Tales from the Desolate Highway

This little epilogue comes as a sudden shock (I know!) and ties everything up. In the episode, I'll be telling you some of my thoughts for Season 2 (and the larger direction the podcast will be taking) as well as what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks.

Warrior plants unleashing hell! That's what we have with this book, the only novel from Philip George Chadwick, a pupil of the great HG Wells (who openly admired this book). For the longest time, it was rumored to not even exist (a first for this podcast). Well lucky for us it does, and you'll get to hear all about the carnage these plant soldiers unleash upon Britain. I also make mention of the innumerable query letters I've been sending out as well as my latest fitness progress.

Considered a British sci-fi classic, although not really British and not really sci-fi, this apocalyptic tale of a married couple living off the grid while society collapses around them has much more in common with books like Hatchet. Written with a surprisingly strong contemporary voice, it aptly captures the sense of community found in later post-apocalyptic works. I also talk about the numerous query letters I've sent out thanks to the abundant free time I now have. Oh, have I also told you that I love playing drums?!

Short and sweet this week but still packing the usual punch. I not only talk about a poem where technology goes haywire and wreaks havoc upon humanity, but I also read it out loud in my gravelly voice. I also talk about what I'm currently reading, why it's helpful, as well as recent video game distractions in my life.

A race of immortals wants to conquer what remains of humanity after a plague kills most of us off. This story involves a guy getting executed, then waking up 1000 years later! (Not a very effective execution if you ask me). It also mentions an atom bomb before the atom bomb was invented. We got mind-birds, pain-guns, and species getting killed off with this one folks! As usual, I start the episode off by talking a little bit about myself (This time around it's a query letter I sent out and some of the new listeners I have).

As an addendum, I mention a woman in a forest and don't really go anywhere from there. Let's just assume it's Princess Margaret (a.k.a. The Black Flame)

Hailing all the way from South Dakota, fellow post-apocalyptic author Robyn VanDerSys stops by for a chat. She is the author of 75 miles, 100 miles, and Black Hills Fall. Pay attention to that last one because I play a bad-ass marine in it! We talk about what inspires us, what we both like about this genre, what makes good post-apocalyptic, as well as our experiences with traditional and self-publishing. Spoiler! I happened to have picked someone who grew up right across the border from where I live.

Try saying that 5 times fast. I talk about a story with an adult and 10 surviving children after the rest of humanity is wiped out by a super-weapon during another World War. It has its Lord of the Flies vibe, but at the end of the world. I also mention my exciting next steps at getting my novel out the door as well as rant on about why epic stories appeal to me and have a broader appeal to the public at large.

My first time talking about a book by the man, the legend himself, HG Wells. See what the future could have withheld as we chronicle an (at least now) alternative history of the world from 1933 to 2106. Influential in its own right, this story would have an impact on later sci-fi writers such as Asimov and Heinlein. Oh, and I also finished my book. Come and hear why it felt like a night of hard drinking.

After much swearing, despair, and crying I buttoned up the first critical scenes of my novel. Oh and also, the book is about cats, time-traveling cat-people from 3,000,000 years in the future. Stick around until the end for a bonus - an excerpt from the final draft of The Sapien Empire (my debut novel).

Giant fucking ship-sized tanks! Now that I have your attention, come for an apocalyptic battle written during a time where people thought a 2nd world war would obliterate us all, or at least send us down the path to annihilation. I also talk about the road to completing my book (I'm on the 5th and final draft) and my increasing proficiency at playing drums.