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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Introduction to “Cherry and Star Anise – Episode one of the Dean and Cordelia series.

Hello and welcome survivors to the next story in the Apocalypse Café.

Today we present to you the first episode in the Dean and Cordelia three episode arc titled “Cherry and Star Anise.” 

I’ll come back with comments at the end, but allow me, survivors, to quickly introduce the author and the performer. 

Jesse Daniels is a tree-climbing Virgo with an amazing whistling ability. He can often be found at the peak of a mountain with his dog and wife in tow. He enjoys storytelling, drawing, painting, and creative endeavors of all types. He is working on a fantasy novel with a creative take on classic monsters and a unique magic system, hoping to get it out and into the world within the next couple of years.

Currently, Jesse has a non-fiction book out through Storey Publishing focused on tabletop game design, titled Make Your Own Board Game. Look to his website, PiedRaven.com, for more information on his other work including Hibernation, a bear-centric card game that is available for purchase, and Between Realms, a celtic-mythology themed, worker-placement card-game coming soon.

Our audio artist for today’s piece is Clara McCouch. Clara is an aspiring young actor, fresh out of high school, all set to leave behind the pastoral farmlands of central Pennsylvania in pursuit of her BFA in acting at Montclair State University in northern New Jersey. 

And she does an outstanding job on this read. 

Additional thanks to my thespian survivor friend Duane for putting me in touch with Clara. 

So…my survivor friends, grab a glass of good merlot, a handful of silverware, and sit back and enjoy “Cherry and Star Anise.” 

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Patrick Rushbrook is a self-described “middle aged white guy in Kentucky with a beautiful wife and two teenage daughters, who writes silly stories to entertain himself instead of doing more productive things with his spare time.” 

Patrick had always been interested in writing but isn’t exactly a self-starter, so he didn’t take up the craft until age 39, after finding Reddit’s nosleep page. Growing jealous of some of the wildly successful, yet terribly written stories there and craving reddit upvotes to satisfy his fragile ego, he ventured into the game where one of his early stories was the first iteration of the Exterminator character. In 2024, Patrick achieved the title of “professional writer” by earning an incredible $400.

In addition to his literary endeavors, Patrick is also a professional drummer and an un-professional guitarist, where he’s earned a grand total of $75 and a t-shirt that was three sizes too big. 

You can find Patrick on Instagram at patrickrushbrookwrites

But the best place is at his Author Subreddit -  r/ hgtv_neighbor 

…

Patrick and I worked together to vet an audio performer for this series and landed on the voice you will hear today reading the work – Austin.

Austin C. Baker is a storyteller and experience designer from Plymouth, Indiana, with a lifelong passion for narrative and creativity. From writing comic books and filming backyard skits as a kid to designing immersive events and ghostwriting fiction, Austin has always sought out meaningful ways to connect with audiences.

He holds degrees in Experience Design, History, and Strategic Leadership & Design from the University of Indianapolis, where he also spent several years teaching. Alongside his design and writing work, Austin is an actor and voice actor, bringing characters to life across screen and audio.

Today, he runs BDP XD (https://www.bdpxd.com/ ), his own experience design studio, while also continuing to write and teach professionally.

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Hello, my survivor friends,

The sun is setting now in behind the protective ring of iron hills as we wend our way down the slick shale to the village. It glows orange in the opaque, ravaged horizon. As we approach, we see there is an old man squatting on his haunches in front of a warming fire. He turns to us with yellowed eyes and says “Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you…”

So that was the 3rd episode of the 3-episode arc of the Exterminator’s Apocalypse Read by Austin and adapted for the apocalypse by Patrick. 

It’s been fun working with these guys. They are real creatives that love what they do. And I think we need that as the world continues to sync into mediocre machine generated content.

We are transitioning the feed over to this new story telling format. And I like the 3-episode format because it gives enough room to tell a story and introduce the characters, for you, the listeners.  

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The Exterminator’s Apocalypse, Episode two, Exterminate!

Welcome Survivors to the second episode of “The Apocalypse Café”. 

This is a series I’ve created as a follow up to the After the Apocalypse 5 season run. Her we feature new artists with new stories.  

If you are looking for the original five seasons of the After the Apocalypse story arc then you need to start at Season one, Episode one.

I’ve decided to tweak the format after listening to the first episode. I found the commercial break after the introduction to be an awful experience, so, instead, today, I’m going to read this short introduction then we’ll fade right into the story episode, and I’ll throw a commercial break at the end followed by a more traditional outro, where I can provide additional updates. 

So, when you hear the outro music you can skip ahead.

Today we present episode 2 of a 3-episode arc written by Patrick Rushbrook. And performed by Austin C. Baker – The Exterminator’s Apocalypse, Part 2, “Extermination.” 

...

You can find Patrick on Instagram at patrickrushbrookwrites

But the best place is at his Author Subreddit -  r/ hgtv_neighbor 

Austin can be found at BDP XD (https://www.bdpxd.com/ ), his own experience design studio.

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Welcome Survivors to the August 1, 2025 inaugural edition of “The Apocalypse Café”.  

For those confused, befuddled and wandering pilgrims that are wondering what exactly they are listening to, let me ‘splain’. 

Let me sum up! After the Apocalypse is an apocalyptic story that I created and published 100 plus episodes over five seasons. That story started with episode 1 season 1 at the beginning of this feed – so if you’re new, go back to the beginning and state there.

Since we completed the narrative arc that we had planned now we are presenting stand-alone apocalypse stories that we plan to drop monthly. So, for my surviving listeners, give it a listen and let me know what you think. 

Today, format-wise.  I will read an introduction, insert an ad-break to pay off the jailers, and then step off stage to let you enjoy the story.

So let’s get on with it!

Today’s offering is the first of a 3-episode story arc by Patrick Rushbrook that introduces a couple of fun characters struggling to survive and make sense of an apocalypse that is alternately comical and horrifying. 

It is written and adapted by Patrick Rushbrook.

…

Patrick Rushbrook is a self-described “middle aged white guy in Kentucky with a beautiful wife and two teenage daughters, who writes silly stories to entertain himself instead of doing more productive things with his spare time.” 

Patrick had always been interested in writing but isn’t exactly a self-starter, so he didn’t take up the craft until age 39, after finding Reddit’s nosleep page. Growing jealous of some of the wildly successful, yet terribly written stories there and craving reddit upvotes to satisfy his fragile ego, he ventured into the game where one of his early stories was the first iteration of the Exterminator character. In 2024, Patrick achieved the title of “professional writer” by earning an incredible $400.

In addition to his literary endeavors, Patrick is also a professional drummer and an un-professional guitarist, where he’s earned a grand total of $75 and a t-shirt that was three sizes too big. 

You can find Patrick on Instagram at patrickrushbrookwrites

But the best place is at his Author Subreddit -  r/ hgtv_neighbor 

…

Patrick and I worked together to vet an audio performer for this series and landed on the voice you will hear today reading the work – Austin.

Austin C. Baker is a storyteller and experience designer from Plymouth, Indiana, with a lifelong passion for narrative and creativity. From writing comic books and filming backyard skits as a kid to designing immersive events and ghostwriting fiction, Austin has always sought out meaningful ways to connect with audiences.

He holds degrees in Experience Design, History, and Strategic Leadership & Design from the University of Indianapolis, where he also spent several years teaching. Alongside his design and writing work, Austin is an actor and voice actor, bringing characters to life across screen and audio.

Today, he runs BDP XD (https://www.bdpxd.com/ ), his own experience design studio, while also continuing to write and teach professionally.

So without further data loss, after the break, let’s sit back and enjoy “The Exterminator’s Apocalypse, Part one, The Rats”.

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Hello my survivor friends. Thank you for being part of the After the Apocalypse Family.

I have set up Ad-Free versions of all the 5 seasons and 100+ episodes of the After the Apocalypse story on Patreon.

Go to the After the Apocalypse Patreon page and you will have access to all the episodes without commercials. 

This is Chris, the author and producer speaking to you from the end of August 2025

The podcast will continue to be free to listen to with programmatic ads inserted on any podcast feed, but, if you despise commercials and want to help me get paid directly instead, I have posted all the episodes and seasons on the Patreon page. 

So, now, through the miracle of modern technology, you can subscribe to the Ad-Free membership tier  and get unlimited access to all episodes and seasons as long as your subscription is valid. 

Or you can buy the individual digital audio files and seasons directly

And, I’m assured that you can also subscribe to an Ad-Free RSS feed directly from Spotify.

You’ll also have access to scripts and extra episodes and you can even chat directly with me.

Give it a try and let me know if you have any problems.

A little something to help you survive the apocalypse.

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Hello and welcome my survivor friends to a special wrap up episode where I sit down with the three editors of After the Apocalypse to have a retrospective chat about our experiences over the last half-decade.

So, if you’re new to the show, this is not a narrative episode. The narrative starts at season one, episode one. Your podcast app should let you sort on ‘oldest first’ and you will see that. 

Today, I’ll give you this brief intro and then the chat and no outro.

That being said there aren’t really any blatant spoilers in here if you want to listen to our chat – It is forty six minutes long so perfect for that extra-long car ride or two-mile walk. 

For you time travelers, it is the end of July 2025. We have completed the five-season arc of the main show. 

Now we are pivoting. 

‘Pivoting’ was all the rage in the 90’s when I was a startup guy. They wrote books about it!

What is said pivot? Well….we will be spotlighting new writers and audio performers on this feed going forward. 

What does that mean to you? More high-quality apocalypse audio stories for your tender discriminating ears!

I will drop the first story on August first (yes, a week from today) with a fun story with some unique characters – you are going to love it!

What should I call it?  

The ‘Apocalypse stories’ podcast?

I kinda dig ‘The Apocalypse Café’. 

Anyhow – if you are a write that has some good stories let me know. If you fancy yourself an audio performer – especially female voices – also let me know. 

I’ll probably end up needing slush readers as well when the undead hordes of starving artists find that I’m accepting submissions. 

You can email me directly at cyktrussell at gmail dot com or use the contact form on my website oldmanapocalypse.com  And yes, I know I need to redo the website. I have a long list of needs to dos. 

A few technical updates before I go. There was briefly a feature on Acast, my hosting service, that provided early release and ad-free options. Acast pulled the rug out from under that and pivoted (see what I did there?) the service to another app – but it no longer supports Ad-free or early release – pain in the ass.

So one of my projects is to create Ad-free versions of the show and put them up on my Patreon site. 

I also need to go back through and clean up my outros from the past five years and remove all the out of date references, etc.

Stay tuned as I work my way through my task backlog and enjoy my summer vacation!  I’m reading a bunch of books and watching a lot of content and listening to even more books and starting to get antsy bout writing something new – but I have to clean the kitchen a bit before I start any new meals. 

So as the burning sun sinks low, casting a heat shimmering shadow across the valley floor, we see sings of habitation down there. And we move slowly down the slope to investigate.

Come with me now on a new adventure as we keep surviving. 

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After the Apocalypse

A pandemic survival story

Season five, Epilogue

...

This is an epilogue to the whole series to tie up loose ends and character arcs. It has four scenes that jump forward in time. 

...

It had been four weeks since the battle. It had taken that long to decontaminate the DC from the drug filled drone spray. 

Still, Mags eyed her coffee suspiciously. 

“It should be fine.” Brent reassured her, “We sprayed enough water on this place in the last few weeks to melt an iceberg.”

“I know.” She said, “I just don’t want to get dosed. I don’t have time in my schedule for an acid trip.” She looked at him and made a vague circular gesture that seemed to include the whole world. “We’ve got so much to do.”

...

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