Yesterday's Tomorrow

by G.W. Pomichter, William Dupree

A devastating nuclear attack on U.S. soil. A total power failure along the East Coast. A government lost. Now, 2 Families scattered around the globe once tethered to one another by 21st-century technology must rediscover the ties that bind them if they are going to survive. When they are forced to redefine what it means to be a part of a family, a community, and a country, will they take solice in the silence? Can they find hope in the darkness?

Genres: Dystopia

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2016

About the author

G.W. Pomichter is and award winning author and novelist, most recently recognized with a 2018 "Spacie Award" for BEST NOVELIST in 2018.

He is a graduate of Florida Air Academy & the Eastern Florida State College President's Cup winner, as well as a U.S. Army Infantry veteran who began writing at an early age and published poems in anthologies in his early 20s. His poem, "Coming of Age," was featured in the anthology, "An Eternity of Beauty."

Following a college internship with The Florida Today newspaper, G.W. Pomichter joined the writing staff at The Hometown News LLC, which is read along Florida's Central East coast, where he penned more than 400 byline stories.

Soon after the overwhelming success of his first book series, "The Lucky Marks series," Pomichter teamed up with friend and first-time author William DuPree and the duo penned "Yesterday's Tomorrow," a full-length Near-Future dystopian speculative fiction story set in the days following a devastating nuclear attack on U.S. soil.

With 6 books in print, e-book, and audio book formats, Pomichter founded and hosts the Hangin With Web Show talk show series, and helps showcase the work of other independent and small press authors, artists, filmmakers, musicians, and creators of all kinds. The show is in its 3rd season and Pomichter, himself, has interviewed more than 500 creators about upcoming and ongoing projects ranging from books to movies.

"Words do have power. They can change the shape of the world in which we live. But another power that words have is to transport us briefly to a place where, for just a few hours, we can escape our busy lives and enjoy an adventurous journey through the imagination. That is what we call a straight read. It's a place to set aside the complications of real life. It's a place where the good guys might still wear white hats and the bad guys, black hats, and where for one fleeting moment all is right, and you return home to pick up the daunting tasks of daily life rested and with a little more enthusiasm."

Reviews

[Toi Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t my usual type of story to read, but I’m glad I gave this a try. I’m not a fan most military dramas, but this is a story worth experiencing. It is pretty much what the blurb says it is. While I do wish the struggle of the people in the Blackout Zone would have been explored more in depth, there isn’t much missing here. As alternative realities go, this is one of the most believable I’ve encountered in a long time.

I recommend this to mature teen or adult audiences who enjoy dystopia and or military drama.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion, which has in no way affected the rating of this piece.

[J.B. Garner · Rating 3 out of 5]

From The Musings of a Starving Author:

Ah, alternate history recipes! What can’t you do? From Nazis with spaceships to Ben Franklin summoning dragons, alternate history meals can present all sorts of bizarre scenarios … and quite a few starkly realistic ones. That is the intent of today’s meal, to show an alternate contemporary environment, diverging only a short time before the present day and trying to stay fiercely grounded in the real and natural. Does Yesterday’s Tomorrow capture the essence of realism and push forward this alternate history?

Before we find out, let us take the Starving Review oath:

1. I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
2. I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible

Unlike my usual formula, we’re actually going to tackle the rough points first, then bring up the good. Now, as I noted, Tomorrow strives to be a realistic, alternate take on history, diverging when terrorists detonate a nuclear weapon in a plane over Washington, DC (as this is the core premise that is revealed early, I don’t consider this SPOILERS). The meal strives to then explore the aftermath, both with normal people, the government, and the military.

So where is that rough? Well, the devil is in the details, my foodies, quite literally in this case. The inherent problem with a solidly realistic setting is that you need to get every ingredient just right or else people will notice. The chefs do get many of the flavors just right, especially in their depiction of the military moments (a very small part of the book, all told), but there are crucial, core details (things that the premise hinges on) that are very wrong. If this wasn’t meant to be so ‘on-point’ realistic and contemporary (it name-drops President Obama thus precisely dating itself), it would be easy to hand-wave a ‘near-future advanced-tech’ explanation for the effects of the inciting incident, but you can’t do that here.

If you can put that aside, Tomorrow‘s other flaw would be an uneven dramatic curve and pacing. Everything starts quite tense with the nuclear attack and the aftermath of that (even if those details are flawed), but then it can’t seem to find a solid footing. We are certainly told that we should be concerned, that things are tense and emotionally, but so few things happen to bring on that emotional tension. Again, this isn’t universal; there are several emotionally hard-hitting scenes to be sure, but so many of the other scenes rely on telling rather than showing the impact that the souffle falls when it should be rising.

But, as you may have noticed, Tomorrow has quite a few strong points as well. The writing style is overall crisp and the chefs utilize a smart, non-linear timeline to connect its array of journal entries with the themed sections, creating a unifying throughline for all the major players. The characters themselves are relatable and interesting if a little constrained by the weight of such a large cast being introduced.

Tomorrow also avoids the problem many book series have wherein each book fails to tell a complete story. Tomorrow certainly eschews this, ensuring that the characters and the stories run a complete arc while setting things up for a continued series. Well, the arcs are complete if a little constrained … I hate to bring a bit of negative into the positive section … but I do need to note that this meal is a bit short, a bit too short to try to tell such an encompassing story. It does a fair job with its size, but it really needed a hundred more pages to allow all these story arcs and characters to properly breathe.

Okay, let’s sum this one up: Yesterday’s Tomorrow is a solid contemporary alternate history that stumbles a bit in pacing and realism. If you come in ready to handwave the few major factual inconsistencies and want to read some conceptually interesting contemporary thrillers, I’d suggest picking this one up. If you’re a reader that hates realistic things that aren’t that realistic or aren’t interested in takes on modern terrorism and thrillers, I’d avoid this one.

FINAL VERDICT: *** (A solid contemporary alternate history that stumbles in pacing, realism, and tension.)

[Beverly Laude · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a very interesting concept and is the first book I have read involving the EMP issue. However, I have a few problems with the book itself. It seems like the two authors definitely split up the storyline, with one author writing the military aspect and the other author tackling the family situations. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it seemed to make this book more difficult to read.

It is more of an alternate history than fiction, since it names President Obama as being the president when the EMP happens. I found it hard to follow the book at times, even with the time/date comments made throughout. It jumped around way too much between places, times, etc. to make it an easy read.

The military aspects were too detailed for a person who doesn't care to read military books. The characters were pretty thin, with a lot of things happening that were hard to fathom without knowing more about the characters.

Not a bad read, just not very interesting in the long run. There was not much action, which I think most readers of the genre expect. More like reading a journal of a couple of man on the street, with the military thrown in for good measure.