I recently listened to an author interview about dystopian settings. Or more precisely post apocalyptical ones. It could have been Paulo Bacigalupi on the ABC Radio National's Books and Arts Daily show, it may not have been (my memory for stuff like this is notoriously sieve-like), but it stuck in my mind because I, like many of you, harbour a morbid fascination of post apocalyptical scenarios.The gist was that those who were drawn to the genre yearned for a planet with less people. or be alone. I'm not sure if the caveat 'but with a slavering horde of zombies too' is included in all these cases.Anyway, it stuck because I reckon he was onto something. At least with me. I already have the next novel semi-mapped out for when I'm done with this one, and a driving factor in me finishing this MS is being able to get to my own novel set in a world largely empty of people and the challenges that entails.The thing is though, mine is very much a post apocalypse world. One reason perhaps is I'm very much of the Daniel Boone cloth. But also, the breakdown of society scares the bejeesus out of me as much as I would like see it go. Or at least all the cooking shows. I think we could agree we don't need those.It's the father in me, I believe. I'm sure films such as the incoming World War Z didn't effect me nearly as much as before I became a parent. Now, it would not just be a matter of survival, but making sure other survive and the danger that they may not, and I may.Ad break!http://youtu.be/Md6Dvxdr0AQ?hd=1This comes along just as I'm listening to and very much enjoying The Twelve, the follow up to The Passage, from Justin Cronin. In The Passage Cronin manages to destroy the world without losing track that its not the world people care about; it's their families and loved ones. So far both the Passage and The Twelve have had moments which had me welling up with what's happened without actually showing me the specifics. The man's a genius at this. Sometimes it's so hard to listen to, for all the right reasons.And while I'm on the subject, I have to throw in a word for Deadlight. An absolutely fantastic little game which has not received the attention it should. Yes, it's zombies, but just look at it!http://youtu.be/QUlKEH8Kc3c Michael