Many of the apocalyptic scenarios were intended to be of a world-altering nature. The events of each story would have been so devastating, and the changes wrought so cataclysmic, that the post-apocalyptic world created by the author would differ so radically from reality, that no one would recognize it as their own. This is an effective setting for an apocalyptic story: it allows for any number of unusual events, but still makes sense in the end. A common literary device in these stories is the use of the "apocalypse trigger" (also known as a "trigger point") which is a set of circumstances that will make the "end" occur. The trigger can be global in scope, or limited to a particular region, or one specific event. The trigger may have a very small probability of occurrence, or very low impact if it does occur. For instance, nuclear war could result in a complete worldwide apocalypse, or there could be localized nuclear warfare. In some stories, the end will occur no matter what the trigger is. In others, there are different consequences to the same trigger. For example, in some stories, the trigger may cause the apocalypse to go faster, or make the final results of apocalypse worse. Some triggers are specific to the post-apocalyptic environment, such as biological agents, zombies or aliens. Others are specific to individual stories: the ending might be triggered by a computer failure or power outage. Triggers are often unexpected. For instance, "the Rapture" would not cause the end if everyone was raptured; in that case the apocalypse would still be triggered by whatever catastrophe caused it to start. List of stories These stories are listed alphabetically. Each author's name is followed by the story they contributed to the Apocalypse Trilogy. Notes External links Apocalypse Wiki a wiki about The Apocalypse series of novels by Peter Watt and Chris Ward Apocalypse Writers Forum a discussion forum for the series Category:The Books of Beginning trilogy Category:Apocalyptic novels Category:Science fiction franchises Category:Post-apocalyptic novels Category:Nineteen Eighty-Four Category:Zombies and revenants in popular culture Category:World War III speculative fiction Category:Fantasy tropes Category:Words and phrases introduced in 1980