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.

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.

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.

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.

Normalcy ceased to exist in the United States the instant the Iranian EMP warheads detonated, relieving America of its abundant luxuries and conveniences. The event pushed the entire country backward in a millisecond. Backward in time to the mid-1800s—to a lifestyle that preceded the telephone and, for most, even the use of a simple lightbulb.

When Amanda Thomlin finds herself face-to-face with the reality that she may never see her mother again, the overwhelming uncertainty nearly immobilizes her. A kind father figure steps up and takes her under his protection, bringing her into his family.

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.

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.

Several years ago, an ARkStorm, a once-in-a-thousand-years flood event caused by a series of intense atmospheric rivers, flooded the Central Valley of California from Sacramento to what was once Los Angeles. The weight of the water was equivalent to the volume generated by the Mississippi River times 22. It challenged an already fragile seismic system consisting of hundreds of active faults.

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.

Young parents Ethan and Brooke Spencer are on a romantic ski vacation in the Rockies when the lights go out, cars stall, and communications fail. Stranded 800 miles from home, they are desperate to return to their four-year-old twins and are willing to do whatever it takes to reach them.

When a series of devastating terror attacks brought down the United States, Conor and Barb assumed they were safe in their compound. They had everything they needed. They were armed and highly trained. But then, Barb was kidnapped. The kidnappers didn’t know why Conor was known as The Mad Mick. They didn’t know the fear and respect his name invoked in the shadowy underworld of covert operations. They didn’t know that when it came to protecting his family, he was without conscience, without compassion, and without equal. But they would soon find out.

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.

Akart's standalone novel, ARkStorm, is based on actual events. In 1861, a 43-day series of atmospheric rivers, huge flows of moisture carried from the tropics to the West Coast, turned large swaths of California into an inland sea. The intense rainstorms pounded the state unabated with little respite. Rivers became raging torrents that swept away entire communities, killing thousands. The State’s Central Valley turned a massive body of water 300-miles long and 20-miles wide.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Two astronomers have detected a strange, pulsing signal from deep space. Within hours, the US government goes into lockdown, restricting airspace and scrubbing scientific data. Was the signal an intercepted communication revealing alarming plans for an enemy’s military strike? Or has humanity at long last found proof of extraterrestrial life?