You're asking the right person. This is one of my passions.

Nuclear holocaust/presumed nuclear holocaust:

• On the Beach. Nuclear war consumes the northern hemisphere and radioactive winds are slowly overtaking the southern. It's probably the most like Majora's Mask because it's the story of Melbourne residents coming to grips with inevitable death. It's also one of my favourite novels of all time because there's no happy ending and no sugarcoating, unlike a lot of works which sacrifice drama in favour of smiles. Oh, and they made this into one of my favourite films of all time- Ada Gardner, Fred Astaire, Gregory Peck, and Anthony Perkins, fuck yeah.

• Alas, Babylon. This would be an example of a sugarcoated novel, but it's still the go-to nuclear holocaust story. The only criticism I can think of would be the sugarcoating. Drama within this genre exists in coping with the idea of eventual death, and this book doesn't really capture that well.

• Bangs and Whimpers. This is a collection of short stories that's absolutely fantastic. You'll need to find an ebook version because I've never seen a print edition.

• A Canticle For Leibowitz. It's draped in religious references and more of an allegory for the rise of Christianity than anything, but if you look past that (or embrace it) it's the greatest rebuilding novel I've ever read.

• Swan Song. This is kind of supernatural-horror, but if you look past that it's a great novel. It's also fucking massive, almost as big as The Count of Monte Cristo.

• The Postman. Not that good of a movie (too cheery), but the book it's based on is fucking brilliant.

• The Road. Easily the best post-apocalyptic movie I've seen, and the most unrelentingly dreary book you'll ever open. There's something magical about the way that this is written, it's balls to the wall shades of grey completely devoid of emotion make you hate life depressing. If you want to read post-apocalyptic, read another novel. If you want to think post-apocalyptic, this book and a bit of MDMA will wreck you for weeks.

Zombies/plagues:

• World War Z. This book is one of my favourites because of how it's written. Max Brooks (director Mel Brooks' son) interviews survivors of the zombie apocalypse to form a collective chronicle of it. I recommend the audiobook version rather than the print version because Alan Alda (Hawkeye from M*A*S*H) plays a role in it. Alan fucking Alda.

• The Plague (Albert Camus). Camus hated being called an existentialist author, but this is why he was labelled as such. This book is kind of like On the Beach- it starts off tragic and only gets worse.

• The Day of the Triffids. The world goes blind, shit gets fucked. M Night Shamallamadingdong had the greatest source material available for his film on the same premise and he instead directed an abortion.

• I Am Legend. Again a visual abortion spawned by a literary masterpiece. If you've seen the film but not read the book, please smack yourself in the head because it's difficult to do through the internet.

• Earth Abides. Death and rebirth, one of the greatest novels of the 1940s and one of the few rebirth stories which isn't cheery. Cheery has no place in this genre. Earth Abides will fuck your head.

• Eternity Road. Longlonglong after the plague, a rediscovery novel. It's one of a handful in which pre-history books are used as tools/weapons and I love that subgenre.

• The Stand. I'm not a huge Stephen King fan, but this was the first zombie novel I read and one of the best. It's kind of pop fiction but a serious novel in a genre filled with Zombielands and Dead Risings.

Unknown:

• Emberverse. This is a really obscure series by SM Stirling, but it's also my favourite post-apocalyptic series. He writes like Michael Crichton/Chuck Palahniuk- really graphic descriptions and lots of infotainment.

I'm doing a minecraft thing and will definitely post more if you're interested. Personally I recommend downloading this collection and starting there. You'll never find a more dramatic genre.