Octavia Butler

     I read Octavia Butler's Earthseed books recently -- The Parable Of The Sower and The Parable Of The Talents.

     It's harrowing stuff, set in a very near future that still seems only too plausible, and yet surprisingly hopeful.  If you had wished The Road offered some ray of light, you'll find these books of interest; and like the more recent Cormac McCarthy book, it's a ground-level view rather than a dispassionate observation.  She has a nice ear for language and the scene-setting is gracefully unobtrusive.