Improvidence

by David Herod

The apocalypse has passed and new peoples rise from the ashes. Among them is a young engineer, newly enlisted in an army with plans to reclaim what has been lost. His deep reconnaissance into the lost wilds of West Virginia.But the world is twisted beyond recognition. To reclaim the abandoned fort necessary to impose order on this lawless frontier he must overcome both the scars of the old world and the savagery of the tribal men who now inhabit it.Improvidence is a dark adventure into the horrific unknown. It is a story about greed, lust, and the creeping certainty of change—and the way our minds grapple with our own transformation."Equal parts Lewis & Clark and Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Improvidence is a narrative of great ambition, adventure, and even subtle horror." — Capitalismo, host of The Side Bar Book Club"Beautifully crafted, mantic, and dark." — & Magazine“The future is the past. This is deindustrial fiction at its finest - a compelling story across a wild America that existed not so long ago and could exist not so far ahead.” — Arthur Powell, Editor in Chief of Atop The Cliffs“A stark and engrossing tale of a man's journey to the edge of civilization, and what he lost along the way.” — Alan Schmidt, Passage Prize Recipient"With Improvidence, David Herod stakes his claim to be one of the best writers on the dissident right today." — Raw Egg Nationalist, author of The Egg Benedict Option and Raw Egg Nationalism"Echoes of Cormac McCarthy can be heard in Herod's exacting prose, as he brings to life an America long forgotten." — Dan Baltic, author of NUTCRANKR and co-host of New Write"A work of unique voice and power, brimming with dark, detailed, and beautiful prose. Simply superb." — Miles MacNaughton, writer & editor of Tales of the Unreal

Genres: Fiction

95 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2024

Reviews

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A punchy little novella that leaves the reader satisfied and wanting more at the same time.
In a distant post-apocalyptic future the state of Ohio is slowly rebuilding decades after an unspecified collapse of modern civilization. Seeking to expand into the waste lands they send an expedition out to what used to be West Virginia, now a wilderness home to hostile savages.
If you can imagine a mash up of Beau Geste, Zane Grey and Robert E Howard all mixed together in a believable post-apocalyptic setting that's the basic vibe of this book.
Only novella length you can easily read this in a day or two and be thoroughly entertained the whole way.

[Jesse Larkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started on March 14th 2024 and finished on March 15th 2024
Two young men are tasked with surveying the world outside of their Ohio community for possible colonization long after America has collapsed
Feels like a relic
Beautiful prose that feels like it’s dancing some line
Subtle references to an archaic but speculative history
Vivid and lonely landscape imagery of a fallen America weathered by time and reclaimed by an encroaching earth
Genuine dread in tense scenes that had me talking to myself out loud
Startling violence
Perfect orientation
Exists within a vague cloud of unspoken morality and repercussions
World building is given naturally and carefully
Every sentence carries a particular heft
Dynamic and exacting
Ominous and foreboding
Haunting and bitter suggestions
Great memorable characters and comradery

[WhitePillMedia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fast read but the world shown here left a strong impression. A good dark adventure story. The old world has ended and the new one has been chugging along for some time. It was a nice adventure with the Captain and Jeremy. I'm not in love with unreliable narrators because you can literally question everything but I do find them interesting. I'd read more by this author for sure and especially if there is more for this world.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read! Good world building, a great idea, well done overall with some action & tension & a lot of luck on the main characters side! An enjoyable fun read!

[L.A. Labuschagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not American enough to get Improvidence. Herod’s breakout novel, I feel, appeals to a very specific Western mindset for whom the post-apocalyptic slash revolutionary scenario depicted is coherent, if not desirable. But for an individual whose knowledge of the Colonial Era largely comes from the Age of Empires 3 campaigns and my father’s half-remembered high school classes, and whose knowledge of contemporary American culture comes from country music and sharing a discord server with the guy who wrote this book, I really don’t get it. What’s so great about Ohio?
That’s not to say that there’s nothing to get, however, because there is, or that the style is lost on me, because its not, but it definitely is a filter.
So, then, what is there to get?
Well, the writing is good. Herod is a competent communicator and has clearly done his research (watched Townsends on YouTube and/or gotten lost in a few national parks while intoxicated, as we all have), and the scenery of this Lewis and Clark style adventure is lovingly described to a remarkable degree of realism. Likewise, the struggle of traversing this landscape without modern conveniences like raincoats and semi-automatics is neatly described, and goes a long way to making the main characters of the Captain and his buddy, Jeremy, sympathetic. I was rooting for their journey through the country roads of West Virginia the entire time, an atmosphere helped by the despicable villains, who are for all some reason pedophiles.
Frankly, Improvidence reads like Herod got 90% of his ideas from Fallout and the other 10% from a mix of childhood memories playing Cowboys and Indians by the creek, and then reminiscing about that on rightwing Twitter. At least those ideas are good. The adventures of the Captain [your self-insert name here] and Jeremy seem to resemble the adventures of the Courier from Fallout New Vegas, which is coincidentally not my favorite Fallout game. Nevertheless, Jeremy is seemingly immortal just like a standard companion, and he even comes with useful expository dialogue.
That little guy is really the highlight of the book, and really one of the two characters that actually seem unique to the post-apocalyptic setting and justify this story being set in like 2025 as opposed to, like 1725. The other guy is just called Patel, which is pretty nifty as an example of positive Desi representation, but Jeremy’s backstory really shines as the unique part of that. Dude’s history covers several states and paints an interesting picture of how the pseudo-countries have developed without the Union bit of the USA. “Plastic farms” and the imagery of deformed, sterile mutants is outstanding, if not also kind of Fallout.
That and the wind farms. Those aren’t Fallout, but Improvidence sure has a lot of those. The borderlands of Ohio and West Virginia are full of fucking windfarms for some reason. No idea why. I mean, it makes for some pretty cool scenery and a neat juxtaposition of wilderness and forgotten civilization, but I’m almost tempted to look up the actual landscape to see if that’s the case. I won’t, but I might save the Ohio Wikipedia page on my phone again and then delete it three months later.
“The world is getting smaller again” is sort of the quote from this book that describes it, namely as I can’t really pick out a specific quote to describe the Captain’s unrelenting horniness. Dude needed to get laid more. That probably goes against the literal Moralism religion he follows, and would’ve likely got him killed when the Tribals decide to defend their rightfully conquered territory (You know these Tribals, they’re the freaky little white guys in skimpy leather outfits, facepaint and bad grammar from Fallout, no, not the raider, the American Indians analogues). Frankly I have a lot to say about the hugeness of the world and the depiction of Tribals, but, granted, the book is also written from the Captain’s perspective and his colonial mindset is appropriate and rendered sympathetically enough for me to follow along.
Like, the colonial mindset, as far as I can tell, particularly with how the Moralist religion seems to be Presbyterianism without the optics, all of that is so well done that I asked myself multiple times if this book wouldn’t be better if we axed the post-apocalyptic setting entirely. I think it would be, but I respect Herod’s vision enough to say that its noticeably different from Fallout and there’s probably some Stalker influences in there, too. I’d be interested to read the 1725-version of this book. Hopefully the ending is less weird.
Improvidence’s ending sort of drops the ball, I admit, but, on the other hand, the book is short enough that you’ll remember the entire thing before you get to the end of it. It’s sort of like choking on a penny when you knock back an espresso shot. The espresso is still pretty good, even if you’ve got Abe Lincoln halfway down your throat. That’s not exactly what happens with the book, especially since I get the impression that the Civil War themed sequel is still yet to be written, but the ending is poorly communicated enough to put copper in my mouth regardless.
An associate of mine describes books like this as not being worth the mental real estate for the Global South to read, which is something I both empathize with and fully understand, being a member of the Global South who actually read it and probably would’ve dropped it if it wasn’t espresso-short and I vowed to complete it for this review. 
If you’re not on the lookout for the next cottagecore treatise on 4th generation warfare, give Improvidence the slip.
However, if you are an American man with a Twitter account and a Townsends/Tooky’s Mag subscription, you’ll probably get a lot out of this book and it's worth the read.
Three out of five (star-spangled) stars.

[KING CRINGE · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most respectable overnight novel in the scene. Actually well-written. Everybody else is scrawling gobbledygook on the asylum walls with their own blood.

[Keith [on semi hiatus] · Rating 5 out of 5]

A damn-good tale, Ohio-bound, and somewhere between Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and Denis Johnson's Train Dreams.

Thanks goes out to ARX-Han's sub-stack for its recommendation

🙏👌🤝

[Emmeline Everdeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story. A quick read with a lot of adventure packed into just a few pages. Thought the end was a bit strange but overall I was entertained throughout. It was well written and had great descriptions of the areas they were exploring. There was a lot I would like to know more about as there were intriguing pieces of information about the future world scattered throughout the story.
Recommend to anyone who likes the idea of life AFTER the apocalypse has come and gone.
I received this book from the author through Voracious Readers Only.

[Thingol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells us that the true frontier is yet to be made. Out of some cataclysm or another, I am guessing. And I believe it! Bring me a new world with dancing girls, wild horses, Appalachians, and quests again for willing young men. Good god!

[Phil Rot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and engaging story you could finish in a day, and for me, thats a good thing. Too many authors pad out their novels with unnecessary asides. This book has been whittled down to its most interesting elements and is still full of atmosphere. Highly recommended!

[Secret ö · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's like a "grey goo" scenario but with DTF redheads.

[Alex Prestia · Rating 5 out of 5]

the first thing, from whatever scene it is that I run with, that I would truly recommend to anyone
pick it up from Amazon, it's a short fun dark read, with fewer comma splices than this review.

[P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Improvidence is a quick and focused read. The prose is vivid, painting a powerful image of post-apocalyptic cities that have long collapsed into wilderness. The intense winds, leveled mountains, and the "tunnels" are especially well-imagined. Even with the few scenes of actual violence, Herod manages a macabre and perverse style throughout. This style serves the plot well. The resolution only gets darker.
This impressive novel has more than just skill from line to line and the overall structure. David Herod has developed an ethos that produces challenging work, the kind of work that I find enduring as a reader.