America was on the brink of collapse. The fabric of society was torn apart. The economy was in shambles. Ordinary Americans experienced death by a thousand cuts, and it was coming soon to your neighborhood.

Weeks after a domestic terror attack leaves Texas in the dark, the rest of the nations begins to feel its pain. The economy weakens. Supply chains break. And a shadowy conspiracy works to undermine everything Americans hold dear.

Dan Slaughter has given up on appearances. With his wife dead and his kids grown, he’s slowly reverting back to the east Tennessee boy he used to be three decades earlier. He quit cutting his hair and started smoking pot. He drinks when he wants to and sings along with the classic songs of his lost youth.

President John F. Kennedy once said, “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.” Today, a new element has been introduced to the preparations—artificial intelligence. The United States, in its quest to rapidly and effectively defend the nation from a nuclear attack, has incorporated AI into its operation plan of response. But what if the artificial intelligence relied upon by the nation’s decision-makers is wrong? What if AI takes the controls of America’s nuclear response? Might it trigger nuclear war without justification?

Nobody was prepared, including the world’s governments. The damage to humanity through loss of life was predictable, yet unfathomable. As nuclear winter spread across the globe, a rapidly cooling climate shocked humanity and many living things to their death. Nuclear Armageddon had become reality and ordinary people were paying the price. In a world without power, the exchange of information was virtually non-existent. A battle for resources was waged, pitting friend against friend and friend against foe. For the Bartlett family, their days on Swan’s Island were untenable.

After being launched from their container ships in the Gulf of Mexico, the three specially calibrated nuclear warheads carried by Shahab-3 ICBM’s detonated in space at 10:58 AM, directly over Utah, Kansas and West Virginia. For a fraction of a millisecond, the late morning October sky brightened, the event over with so quickly it was basically imperceptible from the ground.

Willie grew up outside of Damascus, Virginia, and life was never easy for her. She’s a hard-as-nails single mom who struggles to make ends meet with little support and few opportunities. She’s also the community “rescue mom”, taking in young people with no other place to go. All this while dodging an ex-boyfriend turned stalker who also happens to be a cop. Willie only made it to adulthood by being resilient. That toughness, combined with a series of odd jobs and side hustles, helps keep her unorthodox family afloat.

Before the lights went out, Jack Warrant never considered himself a prepper. That was someone on the edge, a conspiracy theorist or a doomsday cultist who had a fatalistic view of the world. He was neither a theorist nor a cultist. He was an optimist. At least that was what he told himself when the darker thoughts creeped into his psyche as he stared at the ceiling in the middle of the night. Whenever he started down the rabbit hole, he always clawed his way back into the sunlight.

Darrell Donnelly and his daughter Laykin embark on their yearly hiking trip to a scenic and remote part of the Ocala National Forest. What started as a long weekend turned into a fight for survival as the hikers attempt to return home in the face of civil unrest and lawlessness, the aftermath of a coordinated attack on the power grid and most electronic devices.

E. E. Isherwood presents Books 1-3 of the Neighborhood Watch series.

Colonel Silas Ford has everything he could want: a beautiful wife, a successful career as a fighter pilot, and a contented life. But his world is about to come crashing down. When failing eyesight grounds him, Silas is reassigned to the Pentagon’s enigmatic All-Domain Anomalies Resolution Office, tasked with investigating Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAP. As a seasoned pilot, Silas has encountered aircraft that defy modern technology and the laws of physics, transforming his skepticism into a reluctant belief in extraterrestrial life.

Mason Lot is in-house counsel for Poseidon, a major Wall Street firm that serves as a front company for the National Security State. His job pays well and gives him insight into the corrupt shadow government, but it can't help with his problems at home. Mason assumed that the hefty price tag for his daughter’s private school would buy him a pass from the insanity plaguing New York’s public school system. Nevertheless, indoctrinated by propaganda, Wynter wants to transition into being a boy. When Mason refuses to pay for the procedure, Wynter turns to the state for help.

This is more than the story of nuclear conflict. It’s about the devastating effects wrought by nuclear winter. Our possible future is seen through the eyes of the Albright family. Hank Albright, a widower and proprietor of the Driftwood Key Inn, is the epitome of the laid-back islander inhabiting the Keys. His brother, Mike, is a homicide detective for the Monroe County Sheriff’s department. Along with his wife, Jessica, a paramedic and member of the sheriff’s department's water emergency team, they become involved in the investigation of a sadistic serial killer.

USGS geophysicist, Mac Atwood, and volcanologist, Taylor Reed, survived being swallowed by the Earth during the earthquake swarm. They returned to the ordinarily peaceful and serene environs surrounding Mammoth Mountain and the Long Valley Caldera. When a series of seemingly minor earthquakes take place in the Sierra Nevadas, Mac the seismic detective, expresses his concern to Taylor. Her skills as a volcanologist will be tested as it appears the Long Valley Caldera, the second largest supervolcano in the U.S. behind Yellowstone, is awakening.

This is not the story of preppers with stockpiles of food, weapons, and a hidden bunker. This is the story of Colton Ryman, his stay-at-home wife, Madison, and their teenage daughter, Alex. In 36 Hours, the Ryman family and the rest of the world will be thrust into the darkness of a post-apocalyptic world.