Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Modern cities and ruin
A brief history of the end of the world in sf
The pleasures of urban ruins
State of the field
Parameters of study
Structure of the book
Notes
1 Urban apocalypse in the magazines
The Scarlet Plague
Cycles of urbanization and modernization
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire
The publication of The Scarlet Plague
Critical responses to The Scarlet Plague

The afterlife of The Scarlet Plague
Conclusion
Notes
2 Listening to ruins on the radio
Audio fiction and the imagination
The roots of radio's golden age sf
Post-war sf on the airwaves
The heights of radio sf
Conclusion
Notes
3 Cinema and the aesthetics of destruction
Urban destruction on film
Aerial warfare and the imagination of disaster
Destruction and renewal in The War of the Worlds
Rebuilding the future in The Time Machine
Conclusion
Notes
4 Urban decay in the transmedia universe of Blade Runner
Marginalization

The glamour of decay: Los Angeles and New York City
The policing of sexual identities
Permeable boundaries
Illicit relationships
Deviancy and class
Conclusion
Notes
5 Playing in virtual ruins from Wasteland to Wasteland 2
Virtual space and the post-apocalyptic city
Gameplay motivation and immersion
Wasteland and 2D worlds
2.5D spaces and Fallout
Choices in virtual worlds
3D game spaces
Ruins in 3D worlds
Narrative choices in Fallout 3 and 4
Wasteland 2
Conclusion
Notes
6 Cities and sanctuary in The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead as transmedia fictional world
'We are the walking dead'
Atlanta
Resurgens
Unsalvageable cities
Alexandria
Gated communities
Cities and violence
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Back Cover