John Wyndham is the Man!

Instead of focusing solely on newer type fiction, I have recently begun to go back and read through books that a majority of people were required to read for school.  For some unknown reason, I have never had to read, or in some cases even heard of these titles (see what happens when skip school too often).  One author that really stands out is John Wyndham.  I have now read two of his works and have loved both titles: Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids.  Both titles were first published in the early 1950’s and incorporate soft Science Fiction themes and tell two truly unique and amazing stories, some of which have been integrated by or paid homage to by today’s authors.  Day of the Triffids is set in England and tells the story of an apocalyptic event that deeply debilitates a majority of earth’s people and creates havoc for the book’s main characters who are struggling to survive in world turned upside down that will never be the same.  As people attempt to endure, a manmade form of plant life threatens to hunt down and destroy the remaining survivors who are learning to cope (or not to cope) in a world utterly foreign.  While Triffids was set in what was then present day England, The Chrysalids takes place in the future, generations after an undisclosed apocalyptic disaster has decimated earth.  A select number of children within this future generation have recently begun to develop special abilities which will make them outcasts in the eyes of their elders and community who would hunt them down and see them dead for possessing this genetic “abnormality”.  While both novels feature some type of apocalyptic destruction of earth or earth’s resources, their stories are completely different from each other.  Each tells an intriguing story that is enjoyable from beginning to end.  Give these bad boys a shot, they are well worth it.