Stephen Drivick's Blog - Posts Tagged "apocalyptic"
End of the World Fiction
This is my fifth entry for the April A-Z blogging challenge. Today we look at the letter E-End of the World Fiction
“I'm Stephen Drivick and I am going to destroy the world.”
When I opened my Twitter account, this was going to be the first line of my profile. Then I chickened out, thought it was a little too cute, and changed it to something else.:)
When I was in high school, (in the 80's) the End of the World was serious business. They made us watch The Day After, and taught us how nuclear bombs worked in science class. They sent home actual disaster plans that included what to do in case of nuclear war. The Cold War was at its peak. The thought that the Russians could attack any day was a real, horrifying thought.
All this preoccupation with widespread destruction led me to apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. One of the first books I picked up in high school was The War of the Worlds By H.G. Wells. It was a little antiquated, but a really good read. Wells described a terrifying invasion of other worldly monsters in 1800's England. Man was hopeless against the attacks, and it takes a few germs to bring down the invaders. I still read it today on my Kindle. The description of the Martian death call in the empty confines of a dead city still raises goosebumps on my skin.
A few years later, I picked up Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. This is the story of a fifties-style nuclear war and its effects on a rural Florida town. Again, a little antiquated but a very good read. It had a realistic view of survival, that ends with a community debating carrying out the death sentence on some bandits. Alas, Babylon had a great influence on the style of Sometimes We Ran.
And then there's The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's a story of a father and his boy going south trying to escape an unspecified apocalypse. The book is chock full of disturbing images like cannibalism and coughing up blood, so it's not for the timid. Look past that, and it's a story of keeping your humanity in a world turned upside down. It's about surviving at all costs, and what lengths you would take to make it. No novel about the apocalypse before or since, I think, has influenced the genre more. The Road also has a permanent spot on my Kindle.
There are many other books about the End of the World that I have read. Some were pretty good, others descended into gore festivals with leather bikini clad women fighting over the last can of peaches. They've all been a pretty good romp through the genre. I don't know why people are fascinated with the End of the World. I imagine a real apocalypse would not be as much fun with all the death and all. At their heart, stories about the apocalypse and its aftermath are fun adventure tales. I think that it is the reason we all like them so much. I picked zombies to write about, and it has been kind of fun.:)
“I'm Stephen Drivick and I am going to destroy the world.”
When I opened my Twitter account, this was going to be the first line of my profile. Then I chickened out, thought it was a little too cute, and changed it to something else.:)
When I was in high school, (in the 80's) the End of the World was serious business. They made us watch The Day After, and taught us how nuclear bombs worked in science class. They sent home actual disaster plans that included what to do in case of nuclear war. The Cold War was at its peak. The thought that the Russians could attack any day was a real, horrifying thought.
All this preoccupation with widespread destruction led me to apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. One of the first books I picked up in high school was The War of the Worlds By H.G. Wells. It was a little antiquated, but a really good read. Wells described a terrifying invasion of other worldly monsters in 1800's England. Man was hopeless against the attacks, and it takes a few germs to bring down the invaders. I still read it today on my Kindle. The description of the Martian death call in the empty confines of a dead city still raises goosebumps on my skin.
A few years later, I picked up Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. This is the story of a fifties-style nuclear war and its effects on a rural Florida town. Again, a little antiquated but a very good read. It had a realistic view of survival, that ends with a community debating carrying out the death sentence on some bandits. Alas, Babylon had a great influence on the style of Sometimes We Ran.
And then there's The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's a story of a father and his boy going south trying to escape an unspecified apocalypse. The book is chock full of disturbing images like cannibalism and coughing up blood, so it's not for the timid. Look past that, and it's a story of keeping your humanity in a world turned upside down. It's about surviving at all costs, and what lengths you would take to make it. No novel about the apocalypse before or since, I think, has influenced the genre more. The Road also has a permanent spot on my Kindle.
There are many other books about the End of the World that I have read. Some were pretty good, others descended into gore festivals with leather bikini clad women fighting over the last can of peaches. They've all been a pretty good romp through the genre. I don't know why people are fascinated with the End of the World. I imagine a real apocalypse would not be as much fun with all the death and all. At their heart, stories about the apocalypse and its aftermath are fun adventure tales. I think that it is the reason we all like them so much. I picked zombies to write about, and it has been kind of fun.:)
A Little Something from Facebook...
From time to time, the Facebook group - Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans - posts an apocalyptic or science fiction photo and asks for a 300 word story. Here's one that I posted a couple of weeks ago. It was about 340 words...still working on my editing skills. :)
“The signal is gone,” the mechanical voice reported.
“Find it,” Maize said. “We can’t lose another one.”
RUNNER, Model number 231 waited for headquarters to get things straightened out. It needed that signal to get to the evac vehicle some distance away from the bunker.
A humongous machine shook the ground nearby. RUNNER shrank back, trying to be as small as possible. The whole area vibrated as the enemy robot ambled by. Humans called them Stompers, and they had a simple job. Lock onto human life signs, and stomp them.
RUNNER had a job, too. Get the delicate babies to the evac vehicle, and get them away from here. Humans were too slow. They built RUNNERS to get their most precious resource to safety. RUNNER was fast. Faster than the Stompers that patrolled the area.
“I can't find it. It's blocked.”
“Dammit!” Maize said. “RUNNER 231 you have to move.”
“Roger.”
The robot burst out of the hiding spot at full speed. The Stompers had all moved on. RUNNER found the evac vehicles heat signature. It waited ahead, perched on the remains of a building.
A Stomper came out of the haze, and blocked the road. The enemy machine raised up one of its giant feet to flatten RUNNER and its human cargo. With a horrible squeal, the foot moved downward.
RUNNER was too fast. It ran right under the beast machine and out the other side. It cradled the baby in his arms. Almost as good as a human mother. Almost, but not quite the same.
The Stomper flipped over onto its back, legs flailing in the air. The hero robot ran to the evac vehicle, and handed the baby to the human hanging out of the door.
“Thanks,” the human said. “Good job.”
“You are welcome,” RUNNER said.
The robot turned back towards the bunker. The job wasn't done. More vehicles were on the way, and there were many babies to save.
“The signal is gone,” the mechanical voice reported.
“Find it,” Maize said. “We can’t lose another one.”
RUNNER, Model number 231 waited for headquarters to get things straightened out. It needed that signal to get to the evac vehicle some distance away from the bunker.
A humongous machine shook the ground nearby. RUNNER shrank back, trying to be as small as possible. The whole area vibrated as the enemy robot ambled by. Humans called them Stompers, and they had a simple job. Lock onto human life signs, and stomp them.
RUNNER had a job, too. Get the delicate babies to the evac vehicle, and get them away from here. Humans were too slow. They built RUNNERS to get their most precious resource to safety. RUNNER was fast. Faster than the Stompers that patrolled the area.
“I can't find it. It's blocked.”
“Dammit!” Maize said. “RUNNER 231 you have to move.”
“Roger.”
The robot burst out of the hiding spot at full speed. The Stompers had all moved on. RUNNER found the evac vehicles heat signature. It waited ahead, perched on the remains of a building.
A Stomper came out of the haze, and blocked the road. The enemy machine raised up one of its giant feet to flatten RUNNER and its human cargo. With a horrible squeal, the foot moved downward.
RUNNER was too fast. It ran right under the beast machine and out the other side. It cradled the baby in his arms. Almost as good as a human mother. Almost, but not quite the same.
The Stomper flipped over onto its back, legs flailing in the air. The hero robot ran to the evac vehicle, and handed the baby to the human hanging out of the door.
“Thanks,” the human said. “Good job.”
“You are welcome,” RUNNER said.
The robot turned back towards the bunker. The job wasn't done. More vehicles were on the way, and there were many babies to save.
Into the Box Set
It started as an innocent post on KBoards.com. Author David VanDyke called for a few apocalyptic stories for some box sets he was putting together. I thought, "Hey...I wrote a few of those. Maybe I could get in.” I chose my first zombie novel, Sometimes We Ran, to submit. I figured it was the first part of the story, and readers of the box set would like to see how my series began.
Sometimes We Ran had to be formatted for inclusion. David requested a .DOC file, so I went into my 500GB hard drive to drag out a copy. That's when I ran into my first problem ...or maybe I'll just call it a challenge.
Sometimes We Ran was written three years ago on a website called Leanpub.com. The website did a great and tidy job of making files for Amazon, NOOK, Kobo, etc. However, Leanpub used fancy text files to make the book ready for ereaders. In short, I had no clean, final .DOC file to send to David.
This set off a panic search for converters or services that could make a .DOC file out of whatever scraps I could find. A long Google search turned up a file converter that worked on Chrome. Sending my Kindle files through, produced nice, clean Word files that would work. After a few rounds of editing with David, Sometimes We Ran: A Story from the Zombie Apocalypse was ready for the prime time and the box set. I would like to thank David for his extraordinary patience in the editing process. He needed it a certain way, and I think I finally got it in the end.
I am honored to be associated with all the fine authors in this box set, and Author David VanDyke. He does this box set thing often, so you never know. Sometimes We Ran 2: Community may hit the scene sometime in the future. You can bet though, I'll have a .DOC file waiting to go ...maybe.
If you want to check out this box set or any of the others, point your browser at Amazon's Kindle Book Store. I hope you have it bookmarked :) :
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LJPGKDK/
Till next time, zombie fans.
Sometimes We Ran had to be formatted for inclusion. David requested a .DOC file, so I went into my 500GB hard drive to drag out a copy. That's when I ran into my first problem ...or maybe I'll just call it a challenge.
Sometimes We Ran was written three years ago on a website called Leanpub.com. The website did a great and tidy job of making files for Amazon, NOOK, Kobo, etc. However, Leanpub used fancy text files to make the book ready for ereaders. In short, I had no clean, final .DOC file to send to David.
This set off a panic search for converters or services that could make a .DOC file out of whatever scraps I could find. A long Google search turned up a file converter that worked on Chrome. Sending my Kindle files through, produced nice, clean Word files that would work. After a few rounds of editing with David, Sometimes We Ran: A Story from the Zombie Apocalypse was ready for the prime time and the box set. I would like to thank David for his extraordinary patience in the editing process. He needed it a certain way, and I think I finally got it in the end.
I am honored to be associated with all the fine authors in this box set, and Author David VanDyke. He does this box set thing often, so you never know. Sometimes We Ran 2: Community may hit the scene sometime in the future. You can bet though, I'll have a .DOC file waiting to go ...maybe.
If you want to check out this box set or any of the others, point your browser at Amazon's Kindle Book Store. I hope you have it bookmarked :) :
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LJPGKDK/
Till next time, zombie fans.
