After the Apocalypse

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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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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