Showing results for "Apocalypse" in Coming of Age

Meet Hickey, an American school teacher in his late 30s, an American school teacher who burns his bridges with the school board and goes to Africa as an aid worker. Working for an agency in Nairobi, one of his jobs is to drive food and medical supplies to Southern Sudan to an aid station run by Ruth, a middle-aged woman, who acts as nurse, doctor, hospice worker, feeder of starving children, and witness. Ruth is gruff but efficient, and Hickey, who is usually drawn to youth and beauty, is struck by her devotion. Returning to Nairobi, he can’t forget what he has seen.

With the economy in free fall, the government crippled by indecision, the streets taken over by new political parties, and the fragile institutions of civilization crumbling, a young man finds himself homeless and alone on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., facing certain death unless he can master survival skills he never imagined needing. Fending off violent citizens in an urban landscape that is gradually sliding into looting and mayhem, the protagonist emerges as an ultimate force of justice in a lawless land.

A clever but obnoxious teen (think Youth in Revolt's Nick Twisp) is stuck in his parents' basement during a uniquely literary yet crowd-pleasing apocalypse. It involves not zombies but a breakdown in general logic and order. Lloyd's mother, a William Blake scholar, goes mad in a flurry of Blakean invective. Lloyd's neighbor clips toenails on her lawn. An acting group believes a tribute to Dennis Hopper might save the world.

I just wanted a nice Thanksgiving dinner - all right, mainly the yeast rolls and the potato salad, perhaps some pie. Was that too much to ask for? Judging from the audience gathered outside it was far too much to ask. This is my story and my name is Madeline. I'm not your typical survivor. In fact, many would say I should have probably been one of the first to go, but here I am, chugging along, seizures and all. Zombies or not I'm determined I'm going to have Thanksgiving dinner.