I am going to play my thread necromancer card here and take the opportunity to (once again) mention two 2011 films that work well as companion pieces. They are the lush, elegant Melancholia by Lars von Trier, and the raw, indie Mike Cahill film, Another Earth. Both are tragic and hypnotic, and both are effectively…

Spock's Brain is getting all the attention, but what about And the Children Shall Lead?

The works of J. G. Ballard:

It's #Ballardian imagery, but embedded within more of an epic SF context.

I want to see a bear wading in just the right spot so he can swallow whole salmon out of the air in mid-flight...

I totally agree. The covers of old DAW, Ace SF, or Ballantine Adult Fantasy are much more evocative than most modern romance novel-looking F/SF illustrations. In fact, when I get home from work today, I think I will rub my Ballantines all over my body like Scrooge McDuck diving into a pile of gold and precious gems.

I don't understand why none of you people are talking about ME.

This reminds me of Jack Vance's Big Planet and Showboat World. However, even though it is gigantic, Big Planet has limited metal resources, and its civilizations are relatively primitive. I doubt the science holds up very well, but the stories are quite entertaining:

I believe JG Ballard's disaster novels suggest a third path of response to the apocalyptic. If a paradigm-shattering disaster occurs, you can try to "engineer" your way out of it, or you can give up—or you can adapt to the new reality.

Thank you!

Elevated language is a common trait of nautical fiction (and non-fiction). I am thinking of Melville and Conrad, specifically, but many nautical historical works also have this tendency. I suppose writing about ships and the sea is inherently dramatic (especially if you throw in an apocalypse for good measure).

Test audiences ALWAYS think dark movie endings are "too dark." Those reshoots were destined to fail because they compromised art in the name of pandering to middle-brow expectations. Bowing to suburban insecurities inevitably destroys art. That's why you shouldn't let the whims of soccer moms and youth pastors…

One of Ballard's most famous stories, "The Voices of Time," features a character (named Kaldren) who is unable to sleep.

A Hundred Years From Now would be kind of a cool band name.

Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers) has its fair share of martyrs, both human and alien. The alien benefactors are typically goddess-like figures from space who adopt the Earth because their own worlds are doomed. Here's a few examples:

For me, this evokes J.G. Ballard's short story, "The Watchtowers."

Kidding aside, this story seriously does give me chills. It instantly made me think of J.G. Ballard's interest in "deep time."

The origins of the cult are revealed...