New Coastal Times

by Donna Callea

New Coastal Times (or when the sea swallowed Florida) It's no day at the beach when Hurricane Walter swallows Florida. And Walter is just the beginning, ushering in a world-wide disaster-filled era that destroys everything. Well, almost everything. Broadway showtunes miraculously survive. But Mia Gionfreddo-Fine, a former reporter for a minor metropolitan Florida newspaper, knows that she and her adorable doctor husband don't have it so bad post-Walter. There's a place for them. Somewhere a place for them. At least, that's what they hope. Heading toward upstate New York with a quirky band of fellow travelers, they encounter scary religious fanatics waiting for Jesus in the Okefenokee Swamp, martial law in the remaining cities, and a government-sponsored free love commune for displaced youth. Some things, however, never change, including love, friendship, family and the urge to sometimes sing inappropriately.

Genres: Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

ebook

First published March 1, 2010

About the author

Before Donna became a novelist, she was an award-winning journalist. OK. She didn't win any awards you might have heard about. We're not talking Pulitzers here. But she did work as a reporter for a minor metropolitan newspaper for a number of years, during which time she wrote numerous stories and won a few prizes. But not any Pulitzers.
At a pivotal point in her career, Donna decided that she would much rather write fiction than factual news stories. And since the newspaper she worked for much preferred printing the latter, she embarked upon a long and lonely journey as a novelist, culminating in the publication of four e-books: The Haircut, A New Year's Tale, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0031MA3H4 ; New Coastal Times, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003AOA86E ; Bristles: A Cinderella retelling https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CB8C16K ; and 6 Husbands for Every Wife https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JTYNCJ8. None has won any prizes. Not even very obscure prizes that no one has heard about. But thank you for asking.
Donna is currently hard at work (OK, not so hard at work) contemplating another novel. She lives in Florida with her very adorable husband, and really needs to get out of the house more.
She loves to hear from readers. Especially readers who have no complaints. You can send her an email at donna.h.callea@gmail.com or visit her at website: www.donnacallea.com.

Reviews

[John Siers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donna Callea has a deft touch with humor... kind of like J.K. Rowling, but without the British overtones. It's the kind of humor that lets you read a perfectly ordinary statement, and then a few moments later the incongruity or the subtle jab at human nature will catch up with you, and you find yourself smiling, maybe even chuckling to yourself.

Humor? So what's funny about a bunch of hurricane survivors on a tedious odyssey across America, while civilization crumbles around them? Well... the aforementioned human nature, that's what. The natural tendency of people to focus on the trivial when faced with catastrophic change. The crazy ideas people come up with to deal with the unexpected.

Hey, I'm a "hard" science fiction reader. I like space opera, and gritty, desperate survivalist-type post-apocalyptic stories. I kept telling myself that New Coastal Times wasn't really my kind of story, that I probably wouldn't agree with Callea on a number of social issues... but I kept on reading. Couldn't help myself. And when I finished it, I had to admit... I really enjoyed it.

[Rosemarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The combination of comedy and a plausible Armageddon must be very hard to pull off, but this book managed it. After reading in the sample the scene of the newspaper editor belting out show tunes for her staff, to drown out the noise of the category 5 hurricane raging outside, I immediately downloaded the book.

The characters were mostly likeable and believable; as were the situations (pleasant and otherwise) they encountered on their exodus north through a battered and lawless East Coast. While reading it, I kept thinking; "It could very well happen that way."

Very creative!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is now the 2nd work I have read by Donna Callea. I have certainly been enjoying her writing. New Coastal Times is a story about what life would be like if we had natural disaster after natural disaster.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what you might expect

[Jessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

New Coastal Times takes a very strange tack tonally. It's mostly told in a very light hearted whimsical tone, and then out of the blue there will be something very dark and disturbing. It was certainly very jarring to me. Nothing bad ever happens to our main characters, just other people in the post-apocalypse. In fact our main characters make it out of every situation easily and with no consequences. The one chapter where our protagonist seems to be in danger turns out to all be a dream.

Despite my criticisms, I mostly enjoyed this book. It was pretty entertaining and there was a very touching part at the end that actually made me cry. If you need a compelling plot with lots of drama and narrative tension, this isn't for you. If you want a light, feel-good read, this also isn't for you. But if you don't mind a mostly lighthearted read with a few disturbing moments, following characters on a post-apocalyptic cake walk up the east coast of the United states, give this one a try.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the beginning it isn’t clear what has happened although from the conditions the narrator, Mia, finds herself in, we could guess it’s the aftermath of a hurricane. When the book takes place is also vague, I believe purposely. Although it has to be in the future, we can easily surmise it isn’t by much. The world Callea describes is credible given the underlying assumption of the string of natural disasters and the repercussions that would stem from them.

Mia is likeable and sympathetic. The other major characters are believable with a realistic mix of good qualities and human foibles. How Mia and everyone she meets have adapted to the new world is the crux of the book. Some become better people despite the hardships they endure while it brings out the worst in others. The development of the characters - how they change over time, is where New Coastal Times shines.

Through much of the book it isn’t clear where the story is going - what is Mia’s ultimate goal? Compare this to a typical mystery, thriller, or romance where that goal is obvious early in the book. With New Coastal Times you’re guessing as Mia aims at a series of intermediate goals. Initially it is to survive and reunite with her husband. As each goal is met Mia aims for something a little bit better. In retrospect, the logical story arc takes Mia to a point at which she settles in a life as comfortable as she can find given the circumstances of the vastly changed world. In the beginning, what that is or will be is a mystery to Mia, just as it will be to the reader. We have to discover what that is along with her.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog.**

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Coastal Times is one of those books that I went into with a completely different expectation than was the reality. What I expected was a disaster story, with some fun but perhaps not completely real characters, and lots of death and destruction.

After Hurricane Walter destroys the small Floridian town in which Mia works as a reporter and her husband a doctor, she gathers up a small group of her colleagues, and they start on an epic road trip across a country that is increasingly ravaged by extreme weather, encountering religious crazies, a hippy commune that's been coupled together by a government trying to cope with over population and food shortages, and an organic apple farm.

However, New Coastal Times is far more than your typical disaster novel - the characters are incredibly realistic, and it's hard not to fall in love with them all - from the main character, Mia, who I found to be incredibly witty, to her dedicated husband and a cast of characters that they adopt along their journey to New York, all of them were distinguishable and unique. And although the situations they find themselves in could actually be incredibly dangerous, their outlook and friendships make it seem much more like a road trip.

Engaging, sarcastic and unique, I really enjoyed all of New Coastal Times, but most especially the characters. Ms. Callea did a wonderful job of writing a novel that sounds like it could have gone down the mediocre road, but instead comes out as a unique book in the post-apocalyptic genre.

Read more of my reviews at The Aussie Zombie

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whenever a book is described as a "romp", I know it's going to be lightweight. This book was no exception. First, Florida's coastline is swept away by severe hurricanes (which could happen). While the storm rages, Mia and the other employees of the New Coastal Times are gathered in their boss's office, listening to her sing show tunes. Eventually the storm ends, and they make their way via the New Coastal Times Performing Arts Center van to the hospital where Mia's husband Aaron is a resident in family medicine. They end up living at the hospital for over a year. This time is dismissed in a few paragraphs. As I read the rest of the book, my mind deleted the missing year, and I felt as if they were headed on their trip in the van right after the original hurricane. I suppose this didn't make much difference to the story, but I would have liked some of that missing year to be filled in.

The band of survivors decided to head for New York, the state where Mia and Aaron were originally from. They take the van, of course. By now it's running on vegetable oil, but I'm not sure when or how this happened. They have adventures on their way up to New York. After reading so many post-apocalyptic books in which the survivors become warriors, it was kind of refreshing to read one where nobody was threatened with a gun at any time.

I liked this book, but I wish some of the gaps had been filled in better.

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this a humor book or a dark post-apocalyptic novel? That's what I was left wondering when I finished this book. And then I realized that it was... both. There's a lot of destruction in this book, the usual level you're used to getting when reading a good book about a dark and dreary future, but the characters made this book come screaming to life. They are quirky, weird and some of the situations are hilarious.

But there's the undertone of realism to it. Okay, maybe not the swamp people, but it added that glint of humor that this book needed and deserved. The writing was superb and the author's ability to weave a story is amazingly well done. It could have used with a little bit of an extra edit, but it did not distract from the story, you are entirely too caught up in this world and Walter's aftermath that you could care less.

With all the bad weather news swirling around the past couple of years, it also made you think... there was a scene in the book that brought me back to a book I read in high school - Alas, Babylon. It wasn't as good as that, Pat Frank's novel is a classic, but that one little scene has stuck with me.

Recommended for those that don't mind having a laugh with their death and destruction.

[Henry Le Nav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although post apocalypse is not my bag, and I had some doubts about a 99 cent indie book, I was more than pleasantly surprised once again with Ms. Callea's works. She provides a realistic scenario of what happens when it not only rains but really pours. This is not some sci fi work with mutants and laser pistols. It considers what would happen if there was a Katrina, followed by a season of Katrinas followed by the big one in California and throw in some terrorism all in short order.

Not long into this book I came to the realization that Callea is a real writer and she has a knack with character development and the use of first person narrative. My fears of a 99 cent indie were unfounded. Being an old romantic fool, I liked her take on love, the emotion--not sex. We tend to confuse the two these days. She handled sexuality in a balanced and intelligent manner, and the sexuality served the love in the book, not replaced it.

All in all Ms. Callea did an excellent job of describing a very realistic world gone awry from the very personal viewpoint of an ordinary albeit intelligent young woman. Highly recommended.

[Brandy Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the story get off to a slow start, once you get past the information dumps (there are three or four, I think), the story really takes off.

The main character is a young woman who makes this huge journey to get back to her and her husband's families in the North after being almost literally flooded out of Florida. I have to admit by the end of the story I was so emotionally invested in her and her husband that I was crying. Not that the ending is necessarily bad, it is just a little sad and good at the same time.

Donna Callea is on my list of authors to watch for.

[Donna Callea]

This is my book.

[Kym Hamer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one. I felt like it was just a whole lot of random witterings without any real plot and I just couldn't empathise with any of the characters. Quite frankly I was glad it was over.