Guest Post & Giveaway! Lissa Bryan Discusses The End of All THings

by Letitia on Friday, January 25, 2013

Today we are thrilled to have Lissa Bryan with us, author of Ghostwriter and, her latest release, The End of All Things! A book about life and love and surviving once the world as we know it has ended. You can read my review to find out more about this dystopian romance.

We’re also giving away one digital copy of The End of All Things to a random (and lucky!) reader.

Let’s give Miz Bryan a round of cyber applause and a warm welcome. Take it away, Lissa!

So, You’re Having an Apocalypse…
By Lissa Bryan

You wake up one morning and turn on the television to watch the morning news while you sip your coffee. And that’s when you learn it’s not going to be a good day. It’s the apocalypse, and now you’re facing a struggle for survival. (Depending on how bad the traffic is in your city, that could be an ordinary Monday morning, I suppose, but I digress.)

You’re going to need some things:

1) Food— Hopefully, you began the apocalypse with full cupboards, but if you’re like me, you hate going to the grocery store even under normal circumstances. The average city has only about seven days’ worth of food without being resupplied, so depending on how much notice the world had of its Impending Doom, the grocery stores might already be bare by the time you venture out to scavenge. You may need to search unconventional places like cafeterias and vending machines, places that other survivors may have overlooked. You may also want to expand your definition of “edible.” In The End of All Things, Justin has the following exchange with Carly at the grocery store:

“Let me get that.” He lifted the bag of dog food easily and tucked it under one arm. “You have a dog?” he asked. She knew why he was surprised. There didn’t seem to be many dogs or cats that survived. She hadn’t seen one in weeks.

“Obviously. Why else would I be buying dog food?” Carly pushed her empty cart up to the front and tucked it into the row with the others.

He shrugged. “Because there isn’t much food for people left.”

Carly blinked. “So you think I would eat dog food?”

“It’s food. It’s not like it’s dirty or anything. The FDA monitors it just like food for human consumption.”

“Gross,” Carly muttered.

“Before this is over, I’ll wager you’ll eat worse things than dog food.”

Tears stung Carly’s eyes. “Stop it.”

2) Shelter— If you don’t live in a warm climate, you need a house with a fireplace and a lot of wood to keep warm over the winter. That’s Carly’ situation in The End of All Things, when Justin finds her. He quickly determines she’s still in shock and not thinking clearly about her situation.

“You can’t stay here.”

Carly had been thinking the same thing earlier, but hearing Justin voice it upset her. “This is my home,” she said. “I can’t just leave it!”

He was quiet for a moment. “What were you planning to do this winter? You don’t have a fireplace and the temperature is usually around freezing or just above. It’s not as cold here as most people think it gets in Alaska, but you could still freeze to death.”

She looked at him in confusion. It made little sense to her that Justin was worrying about winter when everything would surely be back to normal by then. Order would be restored, and the lights would be back on. Carly would be back to managing the souvenir shop, and the stores would be full of groceries.

“Go away,” she muttered.

“Carly—”

“Go away!” she cried.

3) Medicine— Along with prescriptions, you’re going to need things like painkillers, fever reducers and anti-diarrhea medications. Don’t forget the topical antibiotics; in a world without doctors, even minor injuries could become life-threatening if infection sets in.

Justin tossed boxes of bandages, eye wash, and topical antibiotics into Carly’s cart, along with all of the bottles of iodine on the shelf.

“Peroxide stings less,” Carly said.

“It’s not for cuts and scrapes. You can use it to purify drinking water.” Justin had moved on to anti-diarrhea medication, of which he took every bottle and box.

“Expecting an upset stomach?”

“This stuff is going to be worth more than its weight in diamonds.” Justin waved a box of tablets before he dropped into the cart. “Trust me.”

4) Weapons— Especially important if your apocalypse is a zombie apocalypse. The End of All Things doesn’t have zombies, but there are still many dangers Carly and Justin encounter on the road.

Justin hopped over the counter and began to fill one of the store’s shopping bags with small boxes of ammunition.

“Give me your tote. We need to take as much of this as we can.”

“What kind?”

“Any of it. If it won’t work in our guns, it will be excellent for trading.”

Of course, it helps to have a sexy ex-Special Forces soldier as your companion. Carly may be naïve when it comes to survival skills, but she still has a thing or two to teach Justin.

Thanks for reading. If you’d like to read the rest of the first chapter, I have it posted on my blog.

Giveaway!

One randomly drawn reader will win an ebook of Lissa Bryan’s The End of All Things! Open Internationally. Please follow the Rafflecopter widget directions and terms and conditions. Giveaway ends at 12:01am on 1/31/13.

Please leave us a comment telling us what you would miss the most in a post-apocalyptic world!

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LABELS: Dystopian, giveaway, guest post, Lissa Bryan

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