Yesterday, February 21, 2023, marked the launch date for White Smoke, the third book in my Victoria Emerson trilogy about the courage and inspiration of an unwilling leader who helps to rebuild society on the heels of a brief by devastating nuclear war. Quoting Chris Miller’s review from BestThrillerBooks.com:
Gilstrap champions Victoria Emerson through grace and grit. She defies post-apocalyptic America expectations by delivering hope and unity in uncertain times. On the outside she’s the epitome of what every person should look up to and garner their strength from, while on the inside things are probably not the same. She is the model citizen as she forces everyone to come to a realization that the old world is gone and it is up to them to make the best of the future. She is rock solid while leading from the front and you can tell the character development has been a pained one for her, but something that the people of Ortho have come to depend on.
Victoria Emerson is a leader for a reason, and she doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. The equity that she puts into Ortho and its people is just the same that she puts into her kids and their responsibilities. This is nothing short of what kind of people we hope come to lead our country in rough times, while the real world still has a say in things. White Smoke has action, emotion, and every bit of unease you could ask for.
Pretty cool, eh?
As part of the marketing push for the release, Kensington Books asked me to write an essay to be inserted in various newsletters for distribution to booksellers. When I finished that project, I realized that I had something to share here on the Killzone Blog. It’s not exactly about writing, but I think it provides insight into how hopes, fears and concerns can morph into a story. Here we go:
Preparing For the Unthinkable
I’ve never admitted this in public before: Given the depth and breadth of political
divisions in the United States, I believe that the probability of massive civil unrest is higher today than it has been since 1861. I’m less concerned about international conflict of the nature represented in the Victoria Emerson trilogy, but there’s an unsettling amount of crazy going around.
I hope I’m wrong about all of the above, but beginning in 2017, my wife and I started
planning for the unthinkable. Without going into detail, we live in the country now, largely away from other people, in a place where abundant furry protein sources wander through my property every day. My freezer and pantry are well stocked, but if things go bad, we have a hedge against starvation. Our water comes from a well so we’re no longer dependent upon a municipal bureaucracy to survive. My next step is to become a competent gardener—which, if last summer is any indication, remains a distant if not impossible dream.
All these changes have bought me is time. By being prepared, I can wait out the worst of civil unrest.
Is Survival Important To You?
That’s not a trick question. I grew up in the crucible of the Cold War as a Navy brat. If
the balloon went up, Dad would be off to war and my mother proclaimed her intent to stand outside to be vaporized as early as possible. She wanted nothing to do with the deprivations of a postapocalyptic world.
I don’t share that mindset, though I do understand it. The life we live now, as hard as it
might be, is easy-peasy compared to life after a catastrophe. The constructs of good, dependable, honest governance are the only elements that keep our feral nature at bay. It wasn’t that long ago that people were shooting each other over toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Imagine how ugly things would get if the stakes involved whose baby gets the last vial of lifesaving medication.
The question on the table is, How far are you willing to go to ensure your family’s
survival? Your answer can be neither right nor wrong, but it does require some introspection.
Getting your head right.
Disasters come in all sizes, from a fire in your basement to an intruder in your home;
from an active shooter in the shopping mall to major weather events. Regardless of the scale of the disaster, certain priorities always apply:
1. Stuff doesn’t matter. Whether it’s your new Lamborghini or your grandma’s book of family recipes, stuff is just stuff. It doesn’t have a heartbeat, and it’s not worth sentencing your kids to an orphanage to save it from being harmed.
2. You and your family are all that matters. In the Victoria Emerson books, I refer to the concentric circles of relationships. When bad stuff happens, everything and everyone is secondary to the survival of my family. That might seem selfish at first glance, but it’s not. Fact is, everybody practices the concept, even if they don’t think of it that way.
3. Pets are important, too. But they’re not people.
4. Escape is always better than conflict. Every fight you walk away from is a victory,
whether it’s from an intruder in your hallway or a hurricane barreling toward your house.
5. If conflict is unavoidable, bring it fast and in a big way. And train your kids. If
someone touches them inappropriately or tries to grab them, train them to gouge out the attacker’s eyes with their thumbs or bite off their fingers. All you need to do is buy enough time to run away (see #4 above). Teach them to scream. Our message to our son when he was growing up was that it is better to die on the street than to get shoved into a car. I still believe that to be true.
6. Have an evacuation plan. What do you want your kids to do if they wake up to the
sound of a smoke detector? (Hint: wandering the halls of your burning house looking for Mom and Dad is a bad plan.)
7. Have a plan to reunite. During an emergency, you don’t want to waste valuable escape time looking for each other. Spend those critical first seconds seeking safety. Once the hazard is behind you, know where you can go to find family members from whom you became separated. If they are not present at that spot when you arrive, let the emergency responders know. In the Victoria Emerson series, this planning takes a long view. Because Victoria was separated from one of her children, they had a standing plan in place that if something catastrophic happened while they were separated, they all knew to gather at Top Hat Mountain for their eventual reunion.
Now that your head is in the right place, what’s next?
The first step is to prepare yourself, your family, and your pantry for tough times. Few
people have Rambo’s knowledge of survival skills, but a quick search will reveal dozens of books on the subject. Outdoor Life Magazine compiled as good a list of references as I’ve seen. I haven’t read them all, but I’ve read a few and they’re all helpful and interesting.
Do you plan to evacuate or shelter in place?
If you plan to evacuate, where are you going to go? If your first choice is to drive 500
miles to Grandma’s house, think harder. Weather events and civil unrest make roads impassable. Is there a place you can hike to, even if it would take a few days? You’ll need food, shelter, and a means to carry or create clean drinking water. The challenges of a long hike in the winter are entirely different than those same challenges in the summertime.
If you expect to shelter in place, plan to do so without electricity or running water. In an
urban environment, you don’t want to confront the desperate neighbors who are flocking to the grocery store to strip their shelves, so commit yourself to keeping five days’ worth of basics in your pantry. Even if it’s cans of tuna and jugs of water, it’s enough to keep you alive and away from marauders on the street.
How do you plan to protect yourself and your family from others?
In the immediate aftermath of the government’s emergency declarations regarding the
pandemic of 2020-22, panicked Americans flocked to gun stores to purchase unprecedented numbers of firearms. Many of those buyers made their purchases out of fear that the normal mechanisms of law enforcement would be unable to protect them from harm.
Most of those firearms are still out there in the hands of people who have received
precious little training in their use. More than a few will see taking stuff from you as an integral part of their survival plan. That’s a recipe for someone having a very bad day.
My plan for my family is to stay away from it all and mind my own business, in hopes
that others will do likewise. If you’re on the scumpti-fifth floor of a high-rise that is situated among other high-rises, your situation will likely be more complicated. I don’t have the answers that will work for you, but these are things worth thinking about and planning for.
What say you, TKZ family? Have you peeked down this rather frightening rabbit hole? To the degree you’re willing to share, what planning have you done for the unthinkable?
This is one to frame, John. Thanks. I respectfully disagree with #3. I consider pets and people as two sides of the same coin. Depending on the people being compared, pets are maybe a bit shinier. Don’t get me started. My plan includes pets. It makes things more complicated, but taking care of any unit more than one makes things more complicated.
I’ve ticked all of the boxes you’ve mentioned. Planning isn’t just good. It’s imperative.
Thanks again for sharing and for raising the issue. Have a great week.
Yeah, I wondered about how John would be able to look Kimber in the eye.
To be clear, I am as devoted a pet parent as one can find. Little Kimber most definitely has a place in our proverbial bunker. My point is not that pets are expendable in the same way that mere stuff is expendable, but I have pulled a few dead homeowners out of burning buildings after said homeowners left their position of safety to go back inside for the family pet. In my opinion, that potential reward did not justify orphaning their children. These are very tough choices.
John –
Uneasy times. Similar to you I feel the likelihood of further US civil breakdown/violent unrest and the potential for international conflict erupting seems higher than at anytime in my lifetime. I do not believe that our country and others are currently on a path that minimizes the likelihood of ‘unthinkable’ possibilities occurring.
It is frightening.
I’ve given a few worst case scenarios thought (my last book involved terrorism and a threat to my home city) but have developed only the sketchiest of plans. To this point primarily hope and prayer…not much beyond that.
I’m certain the Gilstrap hideaway is as smartly prepared and secure as can be. Hopes are that all goes well and that our country and others move towards peace and goodwill for all those on the planet. Further hoping your new place remains a peaceful and wondrous home and that your/our children, grandchildren, and beyond live safe, healthy, and free.
A disturbing post though timely imo. Some may dismiss such thoughts as paranoia. I wish it were so. Reasonable to consider imo.
Thank you
This kind of planning reflects paranoia only if smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and seat belts are likewise reflect paranoia. I think of it as reasonable accommodation.
A very unpleasant subject but I’m glad it is at least acknowledged. Generally speaking, I find that everyone tries to act like nothing untoward is going on in the world. I get trying to maintain sanity, but refusing to have discourse is part of the reason we’ve reached this point. As to planning & preparation–I need to do more of that. As a city dweller where personal & geographical resources are low, it is complicated & daunting.
The urban version of disaster planning is, indeed, daunting. If you live among friendly neighbors, consider having this discussion under the guise of a planning party.
I’d never really thought about it before but this post prompted me to go to my leasing office today to ask if they had any disaster preparedness procedures in place and the answer was no.
Not that it surprises me much, but now I know. As you say, it’s up to us to make for our own readiness.
“Stuff is stuff.” Boy, did I learn a lot after my mother’s passing last fall, where my brother and I spent a good two weeks getting rid of her “stuff.” She moved into that house in 1972 and apparently only got rid of things when there was no room for both them and their replacements. So, despite the fact she wasn’t going anywhere beyond doctor visits for the last several years, she had a cabinet filled with purses. Probably fifty pairs of shoes. Broken kitchen equipment in the garage. And on, and on. Not wanting our kids to have to go through that, Hubster and I are taking a more careful look at what’s hanging around our house.
We already live in a rural area, and have had plenty of practice dealing with power and water outages. Our larder is always stocked. No kids around anymore. (But we won’t abandon the dog.) Neighbors here have always been supportive when anyone’s in trouble, which is heartening. Many are retired law enforcement and military, so they’re trained protectors.
But … I have a small streak of optimism that clearer heads will prevail. (The streak is shrinking, but it’s still there.)
When I cleaned out my mother’s house in preparation for her moving in with us in 2012, I found a jar of pickles dated 1996. 🙁
So true. Reminds me of a George Carlin quote: You spend the first half of your life getting stuff and the second half getting rid of the stuff you got.
We’ve downsized three times in 10 years. Still getting rid of stuff.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” Prepare spiritually as well as materially.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
🙂
Well said, Jim.
Item 4 reminded me of advice from my mom’s uncle, a retired master chief boatswains mate who boxed during the 1930’s and was at Pearl Harbor. He told my brother and me to use our feet a beat it up the street, because the Shore Patrol does not care… better to have a bruised ego than a fractured skull… or as they say in “Active Shooter” training – flight over fight unless you have no other choice… and it helps to keep your options open…
And never flee in a straight line. 🙂
Where I live is a retirement area so I’m surrounded by likeminded people who believe in helping their neighbors instead of helping themselves to what their neighbors have. But I’m always prepared (as best as one can be) for ice storms in the winter or tornadoes anytime.
Like JSB I believe we need to be spiritually ready as well. And last Thursday I sat in my inner bathroom with my fur babies in their kennels while tornadoes hit both above me and below. Evidently the storm parted like the Red Sea. 🙂
Wow. Mother Nature scares me more than any people do. But she rewards me with a lot of beauty, too.
Good post, John. A sobering reminder of the world we live in.
Thanks for the list of things to include in our plan.
Like Jim and Patricia have mentioned, I hope that all of us will add spiritual preparation to our list – our Forever Life Insurance Policy.
Exactly that.
Various friends have told me to ‘plan for the revolution’. I haven’t yet. One has suggested I need a gun. I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the right temperament to carry. Maybe I need to rethink that.
I have thought from time to time how many acres would I need to feed my family for a year?
I can’t think of a reason NOT to have a gun, but I understand and respect those who think differently. For me, firearms at the house are less about defending my family from bad guys than they are about protecting the 15-pound puppy from predators. I haven’t yet seen one of the coyotes I hear howling in the night, but when I do, I intend to dispatch all that I can. I did kill a snake that was striking at Kimber, and was half a trigger pull away from killing a stray German Shepherd that was chasing her down on our property.
As for how much land is necessary to feed your family, it’s not as much as you think, but I am far from a skilled gardener. Canned goods stay fresh for a long, long time.
I am afraid I would use it. Often. On the other hand, my knife is normally at the end of my fingers. My children were taught if they need to use force to win. End of rules.
An important topic, John, and one that we should all pay attention to. I agree with JSB that we need to be prepared spiritually as well as in other ways.
Perhaps one reason I take such joy in this season of writing is that I have complete control over the stories I create. Unlike in the real world, I can mete out justice and bring about peace for my characters.
It’s a great feeling of power, isn’t it? In my fictional worlds, justice always triumphs over evil!
We have been actively planning for the ‘grid going down’ for years. Solar power and water purification systems take care of basic needs. Lots of food on hand, space for gardening and the supplies and knowledge to preserve the produce. We can both handle shotguns, rifles, and handguns, and have plenty of ammo on hand. But as happened in a Victoria Emerson novel, we wouldn’t be able to defend against a self-appointed military group intent on taking what we’ve built.
There are so many variables to consider that it would be impossible to predict which disaster will be the one we didn’t plan for. We do what we can with what we have, and pray we won’t have to face anything worse than a storm taking out the electricity for a day or so. An Iowa blizzard years ago took out power for three weeks to a lot of rural residents who were not prepared. We were in Texas during the historical ice storm that killed people who weren’t prepared. The blizzard that killed so many on the highway out East because those people didn’t have any idea what could happen and weren’t prepared for winter travel.
We have at least prepared ourselves for natural disasters. And that preparedness will help no matter what might happen.
As succinct a presentation of the “prepper mindset” as I have ever read. In any disaster, Murphy will be at the helm. As long as you prepare for the middle of the bell curve, you’ve got a good chance of making it through to the other end.
You mentioned the people who died on the highway when the blizzard snowed them in. Since I first started driving, I’ve always had blankets and a cache of granola bars and water in the car. It doesn’t take much to keep you alive.
Hear, hear!
Great post, John. Not fun to think about, but so much in this life isn’t fun to think about.
My husband and German Shepherd and I live in a rural area outside of our small central Washington town. We’re glad we live where we do, and we aren’t planning to move any time soon…35 years and counting.
We keep our foodstuffs stocked at all times, and we train regularly with our self-defense weapons. Owning a weapon and not training is stupid and a sure recipe for disaster.
Our Hoka Dog is a member of the family, but if it’s a matter of saving a human life over hers, I’d choose the human. I hope we never have to make that choice.
Thanks for posting this . . . we think and talk continuously about what we would do if.
Having the discussion is key. The mere fact of a plan is empowering. As for the weapons training, well, that’s just fun.
I’ve survived hurricanes, tropical storms, and ice storms without power for weeks, and I’m far more worried about them than the political end times.
My brother and brother-in-law have orders NOT to come for me. They need to take care of their kids. I will not haunt them unless they attempt this.
We have a well for water and a wood stove for heat, so I’m with you there. Where I respectfully disagree is #3. To me, pets are just as important as people. 😉
As far back as the 1970s, we always had backup generators. B/c of our food pantry, people used to ask if we were Mormon (no). We keep a good stock of necessities. A 20KW generator can power the house as well as the homes of several neighbors.
People who scoff at us usually are also the first ones who ask to borrow something.