The Wastelands are the ruins of America after the biggest extinction event in 75,000 years hit the planet Earth. Billions of people died, those that didn’t had no help because the governments, military all crumbled and fell apart.
But a virus was born during the destruction and bred in the billions of bodies. A virus that reanimates the dead. Some believe the world governments released it, some believe it was developed and nurtured by nature, just an occurrence that was bound to happen. It wouldn’t be the first time that the human race was nearly toppled by a virus, after all. Meet the survivors and their daily struggles to stay alive as they make their way through the destruction in search of other survivors, food, and water… #ApocalypticFiction #Horror #Readers #ProphetX #SameWolfe #ZombieFiction
Earth’s Survivors Collection Four: Candace and Mike Kindle Edition
The Earth’s Survivors books follow groups of survivors as they struggle to stay alive in a vastly changed world. The most popular group were Candace and Mike. #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #Horror #ZombieFiction #Series
The world, as Alex Chen knew it, had fractured beyond repair. The year was a ghost, a relic of a time when governments held sway and infrastructure meant more than shattered concrete and rusted rebar. America was no longer a nation, but a patchwork quilt of territories, each a desperate scramble for survival. In this mosaic of decay, the East Coast Police Department, or ECPD, stood as a thin, fraying shield. Their jurisdiction, a meager few hundred miles of crumbling asphalt and scattered, desperate outposts, felt less like a territory and more like a last stand. #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #PostApocalyptic #Survival #ECPD #Series #Dystopian
World War II was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Here’s a brief rundown:
Causes and Start: The war began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. This prompted the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany, honoring their guarantees to Poland. Germany’s aggressive expansion, including the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Soviet Union, set the stage for the war.
Main Countries Involved:
Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and their allies
Allied Powers: UK, France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and their allies
Why Countries Were Involved:
Germany sought to expand its territory, resources, and dominance in Europe.
Italy and Japan wanted to expand their empires and secure resources.
The UK and France aimed to prevent German aggression and maintain their colonial empires.
The Soviet Union initially collaborated with Germany but later joined the Allies after being invaded.
The US entered the war after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, seeking to protect its interests and security.
Duration: The war lasted six years, from 1939 to 1945, ending with Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945.
American Casualties: The US suffered approximately 418,500 military deaths, with over 650,000 wounded.
End of the War: The Allies accepted Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day). The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945 (V-J Day).
Operation Fortitude: You’re likely referring to Operation Fortitude, a successful Allied deception plan that misled Germany about the D-Day invasion site. The Allies created a fake army, with fake equipment and radio transmissions, to convince Germany that the invasion would occur at Pas-de-Calais, rather than Normandy. This helped secure the success of the D-Day invasion.
World War II had a profound impact on the global economy, leading to:
Massive Destruction: Widespread devastation of infrastructure, industries, and human capital in Europe and Asia.
Shift in Global Power: The US emerged as a dominant economic power, while the UK’s economy was severely weakened.
Bretton Woods System: The 1944 conference established the US dollar as a global reserve currency, shaping international trade and finance.
Global Debt: Countries accumulated significant debt, leading to post-war economic challenges.
Industrial Growth: The war drove innovation, accelerating technological advancements and industrial production in the US.
New Global Order: The war laid the groundwork for the Cold War and the formation of international organizations like the United Nations.
The war’s economic impact was felt for decades, shaping global trade, politics, and economies.
Post-WWWII economic challenges included:
Reconstruction: Rebuilding devastated economies, infrastructure, and industries in Europe and Asia.
Inflation: Managing inflation, which rose due to wartime spending and shortages.
Unemployment: Transitioning from war-time to peacetime economies, leading to job shifts.
Debt: Managing massive government debt accumulated during the war.
Trade: Re-establishing international trade disrupted by the war.
Conversion: Shifting industries from war production to consumer goods.
The US faced challenges like demobilization and labor strikes, while Europe faced food shortages and economic instability. The Marshall Plan (1948) helped stimulate European recovery.
Maya Ramos, a miracle worker with grease-stained hands and eyes that saw the soul of an engine, kept these metal titans breathing, her workshop a sanctuary of organized chaos in the surrounding desolation.
Alex Chen, a man who had once patrolled the gleaming, albeit corrupt, streets of NYPD, now navigated this shattered world with a heavy heart and an even heavier conscience. The rot he’d fought in the old world had merely spread, festering into a continent-wide plague of desperation.
The landscape itself was a testament to the world’s unraveling. Once vibrant shores were now choked with plastic debris and the skeletal remains of ships, their hulls like beached leviathans. Inland, the arteries of commerce, the highways and byways, had become no-man’s-lands. They were arteries of peril, patrolled by opportunistic raiders and desperate scavengers. The air, thick with the perpetual haze of unchecked industry and the lingering dust of forgotten cataclysms, offered little respite. Each breath was a gamble, a taste of the world’s slow, suffocating demise. Resources were a constant source of conflict. Fuel was hoarded, water purified with desperate ingenuity, and food, when found, was a treasure to be defended with one’s life. Every settlement was a fortress, every journey a potential battlefield. #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #PostApocalyptic #Survival #ECPD #Series #Dystopian
This time based on the Opteron processor, AMDs answer to the XEON processor. This was a little more difficult. All I could find was a board that had been stripped from a rack server. I had to do a lot of custom work to get it working and running reliably as a desktop computer. It is faster that the first XEON I built and I can add faster processors with more cores as well. 40 gb of memory, dual graphic cards. Very good turn out that I built into a custom open air case I fabricated to fit the oversized EATX type board. I am still working on my latest build, back to XEON, only the newer versions and another server board from yet another scrapped server. #servers #desktop #computer #computerbuild #amd #Opteron
So, first, the mother did come back for them, so don’t worry.
I don’t know what raccoons do, hunt for food? Gather? In any case the babies slipped out through a hole in the old shed they live in while mom was out doing whatever mother raccoons do. They found their way to an old side porch we only use for the cats and Amber (My Wife) and I put out some cat food to feed them thinking they would eat it.
They did, and, eventually mother raccoon came back. She was very pissed-off that we had kidnapped her raccoon babies. She wouldn’t come down from the shed, but prowled the roof edge, so I took each baby and lifted them up to her. Thank God she wasn’t rabid and bit me. I really wanted to keep one that came over, crawled into my lap and went to sleep. Amber said no and the mother raccoon would have probably killed me too.
The Mamas & the Papas were an iconic folk rock band from the 1960s, known for their harmonious vocals and hits like “California Dreamin'” and “Monday, Monday”. The original members were John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty, and Cass Elliot
Band Members and Their Children:
John Phillips (1935-2001) had a daughter, Chynna Phillips, with Michelle Phillips, who is a member of Wilson Phillips. He also had a daughter, Mackenzie Phillips, who wrote about her tumultuous relationship with her father in her memoir.
Michelle Phillips (born 1944) has three children: Chynna Phillips, Austin Hines, and adopted son Aron Wilson.
Denny Doherty (1940-2007) didn’t have any children with his bandmates, but he was known for his close relationships with his bandmates.
Cass Elliot (1941-1974) had a daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, born in 1967.
The Mamas & the Papas were a legendary band with some amazing hits. Here are some of their biggest ones:
“California Dreamin'” (1965)
“Monday, Monday” (1966)
“Dedicated to the One I Love” (1966)
“I Saw Her Again” (1966)
“Creeque Alley” (1967)
Sadly, Cass Elliot, also known as Mama Cass, passed away on July 29, 1974, at the age of 32, due to heart failure. She was found dead in her apartment in London. The coroner’s report concluded that she died from a heart attack, likely caused by an undiagnosed heart condition.
Cass was known for her powerful voice, charming stage presence, and larger-than-life personality. Her death was a shock to fans and the music world. She’s buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
The Mamas & the Papas’ band dynamic was a wild ride of creativity, romance, and drama. Formed in 1965, the group consisted of John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty, and Cass Elliot. John, the primary songwriter and leader, had a vision for a unique folk-pop sound, but his controlling nature often fueled tension within the group.
Romantic Entanglements:
Michelle Phillips, John’s wife, had an affair with Denny Doherty, causing strain in the band.
John Phillips had a tumultuous relationship with his daughter, Mackenzie, who later wrote about it in her memoir.
Cass Elliot’s powerful vocals and charismatic stage presence made her a fan favorite, but she faced initial resistance from John due to her weight and appearance
Creative Partnership:
The band’s harmony was built on John’s songwriting and arrangement skills.
Their music reflected the free-spirited nature of the 1960s, with hits like “California Dreamin'” and “Monday, Monday”.
Despite their personal struggles, they produced six Top 10 hits between 1965 and 1967
Downfall:
The band’s personal conflicts, substance abuse, and creative differences led to their breakup in 1968.
Cass Elliot pursued a solo career, releasing “Dream a Little Dream of Me” in 1968.
The group’s legacy lives on, with inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Surviving Members:
Michelle Phillips is the last surviving original member of the band, still active in music and acting.
Jill Gibson, who briefly replaced Michelle Phillips in 1966, is also alive.
The Criminal Intentions series are collected short crime fiction in each book that I have gathered together to present to the reader, Dell.
Short Stories in this collection:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS – THE TALE OF LIV – THE TRIP – HOOD RATS – THE PHONE CALL – CHEATING AND DEATH – SANTOS – HARROWS
An excerpt from the short story: The Story of Liv
For fifteen long minutes, Liv stood outside in the chilly, pre-dawn rain. Fifteen minutes felt like an eternity when the craving hit. Time stretched endlessly, with every clock and watch in the world ticking away the moments. Finally, she began testing the doors. The front and back doors were locked. She hadn’t considered the garage door, but eventually decided to try it. To her surprise, it was unlocked, although the lock was badly damaged, causing her to hesitate.
The Criminal Intentions books are collections of short stories, some short some nearly novel length that I have combined together in this collection for you to enjoy, Dell.
In this collection are the following short stories: PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS – A GOOD PLAN – BLACKNESS OF THE SOUL – THE LAST TAXI RIDE – DELLO GREEN – THE ACCIDENT – THE MAN WHO NEARLY TOOK MY LIFE – THE STORY OF THE MEXICAN – WHEN THEY TRIED TO KILL ME
An excerpt from the short story The Accident:
I lay breathing heavy, trying to calm my racing heart. The dream had been so vivid, so real. I had held her and it had felt so good so real so right. She had turned to me and I had opened my eyes and really seen her. Seen what I was holding. A rotting corpse. She was coming closer, holding me, her hands suddenly clutching harder, trying to drag me down into the grave she stank of.
I was covered with sweat, but my heart slowed and I got myself up and made it to the shower.
