Archive for the ‘Library at the End of the World’ Category
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
On August 19, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
In the not so far off future, the United States has been decimated by disaster and war. The country is now called Panem and is broken into twelve districts. There were at one time thirteen districts but one of them tried to rise up against the government, referred to as the Capitol, and was annihilated. Katniss, our main character, is from District 12, the poorest one. The reader may infer this district is in what we currently know as the Appalachia part of our country. Where Capitol citizens enjoy fine food and drink, those who live in District 12 subsist on dog, wild game, and grains.
Each year, two delegates (one boy, one girl, aged 8-18) are chosen by lottery from each district to compete in The Hunger Games. The Games are held in a different environment each year and are televised to the masses across the country. It is a battle to the death among the delegates. Think Lord of the Flies meets The Running Game.
During the current lottery, Katniss’ young sister, Prim, is chosen. As allowed by the rules, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. Katniss knows sending Prim to The Hunger Games is nothing but a death sentence. Her intention in volunteering has nothing to do with wanting to compete. Rather, she is trying to save her sister.
Katniss is a hunter who has spent years learning the ways of the woods–tracking, fishing, trapping, woodcraft. Her mother is an herbalist who has taught her what plants heal and how to use them. To feed her family, Katniss has taken down all manner of wild game. But, can she kill another human being?
The characterization is phenomenal. You feel the emotional conflict within Katniss every step of the way. The other characters have distinct personalities that are realistically portrayed. Some are sympathetic, others not so much. Readers find themselves rooting for certain characters and hoping others are taken down quickly.
The action sequences are well planned and executed. They are both exciting and brutal. These might be kids, but they are kids who want to win at any cost.
I have to say this is one of my favorite reads this year. It is written for the young adult crowd (grade 7 and up or so). The book is the first in a trilogy, with the third book set to hit bookstores in a few weeks.
Highly, highly recommended.
Interview with Scott B. Williams, author of BUG OUT
On July 26, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
Author, adventurer, photographer, and all around wilderness expert. Scott B. Williams has truly been there and done that. He has traveled the world, living in some of the harshest climates known to man. All the while, practicing wilderness survival skills, learning what works and what doesn’t. His new book, BUG OUT, which I reviewed here, is part discussion on assembling a comprehensive bug out bag, and part travelogue of the best areas for bugging out in the United States. Scott was kind enough to sit down with me and answer a few questions.
You have spent a considerable portion of your life in the outdoors, living off the land in a wide range of locations and climates. From your personal perspective, where did you have the toughest time? By that, I mean where did you find it the most difficult to obtain what you needed to survive?
It’s hard to rate one type of environment over another in terms of difficulty of living off the land, as they all present their own unique challenges. Of course, growing up in the Deep South and being accustomed to hot weather and sub-tropical conditions, I’ve found it easier to adjust to places like jungles, tropical seashores and islands and the deserts of the Southwest. For me personally, some of my trips in the high country of the Rockies, for instance, demonstrated that it would be difficult to survive there unless you really have your skills honed, especially in the cold months when you have the constant threat of hypothermia and food is harder to find. On the other hand, many of those cold locations are plentiful with big game, so if you have the means and the skill to take a larger animal and can preserve the meat before it spoils, you could be set for awhile. But these environments are not as easy to just walk into and start foraging and hunting small game as some of the other regions of the country.
I think we can all agree that knowledge/experience will usually trump gear/gadgets. The latest whiz bang gizmo may be all but worthless without the knowledge to operate it and an understanding of the principles behind it. With that said, there are certainly many pieces of equipment out there to help make a bug out situation a little easier. Any recent innovations you’ve come across worth mentioning?
I’m generally against gizmos and gadgets, mainly because they will likely fail when you become dependent upon them. But as long as it’s working, I particularly like things like the compact hand-held GPS units that are now available pre-loaded with detailed topo maps. Such a device can give you a lot of confidence and more freedom to travel in really trackless wilderness with the assurance that you can get where you’re going, even at night. I like the fact that I can locate an interesting point in some swamp or mountain area I’ve never been to at home in advance on the computer, then plug in the coordinates and use the GPS to go right to it.
Another useful gadget I like a lot is my Casio Pathfinder 1500 multi-function atomic watch that has a built-in electronic compass that has proven extremely accurate. The watch is solar-powered, so it never needs batteries, and it includes a barometer and altimeter function.
Another fantastic piece of technology that is incredibly useful for those of us who go to sea in small boats or kayak remote coastlines is the hand-held, reverse-osmosis desalinator, which enables one to drink seawater and has saved many lives of those stranded on life rafts or in similar situations.
You’ve mentioned your preference for a machete over a large sheath knife both in BUG OUT and on your Bug Out Survival blog. I find this interesting as it is a unique perspective in my own studies of survival texts and I tend to agree with you. Could you explain to our readers why you have such a high regard for having a machete in a bug out bag?
Again, having grown up the jungle-like hardwood bottomlands and swamps of the Deep South, I have been around machetes all my life, and have long recognized the need for a blade that is big and heavy enough to quickly cut a path through briars, cane brakes and other thickets that would otherwise be difficult to penetrate. I also spent some time in my younger years working on a land-surveying crew, where we frequently had to cut thousands of feet of sight lines every day through these kinds of obstructions. Then, after that I saw the endless and creative ways the natives of Central America and the Caribbean use the machete and then tried some of these myself. I have found no tool that can substitute for a good machete. It’s lightweight, easy to carry, mostly maintenance free and can double as a formidable weapon.
One of the topics you address in BUG OUT is the fantasy versus reality of living off the land. I feel this chapter should be required reading for anyone entertaining thoughts of heading for the hills in a bug out situation. In your experience, what are some of the most common fallacies people have when it comes to roughing it in the wilderness?
People seem to fall into one or the other extremes: those who think they can head out in the wild like Tarzan with nothing but a knife, or a mountain man with a rifle and a bag of salt; and those who have formed the opinion that it’s absolutely impossible for any modern human to live off the land and without supplies to last months or years survival is hopeless.
I wrote Chapter One to address these ways of thinking and present my opinions. I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that a bug-out bag is a guarantee of success and that by having it they will be able to just head for the hills and find the living easy. That’s why throughout the first part of the book I stress skills over stuff, and suggest extensive planning, location scouting, and even trial runs and test trips to sort out the gear in the bag and practice the skills.
But one big reason I wrote the book is to open people’s eyes to just how much uninhabited land there is all around them, even in a heavily-industrialized nation like the U.S. I wanted to present bugging out to the wild as an option and show that it can be done with the right skills and gear, and that there is hope, and you don’t have to just give up if you don’t have or can’t afford a well-stocked retreat somewhere in the countryside. No survival plan can be guaranteed to succeed. But those who are open to all the options will have a better chance than most.
What would you say are the three most essential things to include in a bug out bag?
This can vary with the region you live in, of course, but it’s always helpful to remember the “Rule of Threes”: 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food, and plan accordingly.
1. Shelter from the elements – at minimum a parka or poncho – preferably a good tarp and sleeping bag as well.
2. A reliable means of making fire.
3. Enough water and high-energy food to get you through the first part of the crisis and sustain you until you can begin trying to find more of both in the wild.
At the back of BUG OUT, you have a fairly extensive recommended reading list. If you could only pick two or three books to suggest concerning wilderness survival, what would they be?
The one that went with me on all my long kayak trips and many other excursions was How To Survive on Land and Sea, by Frank C. Craighead, Jr. and John J. Craighead, Naval Institute Press.
There are many newer ones that look good too, especially John “lofty” Wiseman’s SAS Survival Handbook.
It will be different depending on your region, but I always suggest a guidebook to the edible and useful plants of the area you will be traveling through or bugging out to.
You have an extensive background in kayaking, canoeing, and boating in general. From a practical standpoint, would you recommend that mode of travel for a bug out situation?
Absolutely, assuming your are already in a region with navigable waterways such as streams and rivers or estuaries and the seacoast. A boat can immediately take you out of reach of the much larger percentage of the population that does not have a means to take to the water, and get you to places where you will be inaccessible to many that might want to cause you harm. The places it can take you will also offer better resources for living off of the land by virtue of their inaccessibility without a boat. The other advantages of course, are that you can carry more stuff, depending on the vessel, and you can use it for hunting, fishing and foraging once you get to your bug-out location.
I’m partial to boats of many types because of my extensive experiences with them and the many miles I’ve traveled unnoticed, even through populated areas. Bugging out by boat is not for everyone, but if you’re willing to put the time in to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, it could be one of your best options.
Any new books on the horizon? What’s next for you?
I’m working day and night on my next survival-related book right now. It will be published by Ulysses Press as well, and is scheduled to be released in February, 2011. The title as of now is: Would You Survive?: The 13 Deadliest Scenarios and How Others Got Out Alive. The book will be a mix of fictional scenarios that puts the reader in each situation, and real-life accounts of some of the most harrowing survivor’s tales in recent times. The goal is for it to be both entertaining reading and informative at the same time.
I’d like to thank Scott for taking the time for this interview. If you’d like to learn more about him, you can find him online at the following links.
BugOutSurvival.com – his survival blog
Scott’s Boat Pages – his blog devoted to boat building, sailing, kayaking, and other on the water pursuits.
Bug Out – The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastropic Disaster Before It’s Too Late
On July 26, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
Scott Williams knows from where he speaks. He has traveled throughout the world, practicing survival techniques in all terrains and environments. He knows what works and what doesn’t. In his new book, BUG OUT, Williams not only shows you what you should have on hand to make it on your own, but he explains how to plan your bug out location ahead of time.
BUG OUT is broken into two parts. Part I discusses living off the land, assembling a comprehensive bug out bag, and general information on choosing a bug out location. Chapter 1 – The Fantasy and the Reality of Living Off the Land should be required reading for anyone interested in survivalism and emergency preparedness. Moving into bug out bags, Williams shares his experience regarding what is really needed and what isn’t. From there, the discussion turns to planning for a bug out situation. How to pick a location, how to get there, and what to do once you’re there are all covered in detail.
Part II is where the book truly shines. Williams has broken the United States into eight general regions.
- Rivers, Swamps, & Islands of the Gulf Coast
- Island & Lowlands of the Atlantic Coast
- The Appalachian Mountain Corridor
- Lakes & Big Woods of the North
- The Midwest & Heartland
- Wilderness Strongholds of the Rocky Mountains
- Deserts, Canyons, & Mountains of the Southwest
- Pacific Crest Mountains & the West Coast
For each region, Williams gives an overview of the general terrain, climate, and natural resources (plant and animal life). He then goes state by state listing national forests, wilderness areas, and other public lands. The idea here is few people can easily afford to purchase several acres of wilderness land on their own, so take advantage of the land set aside for public use. Further, get out there now and become familiar with the area. Learn the skills now that you might have to rely upon down the road.
BUG OUT is rounded out with a pretty good checklist for assembling a bug out bag as well as a bibliography/recommended reading list.
This book is extremely useful to those who aren’t sure where they will go in a bug out situation as well as those who are looking for some expert guidance with putting together a comprehensive yet portable bug out bag. Those who have been around the block a few times already will still find a nugget or two worth the price of admission. You can find it here, currently priced around ten bucks.
Legion
On July 06, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
Angels with sub-machine guns.
Demons that look like little old ladies.
The end of the world.
Dennis Quaid.
So, what’s not to like?
[Warning - there are spoilers below.]
In LEGION, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) comes to Earth and goes to battle with his angelic brethren to save the life of a child. As mentioned early on in the movie, in the form of a voice over story told by one of the characters, God has gotten tired of humanity’s bullshit. He has decided to send angels down to annihilate mankind. However, Michael hasn’t lost all faith in us and defies God’s orders.
At a diner on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert, a small group of people has come together by happenstance. Dennis Quaid plays the diner owner, Bob Hanson. His son, Jeep (Lucas Black), pregnant waitress Charlie (Adrianne Palicki), and short order cook Percy (Charles S. Dutton) round out the diner staff. There is an urban married couple Howard and Sandra Anderson (Jon Tenney and Kate Walsh) with a teenage daughter (Willa Holland) who are having car trouble, as well as a single guy named Kyle (Tyrese Gibson) who has gotten lost trying to get to a court appearance in Los Angeles.
The first clue that things have gone awry in the world is when a sweet old lady stops in for a bite to eat at the diner. She hobbles in with her walker and takes a seat. Charlie, who is very obviously pregnant, waits on her. The grandmother-type offhandedly mentions Charlies’ baby is “going to burn.” Charlie is aghast and walks away. As the woman continues to tell everyone how they will all burn, Percy and Howard try to reason with her. She takes a bite out of Howard’s neck, then scrambles up the wall and ceiling of the diner like an insect. Percy nails her with a frying pan to little avail. She’s finally shot down by Kyle.
Michael arrives a short while later and after arming everyone, the sky goes dark. Michael explains God has sent his angels to kill off humanity. However, Charlie is carrying the child who is to be humanity’s savior. If the child dies, all hope will be lost.
The diner’s inhabitants fight off attacks by people who have been possessed by angels, including one memorable scene with Doug Jones (Abe Sapien in the Hellboy movies) playing a possessed ice cream man. Howard is dragged off by these creatures and later crucified outside the diner. His subsequent death serves to drive his wife insane.
Charlie gives birth to her baby during the night. Soon after, trumpets are heard and Michael tells everyone this means the archangel Gabriel is on his way to lead the angels in their drive to kill everyone. Sandra, having lost her mind completely, steals the baby to give to the creatures outside. She is killed by Michael and the baby saved.
Gabriel arrives and does battle with Michael. As they go at it, Jeep, Charlie, the baby, and Audrey escape into a vehicle outside, heading into the desert. The possessed are unable to approach the baby so they are able to leave unhindered. However, Gabriel kills Michael and comes after them. Audrey sacrifices herself in trying to stop Gabriel. There is a horrific crash, but the baby, Jeep, and Charlie survive.
Gabriel arrives out of nowhere to finish his God-given task of killing the baby. However, because he didn’t show Michael mercy, God resurrects Michael (now in his full angelic glory) to take down Gabriel, which he does. He then tells Jeep to protect the child and flies off.
What I liked–the effects were well done. LEGION has an interesting premise, though not entirely original. Personally, I love stories and movies involving angels doing battle. Dennis Quaid and Charles Dutton both gave pretty good performances, which is to be expected.
What I didn’t like–the plot was somewhat confusing. There were holes in it big enough to drive a truck through. It is never explained why Michael cut off his wings at the outset of the movie, at least not to my satisfaction, as one example.
All in all, worth renting at Redbox or Netflix. But, I’d not have wanted to pay to see it in the theaters.
Makeshift Workshop Skills For Survival and Self-Reliance – James Ballou
On June 21, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
In a long-term crisis, folks will need to figure out how to handle their own repairs and maintenance. The ability to run to the local hardware store to pick up that one tool you don’t have yet will no longer be a viable option. Buying a new bolt to replace the one you apparently lost just isn’t going to happen.
Fortunately, with James Ballou’s book at your side, you will learn ways around these inconveniences. Not just another DIY manual, Makeshift Workshop Skills for Survival and Self-Reliance is jam-packed with workable solutions for just about any repair dilemma. From making your own tools to performing quick repairs using any variety of household objects, this book not only shows you specific solutions but helps you to accomplish a new mindset–one geared toward expediency and creative solutions.
One of the great things about this book is the author approaches the subject with the assumption the reader is not all that experienced with DIY projects. Thus, while the old pro might find a few of the sections tedious, the people who might be most in need of this book will learn every step of the process. And, I daresay the old pros will learn a thing or two as well.
There is absolutely no filler or padding in this book. From cover to cover, every page contains great tips, suggestions, and instructions. Ballou obviously knows this topic well and is able to communicate it efficiently and effectively.
The downside to this book is you’ll never want to throw anything away again! You’ll start seeing all sorts of secondary uses for everyday junk, from wire hangers to old dowels.
While some of the repair methods described in this book might not be the most visually appealing, they will certainly hold up and stand the test of time. After a total societal collapse, which is more important?
The skills covered in this book range from tanning to forging metal, with just about any other workshop skill imaginable in between. This summer I’ve committed to myself to try out the backyard BBQ forge Ballou describes.
Overall, I’d give this book a 9 out of 10. Definitely worth picking up and adding to the self-sufficiency library. Makeshift Workshop Skills for Survival and Self-Reliance is published and for sale through Paladin Press.
The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
On May 18, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
In a stressful situation, our bodies and minds are hard-wired with fairly predictable behavior patterns. Perhaps surprising to many, we don’t immediately jump to panic mode. Instead, we tend to freeze, much like a deer in headlights, when confronted with disaster. When mankind lived side by side with predators, this freezing helped us to survive in that many creatures hunting us searched by sight as much as scent. However, this doesn’t help us much when we’re facing a burning building.
The good news is, we can alter that hard-wiring and adapt our behavior to better suit the threats we face today.
Amanda Ripley is a reporter for Time magazine. She has traveled the world for several years, covering a wide range of human disasters – 9/11, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Washington sniper attacks, and the 2003 Paris heat wave. During this time, she examined the human behavior that was exhibited during these disasters. She also researched past disasters, such as the Titanic. She interviewed survivors of fires, shipwrecks, and terrorist attacks, trying to learn how they reacted and, perhaps more importantly, why they reacted as they did.
Ripley also delves into the scientific world, examining studies that have been done on panic, stress, and the effects on the body and mind. She undergoes simulations at various training facilities to understand firsthand how people respond to stress.
The Unthinkable is the distillation of what Ripley learned in her research. Through the interviews and scientific analysis, we learn what “works” and what doesn’t in order to survive disasters. We find out why some people tend to act in a heroic manner while others remain passive. We also read about how there is a tendency for people to remain within their expected “roles” in society–those who aren’t in charge tend to remain followers, though there are exceptions.
This is truly an utterly fascinating study into human behavior. I cannot possibly recommend this book highly enough. In my opinion, this should be required reading for anyone who is even remotely interested in disaster preparations. Only through understanding why we act as we do can we then take the necessary steps to change our behavior ahead of time.
We have added The Unthinkable to our Amazon store here.
Tough Times Survival Guides, Volumes 1 & 2
On May 03, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
If you’re like me, you spent many a day in your youth creating mix tapes. Combing through your tape collection and copying the best songs over to one “greatest hits” cassette. For those who don’t know what cassettes were because all you’ve ever known are cds, just nod and play along, you’ll understand the analogy shortly.
Now, imagine if you could do that same thing with your survival library. Grab the choicest bits and toss them all together under one or two covers.
The Tough Times Survival Guides are akin to the Paladin Press’ greatest hits. They have gone through hundreds of their books, pulling out some of the best material, and compiling it all into these guides. All your favorite Paladin authors are represented – Ragnar Benson, Ed Romney, Bruce Clayton, and Andy Kane to name just a few. Plus, there is material from other sources, such as Dorothy Ainsworth’s contributions to Backwoods Home Magazine.
Here are just a few of the many highlights from these books.
–The Lucky Seven Dumpster Diving Spots by John Hoffman: An excellent essay on not only the best places to dumpster dive, but what you can expect to find there as well as what you can do with those items.
–Free Fuel for Cold Times by Don McLean: Not only where to find free firewood but other types of fuel as well. You just need to know where to look and McLean guides you there.
–Dirt-Cheap Desert Living by Phil Garlington: Want to know how to set up a homestead where pretty much no one else dares live? Here’s the step by step guide to making it work.
–Building, Stocking, and Using a Sealed Room Against a Terrorist Attack by Howard Linett: A practical guide to creating an expedient safe room.
–Hiding Valuables in Your Home: Some great methods for covertly storing food, money, or other items throughout your home or retreat.
–Psychological Aspects of Survival by Reid Kincaid: This is something often overlooked by survivalists – the mental aspect of your preparations.
Each volume is broken into categories. Each category is then comprised of several individual chapters. These categories include Making Do With Less, Employment and Money, Survivalism and Self Reliance, Homespun Health Care, and Security and Safety. Separately, they are $20 each, but the set is currently on sale for $32.95, direct from the publisher. Truly, these are great additions to any survival library. No fluff, no padding, just hard core, practical information. Highly recommended.
Ariel by Steven R. Boyett
On April 26, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
That cover right there caught my eye at a local Borders store a few months ago. I thought to myself, That right there is a book I just gotta have! I wish I could tell you the story lived up to the promise of that cover, but for me it didn’t.
Five years ago, a Change happened throughout the world. Magic became real and science ceased to work (for the most part). All machines and technology became worthless. Creatures from myth and folklore suddenly appeared. Peter Garey has wandered the countryside since that time. Along the way, he meets and befriends a young unicorn named Ariel. She is smart, can talk, and Peter teaches her the ways of this world. He is able to touch her because he is still a virgin. See, unicorns are pure beings and only others who are also pure can make contact with her without being hurt.
Um, yeah.
In their travels, they meet and become allies with Malachai Lee, an expert in martial arts, particularly the use of the samurai sword. Lee teaches Garey quite a bit of sword tactics, as well as gifting him a valuable katana. Up until this point, Garey’s primary weapon for defense was a blow gun.
Um, yeah again.
We soon learn there is a necromancer in what remains of New York City who wishes to capture Ariel and make use of her magic horn. I’m not giving much away by saying there is a massive battle and rescue operation in the latter part of the book.
I’m also not giving much away by saying there is some disturbing sexual tension between Garey and Ariel. Disturbing because, well, Garey is a human being and Ariel is a unicorn.
Now, there are some good points to this book. The fight scenes are well thought out and presented in such a way that they are easy to follow and somewhat believable. Well, if you can believe a dart from a blow gun has enough velocity to knock a man over when hit by the dart, that is.
(Boyett, in his Afterword, does admit he overlooked some details like that when he first wrote the book. It was first published back in 1983, recently re-released because the sequel, Elegy Beach, was coming out. Rather than make corrections to the story, Boyett felt it was better to let the story stand as it is, warts and all. I respect him for that.)
There is also a fair amount of interesting description and detail about the world after the Change. How folks go about finding food, gathering supplies, and just in general how society has changed. People trade tips on what stores still have a few pair of shoes like people today trade tips on good restaurants.
Overall, it isn’t a truly bad book. Rather, just not entirely to my liking. But, if you like your post-apocalypse stories with a liberal dose of fantastical creatures, this is probably right up your alley.
Shoestring Survivalism by Andy James
On April 19, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
I would hazard a guess and say most of our readers here are not independently wealthy. Plus, many of us are just cheap bastards. Well, in the interest of full disclosure, if I were wealthy, I’d probably have all manner of gizmos and gadgets. But, since I’m not and have to make do with what I have or can scrounge, I found this book to be extremely interesting and chock full of great information.
James has compiled a wealth of tips and tricks into this slim volume. Many “survival manuals” suggest you go out and purchase a ton of specially dehydrated foods to stockpile. James instead suggests you visit your local grocery store as well as ethnic groceries and take advantage of their sales and bargains. Rather than telling you to spend hundreds of dollars on an armory stocked with the latest and greatest, he explains how and where you can acquire decent and affordable firearms for hunting and protection. Instead of suggesting you go out and drop a ton of money on whiz-bang gadgetry, he discusses all manner of supplies, what you really need, what you can probably do without, and where to find them at bargain prices.
The chapter on currency and barter is excellent as well. I’ve not seen many survival instructional books that address this topic. James does so with common sense, which is refreshing.
There are twenty-odd suggestions for low-cost things you can do right now that will dramatically improve your survival odds in a crisis. Seriously, you could do several of those steps in one day and be immensely better off.
He also gives some great, budget-conscious, solutions to site security and communications. He even has great suggestions for if you have no other choice but to bug out to a government run emergency shelter.
The only downside for me with this book was the first couple chapters on the “whys” of preparation. This will be old news for most of our readers. But, the remainder of the book more than makes up for it in terms of quality information.
Currently, Paladin Press is selling the book for $15.00. In my opinion, it is worth twice that price for both the new and the seasoned survivalist. True to form, given the title and focus of the book, it is quite a bargain!
Clicking on the Paladin Press graphic to the right will take you right to this book and others in the same vein.
Interview with Dr. Kim Paffenroth and a contest!
On April 09, 2010 in Library at the End of the World
Dr. Kim Paffenroth is a professor of religious studies. He has authored many books on theology and The Bible. In addition, he has penned some of the best zombie fiction around. Dr. Paffenroth has been kind enough to sit down with me for a short interview.
You are a college professor of religious studies and have written several books on theology and the Bible. You’re also an author of horror novels. Could you explain a bit how you went from Point A to Point B?
A few years ago, a couple things came together in my professional life. I was having some success publishing my theology books, but I noticed they didn’t really sell many copies – a few copies to libraries, and that was it. You need to publish such books to get tenure and promotions, so you are “paid” indirectly by advancing your career, but it was still very frustrating to spend two years working on a book and see that it only sold a couple hundred copies. At the same time, I noticed there were lots of books out there with the title The Gospel according to _____, books that tried to tease out the relevance or compatibility of some pop culture phenomenon with the Christian message. Some filled in the blank with pretty straightforward examples (e.g. Tolkien or Lewis, both of whom were devout Christians), some filled it in with more of a stretch (e.g. Harry Potter, which is often criticized by some Christians because it contains magic, but on the other hand, is a deeply, conventionally moral tale), and some really stretched and made you wonder how they’d glean even a very broadly Christian message from the work they were examining (e.g. The Simpsons or The Sopranos). Then I went to see the Dawn of the Dead remake (2004) and it all clicked – I’d write Gospel of the Living Dead (2006), looking at how Romero uses the undead to offer some social criticism, and examine human nature, in ways that are not foreign to Christianity. While I was working on that, I got it into my head that, as much fun as it was to analyze other people’s zombies, maybe I could write stories about my own, and make them mean and symbolize exactly what I wanted them to. It’s been a fun, unpredictable ride since.
Do you catch much flak from your professor colleagues about your zombie books?
No – people are so funny, to think professors are cheerless scolds all the time. Think more the Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society! Okay, most of us aren’t that lively, but we’re tolerant of our students’ and colleagues’ idiosyncrasies. And I think we all appreciate most attempts to make our thinking and scholarship accessible and relevant to a wider audience. Now, they haven’t all run out to watch Zombieland at theaters, but I think they mostly get a kick out of what I do. If anything, horror fans are a bit more suspicious of a pointy-headed “intellectual” interloping on their genre and giving all these meanings and interpretations, when some of them think that’ll mess up or diminish their enjoyment of their reading or viewing: more often I have to reassure those people that no, I’m a fan, and I bring my own perspective to it, and we can have an intelligent conversation and increase our enjoyment.
Why zombies? What drew you to that particular sub-genre?
I was hooked with the original Dawn of the Dead (1978): the strategizing about where to hide, the gore, the idea of a new world without rules and limits – that’s a pretty potent mix for a teenage boy. But then I didn’t think of them for years. When I came back to them recently, I’d read and thought enough in the intervening years that I could say something more than “Zombies are cool!” and that’s what’s been fun.
What book or movie served as your introduction to the post-apocalyptic genre? What are some of your favorite post-apocalyptic works (books, movies, whatever)?
The original Dawn, and that remains my favorite. The remake, though, I thought was very good – not as somber and moody, but a good action movie with some good acting and characters that made you feel for them. I enjoyed The Rising by Brian Keene and Monster Island by David Wellington. I haven’t kept up with every issue of The Walking Dead (Image Comics), but I liked what I read. And then I have to say The Road by Cormac McCarthy really gave us some legitimacy – it told a powerful, personal story with nearly-zombified humans (they threaten to kill and eat the protagonists, after all) as the backdrop, but was still an artistic and critical success.
I don’t think one could argue there are some great end of the world books, a few horrendous ones, and a whole lot of mediocre ones. What do you think sets the great ones apart from the rest?
As above on The Road – give me characters I care about, doing something that’s relevant to me, then it doesn’t matter if they’re on a pirate ship or an American suburb or a post-apocalyptic landscape. Give me stereotyped characters doing the usual stuff – maybe if the writing’s engaging enough and the action’s thrilling enough, it’ll hold my interest for a while, but it will be just one among many typical reads, as you say.
Can you tell our readers a bit about your Dying to Live series?
We move through two generations of a post-apocalyptic world. First we’re following one guy a year after the outbreak as he joins up with a community that’s somewhat safe and secured themselves from the zombies; it’s still pretty typical zombie stuff, with lots of fights against the zombie hordes. The second volume follows the community as it grows and gets back to a more “normal” existence, but one that is remarkably different from our world – not just in terms of corpses walking around, but in terms of their values, their rituals, their lifestyles. There’s less zombie fighting, and more fighting between the community and two other groups of survivors they encounter. Then the third volume takes some of the characters from volume two and throws them among another survivor group that more closely resembles contemporary American culture, to see how their values conflict.
One of the things I really liked about DYING TO LIVE, the first in the series, was the focus on building a community from the wreckage of the past. Obviously this is something of a running theme in post-apocalyptic fiction. Was this facet of your story researched and planned out beforehand or was it something that just seemed to come together as you wrote?
I didn’t know every detail of the community, if that’s what you mean, but I had the general outlines of it in mind when I started. I wanted them to be much more communitarian and humane than our current society. It got more fun in volume two when I could work in some of the growing pains of the community, and also some of their regrets and fondness for the past – the things they miss about our current world. It gave the story more depth and poignancy.
In addition to writing zombie books, you have also edited zombie anthologies – HISTORY IS DEAD and THE WORLD IS DEAD. As an editor, what do you look for in a good zombie story?
Well, good writing is the baseline: some people ask “What if the story’s really good, but the writing’s kind of rough – will you work with it?” The short answer is “No.” It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare, but there has to be clarity and even elegance for me to proceed. Then for the story to stand out above all the others that are technically well-written, I have to see that the author’s used the trope appropriately, but added something unexpected and interesting – in other words, not just something new for the sake of novelty, but something new that holds me and takes me somewhere I’d like to explore.
Your latest work, VALLEY OF THE DEAD, is a bit different from your other zombie books. Could you give us some background on how the story came about?
When I was working on Gospel of the Living Dead, one of my main insights was how close Romero was to Dante’s ideas of sin and damnation – that most sins are appetite gone berserk, and without reason to hold it back and restrain it. Well, that’s a zombie, right there – mindless hunger. And the sins that are worse than that, in Dante’s estimation, are those that are based on perverted reason – cruelty, sadism, deception, betrayal. And looking closer at Romero, it seemed to me he had some of these built into his stories, too, with characters like Rhodes and Kaufman. So, I mulled it over for a while, and thought, “If I can analyze Romero in terms of Dante, maybe I could take Dante and put him through a Romero-esque zombie infestation.” I went over Inferno closely and tried my best to weave together a zombified journey that could plausibly be behind Dante’s more overtly religious symbols – a secularized, de-mythologized version of Inferno, if you will, but still very much recognizable if you know the original.
Do you recommend readers be familiar with Dante’s Inferno before diving in on VALLEY OF THE DEAD?
I recommend everyone be familiar with Dante’s Inferno – it’s just an awesome, hilarious, grotesque, beautiful book! But, if you mean, will they enjoy my version less if they don’t know the original – no, it’s not written that way. It’s like The Lion King and Hamlet: once you see the parallels, it makes more sense, but most people love The Lion King without connecting it to the Shakespeare. If anything (and this is where my scholarship and teaching hopefully overlap with my zombie fiction), several readers have already said they wanted to go find the original, after reading my version, and see how the two compare. That’d be cool, if people read mine, liked it, and then went back to Dante’s original.
What’s up next in the Dr. Kim Paffenroth plan for world domination?
The German edition of Dying to Live was just published by Festa Verlag: I’m waiting for my copies now and it’s exciting – I’ve never been translated before! The third installment of Dying to Live will be out early next year (2011). The Simon and Schuster / Permuted edition of the original Dying to Live will be out October 2010. (I’m sure you know – Simon and Schuster is in a cooperative publishing deal with Permuted to reissue some Permuted titles; these will now be more widely available at all your large book retailers.) In September 2010, my novelette Orpheus and the Pearl will be reprinted by Belfire Press, bound together with a brand new story by the awesome Dave Dunwoody. I have a story, co-authored with the great team of Julia and R.J. Sevin, that’ll be reprinted in the new The Living Dead II anthology. I guess the biggest thing I’d hope for this year would be finally to publish a non-zombie novel: I think all of us who are known for our zombies really want that validation and breadth to our work, even if we go back to our favorite monster over and over.
Thank you for taking the time for the interview. I and our readers really appreciate your comments and insight. Readers can keep up with Dr. Paffenroth on his blog.
Contest details:
How would you like to win a signed Advance Readers Copy (ARC) of VALLEY OF THE DEAD? Or a copy of THE WORLD IS DEAD signed by the editor Dr. Kim Paffenroth? We also have a very rare chapbook co-written by Dr. Paffenroth and Julia and R.J. Sevin, also signed.
There are three ways to enter the contest.
1) Post a comment below.
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3) Send out an email to your friends who might be interested in the interview or our site. BCC me on the email so I know you’ve done so. Again, use Jim (at) SurvivalWeekly (dot) com.
If you do all three of the above, you’re entered three times. You have until 5:00PM CST, Friday, April 16, to enter the contest. We’ll choose three winners at random from all entries received. There will be one winner each for the prizes listed above. I will email each winner no later than Monday, April 19. Good luck!
