The Scarlet Plague

The Scarlet Plague

File:ScarletPlague.jpg First edition cover
Author	Jack London
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	1912
Media type	Print

The Scarlet Plague is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel written by Jack London and originally published in London Magazine in 1912.

The story takes place in 2073, sixty years after an uncontrollable epidemic, the Red Death, has depopulated the planet. James Howard Smith is one of the few survivors of the pre-plague era left alive in the San Francisco area, and as he realizes his time grows short, he tries to impart the value of knowledge and wisdom to his grandsons. But his efforts are in vain, for they live the primeval life of hunters-gatherers and ridicule his recollections of the past, which sound totally unbelievable to them.

References

File:Famous fantastic mysteries 194902.jpg

The Scarlet Plague was reprinted in the February 1949 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries

See also

• 1912 in science fiction

External links

• The Scarlet Plague at Project Gutenberg
• The Scarlet Plague public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• The Science Fiction Century, David G. Hartwell. Discusses "Last man on Earth" subgenre.