Post-Apocalyptic | CW Hawes

Getting Around After The Apocalypse

Should we ever find ourselves in a post-apocalyptic (PA) world, what will we rely on for our transportation and cartage needs? Will it be the horse as many, if not most, PA writers speculate? Probably not.

But if we won’t be using horses in a PA world, what will be our options? Fortunately we have three excellent ones.

For the past four weeks I’ve been talking about transportation in a PA world. And I’ve made a point that we won’t be using the horse — books, movies, and TV shows to the contrary.

Horses are skittish, high-maintenance animals. In addition, they are not only dangerous but have pretty much always been the speciality of the rich. The poor and middle class used their feet or dog carts. Or perhaps rented a horse and wagon.

Even in the 1800s, when the horse was everywhere, most folks did not own a horse. They were simply too expensive to maintain. So why would things be any different in PA world, where survival of the human is going to take precedence over everything else?

In fact, the most valuable use of the horse, should we find one, just might be to fill our stomachs.

Aside from our feet, what are our land transportation options?

First off, we have man’s best friend: the dog. Dogs have been with us longer than horses. They are also far more manageable and versatile than horses.

Dogs can guard our possessions, warn us that intruders or predators are about, haul our goods, and, while we can’t ride them, they can pull us about in a cart or sled. In addition, most of us know dogs. The same can’t be said for horses.

Dogs. Probably the most practical animal in a PA world.

But when it comes to transportation, what we are most familiar with are cars and trucks.

Just because the gasoline runs dry doesn’t mean we can’t use our cars or our trucks. We simply need to think outside the box. And the answers are already before us: steam-power and wood gas. Both of which are established technology. No need to reinvent the wheel.

1970s Dutcher prototype steam car-owned by Jay Leno

Converting an internal combustion engine to run on steam would take a considerable amount of machining, but it can be done. In fact, it has been done many times over by steam-power aficionados. The tech is out there, and has been since at least the 1970s.

All the savvy prepper and survivalist has to do is find the info on the Internet and print out the instructions. Now, rather than later. Then, when the SHTF, team up with a machinist to rebuild engines and to make boilers and burners. Easy-peasy.

Steam cars. It’s really what we should be driving today.

Wood gasification is also established tech. Once again, no need to reinvent the wheel.

Wood gas can fuel our cars and trucks, be used to fuel our stoves and furnaces, provide us with lighting, as well as provide power for industry. And in a PA world, bringing back industry will go a long way towards building back a new and better world.

Many countries survived on wood gas in World War II. Why wouldn’t survivors do the same in a PA world?

Once again, the savvy prepper and survivalist simply needs to print off the abundant material available on the Internet (now, rather than later), and life will be good when the SHTF.

So, the next time you read a book, or watch a movie, or TV show that makes abundant use of the horse after the apocalypse just chalk it up to the writer’s love for westerns — because that’s the only place where the horse was king. And most westerns are the stuff of fantasy.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer; as well as an armchair philosopher, political theorist, and social commentator. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

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Wood Gas for the Win

For the past three weeks I’ve been talking about transportation in a post-apocalyptic (PA) world. Specifically, how unlikely it will be that the survivors will be using horses.

We’ve looked at the horse and found it wanting. A much more practical animal is the dog, and we might see the return of the dog cart and dog sled in a PA world.

Last week I looked at the steam automobile. The great advantage of steam cars is that anything that burns can be used for fuel to power the vehicle. Another significant advantage is that we know how to drive cars. We don’t know jack about horses.

Today, I want to look at wood gas. The advantage of using wood gas is that it doesn’t require any major modifications to the internal combustion engine. And like the steam car, a wide variety of “feeders” can be used to generate the gas; the one most used being wood.

So what is wood gasification? Basically, it is the process of cooking wood to produce a burnable gas.

Here is a link to a detailed manual on wood gas: http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/contents.shtml Be sure to print out this manual. It will make a great addition to your survival library.

A wood gas generator turns carbon containing material into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, with possibly some methane in the mix. This “producer gas” or “syngas” can then be used to power cars, trucks, buses, and tractors.

Wikipedia has an excellent introductory article on wood gas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

This article at Make contains diagrams, and notes the pros and cons of using wood gas: https://makezine.com/2010/06/24/lost-knowledge-wood-gas-vehicles/

Here’s a how-to article on building a gasifier that outlines the problems a DIYer might encounter: https://www.instructables.com/A-Home-Built-Biomass-Gasifier-for-Producing-Wood-G/

The major problem as noted in the above article is the production of tar. Which probably would necessitate a tar scrubber in order to be able to use a wider range of less “fussy” biomass.

At the end of the day, even though the above DIYer encountered problems, the wood gasifier is established tech. These devices are currently in production in China and Russia. All one needs to do is to obtain one and essentially copy it to provide a wood gas culture here in the States and anywhere else where self-sufficiency is valued.

Like the steam-powered car, the “woodmobile” can be powered by any carbon containing material. In a post-apocalyptic world, such flexibility will be crucial to the survivors and will enable them to continue to use cars and trucks.

In addition, a wood gasifier can be used to fuel a cookstove or a furnace, or a gas-powered refrigerator, and even a gas lamp — and thus enable the PA survivors to enjoy a certain amount of pre-apocalyptic normalcy.

Europe survived on wood gas in World War II, and, as noted above, China and Russia still manufacture wood gasifiers for cars and industrial use.

In fact, wood gas is one way the world could free itself from petroleum. Because any carbon-based material, not just wood, can be used to produce gas. In fact, all manner of agricultural waste can be used to generate producer gas.

Here in the US, we have a tendency to make things complex and difficult. We spent millions developing a space pen. The Russians used a pencil.

The battery-powered electric car is another ridiculous example of making things complex. Instead of using established technology to solve the problems of fossil fuel use and pollution, we resort to solutions for which we don’t have the technology to make them feasible on a wide scale.

Battery technology is not sufficiently advanced for electric cars to be able to compete with the internal combustion engine. In addition, to the lengthy charge time, improper charging of the battery can shorten its lifespan.

Further more, batteries are toxic — both to manufacture and dispose of. And the last thing we need is more toxic manufacturing and waste in our environment. Batteries also use non-renewable resources in their manufacture. How wise is that?

On the other hand, wood gas makes use of established technology and contributes no waste to the environment and provides a much cleaner exhaust than gasoline or diesel. In fact, using wood scrap, agricultural waste, and waste biomass material, a wood gasifier actually saves the environment from being polluted.

Now advocates of electric cars will say that an electric car doesn’t pollute. And that is true. But the production of electricity for the power grid to charge the car does generate pollution. And let’s be honest with ourselves: the day when wind and solar will be able to supply all our power needs is way off in the distant future. We are going to be relying on fossil fuel for a very long time. But we can significantly reduce our dependence — with currently available technology.

The manufacture of batteries is highly polluting. And uses non-renewable resources. And their disposal adds to our toxic waste problem. Which makes batteries, in my opinion, a non-starter for mass transportation.

Let’s face facts: electric cars are polluters. The pollution is just being hidden from us, the potential consumer.

The electric car is not the answer. Which is why they went out of fashion back around World War I. By contrast, the steam car didn’t make it only because no one mass-produced them. Which made the price tag something only the rich could afford. (A Stanley steamer sold for $5000, while a Model T went for $500.)

Steam cars and gasoline cars powered by wood gasifiers are the real solution. They make use of established tech and could end our dependence on fossil fuel in a very short period of time.

In a post-apocalyptic world, there will be no re-charging stations, and no petroleum production or refining. But that doesn’t mean we have to do without cars and trucks, and try to recreate a horse culture, which would take hundreds of years to reproduce.

Wood gas is readily available and just might be what saves us and enables us to rebuild a better world.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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A Steam-Powered Post-Apocalyptic Future

1930 Doble Coupe

The Steam Automobile

The last production steam automobile was the Doble. That was back in the 1920s. The car was so advanced, it could easily give any production car on the road today a run for its money.

In fact, rather than spending all of the money that’s being spent on electric cars, all a car maker would have to do is put the Doble back in production.

For fuel, the car could use grain or wood alcohol, biodiesel, bio-generated methane, or any other renewable fuel.

Performance and range would be equal to any car on the road today, and would be superior to an electric car. And that’s with 1920s tech. Update the tech to 21st-century standards — and we’d have a superior automobile.

Here is a video from Jay Leno’s Garage, where he discusses his 1925 Doble:

Steam is the old tech that is still new.

That is why Bill Arthur, in my post-apocalyptic The Rocheport Saga, makes the big push to produce steam cars by converting diesel engines to run on steam.

Converting to Steam

How would that work you may be asking. Fairly easily. Although not without problems.

Here is a discussion on a steam auto forum which outlines the how and the problems to overcome: https://steamautomobile.com:8443/ForuM/read.php?1,4664

And here’s a patent description for converting diesel engines to run on steam: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2538019A2

The following article and video shows how to convert a two-cycle engine to steam: https://hackaday.com/2012/10/04/how-to-convert-an-internal-combustion-engine-to-run-from-steam-power/

This video talks about the 1969 Chevelle that GM had converted to steam:

And this video series shows how to convert a 4-stroke engine to steam:

https://youtu.be/8G1h4xR5q5Q

In the early 1980s, I collected piles of info on steamers. Unfortunately, I no longer have that data. One article that impressed me, however, was of a father and son who converted a diesel engine Volkswagen rabbit to steam, drove it to Detroit, and ran it through EPA testing. The steam car’s exhaust was cleaner than the air in the building.

The steamer in the post-apocalyptic era will be a much more practical option for travel than the horse. Unlike the hayburner, the steam car is an omnivore — it can use anything that burns for fuel. The PA steamer can be set up to use liquid or solid fuel or both.

And the great advantage of the steam car is that we know how to drive cars. We don’t know how to ride horses.

An equestrian I’d talked to, who’s been riding for 9 years, and doesn’t consider herself anywhere near expert, thought it highly unlikely untrained people would be riding horses shortly after an apocalyptic event.

When I read PA fiction, I find most authors have not done a very good job on their worldbuilding. They haven’t taken the time to completely think out the consequences of the collapse of technology, supply chains, and society. Or what it would take to rebuild in order to get to where we are today. A case in point being the classic Earth Abides, where the main character drives all over the country and has no problem finding fuel, or with fuel quality.

The PA writer needs to seriously consider how people will react to having no electricity, gas, or cell phones. What happens when the batteries are gone? And the gasoline? How will the lack of light at night affect us? Have you ever been in the country with no light other than the stars and moon? It is almost like being in a cave, unless a full moon is out. And what about failing infrastructure, like roads?

Will we really trust our neighbors? Or will it be everyone for himself, or herself? Especially when it comes to who gets the last can of soup on the grocery store shelf. And no law enforcement’s around.

And will we really be using horses? Do we even know where to find one? Will any be alive with no one around to feed them? After all, there are virtually no wild horses left. Horses are a domesticated animal.

Steam-powered cars are better than battery-powered electric cars, because they are not reliant on the power grid and don’t suffer from the problems inherent with batteries.

Steam cars have all the power and convenience of the gasoline-powered car — and they don’t need to burn fossil fuel. Plus, the technology has already been developed and is ready to use.

In a PA world where one has no power grid and no petroleum production facilities, cars are still the vehicle of choice and are possible because they can be made to run on steam with bio-fuel.

The steam car. It’s what we’ll be driving in a post-apocalyptic world. And what we should be driving today.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Doble Ad

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer; as well as an armchair philosopher, political theorist, and social commentator. He loves a good cup of tea, and agrees that everything is better with pizza.

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Dogs After the Apocalypse

The dog is man’s best friend. And after everything ends up in the toilet, our best friend just might be our lifesaver.

Last week, I talked about the horse and how infeasible it would be in a PA (post-apocalyptic) world. The vast majority of us know nothing about the animal’s care or training. We do, though, know about cars and things mechanical.

However, before we talk about steam and wood gas, let’s talk about the animal we do know a lot about: the dog. We know dogs. We knew dogs long before we knew horses. And the dog just might be our salvation in the early days after the apocalypse.

Dogs have long been used for work: guarding our homes and possessions, herding our cattle, watching and protecting our sheep, helping us on the hunt. They’ve also been used for war. And they’ve been used as draft animals.

The draft dog has pulled our carts and sleds, and carried our packs for many centuries. Long overshadowed by the horse, dogs have always been the affordable work animal for the poor, and the alternative work animal in environments not hospitable to horses.

So after the SHTF, we will most likely turn to the many dogs we have to save our bacon and pull our fat out of the fire.

Many breeds were once used as draft animals and could still perform that job. Breeds such as Collies, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Saint Bernards, Bouvier des Flandres, Newfoundlands, and Rottweilers. The Mastiff, originally used as a war dog by the Celts, would also make a suitable draft dog. And in a PA world, I suspect we’d breed even larger and more powerful dogs to suit our needs.

We know dogs and dogs know us. There is a symbiosis between humans and dogs that was in existence long before we made use of horses. Which makes them a natural choice to help us survive and thrive in a PA world.

The dog also requires less care than does the horse. Grooming is less exacting for the dog and we don’t need to shoe them.

Dogs are omnivores and will eat what we eat. Unlike the hay burner, whose diet would potentially tax the resources of a tiny PA community.

Dogs are less skittish than horses and easier to train. Their size also makes them easier to control. Getting kicked by a horse can potentially kill you. Or they can trample you to death. And all just because they got spooked. And while a dog can kill a person, the incidents of death by dog are less than that by horse. Even today.

Here is an interesting article on the dangers of the horse as a mode of transportation: https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/exeter-news-letter/2011/01/07/historically-speaking-dangers-horse-buggy/51322350007/

So my word of advice to PA writers everywhere is this: turn your attention to the dog — and your worldbuilding will be far more realistic.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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Horses After The Apocalypse

Given the fact that horses are no longer a part of daily American life — and haven’t been for some 90 years — I’m always amazed at the common use of horses in many post-apocalyptic books, movies, and TV shows.

In actuality, most of us have little to no knowledge of horses. We are as familiar with horses as we are with the cows that give us milk and cheese. And cows are a lot more important to us than horses.

Urban People

We are an urban people. Heck, most of us don’t even know how our cars work, never mind our computers and smart phones. And those things we use every day.

We are technology users, but most of us know little about how that technology works. What makes any writer think we would be able to learn en masse about horses and horse culture overnight? It’s totally unrealistic.

Without a doubt, the writer of such post-apocalyptic scenarios has probably never had anything to do with horses. And not understanding how cars work, resorts to an even more unlikely scenario: people using horses as they used to use cars.

This is on my mind because I started reading a post-apocalyptic novel where horses, as usual, feature prominently. Everyone knows how to ride them, without ever having ridden one prior to the apocalypse. That was an immediate put off, and I quit reading the book.

The vast majority of us know nothing of horses, other than what we see on TV or read about in books. And oftentimes, the picture presented isn’t anywhere near accurate. Horses running at full gallop for long periods of time, for example. Impossible.

Horses

The US horse population reached its high of 20 million in 1915. Today, the number is much less. And their use very much restricted. Mostly, they are pets for the rich. Think about it, when was the last time you rode to work in a horse-drawn carriage? When was the last time you even touched a horse?

Today, the US horse population numbers somewhere between 1.9 million and 9 million animals, all depending on how you count them. Perhaps the most accurate number is 7.24 million as of 2016, which is some six years ago. And that number was down from 9.22 million in 2003. The number of animals may even be less than that today, in 2022.

Regardless of the number of animals, how many of us actually know anything about how to use and care for a horse? I’d wager darn few. Probably not a single person in any average neighborhood.

The last time I was on a horse was 64 years ago when I was in kindergarten. And I only sat on the horse I didn’t really ride it. Somebody walked the horse around a small enclosed circular track.

The last time I saw a horse up close in real life was perhaps 6 to 8 years ago when 2 mounted Minneapolis police officers rode past me on Nicollet Mall.

I know more about goldfish and cats than I do about horses. In fact, I know more about the theory of how rockets work than I know about the practical care needed for a horse.

What we’ll actually use

Which is why Bill Arthur, the hero of my Rocheport Saga, said horses weren’t the answer. We know about cars and trucks. They are the answer.

In any post-apocalyptic world, transportation will be achieved by cars and trucks — not horses.

But in such a post-apocalyptic world, where there is no gasoline or diesel fuel, and no re-charging stations, what will power our cars?

The answer is actually simple: steam and wood gas.

It is fairly easy to convert a diesel engine to run on steam. After conversion, all you need to add is a firebox or burner and the boiler. The great advantage of a steam engine is that it can use just about anything for fuel.

A wood gasifier is fairly easy to construct. It converts wood to burnable gas that can be used in a gasoline engine. Wood gasifiers were in fact used during the Second World War on the domestic front to provide fuel for tractors, cars, and buses.

We know how to drive cars. We don’t know how to ride horses. After the apocalypse, I’m betting we’ll be driving cars — not riding horses.

Another advantage of cars, either steam-powered or wood-gas powered, is that you don’t have to clean up any road apples.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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The Piranha Pandemic

Matthew Cormack is one in a legion of virtually unknown writers who are producing excellent fiction. Much of it better than what the big corporate publishers are giving the public to read.

These independent author/publishers, indies for short, publish some doggone good stuff. Fiction that truly deserves a much wider audience. Fiction that is frequently far better than the best selling drivel being forced upon readers’s eyeballs.

Last week I introduced you to one such writer: Matthew Cormack. This week, I’d like to tell you a bit about two of his three books. Only two, because I haven’t read the third one yet.

The Piranha Pandemic Universe

Mr. Cormack has created a fictional universe that is incredibly believable. Starting with a mysterious and fast-acting virus that eventually wipes out most of humanity, Cormack then extrapolates what the world would be like for those who survived the pandemic — and, more importantly, how they would deal with being a survivor.

This form of the post-apocalyptic sub-genre is called a cozy catastrophe.

The term was coined by Brian Aldiss as a pejorative to describe the plot of Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids.

In spite of Aldiss, the point of the cozy catastrophe is not a celebration of bourgeois values — it’s a celebration of hope in the indomitable human spirit.

Not dystopian in tone, the cozy catastrophe is utopian. Given the chance, we can indeed fix the mess we ourselves made of society and culture. At last, at long last, a broken world gets to be fixed.

The “fix”, of course, depends on the worldview of the writer of the story.

In my own cozy catastrophe, The Rocheport Saga, the protagonist, Bill Arthur, pursues his anarcho-capitalist libertarian dream. Very utopian indeed!

On the other hand, Matthew Cormack takes a much more realistic view of things: nothing will change, because people are people.

Don’t Dream It’s Over

The first novel set in the Piranha Pandemic universe is Don’t Dream It’s Over. It’s the story of Peter, who is not the most savory of protagonists. He’s pretty much like everyone we know: he has good points and bad points and sometimes the bad points do outnumber the good points. Although, through the course of the story, we see the dross slowly burned away to reveal a pretty doggone good guy. A good guy who’d been corrupted by modern society.

Peter decides to leave London, leave England. At first, his only goal is to reach the Mediterranean. However, as he meets other survivors along the way, and sees how they are coping or not coping with the aftermath of the plague, his own goal begins to change. And by the end of the book, Peter truly is the hero of the story.

Cormack is a cracker jack writer. He makes the epistolary novel form come alive. And he does this by giving us real people in very lifelike situations. That is Cormack’s gift: an eye for people. He’s a canny observer of life and puts those observations into his books.

Don’t Dream It’s Over is a long book: over 250,000 words. Long books aren’t my cup of tea. Yet once I started Don’t Dream, I was hooked. The story was compelling and the book didn’t lag as so many long novels do.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most about Don’t Dream was the realism. No dystopia or utopia here. Although there are dystopian and utopian groups encountered by Peter on his journey to find himself. Which is just another way of saying that we find here real people in real situations.

As one reviewer wrote: “…boy does this book stay with you long after you have finally put it down.” And it does.

Ganbaru

Ganbaru is the second book set in the Piranha Pandemic universe. The story revolves around a completely different set of characters then we encountered in Don’t Dream.

The setting is England. Rural England. And here we have utopia meets dystopia. A small group of survivors intent on making the world a better place, collide with a much larger group led by a real bad egg named Baz. The story line revolves around how the small group can become free from the large group, after Baz’s group takes them over.

I don’t want to spoil the story. You’ll have to read it on your own — and I definitely encourage you to do so.

Once again, Cormack gives us real people in realistic settings which results in a very believable story. A story so believable you tend to forget you’re reading a novel.

Ganbaru is a cozy catastrophe that is largely a thriller laced with a heaping helping of suspense. In my opinion, Cormack has taken the cozy catastrophe and made it a genre for today, yet keeping true to the sub-genre’s roots.

Here’s my review from Amazon:

Matthew Cormack’s Piranha Pandemic Universe is a scary place. The survivors are fighting nature, dwindling resources, and themselves.

Don’t Dream It’s Over is the first book set in this universe. The story is superbly told, for Mr Cormack is a superb storyteller.

Ganbaru gives us a look at a different part of the Piranha Pandemic Universe. A small group of survivors, who are principled persons, want to start rebuilding a better world, and have begun their project in an old abandoned priory.

As fate would have it, they meet a larger group that is pragmatically ruthless. The clash of civilizations, as it were, makes for exciting reading.

Ganbaru is a realistic post-apocalyptic tale. There are no zombies or aliens or monsters — unless we, ourselves, qualify as the monsters.

The story is told well and peopled with real-life characters in real-life situations who must make difficult decisions.

A fabulous story by a fabulous writer.

A fabulous writer indeed.

In these days of pandemic, I encourage you to read Matthew Cormack’s books. Because, at the end of the day, he’ll give you hope — and that’s exactly what we need.

Don’t Dream It’s Over is available from Amazon US and UK.

Ganbaru is available from Amazon US and UK.

The Piranha Pandemic: From Small Acorns… is available from Amazon US and UK.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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After the Apocalypse

With Coronavirus cases now over 750,000 worldwide, deaths over 36,000, and many areas of the US and the world under stay at home orders or lockdown, it might seem like we are experiencing the Apocalypse.

Of course, as I pointed out last week, the Coronavirus while dangerous is nowhere near as deadly as the Spanish Flu of 1918. That bug was killing a million people a week and did so for 25 straight weeks.

But no one today remembers the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 102 years ago.

For that matter, no one remembers the Hong Kong Flu Pandemic of 1968, which killed from one to four million people worldwide. Nor does anyone remember the Asian Flu Pandemic of 1957, which also originated in China, and went on to kill from one to four million people worldwide.

Will Coronavirus be as bad as those flu pandemics? At this stage, we don’t know. Sure experts make guesses — and I emphasize guesses — but even the experts don’t really know. No one will until it’s all over.

Pandemics are a staple in the post-apocalyptic writer’s arsenal of weapons available to wipe out humanity.

However, will a pandemic actually do so? That’s debatable. The Black Death, the most deadly disease to hit the Western world, wiped out 60% of Europe’s population — yet civilization marched on.

Personally, I don’t think a pandemic will be the end of the world as we know it. Not unless the bug that causes it is so foreign and fast acting that we won’t be able to respond in time. Something like the Andromeda Strain.

Be that as it may, pandemics have wiped out humanity in fiction many times over. There are those classics such as Earth Abides by George R Stewart, Empty World by John Christopher, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, Terry Nation’s TV series and book Survivors, Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, and The Stand by Stephen King.

Indie authors have also jumped on the pandemic bandwagon. Authors such as AJ Newman, Ryan Casey, and AG Riddle.

But as you know, if you are a reader of this blog, I eschew bestsellers. IMO, they usually fail to live up to the hype.

Thus far, I’d have to say the most realistic post-apocalyptic pandemic novels I’ve read are those from the pen of Matthew Cormack.

If you’ve never heard of Matthew Cormack, that’s not surprising. He rather avoids the limelight. He labels himself a “Sunday writer”.

I ran across Mr Cormack in a Facebook writer’s group, where I was looking for some books to read. He offered his book Don’t Dream It’s Over. I read it and loved it. I mean I LOVED IT!!!

Matthew Cormack’s superb world building and very human characters and very realistic situations are what won the day for me.

Don’t Dream It’s Over is the initial novel set in the post-apocalyptic world of the Piranha Pandemic. Don’t Dream was followed by Ganbaru, and the just released The Piranha Pandemic: From Small Acorns… (which I’m very much looking forward to reading).

While the 3 novels are set in the same universe, each one is a standalone work.

Cormack writes about people. His books aren’t prepper manuals, or EMP exercises. They are books about people and how they act under extreme duress. His characters and the situations they get into are very real. These are people who could be your next door neighbor or your relatives.

If Coronavirus were to wipe out most of us who are breathing today, I think the world left behind would be very much like the one Matthew Cormack has created.

Next week, I’ll go into a bit more detail about the books themselves.

In the meantime, they’re only 99¢ each. Surely 3 bucks isn’t too much for some truly top-notch experiences in a world that might be. Experiences that will make you sit back and say, “Thank God I live in this world and not that one.”

Here are the links to the books:

Don’t Dream It’s Over

Ganbaru

The Piranha Pandemic: From Small Acorns…

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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