Sailing the Apocalypse

I've posted this on my main website but I'm reposting here for those of you who don't visit www.scottbwilliams.com all that often.  As always, there's a new book in the works and this one is another fiction title that might interest some readers of Bug Out Survival. Part humor, part adventure and part disaster, Sailing the Apocalypse is the story of one man's ultimate bug-out with his family before the collapse he fears has a chance to happen.

I'm wrapping up the manuscript within a few days and it will be all set to go to the copyeditor shortly thereafter.  Sailing the Apocalypse is a novel of about 70,000 words, and is the first novel I've written in the first person point of view.  This is a story I've really enjoyed working on and writing it has given me several ideas for other works or possibly sequels to this one. Anyone who has spent as much time on or around the water as I have could not help but run into some of the eccentric characters sailing attracts. The main character of this story is one of those, but like most sailors and boatbuilders, Terry Bailey is resourceful and independent even if he does take a lot of his ideas too far. 

With "apocalypse" in the title, a lot of my readers will assume this book is another "post-apocalyptic" or dystopian survival tale like The Pulse or The Darkness After, but it's actually more "pre-apocalyptic" if anything. The Wharram catamaran featured in the story and on the cover is christened the Apocalypse by Terry and his family after they build and launch it.  And it's purpose is to be their new home and escape pod from the doom that Terry is certain will soon befall his country. Readers of my other works will see a bit of the prepper mentality in this character as well, but he's much more off the deep end than I've recommended in my serious nonfiction titles on the subject or here on Bug Out Survival

Sailing the Apocalypse is available for preorder now in the ebook form for just five bucks from the usual retailers linked below, and the print version will be available about the time the ebook is released.  Although the release date posted on Amazon and the other stores is February 15, the book should be available a full month earlier or by the end of January at the latest.


Amazon Kindle
Apple iBooks
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

 

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.