Coming Collapse Books In Order

Publication Order of The Coming Collapse Books

“Coming Collapse” otherwise known as the “Patriots” series are a series of survivalist novels by James Wesley, Rawles, the popular American survivalist blogger and author. The debut novel of the series was “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” that was first published as shareware in 1995, before formal publication as a paperback in 1998. Wesley was born in 1960 California and attended San Jose State University from where he got his bachelors in journalism. Prior to becoming a fulltime survivalist and novelist, Wesley served as an intelligence officer with the US Military, International Countermeasures Handbook Managing Editor, and Regional and Associate Editor of the Defense Electronics magazine. Throughout the 1990s, he spent a lot of time working with several software and electronics companies one of which was Oracle. As a survivalist consultant, blogger and writer he is a lifelong proponent of family preparedness and advocates that people move to lightly populated remote areas and store food for potential calamities. James Rawles calls himself a Christian Constitutionalist libertarian, that believes that modern society is so fragile that the only people that would survive a calamity and maintain their personal freedom are those with guns, groceries and tangibles such as silver, to barter for things they need.

James Rawles founded the popular survivalist blog SurvivalBlog.com that disseminates information on topics of preparedness and survival, and publishes a variety of survival material gleaned from some of his novels. As the survivalist movement’s spokesman, he asserts that the society will inevitably have to confront a meltdown that will result in widespread devastation. James who has been a survivalist since his teenage days believes that everyone needs to learn about survival and not take seriously the portrait of the survivalist portrayed in the media. He sees the image of the survivalist as a lunatic far right person in the mold of Timothy McVeigh as a caricature of the true survivalist who only wants to keep his family and himself safe and free. Unlike a few of his contemporaries, Rawles focuses on personal freedom and family preparedness as the cog of survival. He also works as a survival retreat consultant and has appeared in podcasts and training seminars on survival themes. He loves to sign his name as James Wesley, Rawles to distinguish his family name from his given name.

“The Coming Collapse” series are a combination of how to survivalist guide and a military thriller that gained much fame despite starting out as shareware in 1995. Upon publication in 2009 the novel which appealed to a small but cult like group of survivalists was so popular that it made 6th in the overall Amazon rankings. The novel series tell of a future of catastrophic economic global collapse that started in the first novel of the series. “Patriots” the first novel is set in a metropolitan Chicago where chaos and riots make a group of survivalists leave their homes and head to a retreat in Bovil, Idaho, specifically prepared for such a catastrophe. In the sequels Rawles opted for a rather different style as rather than following the same characters, he introduces new characters in different geographic regions in each subsequent novel, though they all share the “Patriots” time frame. As such, the novels may be read in sequence or as standalones. The second novel is set in Farmington and Bloomfield in New Mexico with the climax in Prescott, Arizona. The Founders novel is set in Montana and Tennessee and is about the infiltration of Fort Knox by Andy Laine an Army Captain and an enthralling trek across the country. While set primarily in the United States, the novels’ subplots happen in a variety of geographic regions in the middle East, Europe, Australia and the Far East. Over the years, the novels have gained a cult following particularly in the light of the 2008 financial crisis.

“Patriots” the first novel opens to a full scale global economic collapse as hyper inflation destroys commerce, and the stock market goes bust all of which cause untold panic. Practically overnight, high technology infrastructure and the fragile chains of supply are no more, causing widespread looting and rioting in most of the major cities. As hordes of looters and refuges come out of the cities, a small band of friends is making their way to northern Idaho, where they had made preparations to wait out such a catastrophe. They have to draw on their training and skills given that law enforcement, transportation, commerce, and communication are all but non-existent. At the farm in northern Idaho, the band now has to join with other groups to fend off the lawless mobs and restore law and order in their part of the country. “Patriots” is one hell of a thriller that draws some of the most believable of characters using the best of survivalist techniques in an America facing imminent collapse.

“Survivors” the second novel of the series is a narrative which opens to all that is good about American commerce and life such as the power grids, the stock market, and chains of technology and supply falling apart. The masses are out in force looting and rioting with impunity in an era that would later become known as the crunch, one of the most trying periods that any living person had ever experienced. In such a desperate situation, the most equipped to survive include persons from the military and a handful of survival experts. An American Army officer named Andrew Laine just happened to be in Afghanistan when the collapse happened. He needs to get back home to New Mexico and Bloomfield, though he would find the going tough given sea and air traffic have been halted amid the turmoil. He needs to be ingenious if he is to ever make it back home to the arms of his fiancee that he has not seen for months. Meanwhile, US Air force pilot Major Ian Doyle has to get his daughter Linda out of the North Eastern riots that threaten to turn bloody at any moment. For crime boss Ignacio Garcia of the La Fuerza criminal gang, there is no better time than now to plunder and loot the helpless persons left in the country side. But in the shadows is a provisional government raring to wrest control of the country from the lawless mobs, and impose their rule that has nothing of the rights and freedoms that built it.