Sara Hathaway's Post-Apocalypse Blog Tour

...and now for something completely different.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Sara F. Hathaway about stopping by the Rage ‘n’ Romance bunker in crumbling Colorado Springs as part of her blog tour. As this seemed like something I could learn from as part of my continuing education in promoting my own books, I said, sure. What’s a blog tour, anyway?

From Tate Publishing

Sara F. Hathaway is the author of Day After Disaster, a post-apocalypse novel working from the same motif as S. Johnathan Davis’ 900 Miles and my own Bleeding Kansas, in which our intrepid hero finds him or herself caught far behind enemy lines, separated from the family he or she should be saving as the apocalyptic matter hits the fan.

Hathaway’s bio describes as a “student of Wilderness and Urban Survival,” which isn’t a bad thing to be when SHTF, as survivalists refer to Shit Hits the Fan trigger that kills the electricity, and civilization in the bargain.

Her interests in the literary side go back to the Clan of the Cave Bear series. “I tend to look at myself as a student of skills to keep myself and my family alive. I don’t like to prep. I think sometimes the prepper thing goes overboard. But,” she adds, laughing,  “I have my ammo too.”

Sara F. Hathaway

Hathaway’s heroine Erika in Day After Disaster ends up pinned beneath a wine rack in a bomb shelter turned wine cellar. After she frees herself, she has to wrap her body in duct tape against the corrosive, toxic waters pouring in. She builds a raft using pieces of the restaurant she emerges from.

Then things get nasty. Day After Disaster is part of the Changing Earth series, so you can be sure Erika’s earthquake is not an isolated event. The social niceties die with society, and Hathaway doesn’t flinch from the implications:

“There is a description of the sexually horrific things that men would impose on weak women,” Hathaway says. “I included this difficult subject to drive home the reality of a survival situation. Rape would happen and it is each woman’s responsibility to learn how to defend herself.

“I also included a beautiful love, a connection between husband and wife that exists over space and time. This wonderful romance exists between soul mates and cannot be severed by separation or death. Their love is like a burning ball of energy that swirls through the universe connecting the two souls together. Do they finally find one another in this life or the next? Guess you need to pick up the book and find out!”

Hathaway encourages everyone to come by her own website for a copy of “The Go-Bag Essentials” and a virtual book tour. She’s got four and one-half stars from 11 reviews on Amazon, so she must be doing something right.

As Hathaway leaves for her next stop on her tour I look around and think, shit, I need a bigger basement, and way out in the country, at that. This poor burg is hardly livable now, but when SHTF....