Keeping the (post-apocalyptic) romance alive

With Valentine’s Day being last week and my post about the Love Machine app going up last Wednesday, I’ve been thinking about love and romance and relationships and all that other sappy stuff. And seriously, it’s hard enough keeping up with the romance now, in the pre-apocalypse, when we still have Hallmark and Godiva chocolates for those moments when we screw up.

It’s going to be really hard in the post apocalypse, when we won’t have any of those romantic crutches to help us out. So what are we to do?

I’m going to move forward from here assuming that you’ve already covered the basics. That is, you’ve found a love interest, you’ve gone on your first date, and you’re maintaining a healthy relationship. If you’re not doing these things, then this post can’t really help you, because chances are you don’t have a romance to keep alive. (Of course, I could be wrong, but that’s the general assumption.)

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Post-apocalyptic Reading — Impressions: THE JACKAL DREAMING by J.A. Caselberg

Book blurb, from publisher’s website:[1. Review copy provided by Musa Publishing]

A dark god is awakening and a young temple scribe holds the balance of the world in her hands.

Deep beneath the temple, young Tarith makes a discovery, one that will take her on a journey of learning and danger.  The Dreaming God is waking, and it is only Tarith who holds the balance of power within her hands.  Or is it?

Tarith’s journey will take her across vast lands and numerous encounters to try to restore the balance of power that keeps the world safe.”

I need to make a confession. I have not willingly gone out and bought an epic fantasy in a…well, in a long time. I’m currently editing a traditional fantasy (*ahem*releasesinApril*ahem*); you know, the kind with good wizards and bad wizards and lots of magic thrown around. I’m also editing two urban fantasies (ones that, thankfully, do not have any vampires in them whatsoever).

I haven’t read an epic fantasy in a long time. Probably because I’m a bit burned out on the repetitive UFs and I got tired of the whole genre.

But then! The lovely people over at Musa Publishing sent us this book for review. And suddenly I remembered why I like fantasy.

Seriously, this book was that good.

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Thinking of proposing? There's an app for that

Okay, so, confession time: I dislike Valentine’s Day. Probably because I spent way too many of them single (well, before I got married). Back then, I used to think of myself as a hopeless romantic. Sometime in the last decade I realized I was just hopeless.

Ironically, when I owned up to that, I met my now-husband. (I guess there’s something to be said for that be-true-to-yourself stuff, hey?) Also, Hubby’s a lot better at this romance stuff than I am. I mean, I actually FORGOT Valentine’s Day last year. He came home with a card and flowers and I looked at him and said, “Uh…what are the flowers for?” And he laughed and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, honey.”Um. Yeah.

What can I say? I’m romantically stunted. I read romance novels because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy to realize that not everyone is as inept as I am when it comes to love and romance.

Ahem. Anyway. I suppose I don’t really have to say that I am one of the few non-romantic females on the planet. And I probably really don’t have to say that the vast majority of females demand romance, particularly on days like Valentine’s Day. They want the chocolate, the roses, the candlelit dinner, the whatever else it is you’re supposed to have during a romantic evening out with your significant other.

Some of them even want marriage proposals–yes, on Valentine’s Day. (I know, right?)

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The end of the world: There's a magazine for that

Last week I was putzing around Target shopping for clothes for my kids. I took a detour through the books and magazines because this is what I do every shopping trip. I don’t normally find anything–local stores never carry the magazines I want to read (Discover, Astronomy, that sort of thing) and I’m a digital reader (I love my Kindle) so I don’t get many paperbacks.

But THIS time, I struck gold. And because I’m always thinking about the apocalypse in some form or another (usually because I’m looking for possible topics to write about), my brain somehow found this one magazine, even though it was sitting in the back of the stacks.

It’s called 2012 End of the World.

I kid you not.

I’m still trying to find ways to show you guys pictures without getting a copyright violation suit slapped on me and ICoS, so you’ll have to wait a bit for screenshots. I was thinking of doing an end-times collage (using images from this and other magazines)…would that be a copyright violation? It would be a piece of art (and I use the term “art” loosely).

Anyway. I’m going to give you an overview of the magazine. And, you know, review it. Because I read this shit so you don’t have to.

WARNING: HERE BE SNARKERY. AND LENGTH.

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What I've learned from watching science fiction shows

I watch a lot of science fiction. I read alot of science fiction, too, but I grew up watching Star Trek and Stargate.

Yes, I’m a geek. (It’s okay, you can say it. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything.)

I realized recently that I’ve learned a few things from my steady diet of space battles. (One of them is that regardless of space being a giant vacuum, explosions will always sound…well, like big explosions. Always.) Hopefully those things will even help me post-apocalypse, but only time–and the apocalypse–will tell.

I’m concentrating on TV shows here, otherwise this post will turn into a novel. Or at least a thesis paper. (Hmm…might not be a bad thesis topic.)

Anyway. So, what have I learned from watching science fiction? Well, it depends on the show.

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Post-Apocalyptic Reading – Impressions: EX-PATRIOTS by Peter Clines

Description of Peter Clines’ Ex-Patriots[1. This book was provided for review byPermuted Press]

It’s been two years since the world ended.

Two years since the dead rose and the plague of ex-humanity decimated mankind. For most of that time, the superhero called St. George, formerly known to the world as the Mighty Dragon, has protected the people of Los Angeles at their film studio-turned-fortress, The Mount. Together with his fellow heroes—Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth—he’s tried to give the survivors hope and something like a real life. But the swollen population of the Mount is becoming harder and harder to sustain, and the heroes are feeling the pressure.

Hope arrives in the form of a United States Army battalion, based in a complex a few hundred miles away in Arizona. This is not just any base, however. The men and women of Project Krypton are super-soldiers, designed and created before the outbreak to be better, stronger, and faster than normal humans. They want the heroes and all the people of the Mount to rejoin America and have normal lives again.

But can the military be trusted?

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And is there even a country left to rejoin? There is a secret at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it have an awesome power that will help them keep that secret hidden. The power of Freedom.

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. I mean, stuff blows up! Zombies get ripped apart! (What’s not to like, right?) But it took me…a while to finish it. This, sadly, says a lot more about what I thought of it than any review I could write.

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(I have, on occasion, stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning reading, even though I have to wake up at around 7 to take my kids to school.)

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Instructions for the post-apocalypse

For once, these instructions are not coming from me. Or Ann. Or Tavia.

Shocking, isn’t it?

It seems that we are not the only apocalypse-obsessed people on the planet. Also, not everyone wants to announce that obsession over the Internet.

Also shocking.

Anyway. Last week, I came across this article from Wired. And it fascinated me. So much that I decided to write about it.

It seems that, way back in the Before Time (by this I mean 1980), a little gigantor-sized monument was unveiled in Elbert County, Georgia. Called the Georgia Guidestones, it lists “post-apocalyptic commandments” for what’s left of civilization. You know, like a guide.

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Edible microchip: good for your health?

So last Wednesday, on January 18, there was this little online movement to protest SOPA. Maybe you heard of it? (Students everywhere may have lost their minds temporarily, since English Wikipedia was one of the protesting sites and went dark for an entire day. Hell, forget the students, *I* went slightly nuts that day, since most of my daily go-to sites had gone dark. Like ICoS.)

Ahem. Anyway. When discussing the SOPA blackout, Tavia and I also briefly discussed how something like SOPA could spiral toward censorship very easily.

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(It was brief because of this pesky thing called work. So annoying, that.)

But this post? Is not about censorship. (Well, not specifially, anyway.) (Haha, made you look!)

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Supertuberculosis

Sadly, this isn’t a post about crime-fighting tuberculosis (even though that would be cool). Ann emailed us this link last week about totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB).

There have been at least 12 patients who have contracted TDR-TB in India, though this first popped up in Iran in 2009. (Clearly I read the wrong magazines. That was, what, three years ago? Why are we just hearing about this now?!)

The drug-defeatable (yeah, that’s a word now) kind of TB is already a hard disease to kill, and is one of the biggest killers out there (well, out of the tiny, need-to-be-seen-with-a-microscope brand of killers, anyway). It’s also hard to treat. According to the article,

“At the best of times, TB treatment is difficult, requiring at least 6 months of pill combinations that have unpleasant side effects and must be taken long after the patient begins to feel well.”

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Survival instruction nursery rhyme

Jamie made the following comment to my last post:

I really like the idea of making up nursery rhymes that carry survival instructions. Those kinds of things will stick in a kids brain and they’ll know what to do in certain situations without knowing how they know.

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If the apocalypse hits, I’ll be sending any future children to whatever school you’ll be running!

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This, of course, had me thinking: what kind of nursery rhyme would a set of survival instructions make?

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I’m sure if I did a search I’d find something, but I decided to create one instead. And of course, I’m going to share it with all of you.

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Ready? Here goes.

Char’s survival instruction nursery rhyme:

Zombies are Climbing (to the tune of London Bridge)

The zombies are climbing over the walls
Over the walls, over the walls
The zombies are climbing over the walls
And they want to eat my brain

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