End Of The World

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

                             -- The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot

The world has not ended yet. That means in 2011 Mr. Camping was wrong -- what a surprise that was, huh?  And now it looks like after waiting all this time, 2012 will just buzz on by.

Here are my favorite fiction books about the end of the world:

1. The Stand.  I love this book!  Both in its original form and in the larger format.  The story is a lot of fun.  King does not use bombs to end the world, but a plague.  Further, he ties this super plague to Biblical prophecy, giving the novel a unique edge.

2. Darkness on the edge of town.  I like this book a lot!  Brian Keene is a great author.  Told in the first person, it does not give all the final answers the reader wants.  There are things that drive me a little nuts in this book. They sure can see a lot in the dark!  (mustard stains on a shirt and so on).  

3. The mist.  The novella did not answer as many questions as the movie does.   The reader is left suspecting the strange  mist with its monsters has taken over the world.

4. Swan Song.  Easily compared to The Stand -- to McCammon's consternation! -- the book brings a quick end to the world via nuclear war.  After that, the girls Swan and her protector, Josh, must fight evil that comes from the rubble.  It's good stuff, really.  

5. Lucifer's Hammer.  How about a big rock -- that would end  life on earth, right?  Well, almost!  This novel has a lot of strong elements.  The writing is good.  There is a lot of action.  Even some war.  And the science is pretty strong. 

6. On The Beach.  Chalk it up to those nukes again -- on the beach takes place after world war 3.

7.  The Martian Chronicles.  Nukes... again.  The book moves a small band of humans to Mars just in time to blow up our planet.  Of course, we kill the Martians with our germs (War of the World's reversed.)  After that, it's our planet!  Will we take better care of Mars than we did earth?  No!  

Of interest to me (but  not yet read)

1. The Last Man, Mary Shelly

2. The Drowned World, J.G. Ballard

3. The Age of Miracles, Karen Walker

4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy

Doomsday Preppers:

Author Stephen Tremp observes:

It seems many are expecting and even hoping for a Doomsday scenario. War, economic and political meltdown, disease, global warming, severe worldwide drought, and other cataclysmic events are what many believe will drive our personal worldwide doomsday. People are networking. They are preparing by stockpiling food, water, medical supplies, and guns. Web sites are plentiful. Just check out some of these YouTube Clips for the Doomsday Preppers.  (breakthroughblogs.blogspot.com)

Movies:

Oh my!  There are a lot of these!  My least favorite is Armageddon.  Who put guns on the spaceship?

A few end of the world movies:

• The Day After
• Deep Impact
• 2012
• The War of the Worlds
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Collision Earth
• Life after People
• The Day the Earth Caught Fire
• Meteor
• The Day The Sky Exploded
• By Dawns Early Light
• Earthstorm

Check out even more at www.allmovie.com

Going Biblical. . .

For a more serious discussion on the end times, look at Olivet discourse in Matthew 24.  Jesus uses a "duel" prophecy in order to ensure the truthfulness of his statements.  That is, he first foretells an event that would take place in the future -- but in the lifetime of eye witnesses; the destruction of the Jewish temple.  The synoptic Gospels were written before this event took place, yet recorded Jesus' prediction that the temple and Jerusalem would be crushed well before it happened.  Woven through the prophecy of  the destruction of Jerusalem is a larger prophecy of the Parousia (Second Coming) and final judgment.  So the short term prophecy is offered to give credibility to the far future prophecy.

And then there's. . . Left Behind.  I don't want to rant too much about this, because I respect  the intentions of the makers.  However, the rapture theory -- that Christians get sucked out of this world before things get really bad -- is simply not to be found in the pages of Scripture.  Beyond that, the movie's just not very good.  (Gasp) Same to be said for Omega Code -- only it's worse! 

Does the Bible point to a final end to planet earth?  Yes.  Not in the "Left Behind" Science Fiction way, though.  It speaks of final events, judgment of mankind, a fiery end to earth and a new beginning. 

Radio:

Radio destroyed the world many many times!  I think it was done most often by Arch Oboler.  Oboler gave us, "The Conqueror worms" and "The Word," and of course,  "Chicken Heart."  Yes, CHICKEN heart!  described  in Old Time Radio Catalog

Chicken Heart was another memorable Lights Out episode where a chicken heart is kept alive in a petri dish eventually starts growing and takes over the whole world. This episode influenced Stephen King and Bill Cosby described listening to this particular episode during one of his stand up comedy routines.

X minus 1 also destroyed the world -- but not as often as we would think!

The most famous destruction of earth came in 1938, when Mr. Orson Well's played The War of the World's.  People actually thought the world was ending! Author Andy Rausch and I talked about this  particular radio play when I interviewed him in October.

TSK: Since you participated in the Welles book, I'll ask you this... I've always been fascinated by the 1938 War of the Worlds fiasco. Do you think anything like that could ever happen again? 

Andy Rausch: No. Today we have so much information—maybe too much information—at our disposal at any given moment. I think you could maybe fool a few people here and there, but convincing that number of people that aliens are attacking seems unlikely.

Interview With Andy Rausch

TELL ME:
So,what are some of your favorite end of the world books, movies and radio plays?