Summer/Fall 2014 Book Festival: Survivor Max + Giveaway

Today I share the next author interview and giveaway in the latest Backdoor Survival Book Festival.  And what a treat I have for you today!

Davi Barker, the author of Survivor Max: Too Smart to Die, is joining us for his first Backdoor Survival interview and will award one lucky reader with a copy of his book.

As one reviewer put it:  “How does a fifth-grader survive on his own?  It’s Home Alone with zombies!”  Now honestly, although this is a children’s book, I needed to lighten up one evening so I read it myself.  The “home alone” metaphor was just too good to pass up!

From an adult point of view, Survivor Max is a hoot and for the kiddos?  It is entertaining and will teach them about preparedness in a delightful and non-threatening manner.  Zombies notwithstanding, of course.

Enjoy the interview and be sure to check out the details of this week’s giveaway below.

An Interview with Davi Barker

Tell me about your book, Survivor Max. What is it about?

Survivor Max is a young adult thriller about 11-year-old Max surviving alone in the Zombie Apocalypse. Along the way he applies survival training he learned from his father, and makes use of prepper supplies his father left behind.

What type of research did you have to do while writing your book?

The book is dedicated to the 2015 graduated class of Thornton Central School, and those middle school students wrote their own zombie stories, which helped me understand how a child thinks about zombies.

I also consulted with Neurobiologist Dr. Stephanie Murphy who is featured as a character, to design a plausible zombie infection. And of course writing the book required reviewing basic survivor training to present it in a way accessible to young readers.

How long did it take to write?

From the first day of writing to the finished product was almost exactly 1 year to the day.

Every book, fiction and non-fiction, includes a message. What message do you hope my readers will take with them after reading Survivor Max?

This is the first of three books to come, so the ultimate message of the series is only foreshadowed in the first book. But there are certainly a few valuable lessons contained in the first book.

For example, Max succeeds where other survivors fail because he’s independent minded. He improvises where others might give up.

Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?

My first book was non-fiction and was titled Voluntary Islam. It explored the confluence of values between libertarianism and Islam.

I am the co-host of a liberty oriented radio show called Freedom Feens, the co-founder of Bitcoin Not Bombs, proprietor of ShinyBadges.com, and the editor of DailyAnarchist.com.

As an author in the survival, prepping and/or homesteading niche, what are you personally preparing for?

More than anything, I’m preparing for a monetary collapse. That entails emergency supplies and food storage for the interim period, as well as a savings in alternative currencies that would retain their value after the dollar is gone.

But it also means forming an existing network of like-minded people who have the knowledge and expertise that I lack, and who appreciate the knowledge and expertise that I have, that way when the time comes to rebuild we’ll have the groundwork in place for a barter economy, and division of labor.

Do you have plans for another book?

I have at least 2 more Survivor Max books planned. The second book is titled School Bites and follows Max into a refugee center set up at the local middle school. The third book is titled Psychoclass A, when Max seeks out the aforementioned Dr. Murphy to seek a cure for the disease.

Is there anything else you would like to share with my readers?

In the book Max and his father are part of a group called the Porcupine Freedom Scouts, which is a community of parents and children that teaches survivor training, firearms safety and the philosophy of liberty.

The fictional group was created for the novel, but some fans of the book have created Porcupine Freedom Scouts as a Facebook group to begin self organizing. If you’re a child or a parent interested in teaching or learning such things you should check them out on Facebook.

The Book Giveaway

A copy of Survivor Max: Too Smart to Die has been reserved for one lucky reader in the United States or Canada.

To enter the giveaway, you need to utilize the Rafflecopter form below.  There are a number of options including a “free for everyone” option that requires just a single click. Easy peasy!

The deadline is 6:00 PM Pacific next Thursday with the winner notified by email and announced in an upcoming Sunday Survival Buzz.  Please note that the winner must claim their book within 48 hours or an alternate will be selected.

The “Rafflecopter”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Final Word

I love kids and believe they are our future, regardless of how it all turns out.  You will find that Survivor Max has a great storyline and kids of all ages will find the book quite engaging.

Good luck, everyone!

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye

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Spotlight Item:  Survivor Max: Too Smart to Die

Meet Max, an 11-year old boy who was stuck in another boring day at school when the lock down alarm went off. They were under quarantine. He escaped and made it home, only to discover he’d have to find a way to survive this plague alone.

Little did he know his father, his only parent, was among the infected.

Slow-moving and non-thinking, the “lamebrains” swarmed his apartment complex, hunting survivors to feed their insatiable hunger for living flesh. Now he must rely on his Porcupine Freedom Scouts training, and scarce supplies to survive. A chance discovery reveals his father’s research on the virus, which in the right hands may be the key to a cure, but first he must prove that he’s too smart to die.

Bargain Bin:  Today is all about books.  Listed below are all of the books in the current Backdoor Survival Book Festival. There are both fiction and non-fiction titles and a bit of something for everyone.

Note:  If you covet an e-Book reader, consider the Kindle.  Prices start at $119 although a basic kindle is only $69.  And if not, at the very least pick up the free Kindle app so that you can read Kindle books on your PC or favorite electronic device.

Summer 2014 Book Festival #6 – Fiction

Day After Disaster
Jingling Our Change (Liberty Dying Series Book 1)
Nanny State Nightmare (Liberty Dying Book 2)
The Shadow Patriots
Survivor Max: Too Smart to Die
Collective Retribution
Event Horizon (The Perseid Collapse Post Apocalyptic Series Book 2)
Forsaking Home
Sanctuary: A Postapocalyptic Novel
299 Days: The War
Bishop’s Song (Holding Their Own Book 6)

Summer 2014 Book Festival #6 – Non-Fiction

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch
Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival: The Essential Guide for Family Preparedness
The Provident Prepper: A Common-Sense Guide to Preparing for Emergencies
Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide: Food, Shelter, Security, Off-the-Grid Power and More Life-Saving Strategies for Self-Sufficient Living
Duct Tape 911: The Many Amazing Medical Things You Can Do to Tape Yourself Together
The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster
Countdown to Preparedness: The Prepper’s 52 Week Course to Total Disaster Readiness

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Shop the Emergency Essentials Monthly Specials: The monthly specials at Emergency Essentials feature discounts of up to 40% off sometimes a bit more.

This month, Emergency Essentials introduces their new line of food buckets at special, introductory pricing.  One of the introductions is the 4-Person 72-Hour Food Bucket.

4-Person 72-Hour Food Bucket – $124.99

This bucket includes 40 deluxe single-serving pouches, providing 2,000 calories a day for 4 people for 3 days.  There are meal options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is a great value for $124.99 which is 50% off the regular price.  See what I mean about introductory pricing?

Click on the link below for more great monthly specials from Emergency Essentials.

Shop the Emergency Essentials Monthly Specials

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E-book 99 Cents  – Also Available in Print!

No list of books would be complete without my own book, The Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage.

The Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage is a book about food: What to store, how to store it and best practices. It is a roadmap for showing ordinary citizens that long-term food storage is not something that will overwhelm or burden the family budget.   It is based on my own tried and true experience as someone who has learned to live the preparedness lifestyle by approaching emergency preparedness and planning in a systematic, step-by-step manner.

Whether you simply want to prepare for natural disasters or whether you believe the world is headed toward a major food crisis, this book is for you. It covers basic tips and techniques you can use to stock your food storage pantry so that you can be assured that your family will have food to eat, no matter what.