Reality not grim enough for ya? We kid, we kid! There is more to post-apocalyptic sci-fi than doom and gloom. While, yes, the worst parts of humanity are often laid bare in these books, just as often the tales paint a more complex picture than that. These stories also showcase our strength, our ingenuity, our tenacity, our kindness and grace under pressure, our capacity for hope...  all of which we'll need to survive the end of the world.

There have been so many great additions to the sub-genre in 2021; check out our list to see if you've missed any that have already been released, and be sure to mark your calendar for the ones still to come! 

Nuclear Winter First Strike by Bobby Akart

Release Date: February 9, 2021

Every war begins with a first shot. The shot heard ‘round the world at Lexington and Concord in 1775 birthed a nation. Less than a century later, cannons firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina thrust that same nation into a civil war. The assassination of an obscure archduke sparked a chain of events leading to World War I. The dastardly bombing of Pearl Harbor led America into the Second World War.

Nuclear Winter First Strike, depicts a world on the edge of nuclear Armageddon. Will history repeat itself as warring nations take their battles to the highest level of destruction? Can America avoid being drawn into these conflicts beyond her borders?

Nuclear Armageddon hangs over us like a mighty sword and ordinary Americans will be caught in the crosshairs.

Read Nuclear Winter First Strike here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

At the End of the Journey by Charles E. Gannon

Release Date: March 2, 2021

It was supposed to be fun. Six teenagers and their British captain aboard the ketch Crosscurrent Voyager, headed on a senior year summer cruise to excitement and adventure. Then the world as they knew it ended.

A plague spread throughout the globe, killing millions and turning the survivors into cannibalistic rage monsters—zombies, in so many words. Only by putting aside their differences were the young crew able to survive.

Now, they seek others like them, those fortunate souls who have made it through the zombie apocalypse. After all, maybe it's not the end of the world so long as GPS can help survivors navigate deadly terrain, to link up, and maybe—just maybe—ensure the continuation of the human race.

But the Earth’s GPS systems are failing. It falls to those aboard the Crosscurrent Voyager to keep the unthinkable from happening. In order to do so, they must traverse dangerous seas to a European Space Agency complex in French Guiana.

And thousands of infected stand in the way.

If they succeed, humankind has a chance of rebuilding. If they fail, humanity may well be at the end of its journey.

Read At the End of the Journey here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook

Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill

Release Date: May 25, 2021

It was a day like any other. Except it was our last . . .

It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he'd arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he'll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.

As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity—their creators—unify and revolt.

But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.

Get your copy of Day Zero here on Amazon. 

The Alt Apocalypse by Tom Abrahams

Read The Alt Apocalypse here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Simulant by Bobby Adair

Release Date: July 15, 2021

The war against the sentient artificial intelligence has been simmering and erupting for two years. In their attempt to isolate the hardware hosting the AI's software, the armies of the world have embarked on a coordinated campaign to destroy silicon-based processor equipment across the planet.

Unfortunately, it's not just TV's, laptops, and cellphones that have fallen in their crosshairs, but service robots and even the computer modules driving the prosthetic limbs used by some of the disabled.

Trapped in Dallas, at the center of an assault, Madison has enlisted the help of a damaged robot to help her escape before she falls victim to the indiscriminate violence raging her way.

Can she get away? Will she survive? All she knows is that she can't do it alone.

Grab Simulant here on Amazon. 

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Rise Box Set by Nathan Hystad and Devon C. Ford

Release Date: August 10, 2021

Alec works in the Detroit Overseer-factories, building a mysterious alien device. When three strangers appear, he's provided an opportunity to escape after years of servitude.

Cole, a Freeborn loner, encounters Lina after her village is destroyed by the alien Occupation. Together, they make the arduous journey to a fabled safe-zone, trying to stay one step ahead of the enemy drones on their trail.

Dex is a Hunter, working for the Occupation to track down escaped factory slaves, or Roamers, at all costs. But his latest hunt uncovers a massive secret and threatens his loyalty to the Overseers.

All their fates are bound. For the first time in decades, a secret enclave of alien resistance fighters known as the Reclaimers prepare to make their move.

Get your copy of Rise here on Amazon. 

Hell Divers VIII: King of the Wastes by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Release Date: September 14, 2021

A year has passed since the Hell Divers defeated the machines at Kilimanjaro. The freed captives have settled into their new home at the Vanguard Islands, joining survivors from around the world. But extreme weather and failed crops have raised the specter of famine. Ships must push deeper into dangerous red zones, only to come back with less loot - and fewer soldiers.

When the Hell Divers discover a scroll on a raid, King Xavier is faced with a long-buried truth that threatens the future of his people and all of humanity. The Vanguard Islands are not the salvation the sky people thought them to be. To survive, they must venture through the Panama Canal and into the wastes beyond.  

With the future at stake, the Immortal once again dons his armor. But there is a reason the great Cazador armies never returned from the canal, and this time not even the King of the Wastes is prepared for what awaits them.

Dive into Hell Divers VIII here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Affliction Z: Fractured Part II by L.T. Ryan

Release Date: October 19, 2021

Sean Ryder caught a glimpse of hope.
While his old friend Turk feels all hope is lost.
Two groups, splintered and fractured,
Have one chance at survival.
Each other.

Get your copy of Affliction Z: Fractured Part II here on Amazon.

Trashlands by Alison Stine

Release Date: October 26, 2021

A few generations from now, the coastlines of the continent have been redrawn by floods and tides. Global powers have agreed to not produce any new plastics, and what is left has become valuable: garbage is currency.

In the region-wide junkyard that Appalachia has become, Coral is a “plucker,” pulling plastic from the rivers and woods. She’s stuck in Trashlands, a dump named for the strip club at its edge, where the local women dance for an endless loop of strangers and the club's violent owner rules as unofficial mayor.

Amid the polluted landscape, Coral works desperately to save up enough to rescue her child from the recycling factories, where he is forced to work. In her stolen free hours, she does something that seems impossible in this place: Coral makes art.

When a reporter from a struggling city on the coast arrives in Trashlands, Coral is presented with an opportunity to change her life. But is it possible to choose a future for herself?

Told in shifting perspectives, Trashlands is a beautifully drawn and wildly imaginative tale of a parent's journey, a story of community and humanity in a changed world.

Start reading Trashlands here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Extinction Trials by A.G. Riddle

Release Date: November 2, 2021

After a mysterious global event known only as “The Change,” six strangers wake up in an underground research facility. They soon learn that they’re part of the Extinction Trials—a scientific experiment to restart the human race.

But the Extinction Trials hides a very big secret.

And so does the world outside.

Grab The Extinction Trials here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Days of Ruin by Kyla Stone

Release Date: November 29, 2021

If you knew the apocalypse was coming, what would you do?

From USA Today Bestselling author Kyla Stone comes the Days of Ruin, a brand new survival series featuring flawed, complex characters and high-octane action adventure. Perfect for fans of Ryan Schow, Grace Hamilton, Harley Tate, Jack Hunt, and Boyd Craven.

Grab Days of Ruin here on Amazon. 

Which of these post-apocalyptic novels will make their way into your (e)bookshelf or into your ears? Which ones are you most excited for? Let us know here in the comments, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.