Notes from JWR:

I laughed heartily, reading this Times of London online article about the mainstreaming of survivalism: Swine flu...recession...should we all be reading Neil Strauss to survive? It must be bad: survival manuals are racing up the book charts. Ordinary folks are preparing for the worst. The author started out describing the book "Emergency" by Neil Strauss, but then took a hard right turn and went on to spill copious ink--or should I say bits or pixels--about my novel.) The reviewer has a real gift for comic writing.

---

Today we present another entry for Round 22 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. A proviso: It is strongly opinionated and overtly political--so not everyone will agree with him--but despite our differences of opinion, I believe that it has some good food for thought.

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from OnPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner's choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day OnPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Second Prize: A "grab bag" of preparedness gear and books from Jim's Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 22 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.