Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles
Not a great novel, but a remarkably well-documented "how to" guide on several points. All the products and companies he mentions are actually real and he gives tons of details about where to get things and how to do things.
Anyway, just wondering if anybody else had read anything good about post-SHTF scenarios.
"Alas Babylon" by Pat Franks. Post nuclear strike survival in a small town in Florida. It's set in 1959, so some of the references are a bit dated, but it is a very realistic treatment of getting along when the power stops, the trucks stop coming and no-one comes when you need help.
I like particularly that the characters act and react in a beleivable manner.
Read "alas, babylon" in high school, it is a very good book...
"Lights out" by Halffast, you can find it at survival monkey in the extended info section... its about a country wide emp burst and the after effects, really good...
__________________ 12-21-2012: Party like theres no tomorrow!!!
It's about a tie between The Stand by Stephen King and Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein. King wins on the more-likely-to-happen scale in terms of TEOTWAWKI. Heinlein wins on the more probable post-disaster reestablishment of society level and the motivations for cultural reestablishment. I know King was making a point with his Good vs. Evil subplot; and making Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg as representatives of good and evil as he did as the focuses for either side simplifies things. However, I feel that Heinlein painted a much more probable and realistic picture of what would happen once the survivors got past the tribal/gang stage of the post-apocalyptic period.
I just finished patriots a couple weeks ago and it was pretty good in terms of realisim and how to. Another good book series is dies the fire by S.M. Stirling. It is a little scifi in terms of a giant emp storm wiping everything out and heat based engines wont ever work again. It knocks everyone back to the mid evil era of survival and is pretty entertaining.
I just finished patriots a couple weeks ago and it was pretty good in terms of realism and how to. Another good book series is dies the fire by S.M. Stirling. It is a little scifi in terms of a giant EMP storm wiping everything out and heat based engines wont ever work again. It knocks everyone back to the mid evil era of survival and is pretty entertaining.
I haven't read that one yet, but I have to wonder one thing.
I can understand late model, electronically controlled internal combustion engines not running after an EMP event. I had a 1972 VW Thing I was very fond of because it has a mechanical voltage regulator and no electronics at all, not even a radio, because it would be immune to an EMP. Older diesel engines use a mechanical injection system and also would be immune.
But let's say for a minute that a doubletalk generator plot device somehow does manage to prevent internal combustion from working by interfering with the electricity required to run the engine. It's hardly a new idea. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Doomsday Affair explored a device called an Energy Damper that could do that and much more depending on how it was tuned back in the 1960s. The problem I have with what you're saying about Stirling's book (I've enjoyed his collaborations with McCaffrey and Pournelle but haven't read any of his solo stuff yet) is the inability of heat engines to function.
What about external combustion engines? Specifically, the steam engine, either steam turbine or reciprocating?
There were steam engines at work before the invention of the telegraph, much less radio. All of their regulating, what little of it they had, was done by mechanical governors. Electricity doesn't enter into it. They are immune from EMP effects because they don't require electricity to work. For those heat engines to stop working, you'd have to have a EMP storm that would eliminate fire altogether, permanently. I don't think this has been thought through, nor do I think it's possible. Fire does not depend on electricity. Therefore, external combustion would still be possible.
I'll have to read the book, but it does occur to me this one stretches the Believability Factor well past the breaking point. Even if you manage to knock out electricity permanently and internal combustion with it, what it means to me is we'd revert to a level of existence something on the order of the 1890s with major modifications. After the initial massive die-off of the urban dwellers, who would starve to death in about two months because of the inability to transport food in the First World nations, the survivors would set about either developing a land locomotive capable of using the exiting highway systems or would revive the railroad. In about three years, if they wanted it, you would see the return of the passenger airship, probably scaled-down Zeppelins. Battleships would be back with a vengeance; so would passenger liners. The world would be massively changed, but humanity would not fall all the way back to the medieval/Renaissance period. I just don't see it happening.
The true survival epic of "They Fought Alone" by James Taylor. The true story about Colonel Wendell Fertig and his guerilla force of American and Filipino soldiers and civilians who refused to surrender and who took to the hills and hidden plantations in the vast interior of Mindanao during the brutal Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The true epic is filled with descriptions of '03 Springfields, Model of 1917 US Enfields, Type 99 Arisakas, BARs, Thompsons, 1911s, etc. There are chilling encounters with Japanese patrols, and battles using homemade ammunition made out of brass curtain rods, lead weights, and homemade primers and powder. I heard they are making a movie about it. Fertig was a strong proponent of the armed citizen. Let’s hope leftist Hollywood doesn’t liberalize it too bad.
__________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Was "Your" Voice Heard Today? NRA-ILA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The true survival epic of "They Fought Alone" by James Taylor. The true story about Colonel Wendell Fertig and his guerilla force of American and Filipino soldiers and civilians who refused to surrender and who took to the hills and hidden plantations in the vast interior of Mindanao during the brutal Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The true epic is filled with descriptions of '03 Springfields, Model of 1917 US Enfields, Type 99 Arisakas, BARs, Thompsons, 1911s, etc. There are chilling encounters with Japanese patrols, and battles using homemade ammunition made out of brass curtain rods, lead weights, and homemade primers and powder. I heard they are making a movie about it. Fertig was a strong proponent of the armed citizen. Let’s hope leftist Hollywood doesn’t liberalize it too bad.
I'm going to call the bookstore and see if they have this one, if not, if they can order it. Looks like an excellent read. Thanks.
I'm going to call the bookstore and see if they have this one, if not, if they can order it. Looks like an excellent read. Thanks.
I read it about a year ago. The original version is out of print but still available online. Wendell Fertig was a mining engineer in civilian life and an engineering officer in the Army Reserves when he got caught up in the Japanese invasion of the Philippines right after Pearl Harbor. With no infantry experience, he created an underground government and army that fought against the Japanese. They only later received intermittent help from American submarines which ran supplies in from Australia and right up the rivers and tributaries of Mindanao on moonless nights about once a month. The book describes how Fertig brokered agreements between Catholic Filipinos and Muslim Moros to stop fighting eachother and help him fight the Japanese. Fertig would later be an architect of the Army Special Forces during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations before going back to the University of Colorado to teach mining engineering.
Folks, I made an error in the author's name. His name is John Keates. I included some images of Colonel Fertig from the attached site.
I'm going to call the bookstore and see if they have this one, if not, if they can order it. Looks like an excellent read. Thanks.
My guess is that the original book will go back into print after the movie is released. Some people just have to see it on the screen first. In the meantime, the book is available both new and used. The original was a red and blue hard cover with gold trim. You'll still see them for sale online. I haven't seen any in the original dust jackets.
__________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Was "Your" Voice Heard Today? NRA-ILA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My guess is that the original book will go back into print after the movie is released. Some people just have to see it on the screen first. In the meantime, the book is available both new and used. The original was a red and blue hard cover with gold trim. You'll still see them for sale online. I haven't seen any in the original dust jackets.
I called the local library this morning. They don't have it but are going to try to locate it through their lending program with other libraries. Thought I would go this route first. I've always preferred to read a book. I find that usually the movie is a letdown if you've read the book.
Lucifers Hammer for novel probably. Dies the Fire had some very interesting scenarios as well...but those are based on not having access to any technology more modern then a bicycle and bow.
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