What’s so great about the end of the world?

I’m a guest blogger at Powells.com today, talking about my post-apocalyptic fascination: What’s So Great About the End of the World?

I’ve been thinking about the end of the world lately.

Not the real end of the world, which I’d just as soon avoid, thanks very much. I grew up near the very end of the cold war — when people still debated over the dinner table whether we were all going to blow ourselves up and when duck-and-cover drills were a normal part of the school year. I remember the day I realized that running out into the hall and hiding my head beneath my arms wouldn’t save me, if the bombs really fell.

But the fictional end of the world? I love that …