As most of you know, for nine years I posted SurvivalBlog daily, almost without fail. (I did take a break for a few days, immediately after my first wife passed away.)
In January, I decided to hire a Managing Editor, to allow myself the time to concentrate on some other projects. Hugh Latimer assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of editing and posting SurvivalBlog two months ago. He has done a truly commendable job of maintaining the continuity of the blog.
Not one to rest on my laurels, I have been quite busy with completing two contracted book manuscripts:
- Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse– a contemporaneous sequel to Patriots. It will be released October 21, 2014, by E.P. Dutton. It is set primarily in western Canada. It is longer than my other sequels, and it ties together several storylines from other installments in the novel series that intersect in Bradfordsville, Kentucky; Moscow, Idaho; and near Bella Coola, British Columbia. If you enjoyed the resistance warfare sequences in “Patriots”, then you will really enjoy this novel. (Without spoiling it for you, I can mention that it describes two waves of invasion and subsequent resistance in Canada.)
- Tools for Survival: What You Need to Survive When You’re on Your Own. This book is a guide to the selection, use, and care of tools. It should be released in December, 2014, by Penguin/Plume Books. (This is the same company that published the bestselling How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It.)
Note: Unlike my previous books, I’m not planning Book Bomb days for these two books, so feel free to order your copies whenever you’d like.
I’m also in the early stages of drafting a novel that is tentatively titled Silver City Station. This is a science fiction novel for Young Adults, that is a bit reminiscent of Robert Heinlein’s classic Have Space Suit, Will Travel. Since e-books now nearly predominate the publishing world, I intend to publish this novel as an e-book under my Clearwater Press imprint–with just the option of a hard copy book, for those who insist on it. Silver City Station will probably be released in October of 2016.
Meanwhile, my #3 Son (Robert H. Rawles) and I have collaborated in creating a new press organization: The Constitution First Amendment Press Association (CFAPA.) Our motto is: “A Free Press Deserves Free Credentials.” Since we now live in the era of ubiquitous camera-equipped cell phones and YouTube, nearly everyone is technically capable of being a video journalist, and since we still have the First Amendment after 223 years, everyone can now qualify as a member of “The Press.” So the intent of this organization is to bolster the emerging Citizen Journalist movement by putting valid press credentials in the hands of any responsible adult Citizen who requests them. We do so free of charge, and with no paper trail or electronic trail.
If you want to avoid situations like this or this, or any of these many incidents, then please take a few minutes to become a CFAPA member and print out your free press credentials at home.
I will of course still be writing articles for SurvivalBlog and guiding the editorial process. But for the next couple of years I will also be quite busy at the ranch with some upgrades to accommodate more livestock and some expanded gardening under glass. And there will be a bit of travel and a variety of other projects. One of these will be helping my #1 Son (Jonathan E. Rawles) to expand his SurvivalRealty.com web site. (He already has more than 200 retreat property listings, but his goal is to more than double that.) Another will be designing and promoting a custom folding knife. And another will be consulting with an associate on his planned movie production. I have also been asked to help edit book manuscripts by several aspiring authors. (I do my best to do so, free of charge, as time allows.) Something tells me that my life won’t be slowing down, even if I want it to! – J.W.R.