One Second After | Must Read Prepper Fiction

There are plenty of prepper books to read. I group them into two categories: How-to and fiction. How-to books are straightforward and helpful. Fictional books are entertaining. One fiction book stands above the rest when it comes to prepping and survival: One Second After by William Forstchen.

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Contents (Jump to a Section)

• Why Prepper Fiction?
• One Second After
• Sean’s One Second After Review
• Another Helpful Title
• EMP Fiction
• The Final Word

This is an updated look at One Second After and prepper fiction in general. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Disclosure»

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Why Prepper Fiction?

I believe prepper fiction books are not just for fun, but are mandatory for a proper prepper journey. How could a fictional book be so important? Simple. They provide the motivation and inspiration that allow you to visualize potential events and their consequences. You read about characters, usually larger-than-life heroes, that somehow know ahead of time how to handle unexpected extreme situations.

How do they know how to be ready? They “prepped” and trained for it. By reading their stories, you can learn what they knew and what others in the story didn’t.

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One Second After

If you haven’t read One Second After by William R. Forstchen, you need to! For many people I know, a friend or relative handed it to them, and within a month, they were full-blown preppers. Its story is so powerful that people have handed it to their wives, and after their wife reads it, they are literally suggesting ways to improve their preparedness! Do you want your spouse to help you with prepping?

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Sean’s One Second After Review

Most of this article on One Second After and prepper fiction in general was written by FJ, a member of our TruePrepper team and a seasoned prepper. I’m Sean Gold, the founder of TruePrepper, and I read One Second After long after FJ was introduced to it- and actually did my first readthrough as an audiobook.

I’ve read several prepping and survival-related fiction books, both before and since, and I can see why the book is so impactful. The events in the book all seem plausible, despite how society rapidly deteriorates.

What I found more terrifying than the fictional band of marauders towards the end of the book was the very accurate portrayal of how people who rely on society to survive just die out (insulin for diabetes, in the book example). Even though I didn’t find all of the book believable, it’s thought-provoking in that way.

The group of ‘bad guys’ does require you to suspend some logic towards the end of the novel. A coordinated community has plenty of difficulties with logistics, food, water, and medical supplies- yet a group of crazed cannibals gets cars running, stays healthy, and puts together coordinated attacks? Some liberties were taken and borrowed from Mad Max-style antagonists to deliver a more satisfying climax in this novel.

I think that is why some takeaways are different. While preppers enjoy indulging in the ‘how’ the protagonists survive, some post-apocalyptic fans will enjoy the more extreme situations from the book.

It makes you think, much like Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, a well-researched look at nuclear safety.

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Another Helpful Title

I know of no other books as important as One Second After, but another book in my line of must-reads: A Distant Eden by Lloyd Tackitt. A Distant Eden is exciting and, while probably less realistic, a valuable inspirational book for preppers.

If you get hooked, you won’t be left idle since he wrote four more books in the series. I found each book less and less plausible, but still fun to read and helpful to a prepper mindset.

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EMP Fiction

One Second After may not have been the first, but it is certainly the most successful novel from the post-apocalyptic fiction subset focused on EMP aftermath. Zombies are the most common, but EMPs pose a different threat that can be challenging in different ways.

Zombies have always been a vehicle to explore the human condition, highlighting our social struggles while dealing with society flipped on its head. EMP fiction does the same, from a slightly different angle.

Removing technology with a massive electrical pulse would change our day-to-day routines, but allow for even more human interaction than normal. The main event is over after the EMP- there is just a new normal, and the new threats are not zombies, but humans.

Some EMP fiction has even gone full circle, going so far as to mention TruePrepper and our resources in novels. Jeff Harwell pointed out one of those resources in his latest book, EMP Bugout 2.

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The Final Word

Thanks to Jeff E for reminding me how helpful these books were to my journey. He happens to be the one who first handed me One Second After. There are many other inspirational prepper fiction books out there. Not all of them will present realistic scenarios that we could face in the future. Part of the fun is picking out the unlikely, and then visualizing and mentally preparing for the more likely possibilities. Once you mentally prepare and then physically prepare, you’re good to go!

Here are some other guides TruePrepper subscribers have appreciated:

• 44 Free Kindle Books for Preppers
• Best Survival Guide Books (Hardcopy)
• How to Start Prepping: A Beginning Prepper Guide

So read prepper fiction, have fun, and be safe by being smart.

See more of our expert-written guides, resources, and reviews in your search results – add TruePrepper as a preferred source.

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