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Black Autumn #10
Fragments of America: Short Stories of the Apocalypse
At the dark end of the American empire, there is no such thing as a guaranteed hero.
Sleazy lawyers grab their AR-15s and stand tall for their mistresses. Children become warriors. High school losers transform into comic book vigilantes. Old men pop ibuprofen and charge into battle to protect their wives.
During the seventeen days of the best-selling Black Autumn series, eleven authors present sojourns into the maw of mayhem as it catches spoiled Americans flat-footed and running for their lives.
The worn denim storylines of cowboy westerns and the steel and leather fantasies of apocalyptica cannot come close to this down-and-dirty vision of everyday men and women digging soul-deep while America burns.
Sleazy lawyers grab their AR-15s and stand tall for their mistresses. Children become warriors. High school losers transform into comic book vigilantes. Old men pop ibuprofen and charge into battle to protect their wives.
During the seventeen days of the best-selling Black Autumn series, eleven authors present sojourns into the maw of mayhem as it catches spoiled Americans flat-footed and running for their lives.
The worn denim storylines of cowboy westerns and the steel and leather fantasies of apocalyptica cannot come close to this down-and-dirty vision of everyday men and women digging soul-deep while America burns.
- GenresPost Apocalyptic
436 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2020
475 people are currently reading
306 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 23, 2024
I am so thankful that I finally finished this book. Now I need to go use a Brillo pad on my brain. This was truly awful. You know how you keep reading to see if they tie things up, or have a “Part Two”, or SOMETHING, for the love of all that is literary, SOMETHING redeeming? This did not have it. I’ve enjoyed the other Black Autumn books, with 3 to 5 stars. But not this one. This was fan fiction at its worst, with incredible amounts of spelling, grammatical and literary errors. Here’s an example from page 35: “He stared out the bullet proof glass, stunned, through the bulletproof glass.” Pages 165-166 used “looming specter” three times in 14 lines of text. Suns “peaked” through the clouds, and men “slowly peaked” around corners. This is just the start. Yes, I kept a list.
Now let’s talk about content. I don’t want to give away whatever bare-worn excuse for a plot there is. This is a set of short stories written by fans of the Black Autumn series. Most of them delighted in describing military-style mayhem. There are enough splintered bone fragments, bits of gore and hunks of brain matter floating around in my consciousness to last me at least another lifetime and a half. We see people viciously fighting, and then they die. They start to develop a plot, and then it stops. There were a couple of the stories that were pretty good, but they were written by authors of other post-apocalyptic books. Most of them just told about fighting, and then stopped. Someone escapes the cell in a prison they’re trapped in when the power goes out, but then finds he’s trapped in the larger facility. The end. No story ever has a proper ending. It just stops when the so-called author ran out of ideas.
Ugh. ½ star for the fact that three of the eleven stories were pretty good, in spite of the grammatical and spelling errors.
Now let’s talk about content. I don’t want to give away whatever bare-worn excuse for a plot there is. This is a set of short stories written by fans of the Black Autumn series. Most of them delighted in describing military-style mayhem. There are enough splintered bone fragments, bits of gore and hunks of brain matter floating around in my consciousness to last me at least another lifetime and a half. We see people viciously fighting, and then they die. They start to develop a plot, and then it stops. There were a couple of the stories that were pretty good, but they were written by authors of other post-apocalyptic books. Most of them just told about fighting, and then stopped. Someone escapes the cell in a prison they’re trapped in when the power goes out, but then finds he’s trapped in the larger facility. The end. No story ever has a proper ending. It just stops when the so-called author ran out of ideas.
Ugh. ½ star for the fact that three of the eleven stories were pretty good, in spite of the grammatical and spelling errors.
February 7, 2022
More! I want more!!
As a teotwawki fiction Evelyn Wood autodidact, I outread the available supply a few weeks ago when I came across this one. Now I am back in the same predicament but unfortunately cursed with the ghosts of these books-to-be. PLEASE continue these stories, every one of them deserve to be more. (Only one criticism - in our reality's teotwawki potential, pets are a huge part of life and the stories feel incomplete without them. Just do me a favor and don't do the gratuitous-kill-the-animal easy out because I don't know about anyone else but I stop reading the instant it happens 😉)
As a teotwawki fiction Evelyn Wood autodidact, I outread the available supply a few weeks ago when I came across this one. Now I am back in the same predicament but unfortunately cursed with the ghosts of these books-to-be. PLEASE continue these stories, every one of them deserve to be more. (Only one criticism - in our reality's teotwawki potential, pets are a huge part of life and the stories feel incomplete without them. Just do me a favor and don't do the gratuitous-kill-the-animal easy out because I don't know about anyone else but I stop reading the instant it happens 😉)
July 5, 2021
Fragments of America. Short Stories
Quite few of the authors I am familiar with and enjoy their books. With the exception of the last story in this book most of the central characters are dealing with survival in a world that quickly slipped into unimaginable chaos after a nuclear bomb detonated in the port of Lo s Angeles. This strikes close to home, my hometown is San Pedro, the port of Lo Angeles. My favorite short stories were by author's LL. Akers and Boyd Crave. In closing I enjoyed all the short stories but the above mentioned authors were my favorites.
Quite few of the authors I am familiar with and enjoy their books. With the exception of the last story in this book most of the central characters are dealing with survival in a world that quickly slipped into unimaginable chaos after a nuclear bomb detonated in the port of Lo s Angeles. This strikes close to home, my hometown is San Pedro, the port of Lo Angeles. My favorite short stories were by author's LL. Akers and Boyd Crave. In closing I enjoyed all the short stories but the above mentioned authors were my favorites.
August 7, 2020
Quite a good collection of shorty stories taking place throughout the country focused around the same Event. It felt like reading World War Z, but instead of zombies people were fighting for their survival from each other, themselves and the elements. I think these stories added more realism to the possiblity of a societal collapse. Each wad well written and kept me wanting more.
January 4, 2025
Different short stories. Different styles. All about what happens to people , their lives and thinking during an apocalyptic event. Some heroes, some unfortunate, some evil, some lucky, surviving in any world takes a bit of grit let alone circumstances that turn people against each other. Surviving it with your humanity intact? That’s yet another story.
June 23, 2021
Definitely a book to read
Ones I liked best.
Untethered.
The Observer
Only because..well, I just liked them. I read Archie's Heart before and each time it gets better. If the authors got the storyline from their readers, they must be a awesome, warped fan base.
Ones I liked best.
Untethered.
The Observer
Only because..well, I just liked them. I read Archie's Heart before and each time it gets better. If the authors got the storyline from their readers, they must be a awesome, warped fan base.
September 16, 2021
A collection of short stories With different points of view
This is collection of short stories from different people's points of view on how to write a story about an apocalypse. Summer well written in there detaining others kind of lost in boring
This is collection of short stories from different people's points of view on how to write a story about an apocalypse. Summer well written in there detaining others kind of lost in boring
November 9, 2021
Fragments
This collection was indeed fragments loosely based on the Black Autumn series just written in a variety of styles about things that might have occurred during the original tales. The common theme seemed to be you had to talk tough and agonize over kill or be killed.
This collection was indeed fragments loosely based on the Black Autumn series just written in a variety of styles about things that might have occurred during the original tales. The common theme seemed to be you had to talk tough and agonize over kill or be killed.
July 20, 2022
This is really the only book in the series I found rough to finish, these are short stories from various authors so you don’t get consistent quality throughout, some stories were great but others weren’t well written or just didn’t seem well thought out or realistic.
July 30, 2022
Great collection
The problem with most post-apocalyptic books is they are fairly predictable. Not so much in the Black Autumn series. This collection of short stories is much the same. Riveting, even if you think you know where it's going.
The problem with most post-apocalyptic books is they are fairly predictable. Not so much in the Black Autumn series. This collection of short stories is much the same. Riveting, even if you think you know where it's going.
February 2, 2025
Hit n miss
A couple of stories were pretty good but overall the writing was poor. Some of the stories were downright awful. The author touted as a great writer with her own series probably had the worst story.
A couple of stories were pretty good but overall the writing was poor. Some of the stories were downright awful. The author touted as a great writer with her own series probably had the worst story.
July 6, 2020
Pretty good selection of SHTF stories.
If you like SHTF/PA fiction, then this is a pretty good collection. I especially liked the Nuclear power plant story!
If you like SHTF/PA fiction, then this is a pretty good collection. I especially liked the Nuclear power plant story!
February 17, 2021
A good read some fun stories about SHF events.
July 21, 2021
Not bad overall. Some of the short stories were really well written and deserve their own full story. Others not as much.
August 3, 2021
Really great stories here, all of which are scary as hell!
December 11, 2021
Lessons to learn about.
Each story has a learning lesson, so a lot to learn and apply for when the day comes, mentally and physically be ready.
Each story has a learning lesson, so a lot to learn and apply for when the day comes, mentally and physically be ready.
July 17, 2024
A good collection of short stories.
December 28, 2025
Fair ending to the Black Autumn Series. Would love to see more guest authors write short stories for this series.
March 18, 2021
Solid book
Great book. Good mix of stories. People of different backgrounds and skill levels in SHTF. Would recommend to anyone who is a fan of preppier fiction.
Great book. Good mix of stories. People of different backgrounds and skill levels in SHTF. Would recommend to anyone who is a fan of preppier fiction.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews