Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

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 assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 30 ends on September 30th, 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.

How I “Woke Up”, by Lew B.

The biggest reason most of the folks we come across in our daily lives have no idea what is coming (the basic collapse of the American infrastructure) is the fact that they are “still sleeping.”  The iPods, Lady Gaga, American Idol, and You Tube silliness all work well to keep the masses sleeping.  This might be a good thing, in a way.  If nothing else, it buys the rest of us time to continue to prepare.  And if enough people do wake up, it will actually accelerate the inevitable.  But that is okay, since it is going to happen anyway.  And perhaps more people will survive to rebuild our nation.      

I personally believe it is too late to turn this sinking ship around.  The Euro will crash literally any day.  The Dollar and Yen will fall right behind it.  The best we can hope for is that the crash and subsequent reset won’t last too long.  I think at least one generation, maybe two, will really be in the hurt locker.  I believe the current administration wants a partial crash so they can more fully seize power and instill their way of life. 

But I think they underestimate how bad the collapse will be.  Even if they thought of calling Chinese troops to quell rioting, the rest of the world (probably China, too) will have their hands full. 

I still find myself reeling (mentally) when I contemplate the probable loss of life that will occur in such a scenario.  I’ve been trying to plant seeds with folks I come in contact with.  But it seems to have little effect.  But I am also careful not to sound like a right-wing nut job.  Not because I care what people think about me, but I don’t want to make myself a target. 

It is my hope that those of us who survive will keep some historical records, so when the country (world?) rebuilds it can be on a more mature, more stable foundation.  I have hundreds of hours of lectures on CD about world history, religion and philosophy that I acquired from a company called “The Teaching Company”  And while I am not an overly religious man (I’m nearly an atheist but enjoy Buddhist-style meditation, my wife is a Christian.) I do see the positive aspects of Christianity on a society.  Or, as is the case these days, the negative effects of its absence. 

But my point of today’s piece is how I became awake of the dangers coming our way.  In the process of talking about that, I will point out why I think most people remain asleep.  It’s worth noting that radio and TV personality Glenn Beck is a great source of information.  It seems he knows what is going on.  And I wish to point out, I developed my opinions about the world before I had even heard of Glenn Beck.  Once I woke up, I began searching the AM  radio dial to see if anyone was talking about this sort of stuff.    

My life has been an interesting one.  Heck, I could (and hope to) write a book about it.  But I’ll try to keep the background info brief.  My biological father abandoned our family of five when I was seven (and the oldest of the kids).  I started cutting grass and washing cars at 8 years old.  I’m sure I wasn’t very good, but I made lots of “pity” money.  And it helped install a good work ethic.  I was also a scared kid who turned to drugs and alcohol to try and quiet my mind at a young age.  By 28 years of age, I was a washed-out bum who couldn’t get (or hold) a job.

So I cleaned up my act, and by 41 years of age had mortgages on four properties in Southern California.  One being a beachfront condo, the other being a cabin in the mountains (Yes a “cabin in the mountains”.  But don’t get ahead of the story.).

All was going well, not a cloud on the horizon.  Aside from the two above-mentioned properties, our other two properties were preschools.  Our flagship operation had been full, with a waiting list, since 1978.  I was dabbling in Restaurant Consulting and Real Estate.  We rent out our beach condo weekly to folks who want to vacation on the beach in Southern California. 

As a part-time Realtor, I knew the housing bubble was going to pop.  But hey, I was not going to be selling anything for 15 to 20 years, so I wasn’t worried.  I had no idea of the world-wide consequences the bubble bursting would have. 

Then September of 2008 came along.  My previously full school was now 20 children under-enrolled.  At an average of $800 per month, per child, I was losing $16,000 a month!  Needless to say, we tanked badly.  We just barely stayed afloat. 

Now believe it or not, this didn’t wake me up!  I still had no idea of the world I really lived in.  My view of Washington and Sacramento had always been this – “Oh, they are all crooks.  As long as they leave me alone and let me make a living, what do I care?” 

But now that my life had fallen apart (financially speaking), I found myself searching for answers.  I couldn’t understand how I had been so blind-sided.  How did I not see the collapse and recession coming?  What else didn’t I know?  It was really this exact sort of fear and worry that had led me to drugs and alcohol when I was 13 years old.  Obviously that wasn’t an option now, but still I had to figure it out. 

In August of 2009, my wife and I needed a break (A few years back we had been going on two cruises a year.  My how times change.  At least I can say I saw a lot of the Northern Hemisphere, Hawaii and some of the Caribbean.)  So we took a week to drive through the beautiful state of Nevada. 

Well, the night before the trip I had been reading an article about the [then] upcoming movie 2012 with John Cusack.  The article was about “survival nuts” in Montana and Texas and their radiation suits and all the other survivalist stuff.  At the time, I thought of them (now me) as fringe nut-jobs.  But one sentence caught my attention.  It was a fellow in Texas who was telling the interviewer how he was stashing gold and silver to barter with “when the economy collapsed.” 

Since my own “economy” had collapsed 14 months before, I knew all about that. 

So as my wife and I hit the road, over our Starbucks Coffees I said, “So honey, if the U.S. and/ or world economies collapsed, what would we do?”  She didn’t answer for a long minute, maybe two.  Then she said, “Well, we’d just go to the cabin.”  To which I answered, “Yeah, then what?” 

For the rest of our week driving through the beautiful, but desolate and remote state of Nevada we began to talk-out all of the things we would need to live a life even remotely like the one we live now. 

Fast forward to now.  We are nearly set.  We’ve spent $2,000 or so on canned goods at Costco.  Our deep-freezer is full of meats I’ve gotten on sale.  At my current residence I have 20 gallons of frozen citrus juice from my orchard ready for bugging out.  We have vitamins for 12 people to last a year.  We have enough non-hybrid seeds to plant four acres.  We’ve had solar power installed at the cabin.  We even have a couple of portable solar generators.  Since I am not handy, I’ve gotten a carpenter and an electrician to join my tribe.  I also have a friend who hunted a lot in his youth.  He provided all the “lead rations” and “high-speed delivery systems” that we’ll need.  We are still a little light on medical / first-aid stuff.  But I’m working on that.  And we did all of our prep a little at a time, on a shoestring budget.  The solar was the only thing I had to max out the credit cards for.  Unfortunately I couldn’t afford gold, but I found a coin shop that sells silver at a buck over spot, so I’ve gotten 200 ounces of that.  I also have about 10 gallons of cheap store-brand liquor that I have bottled in little pint-size water bottles for bartering.    

But none of that could have happened if I had not “woken up”.  I hope this article might wake up someone who hasn’t had the rug pulled out from under them yet.  Because those are the people who are still sleeping.  And the main-steam media isn’t going to wake anyone up.  The current administration certainly isn’t going to do it.  In fact, they need us to stay asleep. 

Now, you might be saying, “But Lew, I don’t have a mountain cabin to flee to.”  Most don’t, so you’re not alone.  I would recommend getting some canned food, bottled water, and some firearms for defense.  Look at how you can best fortify wherever it is that you call home.  Gently “feel out” your neighbors to see where there heads are at.  A small, tight community of a few houses will fair better than trying to go it alone. 

In closing, I hope I have at least caused someone to “wake up” to the dangers that surround our current Western Society.  And don’t just take my word for it.  Do your own research.  The web is full of info on this subject.  I like SurvivalBlog.com and OffTheGridNews. Take care, and good luck to you.  Thanks, – Lew B.            

Letter Re: The Correlation Curse

May I recommend the article titled The Correlation Curse by Howard Hill? Mr. Hill explains in very simple terms why, during a meltdown itself, it is critical to not be in debt. His thesis is simple – during a collapse, the primary asset at the center of the collapse simply cannot be sold so people begin selling everything else to cover their debts. This includes gold, silver and precious metals and is precisely why precious metals will ultimately fall when the final collapse comes. Now the good point is that precious metals will rapidly regain their value on the other side of that crash so you are only in trouble if you must sell gold or silver during the downturn. And you only have to sell if you are in debt and need to cover those debts. Hence the reasoning becomes clear – get out of debt!

I highly recommend Mr. Hill’s article as a brief explanation of why prices of everything fall when a deflationary collapse ultimately hits. Note that you can still have a hyperinflationary blowoff after a deflationary collapse and in fact might have that if the politicians panic in their typical fashion. The key, though, is not being forced to sell to cover debts when everything is falling in price. Afterward is when you see the real value of your precious metals so it is vital to hold them through the collapse.

Thanks for a great blog! – David R.

Economics and Investing:

G.G. sent this from Forbes: Bernanke Out Of Bullets But Not Bombs: Federal Reserve’s ability to buy assets and spark inflation is unlimited.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports: Société Générale tells clients how to prepare for ‘global collapse’

G.G. mentioned this guest article posted over at Zero Hedge: A Termite-Riddled House: Treasury Bonds

Buried down in the fine print of the New York Times we read that the FDIC is $15.2 billion in the hole. But gee, who’s counting, and who cares, when Uncle Sugar can create unlimited money out of thin air?

The Daily Bell asks: Bank Run 2011? (Thanks to Shawn S. for the link.)

Bank run in Afghanistan: Karzai urges Afghans not to panic as bank withdrawals accelerate

Items from The Economatrix:

The US Economy is Not Getting “Better” — It’s Dying!

Gold Rallying to $1,500 as Soros’ Bubble Inflates

Stock Investors Brace for Another Ugly September

Cash-poor Local Governments Ditching Public Hospitals

FDIC’s At-Risk Bank List Grows

It’s Impossible to “Get By” in the US.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I think people are beginning to realize that this downturn in the economy has just begun. We are about three years into what will turn out to be a 20 year crisis, with no guarantee what survives. But something will survive, and a new day will dawn on this planet.” – From discussion forum post by The Unrepentant Cowboy (posted at Collapsenet)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

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 assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 30 ends on September 30th, 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.

Learning From Living History Interpreters, by D.R.W.

Many times I’ve read on these pages the prognostications of my fellow preppers as to the current direction and ultimate destination of our nation, government and way of life. Of these possible outcomes one of the most common themes that crisscross the apocalyptic visions of the future is the grid-down situation. The author’s often refer to the mid 1800s as a reference point to orient the reader to the reality of what life would be like without the precious electrical current that so directly (and alternately) influences our everyday life. Today we can read about the lives of people living then but wouldn’t it be convenient to hop in a time machine and travel back to the 1800s and interview them about what their lives were really like. Alas, time machines do not exist but a very good alternative does.

Five years ago while searching for a part time job I found a position that seemed to fit me perfectly. I’d be teaching history, one of my favorite subjects, in an hands on environment. The only requirement was that I actually had to wear replica clothes from the 1840 time period. A living history museum, in need of an interpreter had hired me on. The term “interpreter” is actually very accurate because, though I spoke English, I was interpreting a time period and a culture that was so radically different that most people simply could not grasp the way the people of that time lived, worked and thought without a specially trained person “interpreting” the culture. It was in this context that I began to realize the skills, information and historical wisdom that living history museums contained.

If you want to know what life was like before electricity then go to a living history museum and see it with your own eyes. At the museum where I work there is a working farm with heritage breed animals. The farmers plow with oxen which they have trained from birth. In the fields they grow grains that are harvested, threshed and winnowed by hand and with 1840s style tools. Hops are cultivated by hand, an important cash crop for our region of central New York during the time period. These skills are, for all practical purposes, extinct in our modern world.

In the small farm house the ladies of the farm cook every day over an open fire with recipes from the mid 1800s. They preserve their own meat by heavily salting it and then smoking it for several weeks in a brick smoke house. This meat now desiccated and covered with black creosote, can be stored indefinitely in a cloth bag hanging from the wall. Another form of meat preservation is submerging the meat in salt water brine. Checked regularly to make sure the brine has the proper amount of salt, the meat will still be very usable the next year for the ladies to cook with. Having consumed the meals from the farm house many times I know that tastes were different in the 1800ss but the food is filling and certainly would fortify you for a day of farm labor.

Much has been written lately on this fine blog about herbal remedies for illness. The pharmacy at the museum is staffed with experts on herbs and their historical and modern day preparations and uses. At the museum that I work at a beautiful herb garden is there to put a “face to a name” for the herbs, so to speak.

Here is a short list of everyday things taught by local living history museums that you could find an application for in a grid-down scenario:

1. Blacksmithing – creating blades, nails, hinges, hammers, hooks etc.

2. Gardening – open pollinating plants that have historically done well in your area

3. Animal Husbandry/ Bee keeping

4. Cooking and Baking – how to create meals using a fireplace or bake bread in a brick oven

5. Rope making

6. Food preservation

7. Cloth creation – shearing sheep, spinning wool, weaving, sawing

8. Pottery

9. Wild edibles

10. Making shoes

Living history museums don’t pay a lot and thus draw employees that are retired or in need of a second job. These “interpreters” bring a lifetime of skills and knowledge to the table that can be almost impossible to find in modern day world. The vast majority of these good people are talkers too. If you arrive at the right time, with a smile and a question they will gladly bend your ear for an hour or more on some arcane topic like barrel construction or dying wool with walnut [husks]. Workshops are often available as well for those who would like more hands on experience with a topic that interests them. You could also seek employment at a local museum. The museum where I work is extremely flexible in its scheduling and I and my family can come and go at our leisure. Networking with other interpreters has provided me with a number of very valuable resources to increase my own self sufficiency.

A couple of hints for those of you who may be interested in mining living history museums for potential information and resources. At least in the northeast, July and August are tourist season. You will not have the undivided attention of the interpreter and other then general site seeing and the information you may garner from the signs hung around the village you will not walk away with very much in the way of useful information. The time to come to a museum in the northeast is after Labor Day to the end of October. The tourists are gone and the interesting work of harvest and preservation has begun. This is the time to visit and bring a note book. Interpreters will be glad to actually reach some depth in their conversation with you after two months of 60 second conversations with hot, impatient tourists.

Secondly, most museums offer a yearlong membership. These are generally much more economical then paying each time to get in. I can assure you that you’ll be back.

Living history museums are fascinating places with significant amounts of practical wisdom and skills. You won’t discover the key to surviving a nuclear holocaust or how to do small unit tactical training but make friends with the interpreters and query them for the skills, information and resources they possess and you’ll walk away better prepared to live in a world that no longer enjoys the security provided by basic utilities.

A good web site to start your search for a local living history museum is OutdoorHistory.org/

Economics and Investing:

Oil Should Be Around $10 a Barrel: Analyst. here is a quote: “I honestly think that if there were no investors using oil as an asset that the price of oil right now would be $10 or $15 or $18, but
it wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is,” Beutel said.

Jeff Nelson opines at The Street: U.S. Government Prepares for ‘Crisis’. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.)

The Death Of Cash? All Over The World Governments Are Banning Large Cash Transactions. Its all about maximizing tax revenue.

G.G. suggested this by Martin Hutchinson: Combining the Worst

A bellwether event? Harrisburg, Pennsylvania defaulting on its bonds. (Our thanks to Jason R. for the link.)

Items from The Economatrix:

Fed Officials Discussed Further Stimulus Steps

Americans’ Economic Confidence Ticks Up Slightly

World Markets Fall Again on Economic Fears

Oil Falls Below $74 as Global Markets Slump

Manufacturing in US and Aboard Lifts Economy

US Auto Sales Turn Frail in August

July Unemployment Up in About Half of US Cities

US Auto Sales Turn Frail in August

US Markets Suffer Worst August in Almost a Decade

Odds ‘n Sods:

Joshua H. sent a link to a nifty homemade hand crank flashlight, over at Instructables.

   o o o

In celebration of Labor Day, JRH Enterprises is offering full mil-spec AN/PVS-14 Gen 3+ night vision weapons sight monoculars at a special sale price. These are autogated and complete with soft case, head mount, head mount adapter, operators manual, batteries, lens paper, de-mist shield, sacrificial window, and ITT tube data record, et cetera. The price is just $2,895, which is less than most dealers charge for a standard Gen 3 scope. (As I mentioned before, these are the much more sought-after Gen 3+ variety.) This sale ends at midnight Sunday, so don’t miss out!

   o o o

Cheryl N. forwarded a link to the Collapse theatrical trailer. I noticed that “Collapse” is available via NetFlix.

   o o o

An old discussion thread over at TMM Gulching and Self-Sufficiency Forum has been revived: When Your Family Thinks You’re Crazy.

   o o o

No comment necessary: Obama Administration Reverses Course, Forbids Sale of 850,000 M1 Carbines and Rifles

Odds ‘n Sods:

Roman sent us to a web page with some “outside the box” thinking: How we turned an old backyard swimming pool into a self-sufficient garden in a desert city.

   o o o

Following her recent training with Louis Awerbuck, Tamara weighs in about Tacticool Mall Ninja fashion consciousness. And she’s right. Looks don’t kill. Well-aimed projectiles do.

   o o o

‘Don’t tread on me’ flags start disputes around the country. (Thanks to Judy T. for the link.)

   o o o

Pastor Chuck Baldwin (former Constitution Party presidential candidate) is wisely relocating his family from Florida to Montana.

Letter Re: Returns on Investments

James:

Being married to an accountant, former government financial inspector and a finance director for a company opened my eyes to the concept of getting a return for my investment. For large tangible items, that concept is important. Oh, I certainly could fill a wall with a 55 inch plasma television, but what do I get in return for that investment? A wannabe movie screen that has a limited lifespan and sucks a chunk of energy? Will it help my long term bottom line of being financially independent and ready? The idea of investing in tangibles in a serious downturn made sense to me, even as described in Mr. Rawles’ novel, “Patriots“. By no means is our family wealthy or “super preppers,” but we believe in the need to be prepared for any major disaster or incident, whether natural or man-made. We wanted to not be a drain or liability on what will be a fragile infrastructure and be able to independently stand. While not religious, we believe in the need to be there to help our neighbors when possible. It is our moral obligation.

In 1998, my wife and I invested in our second house after our first was declared to be in the way of a future realignment of a state highway (that explained why we could not get natural gas piped to the house). I was developing into a neophyte “prepper” due to my active duty and National Guard service as well as being a cop and living in earthquake and volcano zone. As a result, my focus was shifting into a more sustainable type of house. We found a great house about a mile away on just over an acre of land, with a year round salmon stream in the back part of the property. Of course there were some drawbacks: it was much older and needed work, sat on a reasonably busy road and with the salmon bearing stream buffer rules enacted by the federals, we were space limited. But the positives were that is was close to my work, the house was solid, had copper piping throughout (we preferred copper to PVC or similar), a septic system, detached shop, natural gas throughout, “legacy” type 60-100 year old cedar and fir trees backed by a greenbelt and a real, working fireplace with a first generation Heat-a-lator type system big enough to heat the 1,500 square feet of house if the power should go out or there was a gas disruption. We re-invested the money received from the state buying our other house into the current one and were already into the positive equity side. We knew we would invest some sweat equity in fixing things so that dropped the house price even more. In our eyes, the return on our investment in this house (our largest tangible asset) was big. In fact, during the Nisqually Earthquake of 2001 in the greater Seattle area, our house survived with nothing more than items knocked off some shelves in the garage while newer homes in the area suffered wall and chimney damage. Very good for a house that was initially built in 1938!

As time progressed and we added children to our family unit, we began to discuss moving to a better location, one that had more room and further away from concentrated urban and suburban cores as well as meeting our growing preparedness mindset. However, all of that came to an abrupt halt in 2007. It was at that time that my youngest daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease (as discussed several years ago on SurvivalBlog). I had to take a hard look at my dream of moving away and faced the reality that I would be looking at suburban preparedness. My wife and I discussed our options and realized that due to my daughter’s needs, our proximity to the local Children’s Hospital as well as various food vendors that catered to “Celiacs” weighed the greatest. We needed to stay where we were at and make the very best of the location. We began to look back at our largest investment and realized that it was time to invest some more in tangibles to improve the house now that we would be remaining.

My wife and I have been and continue to be blessed to be in what are essentially recession proof jobs. We also saved what we could, received a small inheritance and began to make our list. Over the last several years, we invested in big ticket house items that as little as six years ago, would have been nearly impossible to afford due to the “hot” economy and housing/remodeling market. I am not ashamed to state that we took advantage of hungry remodelers and contractors to get fair but reasonable prices on projects we weren’t able to tackle ourselves. We shopped dealer scratch and dent sales, Craigslist and other places to get new (but cosmetically damaged) appliances and fixtures. We upgraded the septic system to a gravity fed long life drain field and tank, allowing for our family to have a system that not only would meet our needs in the future but in a grid down situation, would function while the sewers failed (and could act as a privy with a portable outhouse that could sit on top of the tank). We replaced our decaying torch down roof with a sturdy metal roof while also improving the insulation in the ceiling while the surfaces were exposed. While the metal roof was nearly two-thirds more than a comparable torch down or commercial roll roof product, the return on that investment was a 40 year roof, fireproof to prevent possible roof fires and sturdy to prevent damage from the limbs of the trees surrounding our house. It met severe wind requirements due to the anchoring system.

Windows were replaced with new energy efficient designs that would work to better insulate and protect the house. We upgraded some of the electrical in our home, adding a connection point for a like new generator I received from a deceased family member. We learned through testing based upon ideas at SurvivalBlog and other sites that with the use of natural gas or propane in all of our major appliances as well as low energy lighting and energy efficient appliances, the 7,500 watt generator we had could easily power everything but the washer and dryer at the same time. All were immensely valuable tangibles that added to our return on the investment in our house.

My family and I continue to make some final investments in our house as well as our overall sustainability in nearly any situation save a nuclear strike directly over our house. But the idea of returns on our investments by investing and buying tangibles right now have made us more secure and in a much better preparedness position. With the mortgage payoff only a few years away, we will be in an even stronger position. When that biggest balloon pops, we will be all the better for it. – MP in Seattle

Letter Re: Recommendation for “The Hunger Games” Trilogy

Hi,
I just recently found your blog, and it’s really useful. I’ve recently become interested in self-sufficiency, and it’s a great resource.

I wanted to share a book recommendation that I think might be interesting to your readers, a book series called The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. It is a trilogy of young adult novels about a little girl who lives under a completely authoritarian state. The state requires ‘tributes’ from all 12 districts, children from age 12-18, one boy one girl. All are put in an arena to fight to the death, to show how much power the state has- they can force you to put children of your district to death. The story follows a tribute who has learned, in her poverty, to hunt, snare, scavenge, etc.

I don’t want to ruin any of the story, but it fits so deeply into what you write about that I think you might want to check it out. It’s definitely aimed at the young adult market but it still a riveting read as an adult, and would be a very good gift for teens you know.

Thanks for all your resources and writing. – Brian M.