A complete collapse of society
Which author wrote your favorite tale of preparation and survival during a society collapse?
My choice is any and all of the various stories in this universe: https://storiesonline.net/universe/543/franks-post-apoc-world
What's your favorite?
That seemed the most believable to me with the language shift. much as we shifted from Elizabethan English.
Al Steiner's Aftermath.
Not so much on the prep side, but dealing with the results and changes after a rather large natural disaster.
Another vote for Aftermath.
A second recommendation would be Shakes Peer2b's Getting By.
There is a sequel named Getting Ahead which, for some reason, I never got around to reading.
Every referenced story is a good one.
Often, my thoughts are 'too bad the story arc was not continued'.
More please. Perhaps someone will reference a great tale that is a bit more obscure.
I'm confident everyone would like to read a new and/or different perspective on apocalypse survival.
Bow Valley (premier members only)by Barbie Blanche.
Barbie Blanche passed away in 2012 leaving behind an incomplete (22 Chapters) tale that is a very good read. Set in the U.K. some of the "slice of life" details may seem a bit odd to non brits.
My favorite survival story is the series
BLACK TIDE RISING by John Ringo:
Under a Graveyard Sky • To Sail a Darkling Sea • Islands of Rage and Hope • Strands of Sorrow
There are more books in this series, but as with some other series by John Ringo, only the first few books are outstanding.
I like strong "kick-ass" female characters and Faith "Shewolf" Smith is on top of my list.
HM.
Ironically, my last direct communication with SFC, was responding to his blog challenge regarding Ringo's Black Tide Rising series and the other series Ringo wrote or co-authored.
I also suggest David Weber's Out of the Dark as a survival story ...
MD
I'm pretty partial to Hard Winter by Big guy on a bike, not least because it's pretty local.
I had thought about A New Past by Charlie Foxtrot as it starts with the collapsing of civilisation and ends with it rebuilt better, but I don't think it fits the OP's intentions. ETA: one of the early chapters is titled 'Once more into the breech', and I'm going to have to read it again (again!) to find out if the Shakespearian misquote is accidental or deliberately clever (my money is on the latter).
You are correct, A New Past is not exactly as I was thinking about. But it does deserve it's current 9.01 score.
I'll go read Hard Winter soon. My 'to read' queue is filling fast!
Middle of the night pee and the brain starts going. I hate that!
But mention of Bow Valley sparked memories. Maybe they are all part of the same story or maybe parts of different tales.
In the UK...
An old man catches a woman and child stealing potatoes and he takes them in.
A steam railroad allows trading of grains for fish.
A narrowboat on a canal.
'Liberating' medical supplies from abandoned hospitals.
Biking at night to avoid being seen by roaming patrols.
Hidden by tall hedges, a grandfather stole and stored many heavy truck vans (trailers) full of supplies in sheds that the protagonist discovers and uses to survive.
Again, maybe all the same story or maybe memories of several similar tales.
Here in the US...
A tale of a small farm in the midwest that was self sufficient with animals and crops. The land was surrounded by a tire wall and thorny bushes. Hidden driveway blocked by railroad rails for a gate. Do not remember the name or the author.
https://storiesonline.net/a/Howard_Faxon (RIP) has 125 tales on SOL. Premium membership required.
Several are tales of survival. Here's the ones I think that (kinda-sorta) fit. Not necessarily apocalyptic, just survival in primitive conditions.
https://storiesonline.net/s/67646/the-great-escape
https://storiesonline.net/s/10255/the-next-generation
https://storiesonline.net/s/50257/remittance-man
https://storiesonline.net/s/62112/retiring-to-the-smokies
https://storiesonline.net/s/70563/sears-island
https://storiesonline.net/s/56154/yellowstone
The tire wall was mentioned in a post here The OP never found the match to his memory, you may do better.
Good Hunting, limab
https://storiesonline.net/s/50731/achilles-and-hephaestus
Not a survival story but it holds many of the usual themes. Unfortunately incomplete and premier only.
More than a decade ago I tried to write a similar tale.
I wrote myself into a logical fallacy kinda corner.
IIRC, this tale is similar in that it stops at a poor plot point.
I suspect a bit of I can't resolve this conundrum kinda thoughts by the author.
But maybe reality intruded. Dunno.
Now I'm curious. For sure Achilles is an unusual story for the survival genre, if it belongs at all. Also @elsol is unlikely to answer your questions
From reading his blog, it looks like ElSol got married, got a good job, had one child and maybe a second. So, he may not have much time for writing. Here is what he wrote in January 2016:
Job is putting me a position where I get to learn and play with all new technologies -- 200K a year as a consultant type of technologies, which I'm being allowed to deploy, play with as part of my job.
More traveling due to buying other companies and the natural bleeding of talent when people in good job markets get feeling of job insecurity.
Wife and I are in the beginning stages of trying for baby #2.
Toddler child... if you have one, you know what I mean.
I get a lot of story ideas but not a lot of wanting to sit down and write. I think I just need some short and simple to kickstart me again.
We'll see how things go.
There is a mainstream book by Gordon R. Dickson called Wolf and Iron. It is about a mathematics professor who saw the coming collapse of the US economy and government. He makes preparations to flee where he lives and try to make it to his older brothers ranch, which is in if I remember right Montana. Well he barely escapes from his home because of the looters and gangs have already formed, so he does not get to flee with all of his prepared items. While he is on his journey he finds a wolf who bonds with him together they meet up with a traveling merchant in a horse drawn traders caravan. THe merchant and his second in command along with the daughter teach Jeebee how to fight and survive the best they can.