We Still Remain: A Novel of the Survivor Journals

by Sean Patrick Little

Benjamin Borntrager was doing typical Amish teenager things like helping around the family farm, trying to hide worldly books from his parents, and looking forward to rumspringa while dreaming of a potential future outside the restrictive confines of his isolated Amish community. All that is thrown away when Ben and his siblings find themselves amongst the last survivors of a global apocalypse when a primate-targeting virus known only as The Flu wipes out most of humanity in a few short weeks.

Ben was brought up in the type of lifestyle one would think would make him the perfect person to survive alone in the middle of the countryside near a small Wisconsin town that is barely more than a blip on a map. Life isn’t that simple, though. When he’s searching for meaning amongst the death and decay, it’s hard to think about the farm. Survival might mean something more than stocking supplies and scavenging homes while entropy claims them, especially when family is involved.

In a new story set not too far from where Twist began his journey in the original Survivor Journals trilogy, a new hero crawls out of the wreckage of humanity to try to make a go of surviving at all costs after a sudden and brutal viral apocalypse.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 27, 2024

About the author

​Sean Patrick Little is a writer, speaker, editor, educator, and general literary dude from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

He is the author of the best-selling Survivor Journals series and the critically praised Abe & Duff mystery series. He has also authored one book in the Shelby Ree mystery series, a space opera called Strange Angels​, and is always at work on the next project.

He holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from UW-Whitewater, a BFA in Fiction Writing from Winona State University, and a master's in Education from St. Mary's University of Minnesota. He has been a teacher, a painter, a paint salesman, and a Dean of Education. He regularly teaches writing and publishing seminars whenever asked.

Little is a member of the Wisconsin Writer's Association, the Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

And if any of those groups ever find out, they'll be very upset.

Reviews

[Patrick Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with this rating and review. Although not specifically mentioned in the acknowledgements in the back of the book, I feel I fall into "and others" who have bugged Little to write another Survivor Journals book. I was excited when I saw this was out and I wanted to LOVE it.. and I do like it.. but sorry to say it's not a really strong addition to the AED universe. I think if I rated this book on its on it would be a 3. It gets a star because of the 3 other books.... Fair or not.

(Spoilers here on)
The book starts off strong and remains strong about halfway through. What drew me to the AED books was the exploration. The being alone. The figuring out what happened. Surviving the elements. Planning to survive. The (for the most part), lack of a "bad guy". It was like "The Martian" but on earth. This book starts that way but then glossed over all the things above that I love and instead spent way too much runs I saving cats, half heartedly searching for a brother, and brother then why decides to be a crazy. I just didn't buy into it or really care and spent the last 15% of the book "speed reading".

What would I like to see in a 5th book in the universe? Let's move forward 100 years.. Lets see how the world has recovered. Let's have someone make a trek from LA or GA back to WI. Let's have them explore long lost, empty, dead ghost towns visiting some of the same places Twist and Ben have.

[Marney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. I think that what I like so much about the Survivor Journals books is that they feel realistic. The situation is plausible, the characters seem like real people and their reactions to and ways of dealing with the challenges presented to them are entirely believable. I love that they are ordinary people thrown into a post apocalyptic scenario, not preppers or military supermen. I also enjoyed the glimpse of the Amish way of life presented in this particular book, as there are very few Amish here in Australia. I highly recommend this book and the original series.

[Paul Eastley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written book. I even googled the "Amish" and the story seems to come more alive when you see pictures of the Amish lifestyle. This is not a religious book, nor is it an Amish book but the characters provide a lot of meaning as the story progresses. Please Mr Sean Little, Make this a series. You can't leave potentially thousands of us hanging by a thread.

[Marion Westerling · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an ending! I didn't see that coming! I read this book in one sitting - couldn't put it down.

I'm going to miss reading Survivor series - they've been such an escape for me.

[Alicia Irby · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Little's Survivor Series, I was giddy to read another story from his world. It did not disappoint! This was the first book I picked up after getting COVID for the first time - I was able to retrain my brain to take the time to read. I started with only a couple of pages at a time, but nearing 2/3 of the way through, I found myself unable to put it down. There is a strange comfort in these books, in the what-comes-after ideas in these Survivor stories.
I truly hope Little takes the time in the future to add more to the series in the future. A great read from a very solid, talented, author.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthy return to the survivor journals!
Author Sean Little's vision of post-apocalyptic survivors trying to make sense of a new world, trying to come to grips with grief, loss, isolation, God, survival, etc
This novel introduces us to new and different characters from the first trilogy, but it is absolutely the same "world".
Well written and engrossing, this is the first novel set in this world that I've read post-covid, and it definitely hits a little different.

[Rue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad ripoff of his brilliant book series "The Survivor Journals", which I can highly recommend. This focuses on an Amish community and yet, what was the point? They used NONE of their living off the land skills and their way of living to adjust and survive. Redundant story.

[Fredrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hoping for a sequel

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible, but I didn’t love this one as much as I did the rest of the series.
While I loved the concept, the execution left me disappointed. To be honest, I was really hoping for more of the day to day preparations that I came to love in AED, especially from the POV of an Amish kid. I was looking forward to seeing how they would thrive with their skills, cause i mean, who better to survive the end of days with no electricity, than someone who grew up with very limited access to it.
This was also a perfect opportunity for the author to dive into how young people would really act following the end of the world. Yes Im sure there would be some dark days of mourning, but after that there was no reason not to explore their new found freedom. Instead all we got was page after page of feelings, meh. I understand that there has to be some internal conflict & self realization for character development, but that could have been a jumping off point for them to let their hair down and explore all of the things they’ve missed out on. Then follow that with the realization that they need to buckle down and start preparing for winter, or whatever.


***After reading the author’s note, I understand his view that eventually everyone would just die off, but if you don’t explore all of the ways that you could survive and thrive, you’re basically just writing a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom and gloom. These kids grew up farming w/out modern conveniences. It doesn’t make sense that they would immediately abandon those skills & just be like “whatever will we do when the can goods & bottled water run out?” They had a solar powered well at their home, they know it’s a resource they could use. They know how to hunt, farm, and preserve food. It unrealistic that they would just lay down & wait for the ants to eat them.


The brother’s story line felt unnecessary and cheap. Sarah felt like a last minute page filler thrown in. She had potential, but disappointingly didn’t really add anything to the story.
The dynamic between brother and sister was odd. He mentions several times that they’re really close, but sister was written in a way that made it seem like she couldn’t care less about him, or anyone for that matter. I honestly thought she was going to be the one to lose her grip on reality and i wasnt ever a little sad when she died.

Also, I know I’ve mentioned this in my other reviews and notes, but I would have loved to see the author challenge himself to be a little more creative with problem solving. For instance, in every book he talks about the gas going bad and cars being useless, but diesel lasts longer than gas, and LP/propane never goes bad. Find a propane powered generator (I have duel fuel gas/propane model myself) use that to power an electric vehicle. Or better yet, find a propane powered vehicle (they’re pretty rare, but some municipalities still use them). Figure out how to make bio-fuel for an old diesel truck. Scavenge some solar panels. Or hell, just use the same horse and buggy they’ve been using their entire lives.

It was just so disappointing to see this series go from AED, which was AMAZING, to just a diary of feelings, a book log of what MC read, and nothing else.

Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend this one, but I really hope the author will write something else for this series and get back to more of the things that made it great to begin with.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was pretty bad. There were a lot of similarities to the original trilogy that felt like copies and the ending was crazy and unnecessary IMO. The brother thing was a copy of the other religious guy. I liked the premise and it added to the world but overall it was not enjoyable to read.

[Sean Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this, so I'm biased. I really hope you enjoy it, though.

[Jinnie Lettkeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even Better Than AED

I really enjoyed this book. The climax near the end was exciting & well written. I hope this one will be a trilogy too!