Successful Apocalypse and Giveaway Ongoing

Hi there!  I'm keeping it brief today, as it's the holidays and a lot of people are taking a break.  This will serve as my Monday post since I'm going to be doing a WHOLE lotta' cooking on Monday.

First, if you survived the apocalypse and participated in the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Blogfest on Friday, the 21st, here's your survivor badge:

Congratulations!  You're still alive!

A great big thank you out to Chuck, my charming and positively apocalyptic co-host, and to each of you who participated.  I had such a good time reading everyone's posts on Friday.  Had the world ended, I would have been too distracted to notice.

Second, Christine Rains' giveaway is ongoing.  There are great prizes, and you can enter below.  Easy peasy!

Giveaway Prizes:
1st Prize - Digital copy of The Marquis, ARC of The Alpha, signed copy of Fearless
2nd Prize - Digital copy of The Marquis, ARC of The Alpha
3rd Prize - Digital copy of The Marquis


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Finally, have a Merry Christmas!  I'll see you back here for at least a brief post on Wednesday, as I do have some links to share and at least one of them is only good for a couple days.

May you find your Muse.

Choose Your Own Apocalypse Blogfest

It started with the sniffles.

Whatever this bug is, it was spreading well before today, mutating with each new virus, each bacteria, each batch of antibiotics.

As it mutated, it became more severe, more easily spread, more resistant to any sort of treatment.

"Take Vitamin C," they said.

"Suck on some zinc," they said.

"Practice good hand-washing techniques," they said.

None of it did any good.  Nothing could touch the saligia virus, not once it really got going.

The sniffles turned into burning fevers.  Hemorrhaging from the eyes, nose and ears.  Internal bleeding.  Vomiting.  Open sores on the skin.  Hair loss.  Gangrene.

Nurse, by OCAL at clker.com

Some people were lucky.  They only suffered the physical torments.  Then they died.

Others were not so lucky.  The physical ailments were the least of their worries. They suffered intense nightmares, slipping into a state that brought their subconscious minds to the forefront, causing them to act on their dreams and fantasies.  They were increasingly affected by seizures and blackouts.

Sometimes they awoke from these blackouts to find they'd done horrific things. Violent, bloody things.

Germ, by OCAL at clker.com

Each new iteration of the saligia virus spread faster.  At first, it was spread by drops of saliva, say when someone sneezed or coughed.  Then it was blood-born.  Ultimately, like strep, it became something that could be picked up on surfaces, and it lived longer and longer on these surfaces.

Then came the holiday season.

Packages.  Shoppers.  Craft events.  Group dinners and celebrations.  Parties.

The turning point was Thanksgiving.  Families spread what they thought were simple colds as they gathered to give their thanks.

The family that sneezes together, dies together.

Black Friday took all of these now tainted folks into the public arena, in what would be an explosion of germ sharing, and the catalyst necessary to trigger this pandemic.

Those who worked in public service of any sort were exposed.  They, in turn, exposed their friends and family, and anyone who came into contact with them. More and more people reported a mystery bug that just wouldn't go away.

That was during the sniffles phase, of course.  After that, it was obvious this was no cold.

Packages and holiday cards were shipped out, exposing the mail carriers, employees of FedEx & UPS, recipients across the globe.  Others had already been exposed by people on international trips.

Saligia had gone global.

Northern Hemisphere Globe, by OCAL, clker.com

Each region the virus met changed it that much more, as exposure to that area's viruses and bacteria modified it at the basic level, causing it to metamorphose into a different mutant illness for each place.  The CDC had no way to connect such different symptomologies, therefore missing that it was the same virus on a global scale.

They figured it out today, with their official notice going out:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and localized health departments on a global scale, is investigating a widespread illness, exhibiting varied symptoms and morbidity rates.  If you are ill at all, even just a runny nose, please remain in your home to limit exposure.  If you do not have to go out of your home, well or infected, it's best if you don't.  The origins of this illness are unknown at this time. The various illnesses that appear to be tied together at the basic level are now being considered under the umbrella of the saligia virus.  This virus is highly contagious, via saliva, blood and contact of any sort.  There is no known cure or vaccine, though experts are hard at work to find one.  Due to the speed of viral mutation, this is proving to be a challenge.  Do not panic.  Take proper precautions to reduce your exposure.  A global pandemic has been declared.

This is the news that greets us today, as home after home falls victim to one form or another of the saligia virus.  If you have duct tape, seal your windows.  Wear a mask when you must venture out into the open air, especially if you will be going near other people.  The virus is strong enough to float on the wind for a significant period of time, and is able to survive harsh temperatures of both heat and cold. Reports are coming in that different species of animals are beginning to be affected, and with that will come further mutation of the virus, itself.  Nowhere is safe aside from your home.  Water sources may also be infected, as filtration systems don't appear to have any effect on the virus, and exposure would have been achieved in multiple ways.

This just in: Various types of livestock are already infected, and it appears they have been for weeks now, despite being asymptomatic.  Your meat may be infected.  Do not eat meat purchased after November 15th.   Discard it somewhere outside your home.  Eat only canned food, as produce has been exposed to possibly infected water sources.

I'm running out of plastic sheeting and tape here, and we have only five small bottles of water for hydration.  We'll have to chance the water we poured into the tubs before they declared it off limits or else we'll die of dehydration before we can possibly get sick.  Our canned and frozen goods are minimal, but we're eating the frozen produce first now that the power's gone out.

Our neighbors had a gas generator and were able to siphon gas out of their vehicles, but they were attacked this morning, the generator stolen.  We went over to check when we heard a ruckus from next door, but we were too late.  They were dead, all of them slaughtered for a generator.  Their pantry stripped clean.

Gunshots have been sounding from all around us for most of the day.  For now, we've got all windows and doors blocked, but from the sounds outside, it may not be good enough.  Their ranks are swelling.  As they say, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.

We've only the one gun, and just 15 bullets.

Somewhere out there, fires are burning.  The smoke has begun to infiltrate our home.

Sirens sound, but last time it wasn't even real firefighters, just some guys who had taken over the fire station and were driving around in the ladder truck for kicks. They ran over some people in the road, hooting and hollering the whole time, chucking beer cans at their bodies as they drove over them.

Oh, what's that?

I feel a sniffle coming on.

You can still join until midnight tonight.  How did you foresee the apocalypse?

Choose Your Own Apocalypse & DL's Deja Vu Blogfest

Note: My entry for the Deja Vu Blogfest can be found below.  I missed that it was going on until late, so I'm adding it to the post that was already on here.  

***

Perhaps you've heard, or maybe not, but the world is ending Friday, December 21, 2012, or so say the Mayans (or at least the people who have decided this is what the Mayans had to say).  How am I preparing?  Why, by having a party! Come join Chuck, of Apocalypse Now, and myself for the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Blog Fest, next Friday, December 21, 2012.

Assuming the world doesn't end until later in the day, it should be quite the party!

You see, while many people think the world really is going to end on Friday, the 21st, most of them can't agree on HOW.  Will it be an alien invasion?  Zombies? Collision with a mighty meteor?  The super flu?  Solar flares?  Oh my, there are so many ways the world could conceivably end, but what we want to know is how you, yes YOU, think it will happen.

The rules are simple:
1. Choose your apocalypse
2. Sign up on the linky below
3. Tell us how you prepared for your survival amongst everyone else's demise
4. Describe your apocalypse and how it's going down
5. Make sure the badge is displayed on your blog
6. Visit your fellow survivors and see how their world ended

Other than that, make it whatever you'd like!

We've only got a week before the world ends, so please help get the word out!

***

DL Hammons is running the Deja Vu Blogfest today, where we get to re-post our favorite post.  In a fun coincidence, my favorite happens to concern writing post-apocalyptic fiction.

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN WRITING POST-APOCALYPTIC
Originally posted May 28, 2012

You've envisioned a world where some large-scale event has wiped out hordes of humanity.  Your characters are alive in your head, probably struggling to survive.  You can see the blighted landscape all around you.  What do you need to do now?

There are a few things that must be part of your post-apocalyptic story, or you have no story.  Let's take a peek.

#1. An apocalyptic event.  That's right, you can't have a post-apocalyptic world without something that got them there.  What will yours be?  Viral, bacterial, natural, man-made, space-related or nuclear?  These are all options, and there are probably plenty more.  Did the swine flu get out of hand?  Was it helped by humanity or just one of those things that happens in nature?  Did the Earth tilt too far off its axis?  Did nuclear Hell flame rain down upon the continents?  There must be a reason the people in your story are stuck in this particular landscape.

#2. A time frame.  Are they living through the event or has it already happened?  Is it fresh or decades down the line?  You have to know when it happened and what stage humanity is in to really tell your story.  If it happened decades ago, the landscape is going to be significantly different than if it just happened yesterday.  Quality of life will also probably be very different.  If they've been coping for decades, they probably aren't struggling to find food or water sources as much as if it just happened and everything is tainted or burning.  If it's a new problem, there will be mostly individuals and small groups, whereas a length of time may mean there are established towns/cities.

#3. A fully realized landscape.  World building is important in any story, but you need to build this post-apocalyptic world so that people see your vision of what it looks like.  They must know what your characters' reality looks like.  Are there fires raging?  Or is everything underwater?  Are there bodies everywhere?  Or has nature reclaimed what once was solely hers?  Let us know what it is your characters are looking at.  Make sure it makes sense for passage of time and the particular event that occurred.

#4. Strong characters.  We need to believe that these people can make it (or not, as the case may be).  It must be a real struggle.  We have to care whether they can survive, one way or another.  Maybe we hate this guy so much that we question why he survived, when better people died.  Maybe we love this character and desperately want to see her rebuild her life.  Whichever characters you have, we must believe in them, and they must have a mission, of sorts.  Does Evil Guy want to take over what remains of the world?  Find natural resources to survive?  Or just be left alone?  Does Lovely Heroine have a child to fend for?  Is she just trying to find a home she can call her own?  What drives them?  What are they trying to accomplish?  This is important in every single kind of story you may write, but don't get so intent on your world building that you forget your characters.

#5. A purpose.  Alright, we get it.  The world has ended.  The apocalypse has found us.  Whoopty-doo.  What is so important about this world that you just have to tell the story?  What are we going to take away from this?  I'm not talking about a moral (necessarily), but just a life story that means something to us when we read it.  A violent post-apocalyptic world, where survivors are constantly under siege, does us no good if we don't come out of the story feeling something.  Perhaps you want us to know that humanity will always find a way to thrive.  Or that love will always pull someone through.  Whatever it is, make it part of your story.

There are many elements that are important in a story, but these are just a few of the top ones to keep in mind when writing a post-apocalyptic tale.  Now that those stories are becoming more popular, it's important to keep them high quality.  Want to read a story that takes something familiar and turns it on its head, all the while showing us the strength of humanity and the power of good versus evil?  Read Stephen King's The Stand.  Watch Book of Eli for another viewpoint.  There's also The Road, Mad Max, Water World (hey, I'm not saying these are all good), The Postman, Jericho and The Walking Dead for movies/television shows.  For books, this link should take you to a comprehensive list of classic post-apocalyptic stories.  Of course, The Hunger Games and Forest of Hands and Teeth should be on there.  Also, I read Without Warning by John Birmingham recently, on a whim, and I enjoyed it.  It was more a political/government/military-type book that took on what happened in those facets, so different than I'm used to for this genre, but also quite good.  I don't know how The Marbury Lens and The Maze Runner are qualified, but I'd consider both to be sort of post-apocalyptic.  We really aren't sure with The Maze Runner, but we get a sense something big must have happened, and in The Marbury Lens, the alternative world he visits via the lens seems quite post-apocalyptic.  Both are excellent books, though be aware that The Marbury Lens can be graphic or disturbing, despite being Young Adult.

The short of it is, fully realize your story so we can be drawn into it, feel for your characters, smell the fires, feel a sniffle coming on as everyone dies of the Hulk of flu bugs.  Watch some of these movies or read some of the books (or both) and figure out what you like in them, so you can duplicate that, in a sense.

In your opinion, what are other important aspects of a post-apocalyptic tale?  What books or movies might you recommend?  How do you envision the apocalypse?  (Wait, don't tell me!  Save it for the Choose Your Own Apocalypse Blog Fest!)

May you find your Muse.

* Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov. Painted in 1887; Viktor Vasnetsov [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
** Stalingrad after the battle; See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
***The aftermath of Hurrican Camille. Ruins of Texaco gas station with Rambler automobile, Biloxi, Mississippi, 17 August 1969