They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Merrie Destefano, whose debut novel, Valiant, will be released tomorrow, December 4th, from Entangled Teen!
What does Merrie love when she’s not writing about the end of the world? Spoiler alert: um… actually, today’s column might as well be titled “My Favorite Apocalypse Things.” Interested? Read on to learn more!
Lately, I have three favorite things: Writing, reading, and planning how to survive the apocalypse. Between choosing the best bug out bags and studying zombie survival tips, I often peruse the latest MRE menus. For fun. Maybe because I always loved camping and that’s how I imagine the end of the world — one long camping trip with no running water or electricity and lots of unwelcome bugs and dirt. So, to me, the apocalypse is just camping with zombies or camping with invading aliens or camping with name your favorite disaster here.
However, besides tents, hiking gear, bottled water and food, you really should take a book or two along when you’re heading into Armageddon. You might be spending a long time in a boat, waiting for a fish to chomp on that worm you dug up at 5 a.m. Or you might need to chill for a while after gutting and descaling said fish.
When it comes to reading, my taste seems to hover somewhere between literary and horror, with a strong dash of suspense and possible romance. I hope you enjoy these books!
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Can a post-apocalypse world be beautiful? It is if it’s written by Cormac McCarthy. Every sentence of this book is like poetry. This author is a genius, and this will always be one of my favorite books. Besides the lyrical writing, the self-sacrificial tale of a father — who’s willing to do anything to save his son — is one that I’ll never forget.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
I knew I had to read this book from the moment I saw the cover. That was before I knew it was a book about zombies or even that it was a post-apocalyptic tale. What I saw was a beautiful, pensive girl standing before a foggy, mysterious forest. I immediately knew that whatever had happened, had taken place a long time ago, but it still had a powerful affect on her life today . For me, it was an excellent example of how a book cover can reveal just enough information to be intriguing and compelling.
Pines by Blake Crouch
You never know how you’ll discover your next favorite book. I stumbled upon this story when I started watching the TV series (Wayward Pines). I loved the show. My problem was I couldn’t handle the cliffhangers! The story was so intriguing and mysterious that I just had to know what happened next. So, I bought the book. Not surprisingly, it had a slightly different plot than the TV series, but that didn’t bother me. I got to read the dark and twisty post-apocalyptic tale as fast as I wanted, and I got read the author’s original vision for this story.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Technically, this book is about a vampire apocalypse, but it inspired George Romero’s infamous movie, The Night of the Living Dead. In other words, a book about vampires helped to launch the zombie genre. Vampires everywhere, please take a bow.
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
This was the book that proved aliens really do want to kill us. Also, if you don’t know the history of this book (first published in 1898), an adaptation of this tale was broadcast in a radio drama on The Mercury Theater on the Air by Orson Welles on Oct. 30, 1938. Unfortunately, many people listening to the broadcast believed this hoax was true and that we were really being invaded.
Novelist and magazine editor, Merrie Destefano writes dark stories with a thread of hope. Her novels include Valiant, Lost Girls, Shade, Fathom, Afterlife, and Feast, and her work has been published by Entangled Teen and HarperCollins. Her YA Science Fiction novel with Entangled Teen, Valiant, releases on December 4, 2018.
Author photo by Mark Mendez
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