IT’S NO WORSE THAN THE FLU—BOOMER.

I was going to lead this post with something even snarkier like–> 

SCREW IT. JUST TELL ALL THE BOOMERS THIS IS NO WORSE THAN THE FLU AND THAT THEY SHOULD ALL GO ON CRUISES OR VISIT VENICE OR THAT LICKING EVERY CAR DOOR HANDLE IN THE AMC THEATER PARKING LOT BUILDS UP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM—but why should I replicate the valiant efforts I’ve already witnessed to exterminate what’s left of the Greatest Generation and Boomers? I mean, the nerve of these old people! Why can’t they just die from COVID19 like they do from the seasonal flu—in the thousands! Do they think they’re special? 

I DO: Want to know why? Hint, hint…they’re our parents, grandparents and if you’re lucky…great-grandparents. 

YOU OWE IT THEM (and yourself, and your partner, and your kids) TO READ THE ACCOUNT BELOW FROM A DOCTOR ON THE FRONT LINES IN ITALY. I’ve heard similar reports from other doctors interviewed on NPR or other news agencies. 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

IF THE ARTICLE IS TOO LONG FOR YOU, HERE’S THE BOTTOM LINE:

1.) What’s happening in Italy is unlike anything these doctors have ever seen. THIS IS NOT JUST THE FLU. The flu doesn’t crush healthcare systems in a few weeks. The Lombardy region is industrialized and the system is decent by all standards. Not perfect, but let’s face it…neither is ours. 

2.) The elderly (70 and above) are AT MUCH HIGHER RISK of permanent organ damage or death from COVID19 than the seasonal flu. Preparing now for the scenario described below will save thousands of their lives.

3.) Young people have been hospitalized and put in the ICU, in much lower numbers, but on to #3.

4.) ICU beds and critical care equipment (ventilators) in Italy are at capacity. Your 8 year old who develops symptoms will not get a bed here once they are filled by the older people who will present severe symptoms far sooner. TRIAGE will go into effect. Your child is very, very likely to survive by being sent home with care instructions…the old person isn’t. Same for you if you’re under 60. Hospitals will prioritize those most at risk. That’s TRIAGE. One of the Italian doctors interviewed stated that only under the most unusual circumstances will SOMEONE UNDER 65-without complications-BE ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL.

5.) The US has one of the unhealthiest populations in the world. Italians have an average life expectancy FIVE years longer than Americans. That’s significant. Tons of reasons why, but there’s no point in getting into that. It’s fair to say that your average Italian boomer is healthier than a U.S. boomer. COVID19 will hit our older population just as hard or harder—IF WE ALL DON’T ACT RESPONSIBLY. 

DON’T PANIC. JUST TAKE SOME BASIC PRECAUTIONS. THE MOST IMPORTANT BEING——SOCIAL DISTANCING IN ITS MANY FORMS.

WHY YOU SHOULD STOCK UP ON TOILET PAPER (and everything else you need to keep your household running for 2-4 weeks of complete or partial isolation) RIGHT NOW.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A POPULAR POST WITH SOME.

THE SIMPLE ANSWER IN TWO PARTS:

1.) You and your loved ones will have a far better chance of remaining uninfected by COVID19.
2.) As it starts to become even more obvious that COVID19 is here to stay for a while, this may be your last chance to acquire these supplies (I don’t have data to support this one, but just take a look at the news).

Is this panic or fear based? No. It’s data based.

The first thing we need to do is DROP the mantra “BUT THIS ISN’T AS BAD AS THE SEASONAL FLU!”

It isn’t, YET…but scientific data and disease epidemiologists says it WILL BE…or at the very least IT SHOULD BE. Let’s hope math and the experts are wrong. Or as a good Marine buddy of mine once said, “you can wish in one hand and shit in the other…and see which one fills up first.” You get the not so pretty picture.

THE SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLICATED ANSWER IN MANY PARTS:

1.) COVID19 IS NOT GOING AWAY ANY TIME SOON. It’s Reproductive Number (R0 or “R-naught”) is somewhere between 1.4 and 4, which is consistent with historical coronaviruses. R0 is the number of patients each patient infects on their own. An R0 BELOW 1 means the disease dies out. An R0 AT 1 means it infects one person and the disease grows at a steady rate. An R0 OVER 1 means the disease spreads exponentially. Season flu has an R0 of 1.2…WITH A VACCINE ADMINISTERED AHEAD OF TIME AND DURING THE FLU SEASON! COVID19’s R0 is most likely double or triple the seasonal flu, and there is NO VACCINE.

1A.) BONUS! Infected people typically shed the virus (directly give it to you or give it to a door handle that gives it to you) for 7 DAYS before showing symptoms. Some can remain asymptomatic for 14 days…higher time periods are suspected. ALSO, a study released today in the LANCET indicated that the mean number of days a patient remains contagious in ICU is 20 days in survivors. 37 days was the longest observed. This is not like your typical cold or sinus thing, where we all think “once I’m showing symptoms, I’m not contagious.”

2.) COVID19 IS MORE LETHAL THAN THE SEASONAL FLU. The latest data points coming out of China (44K patient analysis) and Italy did not dampen the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) as many had hoped. Data confirmed a fairly steady 2.3% overall CFR. That’s 23X higher than seasonal flu at .1%. The older you are, or sicker you are, the worse the scenario. If you’re older than 60, or have comorbid diseases (heart disease, diabetes, etc), you are anywhere from 36-148X more likely to die from COVID19 than the seasonal flu.

2A.) BONUS! 37,000 Americans died last year from the flu…and WE HAD A FLU VACCINE (admittedly influenza vaccines are not perfect). We will not have a vaccine for COVID19 for at least a year, maybe longer.

2B.) CYNICAL TAKE. Hey…maybe only the same number of Americans will die from COVID19 as the flu. WHAT A MORBID THOUGHT…one I see repeated day in and day out. One I’ve now seen both the leader of the US and UK state publicly. SEE the part where I say BUY TOILET PAPER and other stuff NOW, because with our leaders spouting this attitude, I can assure you they do not have your best interest at heart. Listen to the experts please.

3.) COVID19 IS MORE WIDESPREAD THAN THE NUMBERS SUGGEST. This is a math based theory.I’m not going to get into the math, but the bottom line is that we haven’t been testing for COVID19 in any wide scale manner. As testing picks up, we’ll start to see a glimpse of the real numbers. WE HAVE TO FACE IT. COVID19 has been here since the first infected travelers got off the plane from Asia. We don’t know when that happened, but since China has been fighting the outbreak since December, it’s fair to say that the first infected passengers arrived in January. TWO MONTHS AGO. If you understand exponential growth, you’ll quickly understand why the currently reported numbers are likely off by a magnitude of ten or more.

SO…WHAT WAS I SAYING EARLIER? Oh yeah. It might be prudent to prepare for a short (2-4 week) period of time when you can stay away from the general public…or anyone outside of your circle of sanitized trust. Make sure the vulnerable in your family or in your neighborhood are similarly situated. Significant social distancing by the population (to include self-quarantine/isolation) will be the only way to drop that R0 below or close enough to 1 to slow this thing down to a manageable level. Please plan accordingly, in a non-panicked manner…before it is too late.
AND an updated reading list for those interested:

Exponential growth explanation: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236095180459003909.html
Deep dive into the data: https://emcrit.org/ibcc/COVID19/
The basics: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-cases-deaths-countries-symptoms-contagious
Proof I don’t just make shit up: https://www.thelancet.com/pb-assets/Lancet/pdfs/S014067362305663.pdf
Testing is going great in the US…not: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-have-been-tested-coronavirus/607597/
Frontline observations from China: https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/fbt49e/the_who_sent_25_international_experts_to_china/
R0-Contagiousness: https://www.popsci.com/story/health/how-diseases-spread/
The reason I based my first novel on a pandemic (title of article says it all): https://www.vox.com/2015/5/27/8660249/bill-gates-spanish-flu-pandemic
For those with more time on their hands than me (NOT MANY!): https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/coronavirus-synchronous-failure-and-the-global-phase-shift-3f00d4552940

For those of you that made it this far…YES, I should be writing a book right now, but I’m trying to keep you and your peeps alive and well. And I’m happy to do it.

TOP COVID-19 ARTICLES

As you can imagine, I’ve digested hundreds of articles over the past few weeks related to the coronavirus threat. Several have stood out as well-balanced and informative. Giving these articles a few minutes of your time will put you on the right track to “Prepare without fear. Prepare with intelligence. Prepare with benevolence.” — Dr. Hal Cohen.

And, if you missed my blog post on COVID-19, you can read it here: COVID-19 PRIMER.

COVID-19 Primer

As of yesterday, I can no longer individually reply to requests for information or opinions regarding the COVID-19 virus. The number of emails and messages has become overwhelming. That said, I don’t want to leave readers and friends hanging, so I’ve put together the key information, predictions and recommendations that I’ve gathered or formed over the past few weeks.

BEFORE I GET STARTED—THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC, but it is definitely time to take a few key steps to avoid panic later.

Disclaimer: I’m not a scientific expert in pandemic epidemiology…or anything for that matter. I exhaustively researched pandemics and healthcare plans to address pandemics for my first novel, THE JAKARTA PANDEMIC (TJP), which was published in 2010. TJP was one of the first modern novels to address the average citizen’s experience during a lethal pandemic, from the arrival of the virus to a sensationalized breakdown of society. The virus I “brought to life” was far worse than anything we’ve seen in recorded history. That’s how you sell fiction. I don’t think we’ll ever see anything even remotely as deadly and destructive as the virus I created for that novel. Why tell you this? Because we’re not dealing with this kind of scenario with COVID-19—BUT WE’RE STILL FACING A UNIQUELY LETHAL CRISIS. Let me explain.

WHAT ARE WE ACTUALLY DEALING WITH?

CONTAGIOUSNESS:

COVID-19 is very likely twice as contagious as the seasonal flu, spread by DROPLET CONTACT (cough, sneeze or nose/mouth wipe that ends up on a surface and is then transmitted when someone else touches the surface…or if someone sneezes/coughs right into your face) and quite possibly some AIRBORNE CONTACT (aerosolized droplets from coughs and sneezes float around for a while and land in your mouth, eyes or other mucus membranes). Airborne contact has not been scientifically demonstrated, but the fact that it spreads faster than seasonal flu has experts suspected an airborne component.

MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY:

Chinese epidemiological reports based on current infection data puts the case fatality rate (CFR) at around 2%. This may change, but experts think it will hover right around that number. Seasonal flu has a CFR around .1%…so COVID-19 is 10-20X more lethal if contracted. On top of that, 20% of those infected require critical care (ICU level) to survive. This is important to remember.

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CASE FATALITY BREAKDOWN:

Noted Harvard epidemiologist and many other experts expect 40-70% of world population to be exposed to COVID-19 within a year.

  • UNDER 50 Years old—.2 to .4 CFR (2-4X greater than seasonal flu. Not so bad?)
  • 50-59 — 1.3% (10X)
  • 60-69 — 3.6% (You do the math)
  • 70-79 — 8%
  • 80 and above — 15%
  • Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, pulmonary disease? 6-10%

PREDICTIONS:

This is rough guess stuff based on data presented above and expert opinion (not mine).

  • This will not be an apocalyptic scenario like any of my books. We’re looking at a slower burn scenario with limited, but significant impacts on society and daily life.
  • The food supply/power grid/water supply systems are unlikely to fail. I just don’t see that happening. What I do see happening is a brief, intense run on the stores (a few weeks), which will empty the shelves temporarily. Food will return, but daily essentials like toilet paper (think of what you resupply every few weeks), OTC medicines, prescription medicines will constantly be in demand. Picture a grocery store and how much shelf space is dedicated to different classes of items.
  • You will need to prepare for a 1-2 month period of general, but not complete “shut down.” Businesses closed. Restaurants shut. Day care and schools closed. Work places closed? THIS WILL BE THE MOST FRIGHTENING TIME—FOR GOOD REASON. You will want to avoid or severely limit public exposure. YOU NEED TO PREPARE FOR THIS! Can you remain mostly at home for a month or two, without resupplying? If you have to go out, can you keep yourself safe from infection and panic induced crime?
  • The closure of schools, daycares and work WILL SERIOUSLY STRAIN financially insecure families, if not ruin them financially. YOU MUST PLAN FOR THIS. Talk with employers ahead of time. Whatever it takes. This won’t last forever, but too many people can’t afford to take a single unpaid day off from work TODAY! I can’t understate the importance of this aspect.
  • Don’t count on the healthcare system to help you. The U.S. has 1 million hospital beds…only a fraction of those are capable of ICU level care. If 20% of half of our population requires critical care—that’s around 30 MILLION very sick people without a bed when the pandemic music stops!

WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY?

  • Do whatever is within your means to prepare for a 1-2 month period of minimal public contact. Food. Medicine. Home essentials. FOCUS ON STUFF YOU CAN YOU USE EVEN IF COVID-19 DOESN’T MATERIALIZE. This is the key to readiness. Everything I buy will be used no matter what within a matter of a few years.
  • Prepare for your kids to be home. Even if the schools don’t close, do you really want them at school? The reported fatality rate is VERY LOW for kids, but they can still bring the virus home to YOU!
  • Start talking to your employer today about COVID-19 plans. Better to get the conversation rolling now, then to pull an absence that cost you your job or a few weeks of pay.
  • Stockpile FLU mitigating medications. CLICK LINK TO SEE LIST. Most of us will come down with nasty flu symptoms that are not life threatening, but can be very uncomfortable…and possibly get worse if left untreated.
  • Stockpile disinfectant supplies like bleach based sprays/solutions, disinfectant wipes for door handles/cars/shopping carts, hand sanitizer, and masks (any kind…to prevent wiping mouth with contaminated hand in public).
  • Stockpile IMMUNE SYSTEM boosting supplies like Multivitamins, extra Vitamin C, Elderberry in any form, Oregano Oil…lots of stuff out there that can help with this. Stay rested. Eat Healthy.

SUMMARY:

Let’s hope this doesn’t get nearly as bad as the experts suspect—BUT LET’S TAKE SOME STEPS NOW TO EASE EVERYONE’S FEARS AND BURDENS IF COVID-19 CONTINUES TO SPREAD.

Introducing FRACTURED STATE

Fractured State coverI’m so excited to get this book into your hands, I barely know where to start. Seriously, I’ve been staring at the same few sentences for the past ten minutes. I’ll make this easy on both of us, and start with an emotionally charged statement.

Fans of my previous novels will absolutely love this book! I know that’s a bold claim, but I really believe it. Fractured State brings the best of the Black Flagged and Perseid Collapse books to life in a fast paced, stylish thriller series. At its very core, Fractured State is a story about an innocent family—inadvertently dragged into the middle of a lethal struggle to determine California’s fate.

I’m going to vastly over simplify the story here, but picture Alex Fletcher and his family ruthlessly pursued through a near future, dystopian southern California, by a Black Flagged-like group with unlimited resources and an unquenchable thirst for murder. Unlike Alex, the new main character, Nathan Fisher, doesn’t have the hard skills required to keep his family alive against professional killers. He’s crafty—the son of a retired Marine Sergeant Major—but he’s in way over his head in Fractured State. Nathan gets help from an unlikely source—a Marine officer thrust into the situation by chance. Together, they fight to stay one step ahead of the shadowy group’s relentless efforts to silence the Fishers. You’re going to love these characters just as much as the story.

PREORDER FRACTURED STATE NOW! (That’s just a suggestion)

For those of you thinking — “Wow, Steve couldn’t describe one of his books to save his own life!” Here is the official description for Fractured State.

“In 2035, the southwestern United States is ravaged by drought, reeling from an environmental catastrophe that has left the landscape a chaotic, depleted ruin. California, still viably inhabitable due to its oppressive social controls, marshals state-of-the-art surveillance technology and totalitarian policies to preserve its fragile hold on rapidly dwindling resources and an increasingly unsettled population.

After a prominent California congresswoman is assassinated for her support of the state’s secession from the United States, Nathan Fisher—accidental witness to a clandestine military-style operation—is drawn into an unraveling conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of power and threatens the lives of Fisher and his family.

Hunted by ruthless killers seeking to ensure his silence, suspected by the authorities, and aided only by a loyal Marine officer with a mysterious agenda, Fisher and his loved ones must somehow stay a step ahead of their relentless pursuers, navigating a ruined world in a desperate search for sanctuary.”

PREORDER TODAY!

Interview with Alex Shaw

The Perseid Collapse Kindle Worlds Interview Series

International man of mystery, ex-pat, author and father: Alex Shaw

Alex ShawThe Perseid Collapse Kindle World Interview series is back, and there’s no better author to mark its return than Alex Shaw. A U.K. native and international business consultant, Alex is uniquely suited to writing the world-spanning thrillers offered in his Aidan Snow novels—he’s either resided in or extensively visited most of the locations detailed in books. I can neither confirm nor deny whether he’s been to Maine, the setting for Black Line, his Kindle Worlds novella, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that his travels have brought him to the Maine coast. Without further delay, let’s have a chat with Sir Alex Shaw. I couldn’t resist that.

91hSmTvBwBL._SL1500_How did you link Black Line to The Perseid Collapse Kindle World? Is there any crossover or meetings between your characters and any of the original characters?

I linked my story by having it happen at the same time as the Perseid Collapse, but futher up the coast in Camden. None of the original characters appear in the first novella for the simple reason that I wanted to have as much freedom as possible with the story and characters.

And I presume you’ll deny colluding with Murray McDonald (another infamous denizen of the U.K.) to single handedly destroy another American city? I’m noticing a trend with the U.K. authors. 😉

I think you’ve capitalized on a unique feature of The Perseid Collapse Kindle World, by keeping the original characters out of your story. Stories can center on the collapse, and not my characters or specific events. This has the added benefit of widening the scope of writers that will feel comfortable writing in the world. The Perseid Collapse World isn’t reserved for post-apocalyptic writers.

That’s what attracted me to the concept. My story is very much a thriller, as this is what I generally write, and am most comfortable with.

As you know, I have a special place in my heart for covert operations thrillers—another reason I was “thrilled” to hear you were interested in writing for the world.

What major theme comes across the clearest in your story? Is this a theme found consistently in your other works?

The themes of Russian aggression and terrorism are present in my novels, which are partly set in Ukraine (Cold Blood, Cold Black and Cold East). These two themes are also present in Black Line, however the terrorism now emanates from China.

I heard a rumor that the Russians might be involved Black Line too. Sorry, small spoiler.

Let’s talk about your main character for a minute. I think readers will like Jack Tate. What can you tell us about him?

Jack Tate is a former member of the Special Air Service (SAS), who has been seconded to a new unit within the British Intelligence Service (SIS). He has been posted to the US, and is on vacation before starting his new role. I think readers will like Tate, as he sees the US from a foreigner’s point of view, and is not as jaded by any political, class or racial views. He is almost like one of King Arthur’s nights in his quest to protect the innocent, but he doesn’t ride a horse.

Are you saying Americans have strong views on politics? I’m not sure where you got that idea? 😉 Tate is a fantastic character. I particularly appreciate his no nonsense approach and response to American customs and procedures. It’s a fascinating view through a unique set of eyes.

I couldn’t help notice that you like to write about SAS operatives—a trend that extends through your other novels. I’m sure readers that enjoy Black Line will want to know about your core series.

81UJKCNbSiL._SL1500_ 81r00-i5SbL._SL1500_ 81pxJGZ0e3L._SL1500_I wrote a series of thrillers with an ex-SAS character Aidan Snow: Cold Blood, Cold Black and Cold East. These deal more with Islamic terror and Russian aggression in Europe and the Middle East. In Black Line, Jack Tate is a way for me to explore what would happen if a character with the same training as Aidan Snow found himself in the US during a catastrophic, EMP induced collapse. Despite the similarity in character backgrounds, Tate is significantly different than Aidan Snow.

I also wrote the first, in what will be a series, of Military vampire books: Delta Force Vampire: Insurgency

Now I’m very intrigued. Maine has hosted its share of vampires in fiction. Most notably Stephen King’s novel, Salem’s Lot. This may sound crazy, but I think you could have brought your special operations vampires to Maine, and felt right at home. It would have been a Perseid Collapse first…not that I’m pressuring you. 😉

Speaking of pressure as a writer, most authors contributing to the The Perseid Collapse Kindle World reported that they nearly doubled their normal writing output. Did you experience something similar?

I found Black Line faster to write than my novels, as the pace was faster and the story required less research. Jack Tate is a tourist, and like me, he is seeing things for the first time.

Let’s shift to your background. Would you share some of your story about becoming a writer?

When I had the idea to start writing I was living in Ukraine and reading a lot of SAS thriller genre books, what these showed me was that although the authors, many former SAS members, knew their military and operational stuff, they did not know much about some of the locations they were using. One book mentioned Ukraine, briefly. As no one else was writing about Ukraine (the largest European country) I decided that I would. 

It took me 12 years to finish my first novel, I was writing on and off, and sometimes the off lasted a year at a time. I, like all aspiring writers, didn’t know if I could write so wanted to prove to myself that I could. I then took a year trying to get an agent or publisher and failed, before discovering CreateSpace and later KDP. When Kindle launched in the UK I suddenly started to sell quite a few copies. It wasn’t until five years later that, after having written two more books and some novellas, that I decided to approach publishers again. I approached five and got two offers. I now have a contract with Endeavour Press to publish my first three novels. 

That’s a fantastic success story. The world of writing and publishing has certainly changed, and you appear to embody the best of those changes. Do you have a background related to your writing? Interests?

I lived in Ukraine, and still visit when I can (my wife’s side of the family are in Kyiv), which is why I write about the place and the life of ex-pats, as I used to be one. I travelled extensively with my work in the past, so I generally try to write about the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. This is most noticeable in my second novel, Cold Black, when I write about Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Moscow and Kyiv. I wasn’t in the military or the Secret Intelligence Service, but have friends who have been in both, who are a great help to me. I’m interested in world affairs, which probably is apparent in my writing…and I tend to attempt to be funny.

I’d say your attempts at humor hit the mark. Conversing back and forth with you is always a pleasure.

This may seem like a silly question to you, but your answer will be informative for American readers. Are you a prepper or homesteader? How did you become interested in post-apocalyptic fiction?

We don’t tend to have preppers or homesteaders in the UK, but I do have a few spare tins in the cupboard. When I was kid I was fascinated by a fact I heard (it may have been nonsense) that in Sweden all new houses had to be built with nuclear fall-out shelters underneath. My Nan had an old WW2 underground shelter in her back garden which had been filled in and I used to daydream about what it would be like to use it. I suppose the Walking Dead really rekindled my interest in post-apocalyptic fiction but what also annoyed me (and made me want to write for the Perseid Collapse Kindle World) was that they only showed a very small part of the picture in the US. I wanted to know what happened in the UK, or in the Caribbean or on a military submarine base or in the Artic. Could, would and did it also happen there?

I think the Cold War and the nuclear threat stoked the post-apocalyptic fires around the world…not to mention The Walking Dead. Would it be fair to say that you still see nuclear weapons as the most likely threat today?

At the moment I think the biggest threat to world stability is the possibility of an idiot detonating a nuclear weapon. Be it the Islamic State, Putin or the fat baby in charge of North Korea.

The skinny, underfed Generals surrounding Kim Jong Un wouldn’t agree with you. In their eyes, he’s svelte!

What are you working on next, aside from a vampire installment to The Perseid Collapse Series World?

My third Aidan Snow novel, COLD EAST, was published a few weeks ago. It follows the storyline of a missing suitcase nuke that has been found by al-Qaeda. But being a thriller, it’s not that simple. The question quickly becomes: who really has the nuke and what is the target?

Ah, the good ole’ days of twists and turns. I wrote more of those than I care to admit in the Black Flagged books.

Beyond my latest release, I have three works in progress, which will hopefully appear later in the year. One is my second military vampire novel, the second is a crime novel and the third is an offshoot of the Aidan Snow books.

Sounds like you’ll be busier than ever this year, which is a good feeling!

Check out Alex Shaw’s website at http://www.alexwshaw.com, where you can find news and links to all of his works.

Of course, don’t forget to check out Black Line, Alex’s novella for The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World.

Executive Summary of The Perseid Collapse books by Simple Man

Screen Shot 2015-02-22 at 8.14.16 AMNo, I didn’t just insult the owner of Backwoods Survival Blog by calling him a Simple Man. Like an author that uses a pen name, I can only assume that the creator of this comprehensive readiness/survival site desires privacy—in the form of anonymity. I can thoroughly appreciate that, since everyone within a 100 mile radius of me knows where to go if they run out of food and supplies when the SHTF. Rule one of prepping. Do not advertise your preps. Lesson learned.

With his identity protected, I wanted to draw attention to the amazing reviews he has put together over the past few months for ALL of my post-apocalyptic, prepper-themed novels. Simple Man hits the proverbial nail on the head with his reviews, in more ways than one. He intuitively roots out some of the deeper themes and plot devices I had buried in the novels, bringing them to the prospective reader’s attention.

His reviews truly form an executive summary of my novels. If you’ve been on the fence about reading my series, take a few minutes to read what Simple Man has to say about them, and don’t forget to check out the BACKWOODS SURVIVAL BLOG.

REVIEWS:

The Jakarta Pandemic

The Perseid Collapse

Event Horizon

Point of Crisis

Dispatches

Author Spotlight: Murray McDonald

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight: Murray McDonald

ROCKLAND1Murray McDonald has been a long time writer and friend, eventually introducing me to “good scotch” made in a distillery (Glengoyne) just north of the Scottish highland line. This alone was worthy of his inclusion in my Friends Hall of Fame (I just made up that organization). Beyond picking out fantastic scotch, his true talent lies in his writing. He can spin a masterful, international thriller, which is why I was ecstatic to learn that he would write a novella for The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World.

His novella, Rockland, set in Maine, will shed light on the complex, nebulous Chinese conspiracy leading up to the “event” in The Perseid Collapse—exposing the brutal, human side of Operation Red Dragon. With Murray’s track record of delivering unexpected twists and turns, this is guaranteed to entertain. Look for this soon after the launch!

See what Murray’s doing, and check out his novels here!

Author Spotlight: Tim Queeney

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight: Tim Queeney

Having Tim onboard for The Perseid Collapse Series World was a big treat for me. Tim is key part of the “thriller” contingent in the Pine Cones Writer’s Group, a diverse, Portland, Maine, based group of writers that meets once a month to critique our latest works. He has an impressive range of writing, honed by years of work as a magazine editor, author and celestial navigation instructor…not sure how navigating by the stars corresponds to writing, but it was too awesome not to mention.

975x1455-Tim-Queeney-The-Borealis-Incident_rgbI’ve enjoyed Tim’s Perry Helion adventure series, which pits his main character, a DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) agent, against an array of James Bond level villains. Given the theme of The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World, I knew Tim could have some fun writing in the world—and he knocks it out of the park with The Borealis Incident.

Set in Thule, Greenland, The Borealis Incident will take you where you least expect. Perfectly tied into the greater Perseid Collapse world, the remote U.S. Air Force base operated on Danish controlled Greenland contains a startling discovery—uncovered, or shall I say, unleashed by a series of events set in motion by the collapse. Part technothriller, part horror…ALL APOCALYPTIC. Make sure to check out Tim’s addition to the world on February 3rd.

Visit Tim’s website to read his entertaining blog and catch the Perry Helion series.

Author Spotlight: G. Michael Hopf

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: G. Michael Hopf

detachment cover 2Author of the New World Series, G. Michael Hopf is no stranger to the prepped-themed post apocalyptic scene. With four books in the New World Series published by Penguin Press, he brings a powerhouse presence to The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World, along with a three novella story about a conflicted group of Marines in Boston.

When I first spoke with him about the possibility of a collaboration in the World, I really hoped he’d be interested in writing a story with ties to the Marine battalion featured in the Perseid books. Geoff is a combat veteran of the first Gulf War, having thrived and survived as a Marine infantryman. I couldn’t think of anyone better suited to expand on the story of Lieutenant Colonel Grady’s Marines. We have a lot to look forward to in his story, as he leads a tight knit team of “Jarheads” from one coast to the next in search of a safe haven from The Perseid Collapse.

Check out his books, bio, radio show…all kinds of good stuff at his website.

Author Spotlight: Ian Graham

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight: Ian Graham

Amsterdam directorateIn The Amsterdam Directorate, Political and covert operations thriller writer, Ian Graham, explores the impact of the Perseid Event, on the dynamics of a township still recovering from The Jakarta Pandemic. Set in rural Virginia, less than 150 miles from the largest recorded land strike in The Perseid Collapse Series, Ian puts his characters in the crosshairs of a natural and manmade collapse. The town of Amsterdam has mostly recovered from the 2013 pandemic, thanks to the directorate, but their hard won independence will be tested by outside forces hell bent on their destruction. 

I’m in the middle of reading Ian’s novel, which I guarantee will please fans of the series, along with SHTF readers everywhere. Ian is no stranger to gritty, no holds barred action, so hang on for a fast-paced ride through a unique post-apocalyptic landscape.

To dig a little deeper into Ian’s world, check out his website.

Political/Covert Ops thriller readers will be pleasantly surprised by his Black Shuck series.

 

Author Spotlight: Sean T. Smith

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: Sean T. Smith

Patriots cover finalAuthor of the Wrath Series, a post-apocalyptic series set in the aftermath of a collapsed United States, Sean’s Kindle Worlds novella takes readers south to the Florida Keys, at a time when thousands of college students should be descending on the islands for spring break. Obviously, things are a little different several months after the “event.” Unrecognizable might be a better term. 

I’m deep into reading Sean’s novella, which explores the complex and tenuous relationship between the Federal Government’s disaster relief program and the rights of individuals in the Perseid Collapse World. Sean’s experience tackling this topic in his novels shines in The Sunshine Patriots. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the play on words.

Check out Sean’s blog, and be on the lookout February 3rd for his novella.

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: Tom Abrahams

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight:  Tom Abrahams

Tom was the first author to take me up on the offer to write in The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World, and I couldn’t be happier to have him onboard. I’ve read all of Tom’s work, and can attest to the talent and enthusiasm he’ll bring to the World. Tom’s political thrillers are tightly written, well paced novels, rich in details and cleverly peppered with unexpected twists and turns. Readers are in for a treat on February 3rd, when two of Tom’s three novellas launch with the World.

Here’s a sneak peek at Tom’s stories. I read them back to back, enjoying every second of the ride. In the first novella, you get a few surprise visits from the original Perseid Collapse cast. I won’t say who or how, but it’s a clever tie-in.

abrahams-crossingCROSSING: 

“James Rockwell is on vacation in Maine with his family, when an earth-changing explosion sends them on a race for their lives.

Their first step is escaping an island in the midst of a tsunami, and it only gets more dangerous from there.

Can they find their way home as civilization crumbles around them?

Set in the post-apocalyptic world of Steven Konkoly’s best-selling Perseid Collapse series, CROSSING follows the same timeline of cataclysmic events from one family’s perspective. It’s a bullet-train of a thriller riding on the edge of the rails to the last page.

CROSSING is a novella and is part one of The Pilgrimage Series.”

abrahams-refugeREFUGE:

What happens when a safe harbor isn’t so safe?

The Rockwells have survived the first leg of the journey home against the wake of a reality-bending disaster.

But patriarch James is violently ill.

His wife finds help in a detour to rural Pennsylvania.

As James recovers in a seemingly secure compound, the outside world is plotting violently against them and the well-prepared survivalists who’ve given them refuge.

Set in the post-apocalyptic world of Steven Konkoly’s best-selling Perseid Collapse series, REFUGE follows the same timeline of cataclysmic events from the perspective of new, meticulously hewn characters who fit seamlessly into Konkoly’s work. It’s a page-turning tumble into a dangerous rabbit-hole, where survival comes at a cost.

REFUGE is a novella and is part two of the The Pilgrimage Series

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: A.R. Shaw

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: A.R. Shaw

DRD4 (2)Creator of Graham’s Resolution, a three novel series about survivors navigating the post-apocalyptic aftermath of a super-flu, A.R. Shaw brings a unique voice to the World. In her novella, readers will return to Durham Road, to follow Jaime McDaniels story of resilience and survival. See the novella description below!

I’m particularly excited about this novel, since Durham Road played such a formative role in the lives of The Perseid Collapse Series main characters. The Fletchers, Walkers and Thorntons endured the horrors of The Jakarta Pandemic, emerging as an inseparable team in its aftermath.  

Visit her website to learn more about the Graham’s Resolution series and upcoming work.

“Jamie McDaniels already lost one husband to the tragedy of the Jakarta pandemic six years ago; leaving her a widow with two daughters. She’d remarried to fill the void Matt’s death left in their lives. Unfortunately, Jeff Michaud bore no resemblance to Matt’s good character, to the point where he even abused her and the her daughters. Realizing her mistake too late, Jamie sees an opportunity to rid herself of him when tragedy strikes her neighborhood once again.

When Alex Fletcher sees her ploy to gain information about his plans, he knows Jeff has put her up to no good. She tries to hint in her response, but Alex isn’t cunning enough to see her attempt to gain his trust. In the end, he does her a favor by eliminating the mistake she regrets the most. With this second chance in life, even when the world is at its worst, Jamie returns the favor and stands her ground, never again to fill a void where her sovereign heart now lies.”

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: Russell Blake

The Perseid Collapse Series Kindle World

Author Spotlight and Cover Reveal: Russell Blake

DeadlyCalm_FINALNext up is a man who needs little introduction, but he’s going to get it anyway! Prolific writer, firebrand blogger, New York Times Bestseller and tequila connoisseur…did I mention he co-writes with Clive Cussler? I didn’t? Small thing, everyday kind of stuff when you run in Russell’s circles.

Accolades aside, I was stoked to learn that Russell would contribute a novella (maybe two…just saying) to The Perseid Collapse Series World. We’ve been friends since the spring of 2011, after I read his first two novels, The Geronimo Breach and Fatal Exchange…still two of my favorite Blake books to this day. Nearly 30 novels later, Russell Blake is a brand name and a force to be reckoned with.

I’m humbled and thrilled to have him onboard. His story is set in Mexico, on the eve of two storms, one far more devastating than anyone suspects. I guarantee you’ll enjoy his thrilling debut in the post-apocalyptic realm. Mexico will never be the same!

Check out his latest at www.russellblake.com

What I think you should know about Ebola—Part Two

Have you thought about Ebola lately?

1057 Steve Konkoly ebook JAKARTA PANDEMIC_update_2_LProbably not. If you have, it’s most likely because U2 and dozens of artists have just recorded a new version of the original 1980’s Band Aid charity song “Do they know it’s Christmas?” to raise money for Ebola victims. THAT’S IT! IT’S OVER FOR NOW! Not so fast.

Ebola (for now…never say never) has remained squarely an African problem, and one month after the massive Ebola fear hype in the U.S., most Americans have returned to their pre-Ebola scare lives. Some of us have a few more sterile gloves and N95 masks than before, but that’s not a bad thing. An influenza pandemic is a far more likely scenario to affect us. There’s a great fiction book written by someone I know that explains exactly how that might happen. 😉

Did we beat Ebola? According to a Denver Post opinion piece, the U.S. beat Ebola. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/1824674-155/ebola-africa-spencer-west-care-denver

Good news for everyone. Right? Of course, but this article falls squarely in the hindsight is 20/20 category, and fails to look forward. AT ALL. The opinion piece derides the fear that gripped the U.S., pointing out how the system in place worked. You know, the ten systems progressively implemented after the CDC and White House couldn’t answer why and how they couldn’t prevent individuals infected with Ebola from entering the U.S. to infect others (a very low number, thankfully.). The article even quotes Dr. Spencer (the infected NYC doctor), who stated:

“My early detection, reporting and now recovery from Ebola speaks to the effectiveness of the protocols that are in place for health staff returning from West Africa,” Spencer said. “I am a living example of how those protocols work and of how early detection is critical to both surviving Ebola and ensuring that it is not transmitted to others.”

The article fails to mention that Dr. Spencer, recently returned from treating Ebola patients, essentially ignored symptoms for two days while “painting the town.” Nor does the article point out that Dr. Spencer forgot (lied?) to mention his city-wide travels to health officials or the NYPD investigators assigned to track down others that may have been exposed.

Investigators pieced this together with his credit card statements and Metro card. Dr. Spencer sounds like the perfect candidate for imposed quarantine. Here’s a more accurate assessment of Dr. Spencer’s lucky break. http://nypost.com/2014/10/29/ebola-doctor-lied-about-his-nyc-travels-police/

THE GOOD NEWS. Dr. Spencer is right on one account. Early detection and treatment makes a big difference, as does being treated in the United States. I take solace in that, along with the fact that Ebola is low on the contagion scale. These two factors alone should ease our minds. Ebola would be a very difficult disease to propagate in the United States…THANKFULLY.

Does that mean all of the Ebola rhetoric and news coverage was fear based and nonsensical? No. It got fairly heated and political, which is never a good thing. Especially with the safety of our citizens at risk. The quarantine question became purely political. Here’s the ONLY question that needed to be asked:

Is it worth quarantining and inconveniencing a few hundred healthcare workers to save one life? 

I pose this question for one reason. The only way to guarantee 100% that Ebola didn’t spread beyond a “self-quarantined” healthcare worker is to enforce their quarantine. I can count four healthcare workers in the U.S, with direct contact with Ebola patients that thumbed their noses at the idea of quarantine. Statistics and a little luck kept them from infecting others, and possibly killing them. Low numbers kept that ONE LIFE intact. If the number of healthcare workers returning to “self quarantine” increases, statistics will claim a victim. Who will it be, and how will you feel about it? I can tell you this, inconveniencing a few hundred healthcare workers is worth saving my wife’s, son’s or daughter’s life. I wish more people had thought of that before jumping on the political bandwagon and deriding a more stringent quarantine option.

But Steve, imposing quarantine is not science based. That’s a fear based reaction with no basis in science. 

If by science, you mean “what the CDC tells us?” I agree. But that’s not science. Science involves the search for knowledge—and never taking absolute statements seriously.

Here’s a quote from my local newspaper, celebrating a judge’s decision in Maine to override the state’s request that a local nurse remain in quarantine at her home. “They” refers to the governor’s office:

“They could have made the following points to address the fears and direct attention to the real threats, not the imagined ones:

• You can’t catch Ebola from someone who doesn’t have it. Hickox was exposed to people with the virus, but she has been tested and found healthy.

• You can’t get Ebola from someone who is not symptomatic. Hickox has had no fever, vomiting, diarrhea or any of the other signs that she is sick. These symptoms are hard to miss, and as a nurse, she is capable of monitoring herself and getting treatment if necessary.

• You can’t catch Ebola through the air, like a cold. The reason it is an epidemic in some countries is that they have a shortage of medical personnel as well as inadequate sewer and water systems, exposing the population to the bodily fluids of people who are infected.”

HOLY $#@! Batman, absolutism at it’s most dangerous. So, according to the article’s author, he or she would feel completely comfortable letting someone who recently treated Ebola patients (in a front line treatment center in Africa) babysit their infant after a single ebola test and a little temperature monitoring? How about if they were allergic to cats and started sneezing? I call B.S. on that, BUT ONLY BECAUSE I’VE DONE A LITTLE DIGGING.

Here are a few articles to shed some new light on this newspaper’s absolute statements:

1.) You can’t get Ebola from someone who doesn’t have it. No kidding. So a test is proof positive that you don’t have it? That was the basis of the Maine nurse’s argument. I’ve been tested and don’t have it. Bugger off, I know better. Hmmm.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-doctors-mistaken-ebola-test-we-were-celebrating–then-everything-fell-apart/2014/11/16/946a84da-6dd5-11e4-a2c2-478179fd0489_story.html

Now, he had symptoms, which she didn’t…but that makes it even worse! You can have Ebola symptoms and not test positive. But we already knew that. The scientific community already knew that.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/28/359567808/blood-test-for-ebola-doesnt-catch-infection-early

2.) You cannot catch Ebola from someone who is not symptomatic. Really? That’s interesting, because the top scientists that study…I don’t know…Ebola, don’t feel so sure about that statement. Why listen to them? I mean, just because you won a Nobel Prize for “work researching the cellular subsystem of the body’s overall immune system — the part of it that defends the body from infection by other organisms, like Ebola” doesn’t mean you might be able some light on the topic. Right?

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/10/christies_quarantine_policy_attacked_by_aclu_cdc_and_even_the_un_is_embraced_by_2011_nobel_prize_win.html

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-1012-ebola-fever-20141012-story.html#page=1

I’m sure a scientific article in the New England Journal of Medicine is utter rubbish too. So what if 13% of Ebola victims (in the current outbreak!) never had a fever, the hallmark of symptoms for Ebola…and were full of virus!

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1411100#t=articleResults

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/10/13-ebola-victims-west-africa-never-fever.html

The Lancet also supports this FACT.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10881895

3.) You can’t catch Ebola through the air. Well, it’s not “airborne” in the traditional sense of the virology term, but I wouldn’t want an Ebola patient sneezing in my face, unless I was wearing a positive pressure Biohazard Level 4 rated suit. I shouldn’t have to link to articles to prove this, because Ebola is a virus, and if a virus enters your bloodstream (through many mechanisms), it does what all viruses do. Replicates. But there’s debate about this, because some would like to believe you have to stick yourself with an Ebola infected needle or accidentally ingest a quart of infected blood to get infected.  Here is the quick version from the New Yorker article (written about the geneticists trying to find a cure…smart folks I suppose).

“The virus is extremely infectious. Experiments suggest that if one particle of Ebola enters a person’s bloodstream it can cause a fatal infection. This may explain why many of the medical workers who came down with Ebola couldn’t remember making any mistakes that might have exposed them. One common route of entry is thought to be the wet membrane on the inner surface of the eyelid, which a person might touch with a contaminated fingertip. The virus is believed to be transmitted, in particular, through contact with sweat and blood, which contain high concentrations of Ebola particles. People with Ebola sweat profusely, and in some instances they have internal hemorrhages, along with effusions of vomit and diarrhea containing blood.”

Guess what, it’s also in your spit, urine and semen…it’s everywhere in your $#%! body. It’s a virus. If you sneeze on a door knob, and  someone touches the door knob within a few hours, then rubs their eye—they CAN get EBOLA! Not likely, according to the statistics, but frankly, they have no idea how most people actually “got” the disease. That’s why most of the medical doctors can’t remember the mistake they made…it’s not clear cut in many cases. Yes, they are working directly with patients, day in and day out, which increases their chances of exposure dramatically, but they often don’t know. It’s not like one of the doctors said, “I reached over for my drink without looking and accidentally guzzled infected blood. My bad.” Don’t take my word for it.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-scientists-uncertainties-loom-ebolas-transmission-other-key-003751718–finance.html

http://www.newyorker.com/?p=2864789&mbid=social_tablet_e

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/cdc-ebola_n_6078072.html

The next articles comes right from the World Health Organization website. I believe what they say. Coughing and sneezing is not a likely transmission source because these are not common symptoms in an Ebola patient. Ebola is not a respiratory disease. However, respiratory disease is not the only reason we cough or sneeze. I sneeze several times a day, quite randomly. I cover my mouth (even alone in the house), but not everyone is so polite.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/06-october-2014/en/

BOTTOM LINE: We appear to have dodged the Ebola bullet for now, and hopefully forever. The disease is still still running strong in Africa, so we haven’t seen the last of it here.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/mali-high-alert-ebola-cluster-26950832

Trust me on that. Let’s just hope the ABSOLUTISM and POLITICS takes a back seat to SCIENCE. Maybe with the elections behind us, there’s hope for that ONE innocent victim sitting in a bowling alley, riding the metro, handing change over a counter, or opening a public door with their child. Until then, take advantage of the lull to assess your pandemic readiness.

If you want to dig deeper into pandemic preparedness or general disaster readiness, check out my latest book (co-authored by Randy Powers) Practical Prepping: No Apocalypse Required.

 

What I think you should know about the Ebola crisis…

1057 Steve Konkoly ebook JAKARTA PANDEMIC_update_2_LWhen I published The Jakarta Pandemic in 2010, I had no idea it would be so widely read. Nor did I ever expect to be considered a “source” of information about pandemics. Over the past two months, I have fielded questions from concerned readers, friends, family, readiness bloggers, authors and preparedness consultants regarding the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa. I’ve been rather guarded in my approach to the crisis, having watched it slowly build throughout the summer. When the death toll exceeded previous outbreaks, including the outbreak made famous by the groundbreaking novel The Hot Zone, I started watching it more closely. The novel The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston was the catalyst for my interest in pandemic grade viruses and an inspiration for my first novel.

With that said, I want to share my thoughts on the current crisis and point you in the direction of some balanced, informative articles on the topic…along with a few other resources.

WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT THE EBOLA CRISIS?

I suspect that world health authorities have currently lost control of the virus in Africa. A combination of controllable and uncontrollable factors conspired to worsen this crisis far beyond other Ebola outbreaks.  Take a quick look at the following link and you will see that the 2014 outbreak is VERY different from anything we’ve seen in the past.

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/history/chronology.html

Until late May of this year, the Ebola outbreak more or less statistically resembled one of the previous outbreaks. In June it became clear to Doctors Without Borders that the disease had spiraled out of control. Here’s a snapshot of a chart provided by the BBC, showing the progression. If only the international community had responded in June or July.

Screen Shot 2014-10-11 at 9.35.12 AM

Why didn’t the international community respond swiftly to the growing epidemic? The answer is not as simple as some would like to think. I won’t speculate, but based on the following article, one of the best I’ve seen covering the crisis, I can guarantee you this is not an international conspiracy. The circumstances were ripe for a systemic-wide failure in Africa. You have to read this article by the Washington Post to put it all in perspective.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/10/04/how-ebola-sped-out-of-control/

Clearly, the virus is winning in Africa. Here’s a shorter article from the BBC, highlighting the pleas of the region’s leaders.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29563530

The original calculation that we might see 100,000-200,000 plus cases of Ebola in Africa doesn’t sound so far-fetched anymore. I was skeptical of that number at first. Not anymore.

HERE’S MY INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK:

If the international community does not step in and take immediate control of the situation, to include a MASSIVE increase in FUNDS, EQUIPMENT and PERSONNEL, the Ebola virus has a strong chance of overtaking the African continent OR at the very least catapulting central Africa into complete chaos (not a far stretch for this region). A humanitarian crisis already exists there, but it’s the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Once this escalates out of control, refugees will flee in every direction, by every means possible…

They will reach Europe. They will reach south-west and east Asia. They will reach South America…thereby reaching North America. I don’t think Europe will lose control of the disease, but countries like India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia will not be so fortunate. The more this spreads throughout Asia and Africa, the more chance it will have of reaching North America. RIGHT NOW, the battle is overseas.

DOMESTIC OUTLOOK:

Based on what I’ve researched and recently read about the Ebola virus, unless the virus mutates, I don’t anticipate an Ebola outbreak in the United States, regardless of how many cases slip through the southern borders or arrive on poorly screened flights. It’s a relatively tough disease to spread compared to the flu. Read this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/will-i-get-ebola-transmission-virus-spread_n_5946534.html

and read this (counter point):

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ebola-questions-20141007-story.html#page=1

The reality lies somewhere in between. Given out healthcare system (don’t laugh…), I have to agree that this will not take root (in its current form) and burn through the population. There are far bigger healthcare concerns on the horizon…the very near horizon. Avian Flu is still out there. Swine Flu. All kinds of nastiness. Read about them in this article:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/03/-sp-ebola-outbreak-risk-global-pandemic-next

WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?

I’m going to disappoint some of you…maybe not. Honestly, I think the worst case scenario you and I might face is a very temporary disruption of our daily lives. If cases of Ebola start to surface in the United States, even at small numbers in contained situations, the population might overreact. The availability of food, medical supplies and public services (schools, public transportation) might be limited for a very short period of time, while the population rushed to react. I don’t see this lasting long, but you should be prepared to spend  a week or two at home to avoid getting caught up in some of the uglier behaviors that often arise when people are stressed about their safety—and haven’t adequately prepared.

That’s the perfect transition to my next segment.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

You don’t have to do much. Heres a short list of steps to keep  yourself out of the fray for a week or so. It might not even be that long if the government can demonstrate that the virus has been contained. If you want to dig deeper into pandemic preparedness or general disaster readiness, check out my latest book (co-authored by Randy Powers) Practical Prepping: No Apocalypse Required. 

Actions to Consider:

-Avoid public areas, unless absolutely necessary—and only then when exercising caution and situational awareness. Carrying some kind of self-defense item is advised.

-Fill up your cars’ gas tanks in case you have to leave your residence during the crisis.

-Get some cash to keep on hand. Opportunism flourishes during disasters, and credit cards might not be accepted if you have to travel.

Supplies to Consider:

-Food for 2-3 weeks. Enough to keep you off the streets. I usually recommend having more than that at any given time, but I’m not expecting a pandemic. Just a little panic and brief disruption of the food system.

-First aid kit, expanded to include fever and cold medicine…for what’s most likely to infect you at any given time.

-Toilet paper. Don’t laugh. Can you name another item in your house that is guaranteed to drag you to the store? Tampons? Diapers? Get them.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Take a deep breath and relax. You’re in no immediate danger. Every sneeze and fever is not Ebola. Some of the media has hyped this crisis to the point of PANIC.

Is there cause for alarm? Not yet, and not here.

Will the situation get worse? Definitely in Africa. It may spread to other less developed countries and take hold. I highly doubt it will proliferate in the U.S.

Will I be keeping my eye on the situation? YES. If my assessment changes, you’ll be the first to know. Visit the Prepper/Survival Corner on my blog to see my latest blog posts.

Additional articles of interest:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/10/06/how-survivalists-in-america-are-plannning-their-escape-from-ebola-apocalypse-right-now/

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=123359

Review of Charley Hogwood’s The Survival Group Handbook

Review of The Survival Group Handbook by Charley Hogwood

survival handbook

Disclosure: I was provided an electronic copy of this book for a blog tour.

I’ll start this review with what I would normally say at the end. Upon finishing Mr. Hogwood’s book, I immediately ordered a hard copy version. I could have easily printed the PDF provided, but 1.) I felt that the time, effort and expertise put into creating this handbook WELL merited my money. 2.) I want to have a compact, easy-to-carry version available for reference.

First, don’t let the page count discourage you. When I received my copy, I groaned. 350 pages on Survival Groups? Can’t this fit into 30? Trust me when I say that there’s not a wasted word in the handbook, and that’s coming from a writer known to waste a word or two—here and there. With that said, you can’t expect to read this in one sitting. It’s 1.) Too important of a topic. 2.) Covers every aspect of survival group dynamics you can imagine. This book needs to be read in stages and sections, giving you time to reflect on the subjects presented

Survival group basics and dynamics are an often-overlooked topic in the readiness discussion. Naturally, we gravitate toward gathering gear and preparing our environment for disaster. It’s more immediate and you can easily measure your progress. But if you think about it, you’ll always be in a group, whether it’s with family, friends or neighbors. The principles in this book apply to all of these groups, tailored for each of them…and Mr. Hogwood goes far beyond that to prepare you for larger, more purposeful survival groups.

Here are some of the concepts addressed…I stress the word SOME. There’s a wealth of information and reinforced ideas.

-Being part of a group requires you to ask yourself-What are you willing to give up or trade for the safety and security of a group? This forms the core of the book. If the answer is NOTHING, you don’t belong in a group…period. Mr. Hogwood presents this question early, setting the tone for the rest of the book.

-Group leadership. Which types are appropriate for a group of your size and how do you choose?

-Vetting members, inducting new members and interacting with other survival groups. Balancing the skills a member brings to the group with the supplies.

-Where do you locate your group?

-Different types of groups and the internal dynamics of each.

-Security. No readiness book would be complete without a talk about security, and Hogwood does a fantastic job highlighting the importance of proper security.

-Roles within the group. This section will help even the smallest group, like your immediate family, plan and prepare for an extended disaster. Hogwood lists dozens of roles and their responsibilities. All of these are important and made me think about different aspects of survival within a group.

The Survival Handbook is an easy to read, detailed guide to forming, establishing and maintaining a survival group or Mutual Assistance Group (MAG). While the overall emphasis is on a major, society-disrupting event, Hogwood doesn’t overlook less formal versions of the survival group. The concepts found in the handbook can be applied to regional or local disasters (major storm, hurricane, etc.), just as easily as TEOTWAWKI. Highly recommended, even if you have no intention of starting a survival group. Just having this on your shelf when a crisis strikes could be the head start you need to survive and thrive. Once you read the book, I suspect you won’t wait to put some of the principles to work.

Who wants to listen to me talk for 4 hours?

Probably none of you. I know I wouldn’t. How about one hour? Sounds better to me.

Screen Shot 2014-08-26 at 6.45.14 AM Screen Shot 2014-08-26 at 6.46.20 AM Screen Shot 2014-08-26 at 6.49.02 AMLast week I spent four combined hours on live internet radio and podcasts, talking about the upcoming post-apocalyptic collapse, survival, prepping, the Ebola threat, myself (occasionally), my books and the menstrual threat lurking around every corner (you can thank Prepper Chicks for that). Lots of great information, hearty laughs and serious confessions broken into four, one hour segments. There’s something for everyone—I promise.

Prepper Chicks morning segment via You Tube. Shooting the breeze with NRA instructor and kick-$#! prepped-mom Lori . Check out her website.

Prepper Chicks After Dark segment via You Tube. Playing the survival card game “Conflicted” with Lori and Kat “Herbal Prepper.” By the end of the show I had been awake for nearly 20 hours, so it gets a little “punchy.”

All Things Apocalyptic show via You Tube with best-selling author G. Michael Hopf. G. Michael served as a Marine in the Gulf War and now writes post apocalyptic novels for a living. Check out his critically acclaimed New World Series. 

Rational Survivor Podcast. Finally, Randy Powers and I spent more than an hour talking with Kyle, the Rational Survivor, about our upcoming collaboration, Practical Prepping: No Apocalypse Required, and many, many prepping topics. Lots of information in this one.

ENJOY!

PRACTICAL PREPPING: NO APOCALYPSE REQUIRED arrives in September!

1165 Steven Konkoly ebook PRACTICAL PREPPING

UPDATE 7/30: Jeroen ten Berge has graciously stepped in and designed a most fitting cover for PRACTICAL PREPPING. Once again, I’m simply blown away by his work. Thank you, Jeroen!

PRACTICAL PREPPING: NO APOCALYPSE REQUIRED, is a light-hearted, instructional look at the basic steps ANYONE can take to prepare for a disaster. From a foreign invasion to the zombie apocalypse—just kidding. We included No Apocalypse Required in the title for a good reason. This isn’t a book about ditching the suburbs for a heavily defended, self-sufficient compound in rural Minnesota. We explore real-life concepts and solutions to REAL-LIFE problems.

Disclaimer: This is not a “HOW TO” manual for every scenario. Sure, you’ll find a few lists, and a number of highlighted suggestions, but the bulk of our book focuses on practical readiness steps you can take or tactical concepts you can embrace, without interrupting your life or breaking the bank. Randy and I offer a layered, foundational approach that can be tailored to YOUR circumstances and motivation level. Let’s face it, few people want to spend an inordinate amount of time, effort and money preparing for something that may not happen. ME INCLUDED. We’ll discuss what you can do to prepare for what will likely happen. I think you’ll be surprised by how little time, effort and hard-earned cash you’ll need to put into PRACTICAL PREPPING.

You’re probably curious how we’ll pull this off. Will it be a didactic lecture, broken into boring chapters? NO. We decided specifically to avoid that format. Randy and I have identified roughly 20 topics worth addressing, from obvious stuff like FOOD, WATER, and FIRST AID to harder topics like HOMESTEADING, COMMUNICATIONS and POWER. Each chapter will contain an excerpt from one of my books that relates to the topic, followed by two essays (one written by each of us). Randy and I share the same philosophy, but we may have a different approach. That’s what will be unique about PRACTICAL PREPPING…if I’m boring, you can switch to Randy’s essay and learn from a real expert!

Who is Randy? Randall S. Powers of Practical Tactical, a personal readiness consulting business based out of Georgia. Randy has been a consultant to The Perseid Collapse series from the start, reviewing my prepper/survival based concepts and keeping me somewhat in line with reality. I considered starting most of my essays with “Whatever Randy just said.”

With that said, I’ll leave you with a sample chapter from the book. Keep in mind that his is un-edited. The typo police have not paid this manuscript a visit. Chapter 4 contains a few great examples of the foundational elements applied throughout the book. ENJOY!

Sample Chapter (Word)

Sample Chapter (PDF)

Pre-Order Point of Crisis today for July 30th release!

LINK TO PREORDER!

Check out THIS POST to see the cover and detailed description.

Thank you!

Cover reveal and blurb for Point of Crisis: Book Three in the Perseid Collapse Series

Getting close to the end now. With a launch date set for July 20th, I thought it was time to reveal what I’ve been slaving over for three-month, in between boat work, garden prep, yard prep, spring school festivities, dance recitals, book revisions…a little sleep here and there. Poor me, right? Not really.  Take a look at Jeroen ten Berge’s knock out design for the third, and possibly the last installment to The Perseid Collapse series. I haven’t decided if this is the last Fletcher adventure. Truly, that’s up to you—the reader. I will return to the Black Flagged books next, no matter what you say. I promised, and I keep my promises. A teaser blurb follows the cover, so keep scrolling. I’m extremely excited about this story.

1114 Steve Konkoly ebook POINT OF CRISIS_3_4L

 

“In the aftermath of the brutal attack on his family compound, Alex Fletcher embraces his rapidly expanding role within the New England Regional Recovery Zone (RRZ). Fueled by a limitless drive to protect his family and a rekindled sense of duty, he enlists the reluctant aid of a local militia commander—to help ease the public’s fears of a federal government takeover and maintain civil order within the Security Area (SA).

As Captain Fletcher digs deeper into the government’s plans, he starts to question the federal government’s intentions—and capability to stabilize the situation in New England. With the region’s major port facilities destroyed and the nation’s electrical grid crippled, Alex can’t envision how the government can supply the camps throughout the winter. He predicts a human cataclysm, with several hundred thousand desperate refugees marching north—into Maine.

At the same time, Alex learns that Eli Russell has started to rebuild his militia. Obsessed with finding and eliminating the psychopath that attacked his family, Alex scours the back roads to find him before he can destabilize the tenuous security situation in southern Maine—unaware that Eli’s plans are far more personal.

With the world swiftly unraveling around him, Alex will face his most difficult decisions ever…”

Doubleshot Reviews take on Event Horizon

1051 Steve Konkoly ebook EVENT HORIZON_3_LA special thanks to Heather Faville for putting the time and detail into an incredible review. I figured she would enjoy the novel, but you never really know with Heather—or any reader. I change up just enough in each novel—even closely tied series—that the experience isn’t the same. The last thing I want is for readers to feel like they’re digging through the same book they just finished.

Doubleshot Review of Event Horizon.

Polar Bear Protection Instructor Duty

Polar bear 4A welcome break from writing, and an interesting morning in my fourth office (Scarborough Fish and Game Association). Author and magazine writer Tim Queeney chronicles my efforts to help a couple choose an effective, but manageable firearm for their sailing trip through the Northwest Passage. The catch? They’ve never touched a firearm before, and their choices are limited by Canadian and Greenland federal laws, which requires them to carry a shotgun or big game rifle to protect themselves from polar bears. Not exactly beginner firearms. Check out Tim’s recap of our morning at the gun range.

Polar Bear Protection 

First Contact (Part One in the Genesis Series)

1082 KW PINES_Konkoly_GENESIS part oneI know I just hit you with book 2 in The Perseid Collapse Series, but I have one more offering that should interest some of you. First Contact. Let me explain.

Blake Crouch, a talented author I’ve admired for years, asked me to write a novella based on his runaway hit series, Wayward Pines. If you haven’t heard of Blake Crouch or Wayward Pines, you’re in for a treat. Part apocalyptic and horror—all thriller, Crouch’s thought provoking series is unforgettable. I can’t recommend the series highly enough.

First Contact is a prequel to his series, and unfortunately contains some spoilers that would ruin the unbelievable, mind-bending twist that unfolds in Crouch’s books. Even the Amazon description of my book might undermine the twist. Seriously, the ending to book one in Crouch’s series is THAT GOOD!

If this sounds like your “cup of tea,” I hope you check out the series and give my novella a try. Coincidentally (for real), both of the books in his Wayward Pines series are on sale for $2 each at Amazon. Links below:

Pines by Blake Crouch
Wayward by Blake Crouch
First Contact by Steven Konkoly

This is a great opportunity to discover a series that has created an incredible amount of buzz in the book writing world and Hollywood. The Wayward Pines series was picked up by the FOX television network to be a miniseries staring Matt Dillon and Juliette Lewis. Executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, the series has been filmed and will likely air this fall.

http://www.fox.com/wayward-pines/

Thank you again!

Steven Konkoly

EVENT HORIZON unleashed!

For public consumption.

1051 Steve Konkoly ebook EVENT HORIZON_3_LEVENT HORIZON: Book Two in The Perseid Collapse Series in now available as a Kindle book on Amazon. The hard copy version follows on March 23 (will ship on the 23rd if you preordered a hard copy). An audiobook version is in the works, expected to be ready by the 1st or 2nd week of April. I’ll keep you posted on that. Here are the links for each version:

EVENT HORIZON Kindle book 

EVENT HORIZON Hard copy

***If you haven’t signed up for my email update list, you’re missing out! THREE Chapters from book 3 are available exclusively to my mailing list folks. If you sign up, I’ll get the chapters to you shortly. SIGN UP HERE.***

Thank you again for your continued support and readership! This has been an exciting year, and I couldn’t have done it without you!

A quick look into the prepping world of The Perseid Collapse series

Readers of The Perseid Collapse series know that I teamed up with Randy Powers from Tactical Practical  to put a professional eye on the survival/homesteading/prepper aspects of the novel. The Perseid books take these themes to the next level, and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t too far into left field with my ideas and theories. I reference a Handbook created by Randy in the acknowledgments of The Perseid Collapse, which contains an incredible amount of valuable, distilled information. I thought I would share one of his blog posts, which explains the BOLT Kits used by Alex Fletcher and his family. Randy has a unique take on the heavily popularized “Bug out Bag.” Enjoy!

Practical Tactical B.O.L.T. Kit©: What It Is And What It’s For

You’ve probably heard of a Bug Out Bag (BOB) or a Get Out Of Dodge (GOOD) bag that can be used as a grab and go kit in case you have to leave an area during an emergency situation. At Practical Tactical, we urge our clients to build what we call a B.O.L.T. (Basic Operations for a Limited Time) Kit. This mobile kit based on the basic tenets of preparedness: shelter, water, food, fire, comms/defense and psychological…and is geared towards executing your plan that was developed based on the threats in your area and your individual circumstances and will allow you to maintain your Basic Operations for a Limited Time as you BOLT to your next location that will hopefully be your safe haven from the immediate threat.

BOLT packBOLT pack II

Now, what makes our B.O.L.T. Kit any different from every other Bug Out or GOOD Bag out there? A focused philosophy, that’s what. Often when people talk about emergency bags (regardless of what you call them) the idea starts out the same…put together a bag of essential items like food and water in case you have to leave in a hurry because of an emergency that will help you survive the event…simple, right? But from there, things tend to spin out and become ever more nebulous. Inevitably you end with Jack the Survivor strapping a pack to his back that contains everything from his favorite comic books to ammo for his Barrett 50 cal. which by the way, he has lovingly cradled in his arms as he treks into the wilderness to live off the land for the duration of the apocalypse, and if you don’t do that too you’re doomed to fail miserably and die immediately or be swallowed up by the very mindless hordes you were trying to escape in the first place.

Whew! Just thinking about that was exhausting.

READ THE REST HERE!

I don’t often cry…

but when I do, it’s usually because I just completed the plot board for one of my novels and realized—I have a long way to go! Each Post-It represents a chapter. I typically add Post-Its as I go. Now I’m really crying.

Point of Crisis: Book Three in The Perseid Collapse Series promises to be a game changer.

Point of Crisis

EVENT HORIZON: Book Two in The Perseid Collapse

Cover Design and Pre-Order

The cover design for EVENT HORIZON is insanely amazing. Jeroen ten Berge went beyond the call of duty on this one…it doesn’t hurt that he has read every word of these books and has a deep understanding of The Perseid Collapse world. His vision of Boston’s post-apocalyptic landscape is evocative to say the least. Thank you, Jeroen!

I’ve seen bits and pieces of his creative process before, but nothing like this. He’s taken an iconic image of Boston and transformed it into the hell Alex Fletcher must face in EVENT HORIZON. Truly epic!

Before you take a look, and I forget. EVENT HORIZON will be available as an e-book on March 20th. YOU CAN PREORDER EVENT HORIZON TODAY

1051 Steve Konkoly ebook EVENT HORIZON_3_L


Boston before the fire

 

Exclusive sneak peek at EVENT HORIZON: Book Two in The Perseid Collapse Series…

Available for members of my Thriller Fiction Mailing List. 

Since I’ve passed the halfway point, I want to celebrate by releasing the Prologue for EVENT HORIZON: Book Two in The Perseid Collapse Series.

4,700 words (16-20 pages) chronicling Ryan Fletcher’s experience at Zero Hour on the morning of the EVENT. In this extended chapter, you’ll experience the terror from a different perspective, at a location much closer to the point of impact. What Ryan Fletcher experiences is by far the most apocalyptic scene in the series.

Below is a teaser. To receive the full passage on January 19th, sign up for my MAILING LIST. In addition to exclusive content, you’ll receive news of future discounts/promotions, along with new release updates. SIGN UP NOW!

If you’re already signed up, check your email for the full chapter! Thank you for reading.

 

EVENT HORIZON Teaser:

Prologue

EVENT 00:00 Hours

Boston University

Boston, Massachusetts

Ryan Fletcher squinted at his alien surroundings, agonizingly aware that he had been robbed of sleep. Unnaturally brilliant light penetrated the flimsy, translucent curtains, exposing the beige cinderblock walls and sparse furniture to his blurry vision. The glaring view of his dorm room faded quickly, replaced by a soft flickering light. He raised his head a few inches off the pillow to view the digital alarm clock resting on his desk. A dark object stared back. Wonderful. Heavy hands came together on his chest to manipulate the tiny buttons on his digital watch. A blue-green light bathed his face. 4:59. Brutal.

He closed his eyes and let his head sink into the familiar, worn-out pillow brought from home, and started to drift off—when the steel bedframe under his thin mattress started to rattle against the wooden dresser behind his head. Angry thoughts of the “T” waking him every morning of his freshmen year yanked him out of the murky depths of sleep. This is bullshit! He sat up, fully awake and pissed off at his room assignment. Nobody had mentioned the fact that the train would make a stop inside his room. The vibration intensified, accompanied by a deafening roar.

“No way I’m dealing with this for an entire year,” he mumbled.

The bed heaved upward, tossing him face down onto the carpeted floor. He lay prone for a few seconds, stunned by the sudden mayhem unleashed on his room. Another massive jolt rocked the building. He needed to get out of here.

Ryan grabbed the bedframe and tried to stand, but the room pitched violently, dropping him to his hands and knees. This is good enough. He crawled in the darkness toward the door, tumbling sideways into the wooden dresser beyond his bed as the building swayed. Ryan scurried into the small vestibule next to the door, moments before both of the room’s heavy, wooden dressers crashed to the floor. He leaned his back into the vestibule’s cold cinderblock walls and pressed his bare feet against the other.

Adding and releasing pressure on his legs to stay in place, Ryan moved with the building, hoping the walls didn’t collapse. Not that it would matter at that point. The building was nearly fifty years old, and if the interior walls started to fail, rescue teams would be lucky to find any of them alive. He dug his feet into the wall in front of him and closed his eyes. He was on autopilot, too disoriented and terrified to put any effort into anything beyond his immediate survival. He knew that he should be sitting under the doorframe, but he couldn’t convince his body to give up the stable position he had established between the two walls.

Moments later, the shaking abated, and the thunderous rumble yielded to distant car alarms and screaming. Ryan stood on wobbly legs and braced himself against the walls with both hands, taking deep breaths to fight the nausea. A strong campfire smell drew his attention to the flimsy curtains flapping gently through the jagged remains of the window. A wave of dizziness struck, buckling his knees. The window could wait.

Bright yellow and orange light danced against the room’s dark interior, pushing his curiosity. He had to see what happened outside of the building. Testing his legs, he edged out of the vestibule and stopped in front of the fallen dressers. Glancing up at broken windows, a flash-flood of rational, analytical thoughts overloaded him. First things first.

He tilted the top dresser upward, letting all of the empty drawers fall to the floor as he heaved it against the opposite wall. His dresser was next, but he took care to keep the drawers pushed firmly shut. Ryan dug through the dresser and quickly replaced his athletic shorts with jeans. Thick wool socks covered his feet, followed by a pair of well-travelled, dark brown hiking boots. He saw no sense in cutting his feet on broken glass before he left his room. He stepped over to the window and brushed aside the flimsy curtains. Flames engulfed western Boston, extending as far as he could see from his sixth story window.

That was 700 words…get the rest on January 19th by signing up HERE

The complete Perseid Collapse interview…

by Randy Powers of Practical Tactical.

This isn’t the first time Randy has challenged me to dissect one of my novels. Our early 2013 discussion of The Jakarta Pandemic is one of the most thorough, well-constructed interviews I’ve had the pleasure of giving. Mr. Powers puts time and thought into meaningful questions, which deeply explore the themes buried in my work. Even if I didn’t have themes, I’d have to make them up to satisfy Randy’s incredibly rich line of questioning 🙂

THE INTERVIEW:

The Fletchers are back in The Perseid Collapse and, I’ve got to say, we’ve missed them. Six years after the the Jakarta pandemic ravaged the life they had known Alex and Kate are pushing ahead into the new reality and are even sending their son Ryan off to college. How about you take it from there and tell us a little bit about the Fletchers and sort of set the stage for what’s going on in The Perseid Collapse?

The Fletchers are trying as much as they can to maintain a normal life. They live in the same home as they did in the first book. I struggled with whether they should stay in that house, whether there was too much bad juju in that neighborhood, a lot went down. They learned that bugging in like they did in The Jakarta Pandemic, although Maine is not as populated as some areas, in a relatively crowded neighborhood in a suburb was not a good idea then and it won’t be a good idea next time because the next time it’s going to be worse. Even if it’s the same or a lesser disaster, it’s going to end up being worse because the memories are fresh. The Fletchers made some money, or retained more money than everyone else, when everything was more or less wiped out after the Jakarta pandemic. So that’s kind of where the novel starts. Their son is on to college, they’re out on their sailboat, which is part of that normal life. They’re not afraid to go out, but they’re cautious. They have preparations. They have BOLT kits. They don’t live like most Americans, but they maintain the appearance that they do.

The Perseid Collapse opens up in China (something I certainly was not expecting) and once again it seems the Red Dragon is impacting the Fletchers world. Can you offer us a little insight into your motivation here?

I think it reflects more of my techno-thriller background that I’ve developed over the last four books in the Black Flagged series. I wanted to give readers a little more. Often times reading other books where you see an America that has been impacted by an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse), there was never an explanation for what happened or even a hint of it….For me, I like to know a little more. So, I set up this international conspiracy based on the Chinese to get them back on the international scene and level things.

One of the things I noticed very early in the book is even though they’re the same people, no one that survived the Jakarta Pandemic escaped without being changed in some way. I noticed it in Kate first, but as the story moved along I saw the same thing in each of core characters and especially in Alex. Everyone seems to have a bit more edge to them and felt a bit grittier. Not in a bad way, but in a real way, and it seems like our group of survivors are more comfortable with themselves and with each other in their reality following the pandemic. Was this intentional and do you want to walk us through your thought process on how each member of the Durham Road group has come through their last six years?

In the first book of the Perseid, everyone has changed. They’ve retained a lot of their characteristics and their core values, but I think realism has really settled in. I thought it was most obvious in Alex, but I agree with you…and a number of other readers have said that they really liked seeing Kate and learning more about her and her mindset. Like you said, early on she establishes herself…not necessarily forcefully…but you know she’s a force to be reckoned with. She was always like that in the beginning. She was always the one that recommended doing the early shooting. She was kind of the more hard core proponent of violence in the first book. Now that’s kind of transferred over to Alex, but you can definitely see that shift.

This story gets downhill in a hurry and just picks up speed from there. A pandemic virus shook things up for the Fletchers last time around, so what is the disaster catalyst that kicks things off in The Perseid Collapse?

READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE! Sorry to do that to you, but head on over to Randy’s site. He doesn’t bite and you won’t find yourself on a government watch list…like you will reading my stuff!

READ The Jakarta Pandemic Interview.

Resurfacing one of my favorite interviews

With The Perseid Collapse launch rapidly approaching it’s magic date—December 1st, I wanted to bring back some memories of it’s predecessor, The Jakarta Pandemic. TJP was my first novel, kicking my writing career into full gear. A ton has been said about TJP, covering every aspect of the story. I’ve been interviewed several times, and hundreds of independent reviews (individual blogs and websites) have been posted.

Randy Powers of Practical Tactical interviewed me during the late spring of 2013, and his questions blew me away. It was evident from the very start, that he had put an incredible amount of time and thought into my novel. This is by far one of my favorite interviews. He asks some hard questions about the more “controversial” material, giving me an opportunity to explain how I merge fiction with research.

THE INTERVIEW:

Welcome, Steve.  First and foremost, thank you for your service.

Thank you, Randy. I really appreciate the opportunity to dig below the surface of my writing and expose some of the core ideas and concepts that help shape the stories. Regardless of what other authors may claim, writing is a personal endeavor, no matter how far fetched the plot or action may seem to the reader. There is always something deeply personal embedded in the writing, and the threads that wrap around these aspects often define the story’s core essence.

In your writings, there is no such thing as black and white.  You deal in personal confliction and there are no easy answers.  You have also said that your military experience figures heavily into your writings.  With all that said, TJP brings all that together in a complex character and gives us Alex Fletcher.

Ten years out of the Marines, Alex has fully transitioned back into the private sector and seems to be doing quite well.  Putting aside what I assume would be Alex’s tendency to be prepared due to his military experience, I would like to talk a little about what motivated Alex to focus on the threat of a pandemic and make preparations for his family.  At the end of Chapter 5, we learn about a presentation that Alex did for his company Biosphere and the research that went into it.  We learned that process “changed his life” in apparently more ways than just professionally.  Can you talk about how this process impacted Alex and his decisions when it comes to his family’s preparedness?

When I started to conceptualize The Jakarta Pandemic, I wanted to highlight the difficulties of surviving a catastrophic level event in a suburban setting. The leading difficulty in my opinion would be dealing with everyone else’s varying degree of unpreparedness in the face of a complete lack of essential services. With that in mind, I wanted to start Alex in a position of self-sufficiency, and I chose this “presentation” as his catalyst to start preparing for a worst-case scenario. The conclusion Alex draws from his research reflects the culmination of my own examination of the scenario. In a nutshell, it’s not a matter of IF something like this will happen, it’s a matter of WHEN, and WHEN it happens, survival will depend on your basic level of preparedness and planning.

I’ve read that you raised your personal level of preparedness AFTER writing TJP.  I was a bit shocked by that fact.  One of my favorite parts of the book is when we get a first look at the Fletcher’s supplies as we join Alex for an inventory “the Frito supply” for the first time.  You describe the Fletcher’s well rounded stockpile in some detail and even lay out a good plan for rotating food stores as if you had been doing it yourself for a long time.  I particularly appreciated how you pointed out throughout the book that building a stockpile like the Fletcher’s is something that anyone can do if they make a plan and execute it in a practical way.  Was family preparedness and establishing an emergency survival kit a chicken and egg type thing for you as you wrote the book?  And, without divulging too much, how much did Alex teach you about being more prepared and what steps have you taken in your personal life to be better prepared for any future emergency?

Most people are shocked to learn that I never visited a prepper or survivalist website prior to finishing The Jakarta Pandemic. In many ways, I’m glad that I didn’t. I’m a details oriented writer, and despite the fact that the scene you described is exhaustively detailed, I would have driven myself insane trying to get the Fletcher’s “bunker” perfect. I put a considerable amount of thought into the contents of their survival stockpile, starting with the basics: Food, Water, and Medical Supplies…and expanding from there. And I certainly expanded far beyond the basics. Solar panels connected to battery storage, two oil tanks for storing fuel (this is a New England phenomena…most of you have natural gas or propane), wood burning stove (which I don’t think they ever used), generator, antibiotics (unethically obtained through Alex’s employer) and many other items that might come in handy if the shelves at your local Home Depot and grocery store emptied overnight. Imagine going cold turkey off Fritos…devastating. :0)

So to answer your question, I created this incredible stockpile or “bunker” in my novel, and didn’t have so much as three extra cans of vegetables in my own house to back up one of the main themes in my book. A few months after publishing the novel, I took Alex Fletcher’s advice and started to slowly build up a reserve of food and supplies, one shopping trip at a time. It’s truly amazing what you can amass in two years, when you take a systematic, consistent approach to stockpiling supplies. Does my basement now resemble Alex’s? Not even close, but I feel confident that my family could ride out a major disaster, without resorting to desperate measures. Of course, the same question always remains, regardless of how much you prepare…what is your neighbor doing to avoid resorting to desperate measures, and what is your plan to deal their desperation. This becomes a pinnacle issue for Alex, and his plan is woefully lacking in this author’s opinion…on purpose.

Most folks living a preparedness lifestyle understand that planning is paramount to the success of any emergency plan.  This usually means having a plan to ride out an emergency situation at home, also known as sheltering in place or bugging in, and also having a plan to evacuate if the situation dictates, commonly referred to as bugging out.  If the plan is to shelter in place, neighbors can become a real problem like we see in TJP.  We don’t want to give the story away, but what are your thoughts on working with neighbors or building a survival team, given that the necessities of dealing with a pandemic primarily call for isolation?  Makeshift alliances develop in TJP, but should Alex have developed relationships and built his team within the neighborhood well ahead of the pandemic since he viewed it as such a real threat?

This is hard to say. Unfortunately for Alex, his plan from the start was isolation, but he quickly learned that this wasn’t going to be a viable option. Without recognizing the need for a diplomacy based “crowd control” plan prior to the arrival of the pandemic virus, he really shortchanged himself and put his family in danger. With that said, none of us want to view our neighborhood as an episode of Survivor, where shifting alliances and secret plots undermine the ease of living and sense of relaxation we come to expect when we pull into the driveway. Alex had some core friends in the neighborhood, which came in handy as the conflict escalated, and he found a few surprise allies along the way. If anything, Alex could have been more open to dispelling a few stereotypes that hindered him in the beginning. I don’t write big moral lessons into my novels, but Alex’s character gave me the opportunity to point out a few negative behaviors that most of us can find in ourselves from time to time.

Read the full interview

Chapter Three Sample now available

I just posted Chapter Three here on my blog. I plan to release one chapter every Friday (or Thursday if I’m out-of-town), but I won’t add a new post like this every week…no need to clog your email boxes with notifications. I do have some exciting news about The Perseid Collapse, which I will release by next Friday, along with at least two chapters. Sorry to leave you with a cliff hanger, but I still have some details to work out and a plot board to modify. Trust me when I say, that the news is good for reader and author alike.

If you haven’t signed up for my New Release Updates List, I highly encourage it. It’ll give you a leg up on New Release information…and some of the giveaway prizes that will be linked to The Perseid Collapse Trilogy’s release. Did I say Trilogy? Click here to sign up.

Sample Chapters of The Perseid Collapse

I have decided to release “unedited” chapters of The Perseid Collapse periodically until the novel’s release in December. A fair number of you have waited VERY patiently for me to return to the apocalyptic genre, so I thought I would give you something to hold you over until the launch. I anticipate posting roughly one chapter per week through November, which should bring you about a third of the way through Alex Fletcher’s latest survival journey.

Yes, the Fletchers are back, just as the United States has effectively settled into a comfortable, but tenuous post Jakarta Pandemic routine. A new era of isolationism has emerged, with the economy stabilized and the population better prepared for disaster.  On the surface, its business as usual in the United States, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find that one thing has remained the same. Trust in the government is at an all time low. The collective memory of twenty-six million deaths (nearly one in every ten citizens) during the Jakarta Pandemic runs like a shallow current, waiting to break through the thin facade of prosperity and confidence. The Perseid Collapse takes place in 2019, six years after The Jakarta Pandemic. It starts with a “Mass Event” that instantly shatters the fragile barrier…and unleashes a torrent of fear, panic and mistrust.

Of course, the Fletchers will be caught up in the middle of it…and they’ll no longer have the option of secluding themselves in the comfort and safety of their “prepper” paradise. I’m taking all of that away from them in The Perseid Collapse…from the very start. If you enjoyed The Jakarta Pandemic, or my Black Flagged novels, I guarantee this one will grab you from the beginning. Part technothriller, all apocalyptic…The Perseid Collapse is the best of both worlds.

You can find and download the chapters from my blog, either at the top right corner of my blog or on The Perseid Collapse page accessible at the very top of my blog. The chapters are available in Word or PDF form. You can save these on your computer and upload them to your Kindle. If you don’t know how to do that, let me know…it sure beats reading on a computer screen.  

The Process…

Six Books Later.

Never before has the process crystalized so clearly, as it has for my sixth book, The Perseid Collapse. The long overdue sequel to The Jakarta Pandemic has percolated in my head for nearly six months (while writing Vektor), which certainly helped smooth the transition, but I credit “the process” for swiftly delivering me to the starting line…the point where I can start writing. For me, the less time I spend in between novels, the better. I find myself lost without a manuscript-in-progress. Putting words into a story eases that feeling.

I often joke around about the”organic” mental process for creating the complex plots in my novels. “Neural Flow” is a term I used recently to some amusement. The Black Flagged series is extremely complicated and deeply nuanced, or so I have been told, and I wish I could keep it all straight in my head. “A Beautiful Mind” I am not. Instead, I rely on a process that appears rigid, but is inherently flexible. Let’s face it, any system based on the placement of yellow stickies on poster board isn’t exactly chiseled in stone. Still, I’ve followed the same process for three novels, which implies a level of rigidity…for the process at least

The rest is fluid and can change at a whim. A random thought while driving (I have more windshield time than I care to admit), a tech article on the internet, YouTube gun video (I watch far too many of those), a ten minute Call of Duty game play with Matthew (son), a sudden discussion about a character with my wife…all of these can change the course of my novel within the flash of a synapse. I’m always thinking about the story, and the story is always changing, slightly…sometimes drastically. This is the neural process, and I can’t really explain it. What I can explain is how I tee up the writing and keep myself on track throughout the three to four months it takes me to strike the words.

I start out with a “talk through.” Basically, I vomit a VERY rough synopsis of the story and expand it over the course of three to five days. If you read it, you’d probably feel like puking. It barely counts as English, but it works. I take this four to five page document and try to identify potential scenes from the scribble.

TalkthPerseid

For the Perseid Collapse, I identified 44 scenes, which translates into a minimum of 44 chapters. I created a yellow sticky for each scene, and added them to my board.

The board takes on a life of its own over time, with stickies moving back and forth, up and down…or into the trash. New stickies arrive weekly. The topmost stickies are labeled to represent individual or group entities in the story. I place scenes involving these entities under the appropriate heading, in chronological order. Books in the Black Flagged series required some creative space arrangement on the board. The Perseid Collapse is a welcome break from multiple organizations and diffuse subplots. Compare the two. Vektor is shown in the first picture.

PBvektor PlotboardPerseid

The last piece of the puzzle was recommended by a fellow Maine writer and the host of my local writing group, Bryan Wiggins. He thought Aeon Timeline would help me keep track of the complex timing involved in the Black Flagged novels…wow has that program saved my ass on multiple occasions. I finished Black Flagged Vektor without it, which was a big mistake. My inner voice told me to take the time and input every scene in Aeon Timeline. I resisted, but quickly relented and spent an entire day inputing the scenes. Without going into detail, let’s just say that I found a few critical timeline errors that my readers would not have missed. For Perseid, I will input the scenes as they are written. The story takes place over a 72 hour period, which doesn’t give me a lot of wiggle room in terms of timeline.

A lot happens to the Fletchers in those three days.

Did I mention the research? I’ll save the details for another post.

Interviewed by Practical Tactical

INTERVIEW with STEVEN KONKOLY

I was recently interviewed by Randy Powers, creator of Practical Tactical, a prepper based  blog focused on passing “practical” information on a wide variety of survival, prepper and every day situational awareness. His collections of interviews and articles is diverse, entertaining and not what you’d expect. One in particular was eye-opening and education. Al Bartlett’s talk on Arithmetic, Population and Energy. Read the article once and you’ll become smarter. Read it twice and you’ll surpass 99.9% of the population in terms of understanding statistics…very practical statistics, and how you can apply them to debunk much of the nonsense you hear on the television today. Al Bartlett’s Talk.

 

As always, I digress a bit. Randy’s interview was by far the most comprehensive to this date, showing an in-depth analysis of The Jakarta Pandemic and the situations the unraveled throughout the story. Since initial publication, The Jakarta Pandemic has reached over 50,000 readers. The most common theme brought up by readers in reviews or emails is that the story made them think about their own situation in a similar crisis. Randy really took this to a higher level in his interview, cherry picking what he interpreted to be the most important lessons for readers and asking me to expand on my thought process while creating specific scenes or characters.

Enjoy the interview and by all means check out Randy’s posts and articles. If you have any questions at all about home defense, prepping, self defense…whatever you can think of in this arena, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Randy. He is a wealth of information.

INTERVIEW with STEVEN KONKOLY 

Book Review of Blake Crouch’s PINES

This has been a blockbuster summer for Blake Crouch. Two incredible books released for the summer. I can’t thank him enough. This one will be released to the public on August 2oth. Make sure to reserve your copy now! Reserve a copy

PINES brought Blake Crouch’s writing to a new level in my view. The story combines several elements that I enjoy in a story. Fast-paced, horrifying, and suspenseful, Crouch’s story featuring a relentless protagonist thrust into a seemingly hopeless situation against over-whelming odds. I had a hard time classifying this book, since PINES blends several genres seamlessly, spending much of its time planted firmly in suspense horror. Still, mystery and thriller elements abound, along with a genre I will not mention, in fear of spoiling the book’s unprecedented reveal. You don’t want to miss this one.

PINES introduces the reader to Ethan Burke, a Secret Service agent who regains consciousness on a riverbank just beyond the outskirts of the idyllic town, Wayward Pines, Idaho. With little memory of why he is in the town, he starts to explore his surroundings, slowly adding pieces of this puzzle to a scrambled mosaic of fragmented explanations and inexplicable coincidences. Mystery turns to menace, as he slowly starts to accept the fact that he can’t leave Wayward Pines. All paths out of the town lead him back to where he started, and he starts to question the very perception of his own existence.

As he starts to more forcefully seek answers, the thin veneer of Wayward Pines starts to lift…and this is where the story started to far exceed my expectations. Mystery and suspense yields to the sheer horror that kept me returning to the pages as frequently as my schedule allowed. Although the incredible twist is foreshadowed at points later in the story, I kept guessing wrongly until Burke “escapes.” From that point forward, I couldn’t put it down until the book was finished.

Blake admits to paying homage TWIN PEAKS with this novel. He does more than that. He briefly captures the essence of the disturbingly surreal series, in an often gritty and often brutally frightening story reminiscent of the TWILIGHT ZONE. To me, this is by far Blake Crouch’s best book…which is a tough act to follow after RUN.

Review of Richard Stephenson’s COLLAPSE

I’m a sucker for Apocalyptic Fiction, if you couldn’t already tell, so when Richard Stephenson offered me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of COLLAPSE, I couldn’t resist.

Richard Stephenson’s debut novel held me in its grip from start to finish. Based in the not so distant future, the background for Collapse is a frightening projection ripped from current headlines. In the context of today’s Western financial crisis and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Stephenson’s dystopian setting does not come across as a far-fetched fictional ploy, but rather one of several worst case scenarios developed by Beltway think-tanks.

The year is 2027. The war with the new Empire of Iran is not going well. America’s heartland resembles a scene from Mad Max, with the newly formed Unified National Guard barely keeping control on the streets. The unemployment rate is no longer a relevant measure of the economy, because the employed are in the minority. America is still a super power, but that distinction is fading rapidly.

This is the backdrop for a fast paced, character driven story that explores the best and worst of humanity. The reader will be introduced to a host of characters, all with a role to play in the outcome of this sweeping apocalyptic tale. Character development is one of Stephenson’s strongest skills, bringing each character’s motivations and background to light at the right time, in the right place. You won’t find cardboard cut-outs in this story, but watch out…the author often spends time developing characters that meet an untimely fate.

Most of all, Stephenson tells a riveting tale that starts with a bang and doesn’t lose momentum. There is just the right amount of “telling,” where you learn about the background leading up to the war with the Empire of Iran or American’s financial collapse. Most of the story is told from the characters’ perspective, where you will find them battling through incredible circumstances…eventually winding up on the same journey. Stephenson effectively employs the popular, yet often poorly executed strategy of alternating between characters in different settings. The tension escalates in each of his scenes, culminating in several mini-finales. I found myself reading with rapt attention, but constantly looking forward to getting back to the other main characters’ stories.

I would give Stephenson’s debut 4.5 stars. My only complaint was that some of the technology available to one of the main characters seemed unrealistic for 2027. The character is Howard Beck, the wealthiest man in the world, and likely the most intelligent. Stephenson’s incredible imagination shines brightly here, but I found myself slightly distracted by the disparity between what I found inside his compound and outside. In retrospect, I understand what the author was trying to accomplish. In the face of abject dystopia, Beck’s wealth and genius has allowed him to keep pace with the world that “could” have developed. Likely far exceeding it. Perhaps it would be like walking into Bill Gate’s house today, which would be an experience nearly unrecognizable to most of us.

If you like post-apocalyptic scenarios, this story will fully satisfy your hunger for gritty, unapologetic “end of the world” literature.

Review of Craig DiLouie’s TOOTH AND NAIL

I re-read most of Tooth and Nail over Memorial Day weekend. Oddly enough, aside from Black Hawk Down or Band of Brothers (or many more great military non-fiction reads), I couldn’t think of a more appropriate book to read. You’ll find out why in the review below. I read this book in pieces earlier this year, mainly trying to fit in time to read a compelling story between writing my third novel. I don’t get much personal reading done while deeply engaged in a project.

I was motivated to re-read Craig DiLouies story following an announcement he made regarding the re-release of a pandemic story he had self-published prior to writing Tooth and Nail. I’m really glad I did, because I got so much more out of the story reading it in a few days. Simply an incredible story…reader discretion advised.

“Tooth and Nail is one of the most immersive experiences you can find as a fan of apocalyptic fiction. As a former military officer, I can attest to complexity and uncertainty of the difficult decisions faced by second lieutenant Todd Bowman and his men, as they encountered an increasingly deadly and nebulous viral threat on the streets of Manhattan. The buildup of tension, confusion and violence was expertly drawn from start to finish. Each soldier’s role in the story is examined and expanded through gritty action, well constructed conversation and personal narrative introspection. Although DiLouie’s story leans heavily on brutal action, which becomes a necessary way of life for the platoon, he takes the time to explore the bonds that strengthen this small community of warriors as they try to carry out their orders and makes sense of the madness that has descended on the world. This is one of the most realistic fictional representations of platoon interaction that I have read in this genre.

Beyond military realism is a well developed scientific scenario that gives you a break from the intense military action. I recently saw that the author re-released one of his previous works, called The Thin White Line, which is a research based, fictional account of an avian flu pandemic. I was not surprised to find out that he had started working on Tooth and Nail soon after publishing this work. The exhaustive research in The Thin White Line played out beautifully in Tooth and Nail, adding yet another layer of realism. This aspect is delivered in the form of a parallel, yet crucial side story about several virologists trapped nearby in a secure research facility. I appreciated the dichotomy of these two worlds: [Brute strength, flexible/quick decisionmaking and firepower] Vs. [Scholarly intellect, detailed research and organized thought] AGAINST the same enemy. Watching the two merge in this story is a bonus.

DiLouie’s story has been called Black Hawk Down meets 28 Days Later. I agree, but would add elements of Zulu Dawn and 300 Spartans to that list. What starts out as a relatively simple operations for 2LT Bowman’s platoon turns into an epic battle for survival, with more than just his platoon’s fate at stake.”

Find a Niche, and Expand It

In today’s fiction market, you either need a sizable backlist, a ready-to-go fan base, or a traditional publishing deal to come out of the gate bursting with sales. Your Twitter following of 800 other authors doesn’t count as a launching pad, either. The most common problem for new authors, is the search for readership. Unless you’re writing to fill your own bookshelf, you share the same dilemma. I know…we all have an incredibly interesting, unique novel, ready to unleash upon the unsuspecting world…but so does every other writer reading this essay. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! The key term here, is “unsuspecting world.” I’m fairly confident the world will push onward in blissful ignorance of your book, if you don’t find a way to start a small fire. You need to find a niche, and expand it.

I’ll be blunt with my story. I published The Jakarta Pandemic in October of 2010, and had no clue what to do with it. I was just glad to have finished it. Three years of disorganized part time writing, and now what? I had no marketing plan…or concept. I had started research into the traditional publishing world, but quickly came to the conclusion that this would be a long process. Fine, except it bothered me that friends and family couldn’t read the culmination of three years’ effort, and might never read it, if I waited for a New York deal. So, I uploaded my book to Kindle, Nook and CreateSpace…and made the big announcement to friends and family.

I had a modest burst of sales in October and November, which tapered off as I exhausted my supply of friends and family (thank you for the support!). A few reviews on Amazon followed (I recognized the names…thank you again!), and then it all fizzled. To be honest, I didn’t expect anything different. I started writing query letters to literary agents, but felt dirty each time I wrote that little personal note in there…you know, the one that lets the agent know that you did about two minutes of “in-depth” research into their background. I wrote seven queries (5 e-mail and 2 paper) before I read Joe Konrath’s blog, and said “screw this.”

Something very fortuitous occurred around the same time. Previously, I had decided to classify my book as a thriller (accurate), and weakly pursued the thriller market on a few web forums. If you haven’t figured it out, there are a lot of thrillers out there. Labeling your book a thriller is like selling grass seed and advertising the color. No shit, it’s green. No shit, you wrote a “thriller.” But I was a first time author, new to the writing world, and thrillers always top the best seller lists. Dominate the lists, actually. My wife showed me an article that proved it.

So, what knocked me out of this “thriller” silo? I received a 5-Star review from someone that lauded the survivalist aspect of my novel. He liked the thriller aspect of the book too, and said “move over Robert Ludlum.” Over the top for sure, but I could tell that the survivalist aspects struck home the most with this reader. My book does have a strong survivalist and prepper theme, so I started to wonder what I could do with this. I did a little research into the survivalist community.

I found one particular forum that dealt exclusively with survival prepping and related topics. They had a lively fiction/story-telling thread, so I joined the forum, introduced myself, and committed to releasing my entire novel (one chapter at a time). I was warmly welcomed, and kept my word over the next four to five months. Many readers couldn’t wait for the next installment, and purchased hard copies or e-books. Reviews poured in, and the book started picking up steam on Amazon. Of course, I made sure that the search terms reflected survival, so other like-minded readers could easily find it. I had found my first niche. My book’s thread is still in the top ten viewed story threads on this site.

As my Amazon ranking climbed (modestly), I started to pick up more readers, from a wider spectrum. Out of nowhere, I was contacted by another author, to participate in a Post-Apocalyptic (PA) blog tour. Uh…I suppose so…never really thought of my book in this genre. Really? A book about a devastating pandemic? WTF was I thinking. I eagerly agreed, and started joining PA forums everywhere. Unbelievable. These were truly my people, for this book. A dedicated crew, like the survivalist/prepper group, Post-Apocalyptic readers devour everything written in the genre. I started this in mid-February, and pushed heavy through March. It is no coincidence that my sales jumped from 160 in January, to 645 in February…to 1400 in March. My Amazon ranking (overall Kindle store) dipped into the 800’s. The good old days. I had really found my true niche, and a supportive group of hard core readers.

I have a new book launching in late October, and I can’t wait to see how the two will synergistically work together. I don’t have thousands of readers eagerly waiting by their Kindles for this book, but I do have a sizable core of ready readers that will immediately buy it, and probably review it. There are also over 9000 people (total downloads) out there, who have read my work, and might look me up again, when they’re searching for something to read this fall. Now I just need to work on a niche to go with my “backlist,” and give prospective readers a reason to gravitate toward the Black Flagged series.

Enduring the next epic disaster

Does the current situation in Japan qualify as an “epic” disaster?

I don’t know, but the unfolding drama at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will cast the final vote.  All eyes are focused on the crisis, but what exactly are most of us seeing…and learning?

As a writer that recently launched a novel centered around an “epic” human disaster…The Jakarta Pandemic, I saw frightening similarities between the research driven scenario I had created for my story, and the media stories spilling out of Japan. I admit, there is a big difference between the instantly devastating impact of an earthquake/tsunami hit, and the slower burn of a gradually worsening pandemic disaster. However, I wasn’t thinking in terms of the immediate blunt physical impact.  I really focused on the after-effects.  Stories of evacuation, refugees, food and supply shortages…and not just for the immediate victims, but everyone ultimately affected, even as far away as Tokyo.

I especially considered the citizens forced to evacuate the 12 mile radius around the Fukushima plant.  What did they bring with them? How much did they have to bring? What about the people in the next distance ring, who were told to stay indoors? Do they have enough food, water and supplies to stay put for an extended period of time?  Or would they be forced to flee due to lack of necessities. Where are all of these people going?

I wondered if the individual families had ever planned for this type of disaster?  I know you can’t devise a plan to thwart a thirty foot high wall of water, but did people immediately head away from the coast after the earthquake? They certainly didn’t have much time to react.

I thought about the concept of what survivalist/preppers call a Bug Out Bag (BOB)…actually, they have an entire lingo (Bug Out Vehicle, Bug Out Location…etc).  A BOB is a conveniently located, pre-packed bag designed to get you (and your family) through the first 72 hours of an emergency that requires you to leave your home.  I won’t get into detail about the contents, but you get the idea.  If the tidal wave alarm sounds, or you experience an earthquake (and you live close to the ocean)…you can throw this bag into your BOV, start driving inland, and rest assured that you have the basics covered (cash, clothes, first-aid, food, water…more).

There are some basic preparation steps that can make an immense difference, whether you are stuck in your residence with no way to resupply essential items, or are forced to flee (immediately or with plenty of time)  a disaster zone.  Many of these preparations overlap, and can serve you well during something as minor as a nasty winter storm.

How much thought have you put into some of the more likely or unlikely disaster scenarios for your area?  (Even a two day power outage)