PBS and the Apocalypse

Here is a site that is very well put together and answers a lot of questions while offering plenty of new information on the Apocalypse - from its origins to the end times. PBS - Apocalypse includes interviews with historians and scholars on 2000 years of millennial beliefs and events.
They also discuss in detail that of all of the books in the Bible, none has fired the Western imagination more than Revelations.

This site offers a report on the rise of the Antichrist as a central figure in end time scenarios and portrays Apocalypticism's fierce beasts, wild imagery and end time prophets and events over 2500 years of predictions.
Scholars assess apocalypticism and the American psyche, and what happens after the year 2000....
Check it out. And while you're at it check out the newest offering into the apocalyptic theatre The Judas Syndrome

Test yourself on the coming apocalypse

Looking to kill some time? Want to rate your survivability in the face of the coming apocalypse? Click here and take a test designed to see how well you would fair in the apocalypse.
Of course this is only a test and no one can actually tell you exactly what will happen, how it will happen or when it will happen. But I took the test and scored a miserable 39% chance of surviving the end times.
I like to think my odds would be better than that but I think a person would have to have no attachments, live in the country and have a vast warehouse of canned goods and a truck load of ammunition to make it through the 7 years the bible suggests the apocalypse will take to run its course.
But whether the words in the bible are truth or the words of Nostradamus or any of the other 'seers' that have prophesized the coming apocalypse we'll only know when it is upon us. Fact is - it's coming and no one can be truly prepared enough. Though I heard that Tom Cruise is building a bunker on his Californian property for just such an occasion - better hope he's not half way around the world shooting a film when it all comes down.

Submit your apocalyptic works for review

Submit your apocalyptic works for review to Strange Horisons. Your target audience is there and the more publicity the better! Also look for bloggers that review novels and other works of apocalypse literature and submit to them as well.
If for no other reason than to get another persons view on your works. Do it before you're ready to publish and treat the review like an editors comments. There are lots of opportunities out there to get feedback on your work.
The Judas Syndrome is slated to be published in the Spring of 2008.

Humour and The Apocalypse

Apocalyptic literature is not without humour. So many botched prophesies over the past 3500 years, its comical really. A fun site to view listing all of the failed prophesy where the Apocalypse was concerned can be found by clicking on this link.

This site offers a comprehensive index of prophesy dating back to 2800 BC and loaded with possible future dates predicting the end time. For example we just narrowly missed the 2nd Rapture according to Marilyn J. Agee. "September 13th 2007 - An asteroid is supposed to hit the Earth on this day, she claims. (Oropeza p.89)"

But there are many more prophetic doomsdays to look forward to, mark it on your calendar: "On this page, the Lord's Witnesses use convoluted numerology to demonstrate that "the end of the world is 2008 March 21st." They also claim that the United Nations will take over the world between March 26 and April 24, 2001, and afterward nobody will be able to buy or sell without the Mark of the Beast! "

Fun stuff. Regardless of how you view the Apocalypse it is something that has been imbedded into our DNA to fear and so creates a certain interest when someone has a prediction concerning it.

Companion websites for the Apocalypse

As I've mentioned before this blog will introduce you to other interesting websites that offer a similar theme.
Apocalypse Fiction Magazine is an excellent resource for short works of fiction, editorial, comics, series and novels in the Apocalyptic genre.
The Strange Horizons website is another site that educates curious readers. Featuring reviews of apocalyptic works, columns, articles, poetry, and an art gallery, Strange Horizons is based around Christian Apocalyptic Fiction (as most good apocalypse literature should be).
Check these two sites out and don't forget to look up http://www.the-judas-syndrome.com to check out upcoming new movies and literature in the apocalyptic genre, and for news about it's release.

Apocalypse Soon. And other educational websites

I will offer other interesting websites and blogs that speak to this theme. Websites like Apocalypse Soon offer information and speculation on the end times and what terrible fate might await us all.

For example: " Two thirds of mankind will perish during this time of unbelievable devastation and only the return of the Lord Jesus Christ will prevent the total destruction of mankind."

This is a very religious view of what end we are fated to but others will not be. I do encourage reading sites like this as they can educate a reader on the religious overtones that will be visited in the book The Judas Syndrome .

Movies in the Apocalypse

With movies like Resident Evil 'Extinction', 28 Weeks Later, The Children of Men, and countless other apocalyptic themed films surfacing in the media it is easy to see that the genre is experiencing a renaissance of sorts.
The idea that our society has come to the point of extinction by our own hands is a very popular one right now. A few years ago it was asteroids and comets crashing into the earth, now it has reverted to our own undoing through technology, disease, war or worse.
The idea that we will die is scary enough, but to think that the whole human race with all we've achieved will disappear is a catastrophe of biblical proportions as in The Children of Men, where the human race has lost the ability to reproduce. That there would be nothing left and no one left to carry on is a hopelessly depressing vision, a future where nothing will have ever mattered.
The genre is dark, but it offers a myriad of interesting questions and juxtapositions for a writer.

Apocalyptic fiction at its best, this will be the quintessential Apocalyptic novel.

Apocalyptic fiction in books movies and other media

As movies and books featuring apocalyptic themes emerge in greater numbers it is hard not to be caught up in the grim visions and bleak futures today’s artists are painting. The apocalypse is - and has always been - a theme that feeds on the fears of humanity. The end.

It can only be devastating and it can only mean death and destruction. In and of itself it is a brutal and horrifying prospect, the end of everything, the end of art, the end of culture, the end. It is however a fascinating subject and has offered many scenarios that might bring about the end.

the 50's and 60's the threat was nuclear war, in the 70's and 80's it was disease, in the 90's and moving into the 21st century the concerns are varied and more involved. In the Judas Syndrome the end is a throw back to the 50's and 60's mindset with a modern twist.

To read a sample of the Apocalyptic novel "The Judas Syndrome" visit this link.