Books: The One Second After-Series

[Mac66]

Been reading the One Second After series by William Forstchen. It consists of 4 books. One Second After (2011) One Year After (2016), The Final Day (2017) and the newest one 5 Years After (2023). I've read the first two before.

Just a refresher... One Second After is about a former military officer, John Matherson, who is now teaching history at a small college in Black Mountain, North Carolina when an EMP attack by N. Korea and Iran plunges the country into chaos. He organizes his community to fight against the roving bands of looters.

One Year After sees the rise of an oppressive government entity. The Final Day sees the rise of a revolution against the oppressive government.

Just started 5 Years After. During the initial EMP, China moved onto the west coast to provide humanitarian aide and eventually took over everything west of the Mississippi and never left. In the south west Mexico reclaimed Texas, New Mexico and other border states. The provisional gov't of New America has to deal with those entities still on US soil.

The interesting thing is that Black Mountain is a real place where the author lives as is the college he teaches at. It's close to Asheville NC which I've been to several times and I've been through the small mountain town of Black Mountain.

While there are some details I have issue with (tests show that cars probably wouldn't be shut down by an EMP, nor would Air Force One) it is a pretty realistic and frightening portrayal of what could happen in an EMP.

If everything such as all the power/electrical, communications and transportation systems shut down, we're probably screwed. If vehicles still work I think most police, fire and national guards units would be deployed and things won't go into a full meltdown. Not to mention that technology has changed since the first book was written in 2011.

The question is...Are we now more or less vulnerable than we were in 2011?

[tom mac]

I would think just a bit more vulnerable as so many less people relied on the cell phones/tablets/laptops back then....
who among us still have important info on paper ?

I even keep print-outs of mine/wifes wallet in the fire safe. ( along with a paper phone book of all contacts )

[Bmyers]

All my survival related books are in paperback. Yes, they take up a lot of space and if I need to leave, there is now way I could take them all. Yet, knowing that a long term wide spread power outage would by be one of the most devastating things to happen to a community, I keep lots of my reference materials on paper. I had to make a compromise with my wife and get rid of a lot of sci-fi novels I had to make room for my books.

As far as important documents, we keep a folder on each family member and Max (our dog) with all the important information in it. So, if we have to leave quickly, we can grab the folders and have all the important medical information, doctors, and relatives/friends contact information. Max's folder has all his shot records and medical history in it so if we have to take off we can show proof of his shots being current.

[Ronin.45]

Good series. I've read the first two. Have to order more.

[Mac66]

Our city library includes an online lending service that is tied in with 12 other libraries across the state. You can download e-copies or audio books to listen to. Usually if one library doesn't have a particular book another does. Also magazines including some Survival mags.

My wife bought me a cheap $49 Amazon 7" screen tablet computer last year for Christmas which makes it pretty easy to carry around and read books on. You can also download and watch Netflix, Prime, MAX, Hulu, Disney etc shows and movies on as well. you can also buy Kindle books but why buy when you can borrow?

Having said that I have a pretty extensive library in hard copy books and magazines.

The last book in the series Five Years After goes off the rails with the main character's former commanding general taking over as President of the New Republic but ominous forces remain that need to be dealt with. Any concept of the United States as an entity is over. It doesn't end well.

[tom mac]

My wife bought me a cheap $49 Amazon 7" screen tablet computer last year for Christmas which makes it pretty easy to carry around and read books on. You can also download and watch Netflix, Prime, MAX, Hulu, Disney etc shows and movies on as well. you can also buy Kindle books but why buy when you can borrow?

yes... bride has both a kindle and kindle white ( for reading in full sun ) ( i use my ipad mini )
But if you read a lot also look into Unlimited Kindle... we go thru about 7+ books a week.
Unlimited lets you borrow up to 10 books at a time tho does now cost $11 month.

BTW, If you have Prime from amazon, you can download many series and movies right to the Kindle for free to travel with

[Mac66]

My wife bought me a cheap $49 Amazon 7" screen tablet computer last year for Christmas which makes it pretty easy to carry around and read books on. You can also download and watch Netflix, Prime, MAX, Hulu, Disney etc shows and movies on as well. you can also buy Kindle books but why buy when you can borrow?

yes... bride has both a kindle and kindle white ( for reading in full sun ) ( i use my ipad mini )
But if you read a lot also look into Unlimited Kindle... we go thru about 7+ books a week.
Unlimited lets you borrow up to 10 books at a time tho does now cost $11 month.

BTW, If you have Prime from amazon, you can download many series and movies right to the Kindle for free to travel with

So far borrowing from the library seems to scratch the itch. I can borrow 10 books at a time each from 12 different libraries. Of course you sometimes have to wait for more popular books. My Amazon Fire tablet seems to be bright enough to read in daylight. Actually I think that Fire was $39 on Black Friday that's pretty cheap for a full functioning tablet computer. That may not have been the latest generation however.

Both my wife and I have older Samsung Android 7" tablets. I actually like it better than the Fire. It doesn't have all the ads and extraneous crap that Amazon loads on the Fire. I keep the Fire up at the woods house and carry the Samsung. Though my latest books are on the Fire so that's what I'm currently using. My wife also has a Kindle and prefers to read on it though I don't know why that and not her tablet. And yes we have Prime and Netflix and others and can download movies and TV shows.

[tom mac]

"My Amazon Fire tablet seems to be bright enough to read in daylight"

I thought that too, till I tried someone else's kindle white. It works in FULL sun , wife takes it on cruises for that reason.

Pluses; read in full sun, small and mostly water proof ( quick submersion ), USB C charge port, charge lasts for up to 10 weeks ( got 2 full weeks of reading )
Downside; the kindle white is that it runs at about 1/2 speed of normal kindle and is mono.

[Mac66]

"My Amazon Fire tablet seems to be bright enough to read in daylight"

I thought that too, till I tried someone else's kindle white. It works in FULL sun , wife takes it on cruises for that reason.

Pluses; read in full sun, small and mostly water proof ( quick submersion ), USB C charge port, charge lasts for up to 10 weeks ( got 2 full weeks of reading )
Downside; the kindle white is that it runs at about 1/2 speed of normal kindle and is mono.

I used my Fire on my last cruise in Feb, up on deck by the pool. Of course I don't usually sit in the sun anymore.