SHTF reading

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I figured I would start a thread for SHTF books that people enjoyed.

I just finished One Second After. I thought it was pretty good.

I am now currently reading 77 Days in September. Good so far, I just with the main character was a bit more situationally aware. [grin]

Both of these are available in the Apple Store, and 77 Days has a Kindle version.
 
Lights Out is good. One Second after was good. Tom Sherry's Deep Winter Trilogy is pretty good. I like the first 2 books of it. Lucifers Hammer and Alas Babylon are both classics and excellent.
 
Lights Out and Alas, Babylon are the best I've read so far. The Rawles books are ok, but if you read his blog you know pretty much who's who and what's going to happen, and the characters are paper thin for the most part.

I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Holding Their Ground series. That is probably next on my list. (a bit pricey for fiction, though)

I also digressed a bit into WW II memoirs. Curahee! And With the Old Breed give you a good sense of what it's like for the people who walked into the killing fields, just how few walked out, and may help you prepare for the potential reality beyond the book/movie fantasy.
 
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"The Year Startdust Fell" http://www.amazon.com/Year-When-Sta...1343565578&sr=8-3&keywords=year+stardust+fell , about when a meteor leaves some dust in the air which seizes up any metal bearings surfaces, which quickly brings civilization down quite a few pegs.

"Denver Is Missing" , http://www.amazon.com/Denver-Is-Mis...709&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Denver+Is+Missing (very hard to find!). When drilling a deep research well, a giant pocket of nitrogen is released, making a cloud of gas which goes around the world causing much of civilization to get asphyxiated.


Lucifer's Hammer (http://www.amazon.com/Lucifers-Hamm...TF8&qid=1343565826&sr=1-2&keywords=hammerfall) A giant asteroid hits ocean near Los Angeles.

Earth Abides (http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Abides-...8&qid=1343566224&sr=8-1&keywords=earth+abides) A plague wipes out 99% of the population. The main character is
kind of a dweeb, in that he is technologically quite inept, who ends up in a small tribe in Los Angeles.

"Day Of The Triffids", (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1332653/) (http://www.amazon.com/Day-Triffids-...343566438&sr=1-1&keywords=day+of+the+triffids)
A meteor shower causes anyone who viewed it to become blind. Most of the world's population views it. Chaos results.


"The Scarlet Plague" (http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/Scarlet/) excellent plague story by Jack London

"A Journal of the Plague Year" (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/376/376-h/376-h.htm) fiction about the Black Plague, written about 50 years after the 1655 plague, by Daniel Defoe.

Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction
 
Some non-fiction SHTF preparation reading:

When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes, by Cody Lundin

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life, by Neil Strauss

The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence, by Gavin de Becker

Tracker by Tom Brown, Jr.

Fiction:

Cold Camp, by TimJ - pdf on the internet

Alongside Night, by J. Neil Schulman - free internet download.

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, by Cory Doctorow

ETA Fiction: Enemies Foreign and Domestic Trilogy. Books 2 and 3 are SHTF stories. But, read Book 1 first! These are great stories written by Matthew Bracken.

Book 1: Enemies Foreign and Domestic
Book 2: Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista
Book 3: Foreign Enemies and Traitors
 
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Here are a few more suggestions for post apocalyptic fiction fans:

World Made By Hand by J. Kunstler - Post peak oil, pandemic and resource wars
The Witch of Hebron by J. Junstler - See above
The Road - C McCarthy - Post nuclear or meteor?
Into the Forest - J. Heglund - Posr economic collapse - female perspective
The Unit - Terry Dehart - Post nuclear, this one was just ok
 
299 Days -a 10 book series with books 1 (The Preparation) and 2 (The Collapse) currently out. You can get them from Amazon. The author is a member on The Survival Podcast forum (Heavy G).

While the books won't win awards for phenomenal writing style they are very good. I found book 1 a bit hard to get into because the style was a bit rough but hang in there and you will be grateful you did. It is very timely as the collapse is economic in nature and the wheels don't come off all in one shot but slowly over time. The first 2 books take place in the present and very near future so it is easy to believe that these events could really happen. As a matter of fact the tipping point comes as a result of another round of QE. Check it out!
 
I'd like to suggest two new books: "Shut Down" by WR. Flynn and the sequel "Buck", same author. Admittedly not as well written or constructed as "Lights Out" or "One Second AFter" but similar in story and tone. Not the best reads in the world but tolerable.

Rome
 
Lights Out is good. One Second after was good. Tom Sherry's Deep Winter Trilogy is pretty good. I like the first 2 books of it. Lucifers Hammer and Alas Babylon are both classics and excellent.

Lights Out was very good. Lucifer's Hammer, Alas Babylon both excellent stories. I was a little disappointed with the Union Creek Journal (http://unioncreekjournal.wordpress.com/) but it definitely had it's moments.
 
I enjoyed the Union Creek Journal except for the ending. Of course the author says there will be more but I got the feeling that he just wanted to end the story and be done with it. Talented writer, however.

Rome
 
I'd like to suggest two new books: "Shut Down" by WR. Flynn and the sequel "Buck", same author. Admittedly not as well written or constructed as "Lights Out" or "One Second AFter" but similar in story and tone. Not the best reads in the world but tolerable.

Rome

Thank you!! I couldnt remember the author or title of the 2 Flynn books when I tried to order them last night.
 
A little off the path of these books, there is a series of books by Leo Frankowski surrounding a modern day engineer from Poland inadvertently winding up in 13th century Poland 10 years before the Mongol invasion. Despite being a good "socialist" he is forced to apply capitalist methods and modern technology concepts to kick start his "people" to a point they can win the confrontation he knows is coming.

Actually a lot better than I just made it sound. http://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624

Yes I know Mark Twain already wrote it, but it is a nice take on the concept and Twain probably boosted the idea from Verne or Defoe or somebody, anyway.
 
They're pretty far fetched but entertaining and for the price ($.99 on Kindle when I got them), but The Remaining is decent. There are 2 books with a 3rd are on the way.

Essentially the government plans for SHTF situation and sets up some agents across the country to rebuild society if something should happen.
 
Lucifer's Hammer is a great SHTF book, once I finish school this quarter I need to read some of the others listed above.
 
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I just finished reading Collision Course, by David Crawford. He is also the author of Lights Out. I have read Lights Out a bunch of times, and have been looking forward to reading his new book for over a year. I had read the first six chapters online, when the working title was Lost and Found.

It's good, but it is no Lights Out. First of all, it's a lot shorter. You can easily read it in about 4 hours. I think he has improved as a writer, in his character development and storytelling. There is just not nearly as much meat to this one.

If you like the genre, then I recommend it. More for entertainment than education.
 
Anyone else start reading Crawford's latest yet...Collision Course? I'm about 100 pages into it so far. Pretty typical SHTF scenario. So far so good. Looking for other opinions.
 
Just finished Collision Course - it was OK, not as good as lights out, and the ending .....meh....

I just finished "77 Days".....Same theme as Lights Out, the aftermath of EMP, and the struggle of a guy walking home from Texas to MOntana...

Makes the idea of a pull cart for walking a good idea ( see this link from Rawles Survivalblog : do it yourself survival cart.
 
Just read books 3 and 4 in the "299 Days" series by Glen Tate. Not a bad read. Lots of things to think about in there.
 
I just started the first in a series of 10 titled "Wrath and Righteousness". By Chris Stewart. 2.99 on kindle. Pretty frickin cool so far.
Just finished "Agenda 21" Glen Beck..... real good. (circle sign) scary
"Patriots" Rawles----little too techy but cool nonetheless
"Lights Out" David Crawford....loved it
Thanks to all for the new ones I haven't read yet....77days, collision course etc.
good thread
 
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