Are you the type of person who always wonders “what if?” What if we get into a car accident? What if we miss our flight? What happens if I forget to take my phone on my hike? If you can imagine unexpected scenarios based on real-world circumstances and even alternate realities, then speculative fiction is for you.
Speculative fiction includes fantasy, sci-fi, horror, magical realism and dystopian fiction where stories depart from the world we know. One compelling subgenre is near-future science fiction. These stories often take place several years or decades in the future, and they often incorporate emerging technology like AI or familiar scenarios that are common in the real-world.
One author who’s known for post-apocalyptic speculative fiction, military-based science fiction and even alternative histories is William R. Forstchen. He even wrote the first novel associated with the seminal fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering back in 1994. The book is called Arena, in case you’re interested. One of his most famous books set in the near future is One Second After, that’s the book we’ll be discussing.
Essentially, a high-altitude-nuclear device detonates above the continental U.S. It creates an electromagnetic pulse that instantly disables all types of modern devices, from cars and cellphones to power grids and medical equipment. The book is set in the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, where retired Army colonel and history professor John Matherson fights to help his family and neighbors through the nation’s instant de-industrialization.
Forstchen's storyline is so realistic and believable that the book was discussed in the inner rings of the Pentagon and mentioned on the floor of Congress by U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett as a book that every American should read. If you choose to read this gripping near-future post-apocalyptic novel, we’ve got you covered with book club discussion questions, food and drink pairings and related books to add to your reading list. Ready? Let’s dive in!
One Second After
by William R. Forstchen
A post-apocalyptic thriller of the after effects in the United States after a terrifying terrorist attack using electromagnetic pulse weapons.
New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real ... a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages ... A war based upon a weapon, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.
Cookbook & Recipe Pairings for One Second After
With everything from dishes directly to tips for canning and preserving food and instructions on how to make your own soap, this is the perfect cookbook to have at hand when the apocalypse hits. Of course, if you aren’t prepping for the worst or the world hasn’t ended (yet!), this book is also filled with unpretentious recipes you can serve at your table today.
Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse: Another Cookbook of Sorts
by Frederic Morin - David McMillan - Meredith Erickson
A new cookbook/survival guide/love letter to Montreal for these apocalyptic times, from the James Beard Award-nominated culinary adventurists and proprietors of the beloved restaurant, Joe Beef.
"The first Joe Beef cookbook changed forever what a cookbook could be. Anything that came after had to take it into account. Now, with this latest and even more magnificent beast, the rogue princes of Canadian cuisine and hospitality show us the way out of the numbing, post-apocalyptic restaurant Hell of pretentiousness and mediocrity that threatens to engulf us all. It makes us believe that the future is shiny, bright, beautiful, delicious--and probably Québécois. This book will change your life." – Anthony Bourdain
It's the end of the world as we know it. Or not. Either way, you want Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse in your bunker and/or kitchen. In their much-loved first cookbook, Frédéric Morin, David McMillan, and Meredith Erickson introduced readers to the art of living the Joe Beef way. Now, they're back with another deeply personal, refreshingly unpretentious collection of more than 150 new recipes, some taken directly from the menus of Fred and Dave's acclaimed Montreal restaurants, others from summers spent on Laurentian lakes and Sunday dinners at home. Think Watercress Soup with Trout Quenelles, Artichokes Bravas and seasonal variations on Pot-au-Feu--alongside Smoked Meat Croquettes, a Tater Tot Galette and Squash Sticky Buns.
Also included are instructions for making your own soap and cough drops, not to mention an epic 16-page fold-out gatefold with recipes and guidance for stocking a cellar with apocalyptic essentials (Canned Bread, Pickled Pork Butt, and Smoked Apple Cider Vinegar) for throwing the most sought-after in-bunker dinner party.
Whether you're holing up for a zombie holocaust or just cooking at home, Joe Beef is a book about doing it yourself, about making it on your own, and about living--or at least surviving--in style.
Recipe & Food Pairing for One Second After
Skillet Cornbread
When technology fails, it’s time to go back to basics. When it comes to easy and classic food, there isn’t anything more basic than a skillet cornbread. Made with simple ingredients, this dish is a Southern classic that's exactly what you need in a pinch.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup bacon fat
- 1 ½ cups whole cornmeal
- ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk, well shaken
Directions:
- Put bacon fat in a 9” or 10” cast iron skillet and place in the oven as it preheats to 450 degrees.
- Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the cornmeal mixture and pour in that egg mixture. Stir until blended.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and pour in the batter. Be careful as the mixture will sizzle and pop.
- Bake until the cornbread is firm in the middle and golden brown on the top. Approximately 25 minutes.
- Turn out onto a cutting board or cooling rack and serve hot.
Source: King Arthur Baking
Cocktail & Mocktail Pairings for One Second After
A staple of the South and the Appalachian region, sorghum syrup is a common ingredient in alcoholic beverages. Originally made from boiled and pressed sorghum cane from the mountains, it adds a touch of history and tradition to a recipe. Combine it with a classic American bourbon and you’ve got North Carolina in a glass.
Sorghum Old Fashioned
Ingredients:
- ¼ oz. sorghum syrup or molasses
- 4 to 5 dashes of aromatic bitters, such as Angostura
- 2.5 oz. of spirit of choice, such as bourbon, rye, scotch or rum
- Ice
- Orange slice for garnish
Directions:
- Add sorghum syrup and bitters in an old-fashioned glass, and stir until the bitters are folded into the syrup.
- Add your spirit of choice.
- Fill the glass with ice and stir until well chilled.
- Garnish with the orange slice.
Source: The Kitchn
Blackberry Shrub
Made using vinegar and fruit, a shrub is a syrup that can be used to mix a variety of drinks and made from a number of different fruits. Harkening back from a time before refrigeration, the shrub was created as a result of preserving fruit. Blackberries are common in the mountains of North Carolina, making this a great option to pair with this book.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen crushed blackberries
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup water
- Optional: Ice, sparkling water and extra fresh blackberries
Directions:
- Place fruit and cinnamon stick in a sterilized pint jar.
- Boil vinegar, then pour it over the fruit leaving ¼ inch headspace. Close jar and refrigerate for 1 week.
- Strain vinegar mixture through a fine mesh strainer into another pint jar. Press solids to extract juice then discard the remains.
- Bring sugar and water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly.
- Stir into vinegar mixture and shake well. Store in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
- To serve, add 1-2 tablespoons to a glass of ice, top with sparkling water to taste and garnish with fresh blackberries.
Source: Taste of Home
One Second After Book Club Discussion Questions
- These days we take a lot for granted when it comes to having access to electrical power and technology. If everything were to stop working, all power shutting down, what would be your first instinct? How prepared would you be if it happened today?
- With supplies running short everywhere, conflict begins between refugees from the city and those who live in rural areas. Are the ethics and values of rural towns and cities different in a crisis? How does community play into the decisions made by the rural areas when it comes to the refugee issue?
- John is torn between his obligation to serve and protect the public and fear about his daughter Jennifer’s deteriorating health due to lack of insulin. How far is he willing to go to obtain medication and care for her when others are dying for lack of it? How far would you go were you in his shoes?
Related Reads
Same Disaster, Different People
Living in a power-less world in North Carolina is different than living in a power-less world in Northern Ontario. But while the people, landscape and circumstances may be different, the dangers they face are all too similar. Waubgeshig Rice’s novel, Moon of the Turning Leaves, also takes place in a modern, post-apocalyptic North America void of electricity. But where Forstchen’s characters stayed put, Rice’s choose to make the journey back to their homeland where they will face the wilderness and the survivors that call it home.
Moon of the Turning Leaves
by Waubgeshig Rice
"Waubgeshig Rice's stories are good medicine. Moon of the Turning Leaves is a restorative balm for my spirit." -- Angeline Boulley, New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter
In this gripping stand-alone literary thriller set in the world of the award-winning post-apocalyptic novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, a scouting party led by Evan Whitesky ventures into unknown and dangerous territory to find a new home for their close-knit Northern Ontario Indigenous community more than a decade after a world-ending blackout.
For the past twelve years, a community of Anishinaabe people have made the Northern Ontario bush their home in the wake of the power failure that brought about societal collapse. Since then they have survived and thrived the way their ancestors once did, but their natural food resources are dwindling, and the time has come to find a new home.
But it isn't just the wilderness that poses a threat: they encounter other survivors. Those who, like the Anishinaabe, live in harmony with the land, and those who use violence.
Civilization has Collapsed Before
While an apocalyptic event, such as the use of an EMP, has yet to cause the fall of civilization as we know it, there have been many times throughout history where society has collapsed. Scholar Luke Kemp takes a look through history at the collapse of ancient cities, modern states, and expansive empires. He discusses the fragility of hierarchies, how they have fallen in the past and what is often left in the aftermath of collapse.
Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse
by Luke Kemp
"In the modern tradition of Big Books of human history like Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens and David Graeber and David Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything, Goliath's Curse provides a novel theory of civilizational development. ... [It] feels something like reading the French economist Thomas Piketty filtered through Mad Max: Fury Road." – Ed Simon, The New York Times Book Review
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE CONVERSATION AND KIRKUS - A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB'S MUST-READ BOOK - SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - A radical retelling of human history through the cycle of societal collapse - "Deeply sobering and strangely inspiring. ... Read it now, or your descendants will find it in the ruins." – Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus
In Goliath's Curse, Cambridge scholar Luke Kemp conducts a historical autopsy on our species, from the earliest cities to the collapse of modern states like Somalia. He traces the emergence of "Goliaths" large societies built on a collection of hierarchies that are also terrifyingly fragile, collapsing time after time across the world. Drawing on historical databases and the latest discoveries in archaeology and anthropology, he uncovers groundbreaking revelations.
- More democratic societies tend to be more resilient.
- In our modern, global Goliath, a collapse is likely to be long-lasting and more dire than ever before.
- Collapse may be invisible until after it has occurred. It's possible we're living through one now.
- Collapse has often had a more positive outcome for the general population than for the 1%.
- All Goliaths contain the seeds of their own demise.
As useful for finding a way forward as it is for diagnosing our precarious present, Goliath's Curse is a stark reminder that there are both bright and dark sides to societal collapse--that it is not necessarily a reversion to chaos or a dark age--and that making a more resilient world may well mean making a more just one.
More Books in the John Matherson Series
1. One Second After by William R. Forstchen
2. One Year After: A John Matherson Novel by William R. Forstchen
3. The Final Day: A John Matherson Novel by William R. Forstchen
4. Five Years After: A John Matherson Novel by William R. Forstchen
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For more book club discussion questions and food and drink pairings, check out these Page & Pairing reading guides. Don't forget to sign up for our exclusive email newsletter to receive more content delivered straight to your inbox.