SHTF: SHTF Fiction Online

We all love reading end of the world fiction, right? Thanks to the Internet, there is a wealth of entertaining and free stories available online for any and all to read.

Look around and you may find the next "Lights Out" or "Deep Winter" out there.

The trick is finding the best sites for SHTF fiction. There are many sites which are no longer maintained and feature older works. Most of the sites out there feature original works but also include personal survival stories ("I was lost in the woods..") as well as reading suggestions and movies.

Please note: There is a problem with many authors as they tend to write part time and when the mood strikes them (and when work and home allow!), so some stories are incomplete.

Here are the places I find the best SHTF stories.


SHTFiction 

OK, this site is mine and has a few short stories in progress, most of which are finished, but all which are not getting enough feedback or criticism to move faster. Please visit and leave a comment.

Note: A Change of Major is my latest story and is nearly complete.



TimeBomb 2000 - Member Stories


This is where Deep Winter, Shattered, We Interrupt This Program and so many other great stories got their start.
Lately, there have not been as many quality entries, but all of the past stories, with the exception of TSherry's work, have been maintained for reading.


The Preparedness Site

This was the old Fallout Shelter 653 website now redone in 2008. This site features the original work of Jerry D Young, probably the most prolific SHTF fiction writer out there, as well as other works.

Preparing for the end of the world? Click Here!

The Survivalist Boards

One of my favorite sites to visit. The stories here are first rate and are updated regularly. There are a couple of authors who routinely start stories and never finish them, but that is common with this genre.

However, there are some great stories which will keep you riveted to your seat. Check out Montani Semper Liberi. Gripping story!


AR15.Com

Affectionately known as ARFCOM, the Essential Survival Guides and Fiction section of the forum has some great stories.

Since this site is primarily about the AR15 weapon, nearly every story features that particular rifle prominently.

Best picks - Darkest Part of Day I and II. How in the world the author "fast45" can write something of this quality part time is beyond me.

Survival Monkey

Not so many stories, but several made their start here. Worth perusing for new titles.

Frugal Squirrels

Was one of the oldest and greatest. This is where Lights Out started and Gary Ott (Tired Old Man) left his mark. Now, it has been taken down and is no longer available but searching the internet for archived stories may prove useful.

There are other sites which I come across from time to time, but these are a good place to start if you are new to SHTF fiction.

Happy reading!

Advice for the day:

Rain barrels are a great way to save water for home and plant use. Use the down spout of your rain gutters and place an old trash can underneath. It is best to put a piece of screen over the top to keep out leaves and trash and to keep mosquitoes from breeding. There are plenty of "How To" online. Google it.

Get Food Insurance Now - Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

SHTF Movies: Panic in Year Zero

When I was eight years old, a freak ice storm hit our area. The roads were nearly impassable, traffic was tied up and naturally, my school called a late start that morning.

My sister and I carpooled with another girl nearby and were able to make it to her house before we found out school was delayed. Her mother parked us on the couch, put on the television and went about her morning chores. (this was in the old days when mothers drove station wagons, wore their hair in curlers until 4:45 PM and cleaned house daily).

In those days, there was only 5 channels in our fair town; CBS, ABC, NBC, one local channel and a single UHF station broadcasting religious programming. At that time, national and local channels pretty much had free reign as to what they wanted to broadcast during non-prime time hours.

We had swell shows like Dialing for Dollars (watch a movie and during the commercials an announcer would call viewers and have them guess the jackpot), local cooking shows, farm reports (the show sets looked like they cost $10.00 in scrap lumber to build) and of course "women's programming" like fashions, household tips and exotic travel documentaries to places like New York City or New Orleans!

In the morning hours, there was usually a movie on to kill two hours. These films were all "B" movies which were cheap for local broadcasters to run unlimited numbers of times in the morning and late at night.

It was that icy morning I saw my first survival themed film.. "Panic In Year Zero".

Released in 1962 in full black and white splendor, "Panic" starred Academy award winner Ray Milland along with Jean Hagen and teen heart throb, Frankie Avalon.

The story follows a Los Angeles family as they head out early one morning for a camping and fishing vacation. Two hours after they leave home, they notice a flash in the sky far behind them. They ignore it until a few events take place (a car crash, a Conelrad radio alert and a crowded diner) reveal to them that a nuclear war has taken place.

Their home, Los Angeles has been hit and phone service to the area is out. Mom wants to return home to check on her mother, but dad Milland says nothing doing.

First, the family hits a small town and buys a few hundred dollars worth of groceries. In those days, that was enough to stuff their trailer full of canned goods and other things. The best scene here is the daughter picking up some sodas and her father saying, "No, leave that and get chocolate bars and honey". (Dad remembers WWII and knows what will be needed and what is junk!). On the way out, Dad advises the owner to lock up and hoard is stock as a mob will be coming soon from nuked Los Angeles to clean him out.




Next, they go to the hardware store and have their first problem. After they stock up on gasoline cans, rope, axes, and other hardware, Dad picks out a shotgun, lever action rifle and a fine .45 automatic (Ah, old school hardware stores). When the time to pay comes, Dad is short on cash and offers to write a check. The owner laughs and says "fat chance". Dad pulls his recently acquired .45 on the owner, leaves a check and clears out. The hardware store owner vows revenge.

Gasoline is next on the list and by now, the service station jockey knows about the war. He wants $3.00 a gallon for thirty cent gas. Dad belts him and throws a handful of rapidly devaluing cash on the sprawled unconscious body of the attendant. (Dad is fine with taking stuff, but nobody better try that business on him!).

The family plans on heading to their campground and holing up until things get better. More problems ahead..

Traffic from LA stalling their path.. Dad burns his way through that..

A road block in a small town.. Dad blows through it.

A carload of hoodlums ("Cops kinda busy, daddio"). Son chases the off with shotgun, but after Mom blocks his killing shot..

Finally, they arrive at their campsite. They tear down the bridge to the camp (good) and dump their trailer (dumb) and move into a cave (interesting).

Things get rough soon after..

The daughter is assaulted by the same carload of hoodlums..

The hardware store owner arrives and moves into their abandoned trailer!

The hoodlums have to be eradicated, but soon after, Son is shot!

And more adventures happen soon after.

Happy ending however and all turns out well. As the final line of the movie goes "Good, another healthy family to rebuild America". Happy times.

Get this movie from your local vendor or of course on Amazon.

Panic in Year Zero

I loved this movie as a kid and laughed at the crazy loud music in every scene. Apparently, Milland directed this classic as well as starring in it and had a hand in picking the score. This was the film the subconsciously got me into the whole prepper mentality, I just didn't realize it until twenty five years later.

A great watch for a somewhat corny, but hard to find film. "Panic in Year Zero" gets one thumb up from me (the other is holding my .30-30).

SHTF: Patriots Suviving the coming collapse

Since most of us are into preparedeness and survival, with the exception of an odd "lost in the woods" news article or a major event like Hurricane Katrina, we are left to our imaginations as to what "post-SHTF America" would look like.

And we are not alone..

For centuries, story tellers have dreamed up imaginary stories of survival and preparedness which in turn, inspire another generation of authors and writers.

Homer's "Illiad" and "Odyssey" and H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" are both great literary works, but also great early works of survivalism. The legend of Atlantis and numerous stories in the Bible are also great influencers on the modern preparedness movement.

Patriots originally started as a shareware version on the Internet back in the mid-nineties and went by several different names; Triple Out, the Gray Nineties and finally, Patriots.

The story is simple. Economic meltdown of the U.S. followed by years of chaos. One group's story in Northern Idaho and how they prepared and survived the tough times. Lots, and I mean lots of details on how do survivalist things.

Patriots is now available for purchase only in book form online.

First, Patriots is a standard for modern survival stories. Nearly every author (online) follows the Patriots model for survival fiction. That includes..

Tell the story from the protagonist point of view.

Give plenty (read pages and pages) of technical details on preparedness preparation including retreat construction, name brands of products used, occasional references to websites (which is funny in a SHTF, non-internet world), lots of firearms descriptions/capabilities and sprinkle in a cast of bad guys with names like Scrag, Killer, Lefty and so on.

Continually preach the mantra of preparedness, financial frugality, the problems of the federal government, unwavering support for the constitution and the inherent danger of fiat currency.

Also frequently point out to readers "Don't Get Its" - those people who failed to prepare for emergencies and also who lived beyond their means. Those poor souls are treated savagely at each turn.

All conversations between characters are lectures on the above topics with little discourse between the characters present except for "straight lines" to keep the speaker going, such as "Gee, Bob, I thought our currency was backed by the government" or "Isn't the government here to help us and not hurt us?".


The end result is as the author likes to state, "Patriots - survival fiction neatly dressed as fiction".


Neatly, as in the eye of the beholder.

I have read Patriots on more than one occasion. I have visited the author's website and read his non-fiction comments and writings. I have tried really hard to like this book. But Patriots just doesn't do it for me.

First, Patriots has a two dimensional story line.

For instance, who really thinks 12 friends, not matter how long they have known each other, would really still be speaking after two years locked up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere?

In the first week or so of the Crunch, why wasn't at least one member of the Group curious enough to drive over to Bovill or Moscow or any other nearby town to see if the troubles had reached them yet? From what we learned later in the book, most of the problems never made it to central Idaho.

Who really thinks a bunch of city dwelling drug addicts and convicts are going to wander five hours from a major city, miles from any major highway while searching for a farm or ranch with enough food and gasoline to make it worth their while?

And who really thinks that the UN, with European soldiers, are going to invade and conquer the United States including huge underpopulated sections which primarily consist of rugged mountains and forests? European countries are more interested in invading a disco or something similar.

When I reread Patriots, I searched high and low for some sort of conflict between the characters such as whether or not to help others, or friction between friends or famiy. It never happened.

Further, most of the characters had a family members elsewhere yet no one had any interest in looking for them or trying to make contact. However, when two friends were trapped a few hundred miles away, the Group wasted no time driving through hostile territory to save them.

It got old having to wade through pages of how a character hooked up a Acme Super Solar Charger to a post next to his barn. And the constant product plugs were tedious as well.

And my biggest gripe: Every person in the book was identified by the type of firearm they carried.

I get tired of the survival manual mindset. I want to read a story first and a "how to book" third or fourth. Patriots is quite simply, not a very good story.

Patriots would be a lot better if there were more of a story line. It starts out well, has great potential, then gets real boring real fast.

Hey, if you enjoy Patriots and don't mind some of the points made above, no problem. But if you are looking for a good story "FOC", check out Lights Out, Deep Winter or Shattered - all of which are available online.