Terrible Analogies

The premise: An unknown adversary has detonated several nuclear weapons above the continental United States. The resulting EMP burst has destroyed nearly every electronic device on the ground (and flying in the air). All transportation has been disabled. The delicate web of interstate commerce is gone.  Food production in all its forms grinds to a halt.  All means of communication have been wipe out. The American way of life has been decimated; instantly thrust into a medieval existence.

Could you survive?

I ask because this was the very subject of one of the most thought-provoking and depressing novels I’ve read in many years.  Written by William R. Forstchen, One Second After details the life of one small North Carolina town as it struggles against a world torn apart once the electricity stops flowing and all electronics that we’ve come to rely on are rendered useless.

With no infrastructure to produce food, fuel and medication, the death rates quickly rise.  Diabetics can’t get their insulin, emotionally unstable people can’t get their meds, stores are looted, retirement homes turn into morgues, and with no medical care starvation and disease quickly becomes a bitter reality.  And then there are the roving bands of murderous thieves wandering the countryside doing what they do best, and they’ve set their sights directly on the town.

One Second After is undoubtedly the summation of a worst case, but very valid, scenario.  It’s a heart wrenching bookthat, at 300 pages is easily read in a few days, but it’s imagery and accounts of people both at their worst and their best is guaranteed to stay with you for a long time.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.  Not only does it validate the need to be prepared for any emergency, it’s also a topic that I’ve found to spark instant conversation whenever it’s brought up (I only learned about this book from a conversation at work).  It’s a strange feeling knowing that there are other people out there who have similar fears (fires / floods / earthquakes / tornados / etc…) and have starting taking it upon themselves to ensure that they’ll be well fed and protected should the worst happen.

The goal of this book is not to fear monger, but rather to expose our fragile system for what it is and how easily it can be disrupted.  It forces you to pull your head out of the sand and admit that, “yes, this can happen.”

After such a vicious mind-drill, I think I’ll have to temper the dispiriting message of this book with a reading of The Hobbit to zero-set myself.  

Oh, and the irony that I read this book on my Nook was not lost on me…

Many years ago, before life became a series of unusual events, I often frequented the used bookstores near downtown. Last year, out of curiosity, I jumped into the car and headed towards my old bookstore haunts, only to discover that they had long since been replaced by corporate clothing companies and nouveau-cuisine restaurants.

Gone were the musty aisles of books, their sepia pages and forgotten tales. Gone were the ancient patched leather chairs strewn about with abandon on worn throw rugs. Gone were the old proprietors and their uncanny knack of knowing which pile hid the tome of your desire. Gone were the penciled-in prices on the inside cover, the first editions by your favorite author, the hardcovers with their faded jackets and the novels with important passages lovingly underlined by a previous owner.

It’s a sad day when you discover that what you once loved is gone forever.

I’ve written about odd children’s books in the past, and instead of deriding them I whole-heartedly celebrate them. Sure…Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are well and fine, there’s something oddly entertaining and subversive about reading your child age-appropriate books about vampires, questionable elephants, and in this case, zombies:

10 Little Zombies: A Love Story, written by Andy Rash (if that is indeed his real name), is a look into the short and ill-fated lives of tiny innocents on the run from the undead.  And yes, love does/doesn’t conquer all at the end.  Sorry, I can’t give away the ending, but trust me when I say that it’ll put a satisfyingly awkward smile on your face.

See, shotguns are a useful defensive weapon, and one I’ll have at my side when the zombie wars break out…

Say there, niiice grouping, and only one missed shot.  Have you kids been practicing?

I was going to say something witty like “Don’t eat yellow acid,” but thought better of it because, frankly, it wasn’t all that funny, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice, so we’ll just pretend that I never wrote it, um-kay?  Thanks.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go read to Tyler before we put him to bed.

Have a great weekend, everyone!  As always, many thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you next week…

It’s been five months since Karin bought me my Nook and I’ve been keeping a list of the books I’ve read since then:

Wow.  22 books!

I’ve never gone through this many books is such a short amount of time.  I mean, I’ve always been an avid reader, but never to this extent.  I think the main reason for this rapid change in reading habits has to do with having at my disposal just about everything I’ve ever wanted to read in one place at one time.  I now have thousands of books stored on a single mini memory card that’s plugged into my Nook.  I can now read whatever I want to read whenever I want to read it.

My current goal is to work my way through the 100 best science fiction books ever written.  Not sure when I’ll complete this task, but I’m having a hella fun time working my way through ‘em.

If I had to recommend anything from this list, I’d have to urge you to read Ringworld (looking forward to reading The Ringworld Engineers), Hyperion/The Fall Of Hyperion (it’s a two-parter),  and the Hitchhiker’s series.

I had high hopes for Dead Babies, but they way in which the group treated Keith the midget went beyond the pale.  But then again Keith was no saint to begin with.

Next up on my radar is the next book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, Wolves Of The Calla.

Oh, and Green Bay won the Super Bowl.  Go, Pack!

My favorite Stephen King quote:

People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy… and I keep it in a jar on my desk.

Just wrapped up Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last night and am now one hundred pages into Stephen King’s Under The Dome.

Man, that Stieg Larsson really seems to love misogynistic, hyper-violent characters who enjoy partaking in unsafe sex with as many partners as can be squeezed between 500 pages.  Other than the rapes, incest, sodomy, torture and mutilations this was an entertaining read.  No wonder Quinten Tarantino wanted to make the screen adaptation of this book.

But I’m a sucker for well-written shock and mystery, and will most likely start in on The Girl Who Played With Fire next week after I finish Under The Dome.  I hear that the main characters will be back for this second book in Larsson’s trilogy.  Curious to see how they’ll be fleshed out after their initial debut in TGWtDT…