hugh Howey(2011) A nuclear exchange is used to cover up a nano-bot attack
• Single Combat by Dean Ing (second in the Ted Quantril trilogy)
• A Small Armageddon by Mordecai Roshwald
• Star Mans Son by Andre Norton (1952) a post-apocalyptic novel that takes place about two centuries after the Great-Blowup. This story is also entitled Daybreak - 2250 AD in reprint editions.
• The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun by Christopher Anvil
• The Survivalist by Jerry Ahern
• Swan Song by Robert McCammon
• Systemic Shock by Dean Ing (first in the Ted Quantril trilogy)
• Tengu by Graham Masterton
• Test of Fire by Ben Bova
• There Will Be Time by Poul Anderson
• This Is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow
• This Time Tomorrow by Lauran Paine
• Tomorrow! by Philip Wylie
• Trinity's Child by William Prochnau (1983)
• Triumph by Philip Wylie
• The Valley-Westside War by Harry Turtledove
• Vaneglory by George Turner
• Viper Three by Walter Wager
• Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka
• When the Wind Blows, by Raymond Briggs
• Wild Country by Dean Ing (Third in the Ted Quantril Trilogy)
• The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The World Next Door by Brad Ferguson
• The World Set Free by H. G. Wells
• Worldwar series by Harry Turtledove (alternate history: World War II turns nuclear in 1943, another nuclear war in the 1960s)
• Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
• The Zone series by James Rouch

Short stories

• "The Blast" by Stuart Cloete (1947), published in 6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction, ed. Groff Conklin, 1954
• "Not with a Bang" (1949) by Damon Knight
• "The Last Word" (1956) by Damon Knight
• "A Clean Escape" (1985) by John Kessel
• "The 16th October 1985" (2009) by James Plumridge
• "The Edge of the Knife" (1957) by H. Beam Piper
• "Lot" (1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (1954) by Ward Moore (inspiration for the film Panic in Year Zero!)
• "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury (1951)
• "Preview of the War We Do Not Want", published in Collier's Magazine (1951)
• "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke a short story featuring a boy living in a colony on the moon, left isolated by the destruction of the Earth.
• "A Boy and His Dog" by Harlan Ellison (1969)
• "Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man's Back" by Joe R. Lansdale (1986)
• "The Custodians" by Richard Cowper

Short Story collections

• Countdown To Midnight, 1984 edited by H. Bruce Franklin
• Beyond Armageddon, 1985 edited by Walter M. Miller, Jr. and Martin Harry Greenberg
• Nuclear War, 1988 edited by Gregory Benford and Martin Harry Greenberg

Comics

• 2000AD/Judge Dredd, set in a post war Earth where the majority of the United States is called the "Cursed Earth".
• Akira features Tokyo after a nuclear conflict.
• AXA, set in the aftermath of a nuclear- and biological war with heroine AXA fighting against evil.
• Barefoot Gen, Japanese manga about life after the Hiroshima bombing
• Fist of the North Star, a Japanese comic franchise set in a post-nuclear Earth.
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, a Japanese graphic novel, later partly adapted in film, set in a far, post-apocalyptic future, rife with themes of bioethics, environmentalism, genetics and psionics.
• The Punisher - The End, a one shot issue of Marvel Comic's Punisher by Garth Ennis and Richard Corben.
• V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd is set in an England which has survived through a nuclear war which devastated the majority of the rest of the world.
• Strontium dog, set in a post - nuclear war earth where many humans have been deformed by the radiation and are branded as 'mutants'.

Animation shorts

• The Big Snit (National Film Board of Canada, Richard Condie; 1985)
• The Hole featuring the voice of Dizzy Gillespie

Music

• "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" by Jimi Hendrix
• "1999" by Prince, from the album 1999
• "540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit" by Fear Factory
• "99 Luftballons" by Nena
• "2 Minutes to Midnight" by Iron Maiden, on the subject of the Cold War
• "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", by Bob Dylan
• "Aftermath" by Armored Saint
• "Aftershock" by Anthrax
• "Against The Machines", by Downlink Featuring Datsik, on one of the albums called Dubstep. The song features machinery sounds and 'techno' beats with voice-over references to The Terminator Franchise including a line about the survivors of the nuclear fire.
• "Arise" by Sepultura
• "As It Was, As It Soon Shall Be" by Exodus, on the album The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A
• "As The End Draws Near" by Manufacture, featuring Sarah McLachlan on vocals
• "As The World Burns" by Bolt Thrower on the album The IVth Crusade
• "Atomchild" by Underground Zero
• "Beneath the Remains" by Sepultura
• "Blackened" by Metallica, the first track off their fourth album, ...And Justice for All.
• "Bomb" by Gang Green
• "Boom!" by System of a Down on the album Steal This Album!
• "Breathing" by Kate Bush, the final track off her third album, Never For Ever
• "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" by Iron Maiden, from the album A Matter of Life and Death
• "Christmas at Ground Zero" by "Weird Al" Yankovic
• "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" by Ultravox
• "Damnation Alley", by Hawkwind, inspired by Roger Zelazny's novel of the same name
• "Dachau Blues", by Captain Beefheart, which also touches on World War III.
• "Dead Flag Blues" by Godspeed You Black Emperor!, first track from their album F♯A♯∞
• "Destruction Preventer" by Sonata Arctica
• "Distant Early Warning" by Rush
• "De Bom" by Doe Maar
• "Domino (Genesis song)" by Genesis, from Invisible Touch, subject of the effect of dropping the bomb
• "Dresden Blues" by Cold Chisel
• "The Earth Dies Screaming" by UB40
• "Electric Funeral" by Black Sabbath. 1970 from the Paranoid LP.
• "Epitaph" by King Crimson
• "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire
• "Ever Since The World Ended", by Mose Allison
• "Everyday is Like Sunday" by Morrissey
• "Fabulous Disaster" by Exodus
• "Fight Fire with Fire" by Metallica, the first song off their second album, Ride the Lightning
• "Four minute warning" by Radiohead
• "Generals and Majors" by XTC
• "The House at Pooneil Corners" by Jefferson Airplane, from their album Crown of Creation
• "Ignorance" by Sacred Reich
• "In the Hole" by Armored Saint
• "Ink Mathematics", by Captain Beefheart
• "It's a Mistake" by Men at Work from the album Cargo
• "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Nik Kershaw
• "Killer of Giants" by Ozzy Osbourne
• "King of the World" by Steely Dan, from the album Countdown to Ecstasy
• "Last Sunset" (Последний Закат) by Russian metal band Aria.
• "Last Rockers" by Vice Squad
• "Like A Thousand Suns" by Heaven Shall Burn
• "Living Through Another Cuba", by XTC
• "London Calling" by The Clash
• "M.A.D." by Hadouken!. The song's lyrics and title refer to nuclear war. Indeed the whole album has several themes and lyrics which refer to atomic war.
• "Man at C&A" by The Specials, from the album More Specials
• "Manhattan Project" by Rush, third track from their album Power Windows
• "Memories of Tomorrow" by Suicidal Tendencies
• "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" by Billy Joel
• "Morning Dew", by Bonnie Dobson; also recorded by Jeff Beck, Blackfoot, and The Grateful Dead.
• "Mutually Assured Destruction" by Gillan (band), from 1989 re-issue of their album Future Shock
• "Northern Wind" (Северный ветер) by Russian singer Linda (Линда) on the album Crow (Ворона)
• "Nuclear Annihilation" by Bolt Thrower on the album In Battle There Is No Law
• "Nuclear Attack" by Gary Moore on the album Dirty Fingers
• "Nuclear Attack" by Sabaton on the album Attero Dominatus
• "Nuclear War" by Sun Ra
• "Nuclear Winter" by Sodom
• "Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me", by Charles Mingus
• "One of the Living" by Tina Turner, from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
• "One World" by Anthrax
• "Or Shall We Die?" by Michael Berkeley
• "Part III" by Bad Religion
• "Party at Ground Zero" by Fishbone
• Pink World by Planet P Project
• "Put Down That Weapon" by Midnight Oil
• "Quite Unusual" by Front 242
• "Reclamation" by Lamb of God
• "Rumours of War" by Billy Bragg
• "Rust in Peace...Polaris" by Megadeth, from the Rust in Peace album
• "Seconds", by U2
• "Set the World Afire" by Megadeth, from the So Far, So Good... So What! album
• "Skeletons of Society" by Slayer
• "So Long, Mom (A Song For World War III)", by Tom Lehrer
• "Stop the World" by The Clash
• "Talkin' World War III Blues", by Bob Dylan
• "Thank God For The Bomb" by Ozzy Osbourne
• "The Sun Is Burning" by Ian Campbell, performed by Simon and Garfunkel and The Dubliners
• "Survive" by Nuclear Assault
• "The Only Hope For Me Is You" by My Chemical Romance
• "Third World War" by Evil's Toy
• "This World Over", by XTC
• "Trouble", by Tonio K.
• "Twilight of the Gods", by Helloween
• "Two Minute Warning", by Depeche Mode from the 1983 album Construction Time Again
• "Two Suns in the Sunset" by Pink Floyd from the album The Final Cut
• "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• The music video for "Untitled 1" by Sigur Rós features a world ravaged by a nuclear holocaust as its setting.
• "Warhead" by Tarot
• "War Pigs", by Black Sabbath
• "We're So Small" by The Epoxies
• "We Will All Go Together When We Go" by Tom Lehrer
• "We Will Become Silhouettes" by The Postal Service
• "When That Hell Bomb Falls*" by Fred Kirby
• "When the Wild Wind Blows" by Iron Maiden from their album The Final Frontier based on the Raymond Briggs book When the Wind Blows
• "Who's Gonna Win the War?" by Hawkwind
• "Will The Sun Rise?" by Dokken
• "Wooden Ships", recorded by both Crosby Stills & Nash and Jefferson Airplane
• "World War III" recorded by D.O.A.
• "World Wars III & IV", by Carnivore
• "WWIII" by KMFDM
• "Your Eyes Were Open" by UB40, from the album Geffrey Morgan
• "Your Attention, Please!" by Scars
• "Nuclear Suicide" by Skallbrand, from the album Welcome To The Nuclear Suicide

Games

See also

• Nuclear holocaust
• Nuclear weapons in popular culture
• World War III in popular culture
• List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
• Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
• List of books about nuclear issues
• List of films about nuclear issues