Quote from: Thalaba;502352I can. The OP specifically asked for 'science fantasy' in the vein of Gamma World, and The Postman ain't that. Neither are many of the other things mentioned upthread. Of course, the OP did also ask for 'inspiration', so in that sense almost anything could apply, I guess.

D'oh, reading fail, but not just mine tis seems .

Not exactly Gamma World neither, but No Truce with Kings (had to check a bit since I always forget the exact Polish title) is a great short story by Poul Anderson. Great for some political Post Apocalypse.

I'd say Waterworld'd be good for Gamma World's setting - just crank up the Mutation Valve.

Purely for the sake of pedantry, Damnation Alley was actually a novel by Roger Zelazny before being adapted into a movie.  I think the novel was much better.

Gianluigi Zuddas: Balthis l'Avventuriera (Balthis the Adventuress). One of the most vancian books not actually by Vance. Never translated into English.
Jeffrey Stone: Struggle for the Nightstone, The Sword of Night, The God of Night. Dragons vs. helicopters vs. black magic vs. mutants vs. psionic super-intelligent giant bats vs. tanks vs. lizardmen vs. chaos knights (etc.). The quintessential RIFTS novel, although it predates it. Never translated into English ("Jeffrey Stone" is a pseudonym). This is where the name "Melan" (originally "Melan the Technocrat") comes from.
Daniel Keys Moran: The Ring. Wagnerian postapocaliptica. In English, but weirdly obscure.

I didn't see Moorcock's Hawkmoon books mentioned above, or the game of the same name by Chaosium.

There's also a setting called Chronicles of the Future Earth for BRP by Sarah Newton.

There's some novel series but I forgot the name of them, supposedly good - the civilisation's destroyed, and most human contact comes in "taverns" that have some sort of fighting rings outside of them, and there's some mysterious Brotherhood that supplies the victors of those fights with food.

Anyone remembers this? It had titles like Sick the Stick Fighter.

The Battle Circle Trilogy by Piers Anthony.

Seriously, it's so Gamma World.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Circle_(novels)

Thanks a lot Werekoala - I heard they were great, and forgot about them. From what I read - yes, they are very Gamma World indeed .

Super-pulpy post-apoc goodness. Gotta love a world with mountain ranges of twisted glass and metal that are the melted remains of pre-war cities.

I would throw in
Waterworld
Terminator
Glass Hand episode of Outer Limits

And Ellison's true name is The Midget God of Thunder !!

Movies is the really answer for me-when it comes to books (And keep in mind I like Shadowrun's mixture of magic and machine...):

• Falkenberg's Legion by Pournelle
• Some elements of the John Ringo Posleen War books
• Some Shadowrun books-the novella stuff like Burning Bright by Tom Dowd; Lone by Nigel Findley and Shadowplay by him as well.
• Christopher Kubasik's section (A short story that the movie the Matrix was in part based on.) in the Virtual Realities and his story for Universal Brotherhood were literally life altering for me.
• John M Ford's Princes of Air
• Some elements of Neil Gaiman's American Gods
• So many comic books I can't even begin to list them. Ranging from the Uncanny X-Men in the early 90's, to Image's Wild CAT's, to DMZ and Y the Last Man, to the awesome Terminator comics by Dark Horse.

There's more mind you. There's no end to the inspiration I find.

Webcomic:
American Barbarian.

Books
The Night Land (Hodgson)

Comics:
Kamandi (Kirby)- pretty much just like GW. I can't recall any exact incidence of mutant plants, but I am certain they're in there.
Bloodstar (Corben)
Mutant World (Corben)


Blogs:
Mine

Visual Media:
Genesis II
Planet Earth
Strange New World

And I suppose I should add an obvious inspiration for the Gamma World precursor Metamorphosis Alpha:

The Starlost

With respect to Planet of the Apes, don't forget the TV Series (which includes a picture of New York City in 2505) and the cartoon (which included trucks and airplanes):

Planet of the Apes TV Show
Return to the Planet of the Apes

The Time Travelers is also worth a look.

Oh, and don't forget Yor: Hunter from the Future.

Here's his theme song:

Yor's world!  He's the Man!
Yor's world!  He's the Man!
Yor's World!
Lost in the world of past
The echo of ancient blast
Yor's World!
There is a man from future
A man of mystery
Yor's World!
No trails to lead the way
He search for a yesterday
Yor's World!
Misty illusions hiding his famous destiny
Yor's World!
Yor, the touch of fire
Yor, the proud and free desire!
He never sees the sun
He's always on the run
Him and his days are gone
They say he will go on
His search goes on and on
Yor's World!
Here to stay, come what may
Yor's World!
And the world goes like fire
He's gonna make all them wild beasts look tame tonight
In his pride
Yor's world!  He's the Man!
Yor's world!  He's the Man!

(Her's a four-and-a-half minute version if you want more of it's '80s goodness -- hmmm, this gem is available on iTunes...)

Some great suggestions people!
Here's more...
Books:
Masters of Solitude & Wintermind...Marvin Kaye/Parke Godwin
Erthring Cycle & Wabeno Feast...Wayland Drew
The Lost Traveller...Steve Wilson
Still I persist In Wondering...Edgar Pangborn
Ice Prophet Trilogy...William Forstchen
The Realms of Tartarus...Brian Stableford
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang...Kate Wilhelm
The Stand...Stephen King

Wow, these are a lot of great suggestions. Stuff I had heard of and even more that I hadn't, which is rare for an old salt like me. Time to do some research!