Recent from talks
One Second After
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
One Second After
One Second After is a 2009 science fiction novel by American writer William R. Forstchen. The novel deals with an unexpected electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States as it affects the people living in and around the small American town of Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Released in March 2009, One Second After was ranked as number 11 on the New York Times Best Seller list in fiction in May 2009. A trade paperback edition was released in November 2009.
John Matherson is a professor of history at the local Montreat Christian College. A retired U.S. Army colonel and Gulf War veteran, he had moved to Black Mountain with his family when his late wife Mary, a native of the town, was dying from cancer. He is now the widowed father of two daughters, Elizabeth and Jennifer.
At 4:50 p.m. (16:50) Eastern Daylight Time on the second Tuesday of May, the first day described in the book's narration, the phone lines in the town suddenly go dead, along with all the electrical appliances. Within hours it becomes clear that this is no ordinary blackout. Every modern electrical device is disabled, destroyed by what Matherson is beginning to suspect was an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States.
The United States has effectively been returned to the 18th century, with few 21st-century people able to deal with such conditions. Matherson later remarks that survivors have had to rely on the technology of the early 16th century. His immediate concern is his twelve-year-old daughter, Jennifer, who has Type 1 diabetes. Without a constant supply of insulin, which requires refrigeration, she will die.
The book explores how the whole community responds, as many others face similar crises. Matherson's experience and character help him with the town's residents. Hundreds of motorists are stranded when their vehicles stop. They get into town, making the residents feel threatened by the numbers of people needing help. An immediate concern is food. No refrigerators or freezers are running, nor are grocery stores receiving supplies.
Residents of the nursing home in town, where Matherson's elderly cancer-stricken father-in-law is being cared for, are at risk. The elderly and frail need refrigerated medicines, and many require constant nursing care. The EMP has disabled the nursing home's generator. There are no AM/FM radio broadcasts, no television, no Internet, and thus, no communication with anyone outside the town is possible. It takes two months before a working antique telephone can connect Black Mountain with the nearby town of Swannanoa.
Matherson's in-laws are car collectors who happen to own a 1959 Edsel, and a Mustang. These are not affected by the EMP as they have no sensitive electronics. Similarly a resident's vintage airplane is newly useful, because it has no vulnerable electronics.
Hub AI
One Second After AI simulator
(@One Second After_simulator)
One Second After
One Second After is a 2009 science fiction novel by American writer William R. Forstchen. The novel deals with an unexpected electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States as it affects the people living in and around the small American town of Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Released in March 2009, One Second After was ranked as number 11 on the New York Times Best Seller list in fiction in May 2009. A trade paperback edition was released in November 2009.
John Matherson is a professor of history at the local Montreat Christian College. A retired U.S. Army colonel and Gulf War veteran, he had moved to Black Mountain with his family when his late wife Mary, a native of the town, was dying from cancer. He is now the widowed father of two daughters, Elizabeth and Jennifer.
At 4:50 p.m. (16:50) Eastern Daylight Time on the second Tuesday of May, the first day described in the book's narration, the phone lines in the town suddenly go dead, along with all the electrical appliances. Within hours it becomes clear that this is no ordinary blackout. Every modern electrical device is disabled, destroyed by what Matherson is beginning to suspect was an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States.
The United States has effectively been returned to the 18th century, with few 21st-century people able to deal with such conditions. Matherson later remarks that survivors have had to rely on the technology of the early 16th century. His immediate concern is his twelve-year-old daughter, Jennifer, who has Type 1 diabetes. Without a constant supply of insulin, which requires refrigeration, she will die.
The book explores how the whole community responds, as many others face similar crises. Matherson's experience and character help him with the town's residents. Hundreds of motorists are stranded when their vehicles stop. They get into town, making the residents feel threatened by the numbers of people needing help. An immediate concern is food. No refrigerators or freezers are running, nor are grocery stores receiving supplies.
Residents of the nursing home in town, where Matherson's elderly cancer-stricken father-in-law is being cared for, are at risk. The elderly and frail need refrigerated medicines, and many require constant nursing care. The EMP has disabled the nursing home's generator. There are no AM/FM radio broadcasts, no television, no Internet, and thus, no communication with anyone outside the town is possible. It takes two months before a working antique telephone can connect Black Mountain with the nearby town of Swannanoa.
Matherson's in-laws are car collectors who happen to own a 1959 Edsel, and a Mustang. These are not affected by the EMP as they have no sensitive electronics. Similarly a resident's vintage airplane is newly useful, because it has no vulnerable electronics.