Looking To Bugout In Northern Idaho.

yes, I've read both series (twice) (the ember verse series might still be going, and the last two were pretty weird) and I loved both very much, excellent work, very imaginative, extremely detailed, fight scenes (and food) are amazing. Stirling is a top notch author, although oddly enough i've never even thought about checking out some of his other works, and thee are quite a few, which is a bit strange...

I've always wanted to see both become a HBO thing like game of thrones, I think they are perfect candidates.

From my POV its pretty dam realistic just how quickly things can go from bad to worse to catastrophic in just a short period of time.

It also made me want to learn to shoot the recurve bow, and i've gone as far as checking out a couple on craigslist but never actually bought one, some day maybe.

My wife (who hasn't read the series) has never quite understood my fascination for wanting to travel to the Portland area and see the Willamette valley.

I've recommended the series to several peeps, zero complaints, and if i'm traveling, I always just snag a random one off the bookshelf to take on the plane and shove it in the backpack so I have something good to read.

back on topic... has it prepared me in any way for the collapse of civilization?

probably not but it has given me some good ideas and things to avoid. I'm more likely to stand pat (after a quick fuel/food run) load the weapons up, teach the wife where to stick the pointy end, and wait out the riots. If I could get out of town i'd likely end up in rural NC, I have friends and family there and I think we could hunker down there with better weather than South Florida offers

 

Well, Steve is a rather interesting person. I have read many of his works even before he wrote these series. I started with his Draka series back in the 1980's. It is a rather interesting and dark series, taking place in a world where many of the defeated Loyalists from the American Revolution took refuge in South Africa. They were later joined by French Royalists from their Revolution, and later over 150,000 Confederates from the US Civil War.

This made for a nation that was very powerful militarily, had a strong independent streak, and continued with slavery, even when they became a pariah nation because of it. In the first book of the series (Marching Through Georgia), they had just joined the Allies in World War II, and "liberated" Nazi occupied Georgia, and then rolled East and West, pushing the Nazis back to Berlin, and at the same time pushing the Soviets back to the old Russian border.

He came under a lot of grief over that series, because a lot of SJWs detested that slavery was so important. But they did not even seem to notice that it was not the "race based" slavery of the 19th century, but was more akin to slavery as a social class similar to what the Romans practiced. Serfs (slaves) were similar to the Plebian class, irreguardless of race. They could earn or buy their own freedom, and many flock to serve in the various Janissary Corps to earn their freedom.

Oh, and to them, anybody not in their own upper classes is a serf. Americans, British, and everybody else in every nation not controlled by the Draka are "feral serfs". A lot of people absolutely hate his writings, because of this series alone. They are unable to separate that it is not any kind of "Mary Sue", it is a dark look at a dystopian "What if".

Oh, there already was one.

As soon as the Jar-Jar Abrams TV series "Revolution" hit the airwaves in 2012, immediately to serious fans of the books it was obvious that much of the concept was lifted almost directly from Mr. Stirling. It was an interesting show, and moved it from the event caused by Gods-Alien Space Bats to self-aware nanites.

I remember at the time reading some articles from the production and writing staff that they did lift some of the ideals, but in comparing the two you can tell it was largely superficial. There is no Lord Protector, Lord Bear, or Witch Queen in that series. But the idea of an apocalypse happening overnight by the removal of technology is largely only seen in those 2 stories.

Oh, it takes very little time. Most of what we "believe in" is not real, it is only real because enough of us believe it is so that we all follow the same rules, and "play" the same game called "civilization" and "politics".

Remove all trust and faith that the "rules" still apply, and things can break down very quickly. And in the modern world, where we are used to sending a tweet in seconds around the world to go back to taking weeks by pony express to cross the country, things would get bad very-very quickly. Almost the entire world is based and reliant on technology. And as seen, most would die because they have absolutely no survival skills.

Well, I have been "planning" long before that series. Growing up in the Cold War and being in the military, it was long on my mind. The need to get out and go to ground if things got really bad. Move to South-Western Idaho, rely on hunting, fishing, and simple farming until things start to return to normal. Avoiding all contact when I can, some will take advantage of things for their own benefit.

Most people today are so far removed from their ancestors, they would pass right on by a bounty of food and never even recognize it. And would not realize that at a certain point, rabbits, cats, and dogs are not pets, they are breakfast.

 

Back on topic, sort of, I happened to watch the first two seasons of the TV show "alone" and I'm starting #3.

Anyone thinks that bugging out is going to be easy should take a gander at that.

 

Cold azz weather

 

exactly where one would want to be... where no one else wants to

 

Bring a hottie bug out partner from your home state. North Idaho i has zero hotties.