Hey Cataclysm Fans–
First, a small celebration as the first published book of the Cataclysm Series– “First Days After” has cracked Amazon’s “Hot 100” sellers, entering at #67 for Post-Apocalyptic Fiction. Here’s hoping it’s the first of many such statistics to come!
Next– progress on Book 3, “First Months After” is coming along nicely. I’m about 2/3 of the way through as of the date of this post (July 10, 2020), more or less–at page 200 and in Chapter 24. This one takes place mostly back in the town of Emmitsburg (or –spoiler for Book 2–“New Plymouth” as Father Joe calls it.) In Book 3, Jake and the crew take on the help of mercenary Josh Rimone–recommended by Col. Cannaveral. Josh is off-beat, a little weird, and very good at what he does…and what he’s doing now, is helping Jake’s friends steer clear of Oleg’s Russian cell of agents who have come from Virginia to eliminate any witnesses of Russia’s tampering with the small American town in Frederick County.
In Book 3 we get to see inside the past of Oleg and his impressive resume in Russian Special Forces, as well as his new colleagues. They spend time sparring together in the Russian combat sport known as sambo, and there is some friction between them as they get to know each other.
Meanwhile, we also get introduced to several new characters. Kristen Faust–Maureen Kelly’s best friend and librarian at Hunter’s Run High School. She’ll be helping the crew hide away from Oleg’s assassins. We also meet Boo Andrews–a mysterious old friend of Jake’s–and the two have not been on speaking terms for almost 25 years.
Finally, we have not abandoned The Pentagon–we see both Wendy and the Colonel hard at work trying to study and reverse the effects of the Russian weapons that created the mutates. They enlist the help of a CBRNE physicist named Eric Mazzaros–who just may have found a way to save Laura Fisher. The only problem? He may blow up half of The Pentagon trying to get it done.
Stay tuned, faithful fans, more to come on all three books!
JVL
Writing with Jay Vielle 