Day 8 of the Apocalypse! Alden Bell, The Reapers Are the Angels + Giveaway

Apocalypse! around the blogosphere:

Rainy Day Ramblings:

Love of Books:

For most people who have a healthy appreciaton for a) zombies; and b) gorgeous writing, the name Alden Bell inspires worship and awe. No one has ever balanced so gracefully on that fine line between literary and genre fiction. It took no more than 30 minutes of The Reapers Are the Angels audiobook for me to realize that I'd stumbled upon something potentially life-changing and I was right - my world hasn't been the same since.

On the last day of Apocalypse!, I am proud and honored beyond belief to be able to share with you a post by Alden Bell, or rather Joshua Gaylord, the person behind the pseudonym.

If you have yet to discover this literary gem, make sure to enter the international giveaway below. 

  

           I’ve been thinking recently about all the shiny, optimistic fantasies that people frequently append to something as epically disastrous as an apocalypse.  Doesn’t it strike you as odd that people get downright giddy about the world coming to an end?  I mean, you find yourself daydreaming about it, being jostled on a crowded street during your lunch break.  You grow peaceful imagining that sudden blip that will wipe out all these thousands of people around you and leave you free to pillage that McDonald’s on the corner.  No lines, no waiting, all those cheeseburgers, just for you!  Yes!  Apocalypse me!

            Of course, the keystone fantasy that drives all the others is that you, yourself, will be one of the few survivors.  That right there is an against-all-odds hope, my friends.  But let’s take it for granted that you make it.  Let’s use that as our starting point.  What Christmasy joys do you fantasize about when you imagine yourself a survivor of the apocalypse?

            Here are a few common ones:

1.      The Man-Alone Survivalist.  You take pleasure in discovering that your animal instincts are well sufficient to the task of mastering the world.  Secretly, you knew all along that you could outlast your boss if it came down to a Most-Dangerous-Game type of hunt, right?

2.      The Shopper.  Everything is yours.  All that stuff that you really wanted but couldn’t afford before the apocalypse?  Just walk into the store (execute a few zombies), and walk out with whatever you want.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s?  Lunch and dinner, too!  Fill a bathtub with diamonds.  Where will you bathe?  Get another bathtub, it’s free!  Enjoy it—it’ll be a long time before you acknowledge that those diamonds have no value.

3.      The Sightseer.  Related to the Shopper, you are the survivor who loves visiting places like Disneyworld and having the rides all to yourself. 

4.      The Romantic.  You know who else survived?  That girl you had a crush on and who never gave you the time of day.  Now fate has made it happen that you combine your ingenuities, steal a boat together, and make a new life on a desert island.  Love in the time of the Zombie Apocalypse.  Maybe the Blue Lagoon thing isn’t working out so well, and she really, really finds you objectionable?  No worries.  You’ve got all the time in the world, plus a bathtub full of diamonds to give her.  Also, you have to Adam-and-Eve the world back to life, right?

5.      The Solitairian.  You never really liked people anyway, and now you’re luxuriating in day after day of alone time.  Now you will finally have the time to read all those books that have been on your to-read list for ages.  Just don’t break those reading glasses!

6.      The World-Builder.  Let’s face it, the pre-apocalyptic world sucked.  Now that the slate’s been wiped clean, let’s all get together on this and build a new one!  No more taxes!  Seriously, we mean it this time.

            You want to know what my optimistic post-apocalyptic daydream is?  Me, I’m the Voyeur—a relatively rare form of survivor whose greatest joy comes from moving from house to house and picking through the detritus of other people’s previous lives.  There it is, the house stands empty, a whole family spirited away right smack dab in the middle of their own little history.  What wonders are to be discovered there!  What perfectly potted comedies and tragedies wait to be read among the remains!  The father buys expensive cigars even though the family is on a budget.  You find them hidden in a hollowed-out book on a shelf in his office.  The teenage daughter, you discover from her diary, has crushes on both a boy and a girl at her school—sexuality in flux!  The ten-year-old son has an unhealthy fixation on his own bowel movements, you find Polaroid pictures of them in a shoebox in his closet.  It’s a dirty world, you say, shaking your head—you knew it long before.  The mother is having an affair with a man down the block—you find letters from him.  Look, there’s his address, and now you can go to his house and continue uncovering the soap opera of these lost lives. 

            Also, the best stories are the ones that were previously hidden from view, aren’t they?  That’s why you have to hunt the dregs to find the gold.

            Okay, so it’s a little gross.  Certainly not as noble as some of the other post-apocalyptic fantasies.  But all writers need to be at least a little voyeuristic, no?  I ain’t ashamed.  For me, a world absent of its people is a vast library of stories to be read in the objects that remain.

Joshua Gaylord lives in New York. Since 2000, he has taught high school English at an Upper East Side prep school (a modern orthodox co-educational Yeshiva). He has also taught literature and cultural studies courses as an adjunct professor at the New School and NYU. Prior to coming to New York, he grew up in the heart of Orange County: Anaheim, home of Disneyland. He graduated from Berkeley with a degree in English and a minor in creative writing, where his instructors included Bharati Mukherjee, Leonard Michaels and Maxine Hong Kingston. In 2000, he received his Master’s and Ph.D. in English at New York University, specializing in twentieth-century American and British literature. In general, he tends to like people--particularly the ones who like him, though that's not a prerequisite.

Alden Bell has the same history but is more serious in all the ways you'd like him to be. He engages in bar fights that end amicably and spends a lot of time at the dog track.

Giveaway time! (Also, fangirling time, so bring snacks!) Enter to win either The Reapers Are the Angels or the sequel/prequel, Exit Kingdom. The giveaway is international, anywhere The Book Depository ships. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 7 of the Apocalypse! Misty Provencher, Author of Cornerstone + Giveaway (INT)

Only two days left, people! Is everything ready? Are your affairs in order? Did you say your good-byes? Hopefully the end won't be to painful, but I know I'll miss you guys. This past week has been such an amazing experience.

Today, I welcome Misty Provencher, author of the Cornerstone series. Misty is a great writer and an all-around awesome individual. The more I talk to her, the more I like her, and her books are different, well-written and totally addictive. I asked Misty to join us today and she didn't even hesitate, even though she was on vacation at the time. So instead of rambling on, I'll let you enjoy her lovely post.

    

Top 5 Snacks to Bring to Your Friendly Neighborhood Apocalypse

1. TWINKIES, OF COURSE. 

 This is a no-brainer, which is a real drag if we happen to be talking Zombie Apocalypse. Twinkies were before their time and nearly CAUSED an apocalypse recently when Hostess temporarily decided to yank them from production. These snacks are portable (for on-the-go survivors), soft (if partygoers have lost their teeth due to radiation), easy to hide from others in a pocket, their taste and nutritional value remains unaffected when mashed in their wrapper, and these heavenly, golden non-food items will never expire. If you happen to have the good fortune of working in a Twinkie factory at the time that world chaos breaks out, I suggest you slam the doors on civilization and throw the Twinkie-making machines against them. Barricade yourself in the one commune that offers the opportunity of mass-producing your non-food sustenance for years to come. Hell, under those circumstances, you could get quite a trade system going and might even have the opportunity to Twinkie yourself into a formidable empire. 

On the other hand, if you are simply attending a post-apocalyptic or a verge-of-the-apocalypse event, Twinkies again are the most suitable, event appropriate snack that will be enjoyed by any partygoers that might show up for the festivities, human or cockroach. And you can get them with festive green filling that Apocalypse survivors will appreciate!

2. BEAN SPROUTS 

This is your safest bet ever. Ain’t nobody gonna steal your bean sprouts out from under you, no matter how hungry they might ever be or might get. Let’s face it…folks’ll kill you faster than an asteroid shower if they find out you’ve got Twinkies, but if you’re armed with bean sprouts? Baby, you can walk the streets eating to your heart’s content.

3. SURPLUS BRAINS

This one’s tricky. If you aren’t sure about which sort of apocalypse you’re involved in, you might want to stock up on brains to be on the safe side. Remember, variety is appreciated. Hamster and gerbil brains should be carried in quantity, like mixed nuts. The self-inflated, flabby brains of the scientists and/or weather men that inappropriately predicted your particular apocalypse would also be a great choice. The best choice. The most sought-after delicacy, in fact, even if there is no Zombie apocalypse.

4. CHOCOLATE SAUCE 

Chocolate sauce is a flexible little condiment that can make any of your Apocalyptic snack choices all the rave. Throw some sauce on Twinkies and you have a tasty dessert; swirl them into bean sprouts and you can almost pretend you’re not actually eating sprouts; chuck them on a bowl of brains and now you’ve got a party. Chocolate sauce takes the Apoca out of your lypse and replaces it with a pure, fountain of goodness. 

5. A FRIEND 

Your friends might not appreciate the invite, but I assure you, they never have to know. Just invite them along on your journey into the Post Apocalyptic landscape! It’s always best to bring a friend, who might serve as a portable snack for you or for others, as you run away. And don’t’ forget: a good friend can go a long way! 

Thanks so much for having me along for some fun, Maja!

About Misty:

Once a high school drop out and runaway, Misty Provencher became a college grad, and is now a full-time novelist with a close knit family. She doesn't do labels well. While she can ride a motorcycle, knows how to Karate chop, and has learned enough French, Spanish, and Sign Language to get herself slapped, Misty's life is the ruse she uses to connect with people. She is totally enchanted with them and spends her days trying to translate the soul bouquet of her muses into words.

Misty Provencher lives in Michigan. Knock on her internet blog door at: Misty Provencher's Books, http://mistypro.blogspot.com/ or find her on Facebook and Twitter as Misty Provencher.

Giveaway time! One winner will receive Cornerstone and Keystone ebooks, gifted from Amazon. This giveaway is international, and trust me when I tell you, you WANT to read these books. I love them so, so much. Good luck, everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 6 of the Apocalypse! Teri Terry, author of Slated + Giveaway (INT)

It's been a great week so far, don't you think? If you're just now joining us, here's what you've missed:
Apocalypse Blog Hop
Jay Kristoff (Stormdancer, Kinslayer) guest post and INT giveaway
Phoebe North (Starglass) guest post and giveaway
Tim Marquitz (Demon Squad series) guest post and INT giveaway
Mira Grant (Feed, Parasite) guest post and INT giveaway

And here are today's posts around the blogosphere:

Rainy Day Ramblings: Horde by Ann Aguirre

Love of Books: Living with the Dead by Jesse Petersen
My Shelf Confessions: Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

Have you read SLATED by Teri Terry yet? Late in the 21st century, the government, no longer the United Kingdom but the Central Coalition, found a new way to deal with criminals. Instead of prisons or even capital punishment, they get a clean slate, or more precisely, they get slated – their memory gets wiped clean and, if they’re underage, they get assigned to a new Mum and Dad, a whole new family they’re supposed to treat as their own.

Does this sound interesting to you? I loved it, and I loved the second book, FRACTURED, even more. So today, I welcome the wonderful Teri Terry to The Nocturnal Library. 

  

Teri Terry’s Top Ten to Avoid Going Bonkers in the Bunker

I’d like to tell you that when the apocalypse hits, I have a plan, and the cunning and kick-ass skills to survive. The reality is the only thing I have in common with Katniss, Tris and Kyla is that I’ve read &/or written about them. In fact, one of my nicknames is Princess Wuss, the Wussiest Wuss in all of Wussdom (though it’s good to have a title, isn’t it?).

So I think my best chance of surviving an apocalypse involves hiding in a bunker and waiting it out. Here is my top ten list of things I need to survive: assume I’ll have enough food and water, basic medical supplies, all the essentials. This is the stuff I need to fill the time to avoid going bonkers in the bunker.

Here goes:

1.   The Man. He prefers to remain anonymous, but he is good at being calm in a crisis. Besides, I’m kind of used to having him around.

2.   An extensive collection of interesting notebooks – A4 hardback coil bound - and blue gel 0.5 mm pens. Actually, I nearly have an apocalypse-surviving quantity of notebooks and pens in reserve, already (“hoarder alert”)

3.   Banrock the Bunny (Banrock is my chief muse).

4.   A popcorn maker – my ultimate comfort food.

5.   Scrabble. And a dictionary (I can’t spell).

6.   Every album Mark Knopfler has ever made. And as the Man is along, every Bruce Springsteen album ever made.

7.   A cardio cross-trainer.

8.   The complete recorded Ashes DVD collection (for those who don’t know, the Ashes isn’t what is left of the world after the apocalype. It is cricket, and involves England vs Aussies, wearing white, cricket bats, and a little red ball. Cricket is also immortalized in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Test match cricket goes on for days and days: perfect for bunker time fill).

9.   A piano, and extensive set of teach yourself to play piano books. I’ve always wanted to learn, and when would I ever have more time?

10.  BOOKS. Great piles of them. Though given the state of the world, I might avoid post-apocalyptic or dystopian tales, and go more for happy ever after. You know, to keep our spirits up.

Come to think of it....except for the piano, add some chocolate and this list is pretty much the writing cave survival list, too.

Teri has lived in France, Canada, Australia and England at more addresses than she can count, acquiring three degrees, a selection of passports and a silly name along the way. Past careers have included scientist, lawyer, optometrist, and, in England, various jobs in schools, libraries and an audiobook charity. The footpaths and canal ways of the Buckinghamshire Chilterns where she now lives inspired much of the setting of Slated. She hates broccoli, likes cats, and has finally worked out what she wants to do when she grows up.

Thanks to the lovely people at Hachette Children's UK, you can now enter to win a copy of Slated, or if you already have that, Fractured. This giveaway is international. Good luck, everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 5 of the Apocalypse! Mira Grant, Author of Feed and Parasite + Giveaway

Apocalypse around the blogosphere, day 5:
Rainy Day Ramblings: The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle
Love of Books: Contaminated by Em Garner
The Readers Den: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Whenever I get  asked to name my favorite book of all time, I don't even hesitate before I blurt out: FEED by Mira Grant! If you put aside all the classics that have been stuffed down my throat during my endless education, some of which I actually adored, Feed is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best book I have ever read. So it is with great pride and honor that I welcome Mira Grant to The Nocturnal Library.

    

There is no such thing as "the end of the world." Not unless you're talking with absolute literalism: the end of the world will come when the sun goes nova, when the black hole breathes deep, when the sky burns, when the world where we have lived and died since we crawled out of the muck is finally, mercifully no more. That's the end of the world. If you're being more metaphorical and poetic, then there's no single end: worlds die every die. They die disguised as people or as stories or as bullfrogs, but once they're over, they're over. You can't put a quarter in the slot and start over again (although if you could, I would find life's cheat codes and sell them at the corner of Level 1 and Game Over, quarter a lie, defeat the boss level, become the title character). Worlds end all around us, all the time. That's the awesome thing about worlds. We have more than we can ever know.

Because see, when you make the end of the world a literalist thing, it becomes a lot less fun. How can I enjoy destroying the human race if I know that in so doing, I have also destroyed the world? That's a lot to live up to. Literal destruction happens only once, with a bang or a whimper, and then you need to find something else to do. I recommend kicking off the next Big Bang, since then you can be the Alpha and the Omega and all that other mythic crap, and at least that's something to put in your author bio. "Destroyed creation. Created creation. Author of six novels, one religion, various poems, and the cat." (No, I don't know how you author the cat. You're the one who's restarting the universe here. Figure it out.)

So why, if it's so much bother, do we destroy the world at all? Figurative destruction doesn't get the job done; literal destruction does it too well. It seems like a waste of time when looked at that way, when in fact that's the reason to destroy the world in the first place: because the apocalypse is transitory. It's an opportunity to stretch our wings and fly over burning nations, testing out the various futures that we hope will never come to pass (or at least won't come to pass during our lifetimes; even the most enthusiastic doom-sayers enjoy warm beds and cool porches and lemonade made with real lemons, which are all quite scarce after the end of days).

So we end the world. We end it in fire and we end it in ice; we end it with viruses and we end it with alien invasions. We break our toys with hammers only to glue them back together again, making them uniquely our own. Writing the apocalypse is a way of finding the bearing strain of creation, and that's wonderful, because it teaches us so much about ourselves and the world we live in.

Also because it's fun to hear the pretty smashing sounds. But that's the answer we don't give when we have company over. Mustn't scare the neighbors, after all.

Born and raised in Northern California, Mira Grant has made a lifelong study of horror movies, horrible viruses, and the inevitable threat of the living dead. In college, she was voted Most Likely to Summon Something Horrible in the Cornfield, and was a founding member of the Horror Movie Sleep-Away Survival Camp, where her record for time survived in the Swamp Cannibals scenario remains unchallenged.

Mira lives in a crumbling farmhouse with an assortment of cats, horror movies, comics, and books about horrible diseases. When not writing, she splits her time between travel, auditing college virology courses, and watching more horror movies than is strictly good for you. Favorite vacation spots include Seattle, London, and a large haunted corn maze just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.

Mira sleeps with a machete under her bed, and highly suggests that you do the same.

Mira also writes as Seanan McGuire.

Aaaand it's giveaway time again! Enter to win a Mira Grant book of your choice. The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL, anywhere The Book Depository ships. Thanks so much for reading and entering, guys. Now I'm off to find a quiet corner and fangirl until I drop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 4 of the Apocalypse! Tim Marquitz, Author of the Demon Squad series (+INT Giveaway)

Apocalypse! posts around the blogosphere:
Rainy Day Ramblings: Imitations by Heather Hilderbrand
Love of Books: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

Those of you who have been with The Nocturnal Library from the start will likely remember Tim Marquitz and his very direct, often hilarious posts. Tim has been a friend of this blog from the very first day and I'd like to think I've helped him as much as he's helped me, although that's probably not true at all. When I started planning Apocalypse!, I knew I could count on him to share his thoughts with us. So without further ado:

    

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time…boom! The end.

Is that what you want out of the Apocalypse? Well, too bad because that’s not how it’s gonna go down. There’ll be none of this ‘one day we’re here, the next we’re not’ crap. No, the end will be slow and painful and completely lacking in cool catch phrases.

And while I realize all the Walking Dead fans are praying for a zombie uprising so they can use their shiny new wrist-bayonets and get into Daryl’s quiver, that’s not how it’s gonna happen either. We’re not gonna meet our extinction by cannibal bikers or hordes of reanimated corpses or sociopathic warlords bent on caffeinated destruction. There won’t be some new order of super robots that kill us in our sleep or secret cabal that overtakes our political system overnight. Even more unfortunately, there won’t be any rabid undead weasels, mutant koalas, or even cute little E.T.s out for a drunken weekend probing.

No, it’s pretty much been established…we’re gonna die of dumb.

Sadly, we’re already infected. The sickness is all around us, a plague of murderous proportion squeezed into 140 characters. Just look at network television. The fact that Jersey Shore survived six seasons while the Dresden Files barely managed one is proof the Dumbocalypse is upon us. Come on: Justin Beiber, Paris Hilton, Amanda Bynes. Need I say more?

No. I’m sorry to say the days of wit and wisdom are already behind us, and we’re swirling down the drain like a tofu turd. Common sense has gone the way of Elvis and the Twinkie, and the odds of us escaping life without a serious case of Dumbentia are miniscule, at best. Intellect has struck a ‘berg and we’re slowly sinking to a soundtrack of Dubstep and Gangnam Style, rhythmic squeaks and squeals playing us out on the maiden voyage of Titanic Mother Earth.

De-evolution is the order of the day, the second coming of Neanderthalism. We’ll sit back and grunt at one another and wave our clubs about to signal our likes, sharing our dinners on cave walls and bathroom stalls like Yahoos on a binge. In the end, we’ll build a monument to the black box gods and bemoan the coming of the blue screen behemoth that stole our last thoughts with deviant porn and Google fu. Our only hope is that one of these asteroids hurtling by in space takes pity on us and changes course.

Or maybe there will be zombies. What the hell do I know?

Author bio:

Raised on a diet of Heavy Metal and bad intentions, Tim Marquitz has always been interested in writing, but it wasn't until about 1995 the urge became a compulsion. However, it would be many years later before the ability matched the interest. Fortunately, the two have reconciled...mostly.
Writing a mix of the dark perverse, the horrific, and the tragic, tinged with sarcasm and biting humor, he looks to leave a gaping wound in the minds of his readers like his inspirations: Clive Barker, Jim Butcher, and Stephen King.
A former grave digger, bouncer, and dedicated metalhead, Tim is a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts, and fighting in general.
He lives in Texas with his beautiful wife and daughter.

Giveaway time!

Enter to win two of Tim's books (your choice) gifted from Amazon. The giveaway is international.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 3 of the Apocalypse! Phoebe North, author of Starglass

In my early days on GoodReads (almost three years ago), when I was still too shy to review or participate in discussions, Phoebe North was one of the few people I followed and admired from afar and she inspires admiration to this day. As a reviewer, she is intelligent, insightful and entirely trustworthy, and I'm quite confident she's all those things as an author, too. Her debut YA Sci-Fi novel, STARGLASS, is set to be released on July 23rd 2013. My copy has been pre-ordered for months. If you still haven't pre-ordered yours, enter to win a signed copy at the end of this post.

Why My Favorite Apocalypse Happened in New Zealand

I recently heard of a new YA dystopian novel that’s been optioned for film: Chris Weitz’s The Young World. But the premise—featuring a cataclysmic death that kills everyone over the age of 21—brought to mind a small screen series, one that’s been off the air since 2003 but which never the less remains one of my favorite works of young adult fiction.
I think I have TVTropes to blame; I was in graduate school and wasting way too much time on the site, obsessively reading about young adult novels that I’d loved when I was twelve, ostensibly as research for my coursework in children’s literature when I stumbled upon a description for a New Zealand TV show that I had missed when it first aired—what with being a college student living in the States at the time. It was called The Tribe and was described by my fellow tropers as follows:

The Tribe ran five seasons (1999-2003). It was a New Zealand-produced Cozy Catastrophe/Teen Soap Opera set Twenty Minutes into the Future, after an apocalyptic virus that wipes out the world's adult population, leaving the kids and teens to inherit an unnamed city that is rapidly degenerating into a post-apocalyptic urban wasteland.
The main characters are the Mall Rats, a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits who took up residence in an abandoned shopping mall. Over the series, the Mall Rats attempt to restore order to a chaotic world by reintroducing civilized functions like money and democratic elections. The Mall Rats face external and internal conflict with other tribes and between their own members, who don't always see eye to eye.
The first series was notably darker in tone than later series, and more survivalist-oriented. The first season also had very few of the "fantastic" elements that came to dominate later seasons, such as virtual reality, religious cults, insanely well-disciplined and organized antagonist tribes, and mysticism. The show dealt with many of the typical elements of both a Teen Drama with a setting that was part Scavenger World and part Cozy Catastrophe, including problems like pregnancy and bulimia. It also mostly averted Dawson Casting.

Cozy catastrophe? Teens living in a mall? I knew I had to watch it, and rushed to the youtubes:

I was . . . a bit surprised by what I found. For one thing, the theme song was terrible. I had expected corny acting and low production values—I’m a fan of the original Degrassi, after all. But the show itself was just strange: it was dark and grainy, and some of the dystopian aspects were downright frightening.
But the episodes were short and it was easy to tear through them. And as I did, I began to get addicted.
What most impresses me about The Tribe, even now, is how honest a depiction of teenagers it quickly became. For one thing, the kids in The Tribe are wicked smart: they wrestle with notion of civilization building, laws, and justice in a world without adults. They figure out how to harness natural resources, how to lead their fellow kids, and how to reach consensus. But they’re also real, authentic teenagers, quite unlike anything you see on American TV.
For example, living in a world without grown-ups means that they let their creativity go wild; they smear their faces with make-up, dye their hair, and wear crazy clothes. To some, these acts of rebellion might seem strange in a world without adults to rebel against. But at the same time, it makes sense: one reason teenagers experiment with crazy clothes and hair is because it’s a way to show ownership of your body, to take control of yourself in a world where so much lies beyond your control. Though the teens of The Tribe don’t have adults to rebel against, their plague-gutted and chaotic world often seems uncontrollable to them.
The Mall Rats act authentically adolescent in other ways, too. For example, the show has often been compared to a soap opera due to the romantic elements. In fact, several of these relationships result in teenage pregnancies. This seems, to me, to be a very natural consequence of living in a world without adult supervision or, say, condoms. Other aspects of adolescent life likewise don’t stop because of the apocalypse: teens continue to grapple with problems of fitting in, bullying, grief, questions about faith and mortality. All set against a fantastic back-drop.
Though the show would later spiral out into less believable plotlines (with the virtual-reality obsessed Technos tribe taking over the city), at its peak The Tribe remains one of the finest works of YA apocalyptica to ever hit the small screen. Despite its occasionally campy nature and low production values, it was honest and very real. It treated its young characters like fully fledged people--showing that teens are capable of humanity even at the end of the world.

Phoebe North received an MFA in poetry at the University of Florida. She lives with her husband and cat in New York State. Visit her at PhoebeNorth.com.



Phoebe has generously offered to send out a signed copy of Starglass to one lucky winner. Just enter the Rafflecopter below and keep your fingers crossed. This giveaway is open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 2 of the Apocalypse! Jay Kristoff, Author of Stormdancer

Hello, my darlings! Are you quite ready for the end of the world? Today, The Noctural Library is proud to welcome Jay Kristoff, a gentleman brought up exclusively on Australian water, known for its magical properties. He grew up to become the brilliant and hilarious author of the Japanese steampunk fantasy novel STORMDANCER and its upcoming sequel KINSLAYER. Have you read them yet? If not, now is the time.

But first, here are the links to other Apocalypse! stops today:
Rainy Day Ramblings: PODs by Michelle Pickett
Love of Books: In the After by Demitria Lunetta
Buried in Books: Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes

If you have your own Apocalypse! post to share, please leave us a link using the linky at the end of this post.

  

Top 5 Alternative-Apocalypses 

So the zombie thing has been done, dare I say, to death. When the tropes of your horror apocalypse have been so thoroughly absorbed by the mainstream as to provoke the release of a RomCom and a blockbuster starring Brad “Damn, I really need a haircut” Pitt in the same six months, can school lunchboxes and Zombie: The Musical be far behind?

…Actually, there's already a Zombie; The Musical. Sonofabitch. Ruin my joke, will you...

We don’t even need to step into the realms of fantasy to find our end of the world – we have a planet full of terrifying beasties who will happily murder us and wear our skins as cheeky winter coats. So, in the interests of shuffling this apocalypse thing onto the next phase, I’ve put together a list of five critters I think would make banging antagonists in the next breakout apocalypse hit. Feel free to steal my ideas, just credit me in the acknowledgements. And maybe buy me an island in the Pacific. A little one. I’m not greedy.

5. Sharks. You should be aware the only thing preventing you being ripped into ribbons by row upon row of serrated teeth whilst staring into the dead black eyes of the enormous carnage engine about to devour you is that you’re lucky enough to live out of the water. But the moment sharks figure out how to get around on land, you can be goddamn certain these hell-spawned teeth factories WILL savage all your favourite body parts and omnom them down like a drunken clubgoer scrums felafel at 3am.

Sharks will eat literally anything – tin cans, rubber tyres and McDonalds Chicken McNuggets have all been found in the bellies of captured specimens. Sharks are such terrifying murder machines, they even kill other wounded sharks. A tiny drop of blood is all that’s required to send them into frenzy. Imagine rolling up to the office on a Monday morning with a small shaving cut expecting to discuss last night’s television only to be savagely devoured by your co-workers.

“So that Theon Greyjoy, huh? What an OHMYFUCKINGGOOOOOD”

4. Asian Predatory Wasps. A single one of these sadistic bastards can destroy an entire colony of honey bees. Essentially, the APW will roll up to a hive, hang around the front door smoking ice and listening to Skrillex until a guard pokes its head out to see what all the wubbing is about. Then the APW brutally murders it.

When Jane doesn’t come back from her rounds (all guard bees are ladies) and the next guard gets sent out to see where she is with the goddamn coffees, the APW murders her too. And dismembers her. Going so far as to decorate the front of the hive with her remainder. And when all the stupid, stupid guards are dead, the wasp strolls into the hive, murders anything else who gives it lip and then EATS ALL THE BABY BEES.

THESE WASPS EAT BABIES, YO.

3. Wolverines. <insert gag about XMEN ORIGINS:WOLVERINE being so bad it could bring about the end of the world here>

Wolverines have the dubious honor of being the largest member of the weasel family, and have zero fucking sense of humor about it. They can resist sub-zero temperatures and eat just about anything, up to and including full grown Cariboo Moose. They think very little of smacking the shit out of wolves, cougars and POLAR BEARS, and if caught in a snare, will GNAW THEIR OWN LEGS OFF RATHER THAN BE CAPTURED. One particularly furious Wolverine in Glacier National Park was renowned for breaking INTO traps set by scientists for the sole purpose of doing bloody murder upon his male rivals trapped therein.

That’s correct, these dudes will break INTO jail just to get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?

2. Tarantula Hawks. Yes, I realise this is my second wasp on the list. They freak me out, okay?

So, in the matchup of spider versus wasp, most sensible people would be backing the spider. But one particular wasp known as a Tarantula Hawk COULD NOT GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT WHAT IS SENSIBLE. These things hunt down tarantulas (you know, those huge terrifying spiders that eat birds), paralyse them with their stingers, and then LAY EGGS INSIDE THEM.

You read that right. These things are literally right out of ALIENS. I can picture a squad of tarantulas moving through an abandoned tarantula colony wondering where all the colonists are and then they find one stuck in the walls and he’s all “K-k-kill muh-meeee” and the taratulas are like “Hang on buddy, we’re gonna get you out” and he’s all “Guhh-gg-gg-guuuhhAARRGGUUGG” and this fucking baby tarantula hawk bursts out his abdomen and she’s all “sup, bitches” and Ripley is like “noooooooooooooo”.

GAME OVER, MAN.

1. Honey Badgers. The Honey Badger is listed in the Guinness book of World Records as the most fearless animal on the planet. I dunno what they’re so pissed off about, but they entire species is pissed off ALL THE TIME. They eat snakes, crocodiles, eagles, republicans . . . pretty much anything that can't say “SWEET MERCIFUL JESUS, IT'S A HONEY BADGER” and run away screaming. Literally, the only thing stopping these dirty little bastards breaking into all our houses and eating us while we sleep is the fucks they don't give.

Don't believe me? Observe this video of a couple of Honey badgers ruining the grills of SIX LIONS. You will notice around the 2:15 mark, when the Honey Badger has walloped the shit out of everything that looked at it cock-eyed and has ample opportunity to get away, it sticks around for a couple more rounds just to make sure the lions knew WHO THEY WERE FUCKING WITH.

HONEY BADGER APOCALYPSE: Coming to a theatre near you in 2014.

Jay Kristoff is a Perth-born, Melbourne-based author. His first trilogy, THE LOTUS WAR, was purchased in the three-way auction by US publishing houses in 2011. He is as surprised about it as you are. The first installment, STORMDANCER, was published in September 2012 in the US, UK and Australia. 

Jay is 6'7, has approximately 13870 days to live and does not believe in happy endings.

a Rafflecopter giveaway