I started a thread over at
http://survivalistboards.com a couple days ago and its already generated 244 replies and has been read by 3,705 people.
Here's the post:
Personality Deal Breakers
If you were assembling a "survival team" to build a
BOL, what personality traits would you exclude from the group....
are
there any irritating habits that you could just not tolerate for the long haul
in a post grid collapse scenario?
are there skills that a person could
possess that would override any personality flaws?
Read
more at
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=299886#hkocJTHqeXtDuzDO.99
As I wrote the
River Survival Series I pondered all the horrible things people would be going through and I knew each individual would be changed dramatically, in ways one could not imagine in a civilized society.
The story begins with a couple living up in the Georgia mountains. When the grid collapses, they are prepared to deal with it. However, the nearby townspeople aren't and eventually organize and decide to take matters into their own hands. Experiencing scarcity and starvation is not a pretty sight.
As the story progresses, we find the neighbor has changed from a sociable, portly gentleman to a greedy, cannibalistic Trader who searches abandon buildings to ply his trade.
Eventually we make a journey to the big city of Chicago. I took sometime figuring out how political systems would have changed. We meet people on both sides of the law and learn their reasoning for the terrible crimes they commit.
Book One ends in a River community along the Mississippi River. There we meet, follow and learn how I sincerely believe humanity will eventually overcome a world wide collapse of the systems as we know it. I believe the answers lie in the old skills so many have abandoned in our technical age.
As an author, its difficult to proof your own work. I had a friend read and "edit" the first two books. A couple reviews said the story was good, but the editing was not....so, I just finished going over the first three books and I believe the editing is much better.
I put a new cover on Book Three....as a marker if nothing else.
A friend took this shot of me holding a rife. In book three we learn what has driven Apache, our dark warrior, to become the man is now is.
In Book Four, the Brewmaster changes dramatically. He's always played by the rules, lived a god fearing life, been the pillar of the struggling farming community.
I won't spoil the end of Book Four....it's a heart breaker, as are most classics.
I have begun Book Five...its called Deliverance.
As in all endeavors, the more you do it, the better you become. Re-editing my work has allowed me to improve the work. At present, this series contains over 500,000 words, a lot of detailed survival skills and deep philosophical ideas.