Posted on 11/08/2011 5:24:29 PM PST by dynachrome
Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse is the second volume in Rawles’ series of novels about the coming collapse of American society — and the global economy. Survivors — like his previous novel, Patriots — is set in the very near future, in a time which Rawles calls “The Crunch.” The Crunch is the time in which the all the “bills” of living in a post-industrial, post-agricultural nation built on fiat money have “come due.” With the vast majority of its citizens addicted to the unsustainable, post-modern “American way of life” — a life defined by an ignorance of actual life skills, unsustainable reliance of easy credit and a government committed to what is essentially "cradle-to-grave" government programs — the inevitable collapse of the Federal Reserve’s essentially worthless script leads to hyperinflation and the steady collapse of the “just in time” infrastructure essential to life in a consumer economy defined by “big box” stores. As American society quickly unravels under the stresses unleashed by currency devaluation, criminal gangs and various contending factions of the former governmental structure contend for legitimacy and power in the midst of the chaos. Rawles’ presentation of the “Provisional Government” of “president pro tempore” Maynard Hutchings demonstrates the author’s awareness of how tyrants behave when seeking to solidify their power: Hutchings causes a “large number of conservative members of Congress” to simply disappear, invites in U.N. peacekeeping forces, and establishes his own fiat currency by force of arms, even as he confiscates all weaponry which might be used to resist his illegitimate rule.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
Would highly recommend Boston T Party's books "Boston's Gun Bible" and "Molon Labe".
A bit less technical stuff in “Survivors”. Nice vignettes of more ordinary people surviving. Ordinary people with more skills than I!
There is no accounting for taste, obviously, but I would say that Rawles’ primary talent is not for writing novels. The one star reviews on the Amazon page are pretty much on target concerning this book. The five star reviews come in waves, when the call is put out over his blog to boost up the ratings.
bump
I did like the first one better I have to say. The build up to the crunch worked better IMHO. (I ripped thru Castigo Bay. Good thriller. )
Sounds very interesting, thanks. I like the fiction approach better.
I agree.
They were high level how to’s with thin characters and even thinner plots.
They are both “fun” but like Michael Savage’s novel they are a bit ham handed.
Give them three or four stars for content, one star for story.
“Castigo Cay” that is. sheesh. oldtimers disease.
I liked “Lights out, but felt the ending battle went on too long. (ps. Matt Bracken = freeper Travis McGee)
Was just reading the free sample of “Patriots” that I downloaded on Kindle. Going to buy it to find out what happens :)
Another interesting novel of financial collapse is “The Day the Dollar Died” by “John Galt”
http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/category/the-day-the-dollar-died-series/
(1st chapter at bottom of page)
“The following story is a potential fictional time line for the day the dollar died. I hope not to instill fear or loathing but to give everyone some perspective on a POSSIBLE outcome which does not really take much of a reach to come to any conclusion. Despite popular belief and promises from those who wish to rob you of your savings and investments, the collapse of the dollar might just be an event measured in hours, not days as their control is not what it seems…..”
As mentioned above, I just downloaded the free sample from Amazon. Not the best literary tome (especially since it is digital LOL) in the world, but not the worst. It kept my attention and gave me some information about what it would be like to experience TEOTWAWKI. I’m going to download the rest of the book, if only to support Rawles and the prepping work he is doing.
There are some good chapters in the book, but they just don’t hang together in any real way. But hey, it might be your cup of tea.
Do you own or have driven a fast boat like in your novel? My kidneys hurt just reading the descriptions. LOL
First, 3rd Street is located well outside of Radcliff proper (it's so far south, it's almost in E-Town), and secondly there aren't any bars in Radcliff, aside from the one in Applebees. Radcliff is a moist town, in that only restaurants can sell liquor (at least until January, when stores can start selling beer and packaged liquor).
I don’t know anything about Radcliff KY, but in his defense, I often move geographical locations around to steamline the prose. When I do so, I normally change the names as well. Much more glaring to me was the entire 2,000 mile horse ride from Belize across Mexico to northern New Mexico. We’re told the starvation is so bad that there is cannibalism, yet the hero rides his horse straight across wide open MExico, adn NOBODY snipes that ton of meat on the hoof? That was a huge part of the story, and it just made me roll my eyes.
I don’t own one, but I’ve been around them all my life, off and on.
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