As someone who lives on the ring of fire (I mean, in the tsunami zone on a coast expecting a mega-quake anytime from the next few minutes to the next few hundred years), I probably pay more attention to earthquakes in the Pacific Rim than those of you located elsewhere in the world. Part of it is my journalism background (and all those tsunami alerts I signed up for way back when). Part of it is my logical side that knows I should be prepared. Part of it is sheer terror.
I’d like to tell you that I’ve got my go bag ready at home, work and in the car. But I don’t. Call it a head in the sand thing. Call it being overwhelmed by the amount of supplies I’d need stored in my already overflowing house (I’ve mentioned the toddler before, right?) Call it pessimism that I’ll even be able to get to those supplies if we’ve been rocked by the type of earthquake that would cause this doomsday event or that I’d ever be able to sock away enough of them to make it as long as we’d need to make it out here on the coast.
Call it what you will, but I know I’m not doing what I should. Don’t get me wrong: I have mentally mapped out plans for many scenarios, including where I could find food and water, how I’d get out, etc. I was raised by military men, after all. But the go bags…. Well, I’m still working on that.
So, why am I thinking about earthquakes right now? A couple of reasons. One, the quakes that hit California, Chile and Panama lately have people talking a lot about when we’ll get hit. Do they mean something? Are the going to set off a chain reaction? Should I prioritize that go bag?
Again, journalist that I am, I can keep my panic pretty well in check with a little research. Like this article from USA Today, which answers all but the latter of those questions (and the answer to that one is always yes, but sadly ignored by my brain).
So, okay, we’re not any worse (or better) off that we were a few days ago.
Whew.
So, now that I’ve calmed myself down and gotten you thinking about major disasters, let’s talk about this week’s new release from WMG. Because it’s set in Dean Wesley Smith’s post-apocalyptic (on Earth anyway, although not from an earthquake) Seeders Universe. This one is called Sector Justice, and it’s the third in a series that includes Dust and Kisses and Against Time.
Here’s the synopsis:
Mattie Silks must team up with the most unlikely of partners to save the sector from a ruthless dictator. Her only problem, besides saving the galaxy, comes from the man she must work with. She can’t keep her hands off him. And he can’t seem to keep his hands off her either. But with or without love, the two of them must save the galaxy.
Unlike the first two in the series, this one isn’t set on post-apocalyptic Earth, but rather in the same not-too-distant future.
So, give it a read. It might make you feel better about an apocalypse. At the very least, if you do find yourself distracted by earthquakes, it’ll be the spaceship-is-a-rockin’-don’t-bother-knockin’ kind.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.