Feral Nation Series Book Three

The latest installment in my newest post-apocalyptic fiction series has been released and is now available in paperback and in the Kindle ebook edition. This series has been well-received by my regular readers and there will be much more to come as the story unfolds in an America torn by civil unrest, terror attacks and insurrection.

Feral Nation - Tribulation picks right up where Book Two left off in the swamps of south Lousiana, with Eric Branson making preparations for his overland journey to Colorado in search of his daughter.

Find out more and grab your copy at the links below:

Kindle Edition

Paperback Edition

Book Two of the Feral Nation Series Has Been Released!

Thanks to reader interest in my latest post-apocalyptic series, I have been able to complete and publish the first two books of the series this year as planned. Feral Nation - Insurrection: Book Two of the Feral Nation Series was released today in both the Kindle edition and paperback.

The second book picks right up where Book One left off, with Eric Branson and his new sidekick, Jonathan, getting ready to set sail from south Florida to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana, where Eric's brother is a deputy sheriff in a rural parish bordering the Atchafalaya River. This second installment of the series gets into a little more of the overall situation in the country, which is a state of chaos due to anarchist riots and terror attacks. Unlike my Pulse and Darkness After series, the problems that arise in this series are human-caused, and not too far removed from reality considering some of the recent happenings in that have been in the news.

These first two installments are just the beginning of a bigger storyline that I will be exploring in the upcoming books in the series. If you like survival action and adventure, be sure to check out Feral Nation - Insurrection at the links below the cover image:

Get Feral Nation - Insurrection on Amazon here:

Kindle edition

Paperback edition

Feral Nation Series: A New Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller

I am in the process of finishing up the first book in a new survival fiction series that I think readers of this blog and my other novels will relate to. Set in America in the near future, this series of stories will deal with a collapse scenario caused by coordinated terror attacks, riots and widespread civil unrest. Considering the situation that is unfolding in Europe now and potentially spreading, I think this type of SHTF scenario is more likely than the solar EMP collapse I have written about in my previous novels.

Regardless of the premise though, these books will be full of action and adventure as the main character navigates the dangers of a country torn by anarchy in an attempt to find his ex-wife and daughter he left behind while fighting the wars in Europe. Here is the cover for the first book: Feral Nation - Infiltration, with the description below. It is available for preorder on Amazon now, and will be released in the Kindle edition and paperback early next month:

INFILTRATION: FERAL NATION SERIES BOOK ONE: POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS, TERROR ATTACKS, MASSIVE RIOTS...

In the near future, a nation is in peril as anarchy spreads in the wake of coordinated attacks by foreign and domestic terrorists. The growing civil unrest and insurrection in the aftermath forces those in power to enact harsh countermeasures in an effort to maintain order and security. Battles between dissident factions rage in the streets from coast-to-coast as many cities and towns become war zones. Travel and communications are severely restricted, food and fuel supplies disappear, and the economy teeters on the brink of collapse...

Professional security contractor, Eric Branson, has been plying his trade overseas, fighting the ongoing insurgencies raging across Europe, when he realizes America faces the same fate. Before he can make his way home to south Florida, a powerful hurricane deals the final blow to an infrastructure already ravaged by burning and looting, leaving survivors cut off and on their own. It is here amid the death and destruction that Eric begins his search for those he left behind, and here that his warrior skills will be tested as never before.

Preorder Feral Nation - Infiltration on Amazon

Interview Tomorrow on Destiny Survival Radio

I'll be talking with John Wesley Smith on his Destiny Survival Radio show again tomorrow.  We'll spend an hour discussing a variety of topics, and especially how works of fiction can sometimes be more effective than nonfiction in opening the eyes of those who might not otherwise take an interest in prepping or survival topics.  I've had a lot of comments to this effect already since the release of The Pulse, especially among some of my own friends and family who could not really relate to books like Bug Out and may perceive interest in such topics as fanatical.  Reading a fictional story of an unfolding SHTF scenario sheds a whole new light on the matter though, and people can start to visualize how such an event could really happen.

You can join us tomorrow (Thursday, July 26) at 1:00pm CDT right here on the embedded player, or listen in later anytime you like after the show:

Listen to internet radio with Preparedness Radio on Blog Talk Radio

And here's a link to a newspaper review written by a friend with the perspective mentioned above - a seasoned outdoorsman and experienced adventurer, but not a person who considers himself to be a survivalist:  http://www.enterprise-journal.com/sports/outdoors/article_ad4130e0-ce3a-11e1-8f64-0019bb2963f4.html

For a review from the perspective of a prepper and survivalist, here's Jim Cobb's take on the book from his blog, Survival Weekly:  http://survivalweekly.com/2269/the-pulse-by-scott-b-williams/  Jim will soon be a fellow Ulysses Press author, with his own book: Prepper's Home Defense coming out in October.

Interesting Stuff from "Boat Bits" Blog

It's always interesting to me to see the growing number of new articles about survival and SHTF concerns published on sites that are primarily focused on other pursuits.  But it's not really surprising to see this kind of thing on sailing websites and blogs, because people who are self-reliant and contrarian enough to make a lifestyle out of living aboard and cruising places on small sailboats tend to spend a lot of time thinking about these things anyway.  I first started meeting families and individuals living this lifestyle more than twenty years ago, on my kayak trip through the Caribbean.  Even back then many of them I talked to expressed the same kinds of concerns that are frequently discussed on survival sites today.  A big part of the reason most of them chose the independence of the cruising life is that they feel safer.  There's nothing quite as reassuring as having a well-found vessel under you, capable of taking you anywhere in the world as long as the wind still blows. 

One of my all-time favorite sailing bloggers posted a review of The Pulse last week and then went on to write more about the over-reliance on technology that most of us modern sailors have in common.  The fact is, while there may never be a catastrophic solar flare as strong as the one in my novel that takes out the grid throughout the hemisphere, any number of things, including deliberate action by the government, can render the man-made constellation of orbiting GPS satellites inoperable.

Then, on the other hand, maybe there will be a massive solar flare sometime in the near future.  The author of Boat Bits also sent me this yesterday:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/03/nasa-magnetic-storms-possible-after-mondays-massive-solar-flare/

In another example of a site normally devoted to recreational boating posting about a possible SHTF/TEOTWAWKI situation, this article on suitable boat designs for such an event recently appeared in Duckworks, an online magazine for amateur boatbuilders:

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/12/columns/guest/zeiger/index.html

The author brings out some really good points to consider in choosing such a boat to build, and even mentions some of my favorite designers, such as James Wharram.  I plan to expand my thoughts on this one in another post soon, as bug out boats were a big part of my book, Bug Out Vehicles and Shelters, and of course, I'm currently building just such a boat myself.

Coming in July: THE PULSE: A Novel of Surviving the Collapse of the Grid

Most regular readers here know that I was working on a novel over the last few months since Bug Out Vehicles and Shelters was released.  Some of you may have already seen the book's Amazon page, but if not, here's a preview of the front and back covers.  I'll post more detailed information about this book here soon.  In the meantime, if you'd like a preview, the "Look Inside This Book" feature has been enabled on Amazon, so you can read the opening scenes and see if you'd like to read more.  The book should be available in print and Kindle form early next month.

From the back cover:

THE END OF THE ELECTRIC AGE

As massive solar flares bombard the Earth, an intense electromagnetic pulse instantly destroys the power grid throughout North America. Within hours, desperate citizens panic and anarchy descends. Surrounded by chaos, Casey Drager, a student at Tulane University, must save herself from the havoc in the streets of New Orleans. Casey and two of her friends bug out to the dangerous backwaters of Mississippi where they are forced to use their survival skills to seek refuge and fight for their lives.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Casey’s father, Artie, finds himself cut off and stranded. His Caribbean sailing vacation has turned into every parent’s nightmare. Warding off pirates and tackling storms, Artie uses the stars to guide him toward his daughter.

The Pulse is a compelling action-adventure novel that reveals what it would take to survive in a world lit only by firelight, where all the rules have changed and each person must fend for himself.

Book Giveaway: Survival Medicine Handbook

I have an extra signed copy of The Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook to give away to one lucky reader of Bug Out Survival.  This book currently goes for $31.49 on Amazon and is jam-packed with information that makes it well worth the price.  You may be familiar with the authors: Amy Alton and Dr. Joseph Alton, through their Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy's website and podcast.  They were kind enough to send me a review copy of their new book, as well as an extra copy for one of my readers:

This book is unique among practical medical handbooks in that it specifically addresses the issues of medical help when conventional means of help is not available, such as in a post-SHTF scenario.  Topics include all sorts of problems ranging from sanitation, hygiene and infections to environmental factors that can lead to heat stroke, hypothermia, burns, smoke inhalation and even snake bite and stings.  There are many additional resources in the back of this 440-page book, including a glossary of medical terminology and a list of YouTube Video Resources.

Look for a full review of the book here in the near future as soon I get caught up enough to read it in depth (As many of you know, I've been quite busy with my own latest book project).  In the meantime, if you'd like a chance at winning this signed copy of the Survival Medicine Handbook, just leave a comment on this post with a username and I'll put all the names in a hat and pick the winner one week from tonight.  It doesn't matter what you say in your comment, everyone gets an equal chance based on the luck of the draw.  Look for the winner to be announced here next Monday night, and good luck!

Short-term Bug Out Scenarios

Keep This in Mind: Bugging Out Does Not Always Imply a Long Stay in the Woods:

Not all bug-out situations will involve long-term escape and evasion in a remote stretch of wilderness or other uninhabited area.  Some people may get the impression that bugging out means an "all or nothing" strategy of backwoods survival, when in fact the chances of having to implement such a serious bug-out plan are much less than the possibilities of a short term bug-out escape. My philosophy has always been to be over-prepared for any given endeavor, whether a long-distance sea kayak trip, a backpacking trip or an offshore sailboat passage.  If you feel confident you are ready for an experience of much greater duration and difficulty than what you will likely run into, then everything else will seem easy by comparison.

With regards to the self-sufficient bug-out bag, the idea is that if you are prepared and equipped to survive as long as necessary while on the move in a remote area, you will thus by default be equally or more so prepared for events of shorter duration.  You may not need to hunker down in the nearest river bottom swamp or retreat to a mountain wilderness at all.  Perhaps you simply need the gear to travel cross-country to reach your own pre-stocked cabin, or the home of a friend or relative in an area unaffected by the event that forces you to leave.  By having the gear and having a plan of action that includes knowing where you can go and how you will get there, you have taken the necessary steps to look out for your own evacuation and security and you will not become a refugee as so many who bash the bug-out option would have you believe.  Refugees are the unprepared who are waiting to be rescued or herded in buses or other means to a safe area, leaving their fate in the hands of the authorities and others.  If your bug-out bag includes everything you need to survive an extended stay in an uninhabited area and you have the skills and knowledge to do so, then any thing less will be that much easier.

Having a well-thought out bug-out plan prepares you for the worst-case scenario.  That doesn’t mean such an all-out SHTF total breakdown scenario is bound to happen, and the plan or parts of the plan can serve you well in a lesser event.  You may simply need to get out of the danger zone of a terror attack, or retreat from an approaching hurricane, or leave a city that has broken out in riots.  The bug-out bag can also serve as a get home bag in certain situations where you may be traveling and some event happens that would make it difficult to reach your family and get them to safety if not for the gear you are carrying. 

With this in mind, the well-stocked bug-out bag will have everything you need to meet the essentials of survival: proper clothing, shelter and the means to make fire, as well as food and water for the first 3 days.  But it should go beyond what is often called a “72-hour bag” and include essential survival tools to include a hunting weapon and other tools to procure more food, purify the water you will have to use when you exhaust your supply, and construct more substantial shelters if needed.   With this sort of bug-out bag and the skills to use what it contains that you should practice in advance, you will be prepared three days and much more if necessary. 

Dealing with Potential Aggressors in a Bug Out Situation

I just read a couple of very interesting posts by RG Padgett on his blog: Survive the Worst.  The author and his family ran into trouble when their living environment in an urban apartment quickly deteriorated because of a sudden influx of troublemakers into the complex, brought on by the manager's desire to fill a large number of vacant units.  He describes how this situation developed in his post Vote With Your Feet, and then offers some great advice on security and diffusing potential attacks in the follow up: Lessons Learned From a Real World Bug Out.  Padgett makes some good points here that are not often discussed when the subject of bugging out comes up. 

In particular, he stresses awareness of your surroundings and those who live around you, as well as awareness of warning signs such as symbols, graffiti, dress and habits of gang members and other potential criminals who might pose a threat.  He also recommends maintaining a low profile by blending in and not doing anything to stand out, yet also remaining careful not to show any signs of weakness, which is easily detected by human predators who might do you harm just as it is in the predator-prey relationship in the wild. 

These two posts bring back vivid memories to me of my experiences in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in 2005.  At the time, I owned a small cruising sailboat that I was docking in a real backwater marina in a bayou near the western edge of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  My brother and his family lived in a house located just a few blocks off the beach in Gulfport.  In the last 24-hours of this monster storm's approach, when it became apparent that we were gonna get nailed by this one, I secured the boat as best I could with every anchor and mooring line I had on board, and my brother and his family took as many of their possesions as they could and left their home as well.  We all waited it out in Jackson, far from the worst of it, but two days later, as soon as enough downed trees were cut off of one lane of U.S. Highway 49 to make it somewhat passable, we were anxious to get back to find out if my brother still had a home, and if I still had a boat.

As far as getting there, we were better off than most, in that I had taken five 6-gallon jerry cans off the boat and had filled them all with gasoline while it was still available.  With my four-cylinder Mazda truck, we had enough range to get there and back with ease, as well and deal with potential contingencies.  We also had plenty of food and drinking water, as well as tools, weapons and ammunition.  I covered the jerry cans that were lashed in the bed of the pickup with a tarp, for concealment.  We had already heard reports filtering in on the news of looting, car-jacking and other craziness, and it made us nervous to be toting so much in the way of supplies when there were people who would do anything to get enough gas to leave the area.  At this stage of the game, a few National Guard troops were just moving into the area, but it would be much longer before security was restored. 

We made it to the slab that was all that remained of my brother's house, after having to park several blocks away and hike through the rubble of his devastated neighborhood.  The we made our way to the  closest point we could drive to the marina where I had kept the boat, and I off-loaded the rowing dinghy I had in the back of the truck and left my brother there to guard our stuff while I made my way down the bayou to see if there was anything left.  The entire area was an apocalyptic scene of 70-foot steel hulled shrimp boats thrown high and dry far into the woods, tangled up with cruising sailboats, vehicles and parts of houses.  I didn't expect much, and sure enough, when I reached the marina, there was no sign of my boat.  It would take much longer than a short foray down the bayou to find out where it had come to rest, but for now, I was nervous about leaving the truck for too long.

As it turned out, it was a good thing there were two of us and that my brother was armed.  While he was waiting, two men approached out of the woods and began asking questions, one trying to circle around behind him while the first attempted to distract him with small talk.  They were from one of the fishing vessels, and had obviously lost everything, but they weren't asking for help, just appraising the truck and looking at the tarp-covered goods in the back.  He had some nervous moments as they sized him up, deterred only by the .45 on his hip that he thought he was going to have to draw.  By the time I got back, they had disappeared into the woods again and we weren't sure if they were watching or not as we quickly  loaded the dinghy and got out of there.  This was certainly one case where a show of strength saved the day, and my brother's cool response diffused a situation that could have gotten ugly fast. 

Oil Clean-Up Contractors Not Talking

My friend and canoeing partner, Ernest Herndon, who's a reporter for the Enterprise-Journal newspaper in southwest Mississippi sent me this story from the AP about a gathering of BP-contracted personnel from all over the country converging on the Mississippi Gulf coast.  Interesting that these folks are so tight-lipped and locked down with all that security. 

 3,700 ready to respond to BP oil spill
KAREN NELSON,The Sun Herald

 

 BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — They'll tell you where they're from, but otherwise they won't comment — the hundreds of men and women who've been brought in to the Mississippi Coast to work on the BP oil spill. Almost 3,700 are here now, although as time passes workers who had been brought in from all over the U.S. are being replaced by Mississippians. More than 40 percent are local now, a BP spokeswoman said.

The major deployment areas the company has set up along the coast from Pascagoula to Waveland are like hives, with workers moving in and out near rows and rows of equipment for vacuuming, hauling, bagging and moving about the roads, bayous and open water. BP's Marti Powers said the company has contracted with more than 160 companies — some as far away as Norway and some as close as Ocean Springs. Those companies, in turn, hire work forces set to hit the ground running. They're well-schooled on not talking, and each of the major deployment sites has a makeshift security-guard stand.

At BP's "north staging" area, one of two near the industrial area in Pascagoula on Tuesday, the Sun Herald was greeted by an armed security guard wearing a Taser and a local police department shirt who said, "Nobody comes by here who's not authorized. That's all I can tell you."

That's the norm at each site, Powers said. Why all the rock-hard security and secrecy? After all, it's an oil spill, not a matter of national security. But Powers said it's important. She said BP doesn't want anyone wandering onto the property, and it doesn't want its supervisors interrupted. And as for workers talking, "They don't have the big picture," she said.

It may not be handling national security but the operations are equipment-intensive. A DMR worker said, "It's like a war zone over there," talking about in Pascagoula , where two BP staging sites and the Marine Spill Response Corp. are located. Frank Wescovich with DMR said there was so much going on he couldn't find a place to park. He walked a mile to get to one site amid all the people, boats, overhead helicopters and trucks.
A NOAA spokesman called BP's network of staging areas in this state "significant operations."

One local contractor told reporters it was serving workers 70,000 meals a week. Employees Tuesday confirmed the company has had to ramp up operations and rent extra space to handle the load. Yet BP's Powers said many of the workers are on hold, waiting to be called up.

Those who coast residents see walking the beaches in groups of five to 15 are responding to calls of something washed up or are picking up debris of some type. Although some at the Joint Incident Command in Mobile say Mississippi preparedness is moving into a new phase, Powers said Tuesday, "There's a lot of waiting going on.
"We've had people in Mississippi for several weeks," she said. "We have a lot of people ready to work if something were to happen on our shores."

What's the Truth About the BP Oil Spill?

 
Here in south Mississippi and other areas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, this on-going nightmare of gushing oil spewing unchecked into the waters of our very backyard is on nearly everyone's mind.  It's especially hard-hitting to me, as a person who has kayaked and camped along hundreds of miles of this coast from Louisiana to Key West and sailed thousands of coastal and offshore miles upon these waters.

For awhile, I tried to keep hoping that the problem would be quickly resolved and fears of a worst-case scenario would prove unfounded.  Now it's becoming more evident every day that this is a disaster of far greater magnitude than BP, the government and most of the media would have us believe.   So just how bad is it, and how bad can it possibly get?  What will the long-term effects be?

I've been asked by a couple of magazine editors that I write for to report on the impacts in my local area - along the Mississippi coast - and I wrote one early piece for SAIL magazine a couple of weeks ago when oil slicks were expected to wash ashore on Mississippi's pristine barrier islands.  At that time the oil remained offshore though, and was pushed west by strong winds to where it is now inundating the fragile marshlands of south Louisiana.  Here in the Mississippi area, it's too early to tell what's going to happen, but one thing's for sure, if the new efforts being made tonight and tomorrow fail to plug up the leaks, and some other successful solution doesn't come through soon after, life as we know it along the Gulf of Mexico could be changed forever.

A massive die-off of marine life is almost certain, what is uncertain is how far-reaching that die-off will be and how it will affect every other thing both natural and man-made along the shores of the Gulf.  Some of the scenarios presented by the scientists that study such things are grim indeed.  Survival Acres blog has been providing thoughts on these predictions and warnings and posting links to a variety of articles detailing them.  Some of these may seem far-fetched, but then again, we are in unknown territory here with such an unprecedented event.   Could something as unexpected as a massive oil well blowout like this precipitate a massive exodus from an entire region of the United States?  To ponder some of these possibilities, check out this post and some of the embedded links:  The Dead Zone

Kel-Tec Sub 9

Mark Knopfler's song Cleaning My Gun in my last post reminded me of a job that needed doing this morning: stripping and cleaning my Kel-Tec Sub-9 carbine that I'd stashed behind the seat in my truck and forgotten about for awhile.  The Sub-9 is a compact carbine that's easy enough to misplace, seeing how it's only 16 inches long when folded:

This folding feature makes it extremely handy and readily concealable.  Folded away, the Sub-9 will fit unobtrusively in a lap top computer bag, brief case or many other everyday bags.  It can be folded with a magazine locked in place, and deployed almost instantly by unfolding it and racking the slide to chamber a round.

Many readers are probably familiar with the Kel-Tec Sub-2000, which is the current version of this carbine, but may not have seen a Sub-9.  The main difference is that many parts the Sub-9 are built of aircraft grade aluminum rather than the polymer utilized on the less-expensive Sub-2000.  The main reason Kel-Tec changed the design was to get the production costs down.  I got lucky when I found this one that a friend had and bought it at good price along with several mags.  The only downside is that mine is set up to use S&W Model 59 mags rather than Glock 17/19, which would be ideal.   The  mags shown here are 25-rounders, and though they won't interchange with my Glock 19, this set up still represents a respectable amount of firepower in a small package.

The folding configuration is ideal, but unfortunately none of these Kel-Tec carbines, in either the Sub-9 or Sub-2000 version come in a suitable caliber to make good primary bug-out weapons, as the 9mm and .40 S&W are far from ideal for hunting.  But for a general purpose, concealable truck gun or close-range carbine, one of these could be very handy for SHTF.  I've found mine to be absolutely reliable, with no malfunctions in well over 1,000 rounds, and the accuracy is decent out to about 100 yards.  More on the current Sub-2000 at the Kel-Tec website:  http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/sub2000.htm

Anyone Willing to Demonstrate Skills/Retreat Location Planning for a TV Show?

I've done several interviews over the phone lately, both with print journalists and television producers working on stories related to survivalist in general and SHTF prepping - both from the bugging-out and bugging-in perspective.  There's an unprecedented interest in these subjects, as readers here obviously know.

One of the more interesting phone calls I got was from a producer in California who is working on a show for one of the major cable television channels.  (These people find me through the hard work of the publicist at Ulysses Press - thanks Karma!  That's one of the benefits of having a book published through an outfit that really knows what they're doing when it comes to marketing and publicity.)

Back to this specific show:  this particular producer is interesting in going on location with a film crew to see how a skilled and knowledgeable group of preppers selects a location to bug-out (or bug-in) to, and would to interview said survivalists for the purpose of showing this interesting and growing segment of current American culture.  Anyone participating in the project will remain anonymous and any retreat/hide-out  locations will not be revealed on the show in a way that will compromise security.  Naturally, many of the prospects he has spoken with are hesitant, but I think it would be interesting as well as informative to less knowledgeable viewers.  I was assured that anyone portrayed on this show will not be cast in any negative light or made-out to be weirdo survivalist freaks.  That's not the point of this at all - unlike something the typical news media producer might attempt.

Being more of a lone wolf who tends to do my own thing on my own time, I'm not part of any network or group of preppers, even of the bug-out variety.  But the producer of this show is very much interested in bringing me in on it as well, if we can find an interesting place with a few good folks who don't mind showing what they've done to prep.  It doesn't matter where you're located, so long as it's in the U.S. Lower 48.

So if any of you reading this are not afraid of the camera and would like to share some knowledge with larger segment of the broader public, please contact me and let me know what you've got.  I feel like this is a worthwhile project and if I didn't believe knowledge was for sharing, I wouldn't be writing here at all.

Go to the contact page or just email me directly.

SHTF (Shit Hits the Fan)

SHTF - Shit Hits the Fan, or WSHTF - When Shit Hits the Fan, is a popular topic on survival and preparedness forums.  The acronym about sums it up, it's simply a man-made or natural catastrophe, disaster, breakdown of society, civil unrest or pandemonium, and the utter chaos the prevails in the wake of such an event.

A SHTF fan scenario can be a short-term situation or a longer-term breakdown of law and order.  It can also be limited geographic scope, such as was seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or potentially much more widespread.   SHTF is the the primary reason behind the concept of bugging-out, and thus will be prominent in discussions on Bug Out Survival.