Robin's Review

After the End:                                                                                     A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Novel
by Joshua V. Scher
As a Doomsday prepper, he's ready to survive the apocalypse. But what about the men hunting him?

It turns out Addison was right: the world as he knew it did come to an end by means of a killer virus.

He's by himself now near what was Sicily, Oklahoma, tending to a wilted vegetable garden, foraging for rabbits, and eking out not quite enough water from a dried-up well. It's time to move. His Uncle Izzy, whom he's decided to seek out in his survivalist cabin hundreds of miles away, had prepared him well for an apocalypse - all but for the loneliness.

The plan is simple. Gun. Bow. Bike. Go.

If he could just make it across the state, then maybe...

But the virus didn't quite kill everybody. And humanity isn't all that humane anymore.

Ransacked and run-down, Addison learns all too quickly that hope is the enemy and trust is a liability. Survival has its costs.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man might be king, but in the land of the dead, he's bait.

The literary bleakness of Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD meets the survivalist thrills of Gary Paulsen's HATCHET in this harrowing novel from Joshua V. Scher. Now a Motion Picture from Shout! Studios and 1157 Productions, out 8/17/2021.

Robin's Review: This world is Eden with no escape. Addison, Addie, is left by himself in this dystopian world post-apocalyptic event. It was ravaged by a virus called the “Stripes.” Leaving the survivors in a BS or PS. Before Stripes or Post Stripes world. This story shows the loneliness of being the only one left after an apocalypse. A very interesting blend of fiction, movie references such as “Wilson” and survival tips/recipes like colloidal silver and the hilarious recipe for “Preppers Surprise.” I enjoyed the tale of the “Deer Women.” Also keeping track of humans and dead bodies on the calendar was interesting. There’s even an explanation of how to tell time by the stars. This was such a great book with its wealth of information and relatable characters. It had funny sayings that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Favorite lines:

“God is in the details, and haste is of the Devil.”

“The protocol’s about— Safety. Precaution. Survival.”

“Starve a cold, feed a fever.”

“The only difference between a beacon and a warning is who’s doing the looking.”

“The more you know, the less you need.”

“I bet you’re hungry enough to eat the balls off a low-flying duck.”

“But it just bounces off her like green Jell-O off a plastic tarp.”

“Always better to flinch than get hit.”

“See, the trick with subterfuge is sacrifice.”

“Ain’t nothing to do but wait. Stillness is my ally, boredom my comrade, with which I wage a quiet war of hide and go screw yourself.”

“Individuals are great. I love each and every one of ’em. It’s people who’re awful.’”

Some Survival Tips:

Get the best polarized and antiglare lenses and fit them with a top-of-the-line, military-grade, anti-reflection filters.

Check the smoke alarm for the 9-volt battery.

Use effective decoy methods.

Average person needs three quarts of water a day, just for consumption.

When you are trying to be quiet, open your mouth and take short, metered breaths.

Jerky lasts way longer if you don’t chew it. You can suck on the juices a good half hour before it dissolves.

“So, by digging a small pit and surrounding it with rocks, you keep the fire contained but by digging a trench into the outer the circle, you got yourself a channel for the air to flow in and feed the fire.

“If there’s one thing a cancer stick’s good for, it’s catchin’ fire.”

“Dessert noodles is made by sprinkling artificial sweetener on ramen noodles.”

“To make a spit for cooking make two tripods of twigs at opposite ends of the fire and tie a shoelace loop dangling from each.”

Fish Mox Forte is antibacterial fish medication which is amoxicillin in 500 mg capsules.

Directions on how to make a hot stone bed for sleeping.

Good places to hold up would be ones that were already abandoned and decayed before the scourge and that had already been picked over, pulled apart, and left to sink into disrepair.
Worthless ruins would be great sanctuaries.


Allison’s Reading Material:
I think I got the authors correct

Self-Reliance magazine
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The Bible
The Decameron book by Giovanni Boccaccio
Robinson Crusoe novel by Daniel Defoe
To Build a Fire and Other Stories book by Jack London
How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It book by James Wesley Rawles
U.S. Army’s Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants
U.S. Air Force’s Survival Handbook
His favorite sci-fi book by Tate Avess
“Because it can’t all be business.”


Post-Apocalyptic
Dystopian
Science Fiction
Action

Walk With Me Into the Dark