Hello my survivor Friends,

It is May 1st 2026 for you time travelers. And what you just listened to was a resolution chapter I wrote for Book 2, which I have been working hard on for the last 2 months. As of this reading Book is very close to publishing, but everything takes longer than you think it should in the publishing world.  

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“In great loss there is often the freedom of discovery.” - Isherwood Williams

…

It was midmorning on a rainy day when the traveler knocked open the door of the Siren Café. A few months had passed since Delores joined Jolene at the store. A few months since they’d cleaned out all the corpses and moved on with the basic, hard business of surviving. 

Jolene had stopped pretending to run the store as if nothing had happened. She’d come to grips with the loss. Even so, the Café was still her locus of gravity in the apocalypse, and she and Delores showed up each day and swept the sidewalks.

They needed something to do and minding the Café was as good as anything else in the apocalypse. So, as supplies dwindled and weeks passed, they showed up every day and did what they could for the occasional survivors who stumbled in for the small number of survivors who stumbled in.

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“What do you need me to do?” Delores asked. 

Jolene had provided Delores with a company-logo green sports shirt. Unisex. Small. And a fresh visor with the mermaid logo from the supply cabinet.  And, finally, the ubiquitous green apron, which was the most identifiable part of the café uniform. You could be missing all the other bits, but if you had that apron, everyone knew you were there to make drinks and wait on customers. 

Jolene wore it like a magic cape, like a standard of power and belonging. Now she tied the strings of strength around Delores, stood back and appraised.  

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The Café door chime sang its song of arrivals.

Jolene watched a woman enter the café.  

The woman was furtive but otherwise unremarkable. She stayed close to the door, seemingly unsure whether her decision to enter was a good one, and, at any moment, might turn and flee back to the anonymous safety of the apocalyptic street beyond. 

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Intro – The apocalypse Café

Hello my survivor friends. Today we are presenting a story called ‘The apocalypse Café’ written by yours truly and read by our old friend Robert. You’re going to get all sentimental hearing it I’m sure.

The story is set in the same universe as the original After the Apocalypse series, but this is a standalone storyline with new characters. 

I expect to do three of these.

I gave myself a little more rope than usual so this story reads out to around 30 minutes.

I’ll come back after with some brief comments,

Enjoy, 

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The sun was quickly disappearing behind me as I stood in front of my cabin in southern Iowa, watching as a brand new, silver ‘65 Cadillac rocketed down the long dirt driveway, spreading a fine layer of dust on the prematurely rotting pumpkin patches on both sides. The car eventually slid to a stop a stone's throw from my front porch, and out of it stepped a smartly dressed man in his late 40's. Lean and tan, with close cropped salt-and-pepper hair, he was the picture of health and vibrance that often goes hand in hand with wealth. It was in stark contrast to myself, despite being five years his junior. I was too thin. Malnourished, maybe. Anemic, for sure, and the limp I had moved with for most of my life had only gotten worse as hard work on the farm had begun to take its toll on my body. How old was I now? Forty-five? Six, maybe? It may as well have been a hundred.

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Hello my survivor friends. 

For new listeners you should go back to season one episode one to start the five season After the Apocalypse story. You have a wonderful 100 episode journey in front of you. Enjoy. It took me 5 years to produce, it will probably take you 5 days to consume. So go get started! Or you can listen to the trailer which should be the first episode in the feed.

Today, for my ongoing and habitual survivor friends we present the first of two stories that Patrick and I wrote for a story contest that my publisher hosted in the fall. 

It was a 24 hour story contest. We were sent a prompt and some instructions and had 24 hours to write and submit a story. 

I had Austin read them into audio for us. 

I’m going to start with the story I wrote. Fair warning, this is a short story, only 900 words, because that’s what the rules were. If you went over 900 words, you got disqualified.  

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Welcome back survivors!

How have you been? Have you missed me?

Today, we have a conversation with Jesse and Shannon to wrap up the Dean and Cordelia series.

If you’re new to the feed, the original After the Apocalypse story ran for 5 seasons. It’s an story about survivors of a viral apocalypse and I recommend you start with Season one Episode one.

·      Notes: from conversation:

·      Jesse’s website https://www.piedraven.com

·      T. Kingfisher books -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Vernon

·      Tamson Muir -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamsyn_Muir

·      Game Changer -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Changer_(game_show)

·      HealthRight360 -> https://www.healthright360.org/

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Hello my survivor friends…

Thick, oily, toxic mist rises from a crack in the village center. The bone crushing coldness has caused the turf to dry and die. The earth below contracts and splits to reveal its deathly inner workings. All is cold and death. 

Yup, that’s pretty much the way it is at my house too. Winter and darkness have rolled like an exhausting dystopian ghost over the land. 

What’s new survivors? Today I’m going to talk about the Dean and Cordelia series and what we’re doing next on the feed and I’ll give you a fun book review I wrote for my new book club. 

I suspect I’m going to go a bit longer – so you might want to refresh your smokey old fashion with a shot of bourbon.  

Chris,

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"Widespread Mechanical Failure" - Episode 2 of the Dean and Cordelia series

Written by Jesse Daniels

Read by Shannon Stockwell

Produced for the Apocalypse Cafe by Chris Russell

...

Cordelia and Dean rumbled on the hood of his car as a small plane flew in overhead. The proximity to the landing aircraft shook her small frame and blew her hair in every direction. They hollered, but couldn’t hear one another, and gazed up as the plane passed. It grew louder when it backfired, sending a quick burst of flames and soot out the exhaust. Thankfully, the odor drifted off due to the draft. The plane wobbled as it came closer to the ground, first touching down with only one wheel, then bouncing a few times before gaining traction with both, and landing safely a short distance away.

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