The solar powered apocalypse

I’ve been reading quite a bit of post apocalyptic fiction lately, becoming completely enthralled by Jeff Carlson’s Plague Year and the followup novel Plague War in which any piece of land below 10,000 feet has become uninhabitable due to a nasty bit of nanotech. The nanotech pulls apart humans in order to create replications of itself and has divided not only the U.S. but countries worldwide. The two books have proven to be an enjoyable ride and kept me up late last night while I finished Plague War. You can check out the book trailer as well as the first few chapters of Plague War and Plague year at Jverse.com.

The book got me thinking that in all of the post apocalyptic fiction I have been reading lately nobody has used been using solar power to survive. Even in the altered future gasoline is still one of the most important resources for individuals and governments.

I find this somewhat surprising given the provenance of solar powered accessories in the marketplace. There are solar powered ties, purses, backpacks, tables and even mini solar powered “receivers” which can be found in many stores. I hope that some new fiction in the future has at least one survivor which gets by through the use of a solar powered item that would be within the grasp of an everyday person.

I know if I sense an upcoming plague or disaster of epic proportions I’ll be busting in to my local Bestbuy, scavenging every battery in site as well as the collection of solar backpacks. Hitting up the sporting goods store next door to get decked out in the finest outdoor apparel and switching my cavalier for a Hummer on the way to stock up on non perishable food, then heading for the hills. See you there!

Watchmen and Plague Year

When I haven’t been writing over at WalletPop about anything from pornography being a lagging indicator of the economy to the minimum wage increase I have been reading Watchmen. Watchmen is the graphic novel which the movie of the same name is coming out in 2009. I am about 2/3 of the way through and it is really starting to get interesting. I am enjoying both the art and the weaving of tales into the storyline. You can pick a copy up at your local bookstore or grab Watchmen from Amazon.com.

I am also looking forward to picking up Plague Year by Jeff Carlson a cool near future thriller involving nanotech which replicates by way of living organisms. You can check out the first chapter on Jeff Carlson’s site. The sequel to Plague Year just came out and is called Plague War. Jeff Carlson has made an entertaining book trailer which get me in the mood to check out the series.