What's this sci-fi novel i remember?

February 18, 2007 8:07 PM

Help me remember the name of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel i read as 10 years or so ago.

When I was in high school, my dad had a pretty large sci-fi novel collection, and I read a few. I have a very vague recollection of one of them, but my description didn't get much response from my dad, so I'll turn to you.

Okay, so, post-apocalyptic novel. A father and son, traveling in the USA, trying to find their way home. I really only remember two or three scenes, but hopefully one of you might remember more.

1) The father and son encounter a group of people and join them for stew. They start eating, but come to realize that the stew is made of HUMAN, when the father sees a ring on one of the bones.

2) When they eventually arrive home, they're excited to find the showers work, and they sit down to eat some dinner, only to be interrupted with gunfire. It's the neighbors, thinking that the father and son are looters.


I know this isn't much to go on, but if any of you have any insight, i'd appreciate it.

posted by sunimplodes to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

This ISN'T the book you're looking for, but if you like the idea of a father and son travelling across a post-apocalyptic (and cannibal-filled) wasteland, the new book by Cormac McCarthy--the author of All The Pretty Horses--is right up your alley.
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:31 PM on February 18, 2007

Sounds close, but not perfect, to Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Piven and Jerry Pournelle. There is a father and son that are important in the plot, and there is a stew made of humans, and certainly there is gunfire and looters, but not quite in the scene that you describe. Good luck.
posted by nursegracer at 8:40 PM on February 18, 2007

Yeah, I was thinking fragmented recall of Lucifer's Hammer also.
posted by sourwookie at 10:59 PM on February 18, 2007

Actually sounds like one of the books in the Earthblood series (there were 3). There was a bit where a father and son return home and they are confronted by their skeletal neighbors. I think Don Pendleton wrote it and it is for people who found the realism and grit of the DeathLands series lacking. *cough*

Can't believe I read that stuff when I was a kid.
posted by codswallop at 6:13 AM on February 19, 2007

There is no way it could be Lucifers Hammer. No protagonist eats the hu-meat.

I could be "The Rift" I don't specifically remember the scene but I think it has canibals and I know it has a father and son.


Now that I think about it it isn't "The Rift" either.....humff
posted by Megafly at 12:45 PM on February 19, 2007

Yeah, it's definately not the Rift or Earthblood, at least not based on what information about them I could find online.

Lucifer's Hammer sounds close, but the wikipedia entry mentions "cannibalistic zealots led by reverend armitage", and the cannibals I recall were just a few guys living under a bridge or something similar.

Anyway, I'd like to thank you guys for trying, it was kind of an obscure question, and my memory of the book is very vague, so i didn't expect even this many answers.

So thanks a lot!
posted by sunimplodes at 11:05 PM on February 19, 2007