Five to Doomsday - Day 4: What 3 books would you save from the apocalypse? Featuring Anthony Horowitz and Michael Grant • The MG Harris Blog

For today’s special Mayan apocalypse-themed post, I’ll be posing a dilemma faced by one of the characters in APOCALYPSE MOON.

(I won’t say which character, in case you haven’t read the book yet because it’s very spoiler-ish.)

When making a dash from their home to a doomsday-prepped retreat in the hills, this character brings certain books. But along the way they are robbed, have to bargain their way out of trouble etc. Sometimes books are traded for their burn value. In the end , only THREE books can be saved. In APOCALYPSE MOON, those three books turn out to be highly significant to the story.

I put that question to Anthony Horowitz, Michael Grant and Junot Diaz, three authors whose books I admire, and who’ve written (or are writing) novels featuring post-apocalyptic mayhem.

Junot Diaz replied with a charmingly mis-typed message from the Dominican Republic: Pita. In dr. No email. Typing tid on cel phone. Have to skip. Please forgive.

Duly forgiven!

So I’m stepping in as the third author to add my selections to Anthony’s and Michael’s. The only rule was this – the books you choose to save must be in your house right now.

Michael Grant

In case you’ve been living on another planet for the past few years, Michael’s fantastic GONE series features a thrilling, paranoid world in which everyone over the age of 15 has simply GONE. The kids of Perdido Beach, CA are left to duke it out amongst themselves. But the phenomenon that spirits away everyone over their 15th birthday has made its impact elsewhere too. Mayhem, action, politics and romance are only part of the result. Think Lord of the Flies meets X-Men.

Hmmm. Okay. Has to be a book currently in my house. I have a lot of my own books, but I’d burn them — they’re available digitally, plus I’ve already them. There are also a lot of my wife’s books, and I would want to be very careful about saying I’d burn any of them. Very careful. My choices are mostly about books that have taught me something and whose particular strengths I cannot match in my own writing. But the three I would absolutely not burn.

Terribly cliche answer, but The Lord Of The Rings. It’s not that the prose is particularly wonderful, it’s not. It’s pretty bad in parts. It’s the world-building. No one before, and very few after, touched Tolkien’s deep, erudite, devoted world-building.

Post Captain – Patrick O’Brian. As with Tolkien, I admire the erudition, the level of knowledge. But O’Brian is a much better writer of prose than Tolkien. This is the second in what became a 21 book series, and I learned from O’Brian that there were different ways to bring a satisfying ending to a particular series book. His characters are absolutely indelible.

The City and the City – China Miéville. I have a pretty good imagination, if I may be immodest. But Miéville made me take a step back and say, “Whoa.” He’s not much for character development, but he’s a good writer with a really first class imagination.

Of course on any given week I’d have a different list.

Thank you Michael! We’re looking forward to the finale of the GONE series: LIGHT, out March 2013.

Anthony Horowitz

Again, for those currently living in the International Space Station, Anthony’s POWER OF FIVE series is a modern-day epic fantasy in which an ancient threat that once dominated the Earth now looms on our horizon. Only five teenagers – the reincarnation of ancient guardians who once banished the evil Old Ones – stand between us and oblivion. But what’s this? – the final book is titled OBLIVION. Which I guess tells us that the Power of Five needs that extra final push. I’ve been saving this one to read over the Christmas/New Year break.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – William Schirer. This is the best history of the rise and fall of Hitler and the Nazis that I’ve ever read and a vital lesson to future generations. It’s an extraordinary examination of the nature of evil and one we all have to understand if we’re not going to repeat it.

The Oxford Book of Poetry (2008). I suppose this is a bit obvious but I love reading poetry and this one book contains so much genius, so many great poets. If you want to read what humans were like – what they loved, what they thought – before the apocalypse, read their poetry.

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens. I’d save the complete Dickens if I could but if you’re only going to allow me a measly three books, I’ll keep this one, the greatest novel ever written (in my opinion).

Thanks Anthony!

Finally – my own choices.

One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Would be my own candidate for the best novel ever written except for the fact that it doesn’t tell the story of one main character but rather of a whole village. I usually admit that this is my favourite book when asked and have written more about it here.

Labyrinths – Jorge Luis Borges. A collection of amazing short stories that has influenced authors including Thomas Pynchon, Umberto Eco and me. There’s more plot in many of these than in many novels, which is one reason I’d save them. Each story or essay takes the reader into a world of erudition, imagination and wonder.

The Arabian Nights – translated by Sir Richard Burton, Easton Press edition. One of several books my father let me choose from his library of leather-bound Easton Press books. (Oh the woe of not being able to save them all!) The tale of Scheherazade and her incredibly story-telling skills has always been one of my favourites. Surely the best short story collection ever?!

HOWEVER! If I also owned my father’s leather-bound collection of Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge stories, however, one of the three books above would not be coming along for the apocalypse. My sister Adriana is going to have to save that one for posterity.

In another Mayan apocalypse themed post, I’m interviewed over at The Kooky Bookworm‘s blog.

Michael Grant

Anthony Horowitz

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