One Second After

Science fiction

First published: 2009
Print length: 350 pagesForge, 2009

Description

John Matherson, a widowed history professor and retired Army colonel, is raising two daughters in Black Mountain, North Carolina, when an electromagnetic-pulse attack disables communications and modern electrical equipment. His first emergency is painfully personal: his twelve-year-old daughter has Type 1 diabetes, and her insulin supply cannot easily be replaced. Beyond his household, stranded motorists pour into town while food, medicine, and other necessities begin to disappear. Matherson’s military experience draws him into efforts to organize a community suddenly cut off from the systems that sustained it. As disease spreads and fear erodes cooperation, the novel develops into a disaster-survival thriller about modern dependence, improvised authority, and the moral cost of preserving social order when there may not be enough for everyone.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Direct · Journalistic

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Bleak · Dark · Suspenseful · Tense

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · World

Emotional intensity

5 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

CommunityFamilyMoralityPowerSurvivalTechnology and society

About William R. Forstchen

William R. Forstchen is an American historian and novelist whose academic training informs a broad body of military, speculative, and alternate-history fiction. A history professor and faculty fellow at Montreat College, with a doctorate from Purdue, he writes for adults and younger readers and has also produced academic work and magazine articles. His fiction often places communities and institutions under extreme pressure, then follows the practical consequences in direct, descriptive prose. One Second After and One Year After examine technological collapse, scarce medicine, local survival, and the difficult reconstruction of civic order, combining character-centered drama with close attention to logistics and government. Elsewhere, Arena and Honored Enemy carry similar concerns into fantasy adventure, using ritual combat, military rivalry, and reluctant cooperation to test loyalty and purpose. Forstchen’s historical fiction and alternate histories, including collaborations with Newt Gingrich and Albert S. Hanser on Civil War and Revolutionary War novels, extend that interest in how individuals respond when established orders fracture or history takes another course.

Series

John Matherson · Book 1

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Forge
Language: English
ISBN: 9780765317582

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