July 13, 2018

How a Pandemic Could End the World / Guest Post by Susan Kelley




Please welcome Susan Kelley to Write with Fey! She knows about my fascination with disaster and has provided an intriguing article for us about how a pandemic could end the world.

Take it away, Susan!




The World Falls Apart


In my latest series, Survivors of the Apocalypse, humanity in on the brink of extinction after a pandemic sweeps the world and kills millions. How would the collapse of civilization occur and what would the impact be on the handful of survivors?

In this futuristic world, scientists believe they’ve found a universal vaccine that will make an end to the diseases that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time. This isn’t something very far outside of reality. Legions of scientists work on creating yearly flu vaccines and part of their work is to someday create a vaccine that will work against any mutation of the flu.

2018 marks one hundred years since the worst flu pandemic in the world’s history. Around 50 million people died. Looking at how people are more mobile and how many more of us there are, can you imagine the numbers is such a virulent strain hit us today. Before you think our modern medicine would prevent that, keep in mind that an estimated 300,000 to 700,000 people die from the flu every year. Last year’s flu vaccine only protected one in four people who received. To read more about the search for a universal vaccine, here is one of many articles about it.

In my fictional setting, the universal vaccines backfires and disaster results. Imagine how civilization would crumble and implode. A lot of people get very sick, and the medical resources are overwhelmed. Some of the sick would be essential services like healthcare workers and police officers. Civil unrest would follow. As more people succumb, families fall apart, media falls silent, and infrastructure collapses. No phones, no electricity, and then no clean water.

Governments first thoughts might be that an enemy have used a biological weapon. Before the truth is known, a short devastating nuclear war could occur. Untended nuclear and chemical plants would eventually dump their poisons into the environment. Scientists that might have stopped the problem fall to the plague before they are successful. The world of mankind is over.

Except there will always be people who fall through the cracks and don’t get the newest vaccine. There are people who are for whatever genetic reasons are immune to the disease. And therein lies the hope for humanity’s survival, and the framework for my series.

Add in one protected biodome city, completely cutoff from the rest of the world, and you have enough people to give mankind a chance. Maybe.


Exile’s Savage Lady: Book #3 in Survivors of the Apocalypse, is the final book as a few brave people risk everything to bring the cure to everyone. Robin Linden was saved by the Gibbs family when the city exiled him to die outside the dome. The cure exists, but those in the city don’t know. Robin can’t let those inside starve as their resources fail, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself to save them. Kerry Gibbs doesn’t understand what makes the stoic city man tick, but she’s not going to let him get away before she finds out why she finds him so attractive. If that means following inside the city, she’s not afraid of anything. But the more she gets to know Robin and what motivates him, she fears for the first time. They may be able to save the city, but she’ll lose the man she loves.


BIO: Susan Kelley lives in a large country home in Pennsylvania where she and her husband have raised six children. After many years as a high school teacher, she retired to write full time. She loves dystopia, space adventures, superheroes, but especially everyday heroes.

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QUESTIONS: Do you get your flu shot every year? Have you ever been really sick with the flu? Do you think the world will end with a big bang or a long moan?


34 comments:

  1. Yeah, that is sure all it would take and everything would come crashing down. And there will always be someone immune to whatever it is. I'd be the one to skip the vaccine until I saw it tested on thousands on others first lol Plague will be what gets us. Aliens could come a close 2nd.

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  2. Hopefully something that devastating doesn't befall us.
    I've never gotten a flu shot and I almost never get the flu. Maybe I'd be one of the lucky ones?

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  3. Thanks for having my, Chrys. Pat, I would hesitate on getting such a shot too. Alex, I don't get the flu either, but last year I got my first flu shot because I watching my granddaughter and didn't want to chance giving her something.

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    1. You're very welcome, Susan! You worked with one of my favorite themes wonderfully.

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  4. Congrats on release. Thought provoking post too.

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    1. Thank for stopping by Juneta. I really learned a lot in my research that is disturbing.

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  5. It's always a bit scary to think of that happening in my lifetime. Of course, I'd probably be one of the first to die, so I wouldn't really have to worry. >.>

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    1. LOL, Patricia. It might be terrible to be one of the few to survive and all your family and friends don't.

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  6. I read a fiction book a few years back (can't remember the name) that was about a pandemic after a bird flu hit the world. It was scary in that no one wanted to help anyone because they were afraid of getting sick and how stores jacked up prices and only wanted cash for simple items if you could even find them at the store because no deliveries were being made. The family in the store, three survived, the dad didn't, but they had to forge ahead once it was deemed safe to be back out again. I would hope to be one of the first to go, LOL, not to have to deal with trying to survive.

    I'm hit and miss on the flu shot. Some years I get it, some years I don't get the shot. Didn't get the flu until last year and I'm sure it was because grandson in day care got it and then exposed every one else. This year we are all getting the flu shot :) Funny thing is I got sick but not to the point I had to miss work, just lots of coughing and tiredness. It took me a few days to realize I had the flu, but then took about 2 weeks to fully recover.

    betty

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    1. Last year's flu was a bad one and it did seem to hold on forever once you had it. Thanks for stopping by.

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  7. This series of books looks really interesting. The apocalypse theme is compelling and definitely a possibility in our world. Store water. That's my advice haha. Thanks for introducing Susan Kelley here, Chrys. Congratulations on your third book in the series, Susan. It's great to meet you!

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    1. Thanks for stopping in, Lisa. Water would be a big thing if we lost power for an extended time.

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  8. Thought the post wonderful Chrys. I have been a follower of Susan's for quite a while and think her writing is awesome.
    Congrats on your book by the way Chrys, I know it will do well.
    Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

    Yvonne.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Yvonne. I always appreciate your positive words.

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  9. Hi Chrys ... Susan's book sounds very interesting ... and yes I'm sure some will survive - the thing with us today is ... do we know enough craft skills to help ourselves when whatever disaster overcomes us ... I definitely don't think I do. Clever idea for a book - cheers Hilary

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    1. That is such a great point, Hilary. I'm not sure how many us could survive without our modern conveniences.

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  10. It would be a really scary scenario. I remember an Anne McCaffrey Pern story when a pandemic almost wiped out everyone.

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    1. I don't think I ever read that Pern story. There were so many though. Thanks for stopping by.

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  11. The Influenza Epidemic shows just how devastating the flu can be. I get my shots every year:)

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    1. Good for you, Mark. Most insurances cover the shots, but still people don't get them.

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  12. No, I don't get a flu shot every year. But I do know someone who passed away this year due to flu complications.

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    1. So sorry to hear that, Liz. Last year's flu was known to be dangerous for everyone, not just the young or old.

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  13. I like those book covers, and the story sounds interesting too! I got my first flu shot this year, and it was the first year I didn't get the flu; I always got sick at least once or twice a year before. One year I had the flu and couldn't stop coughing for more than a month; it got to the point that people pulled away from me if I went to a store or somewhere else because I kept coughing. I had to get an inhaler from the doctor just so I could breathe.

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    1. I had a friend last year who had that terrible cough for a month after getting the flu. She had to go back to the doctor again and again.

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  14. Flu shots and plenty of Vitamin D. Looking at the new viruses, like Ebola, and how some countries are experimenting with them, your scenario is a very scary possibility.

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    1. You make one of the points I made in my story. The pandemic was caused by people doing experiments.

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  15. Since I have asthma, I need to take my flu shot every year. The universal vaccine sounds like a great idea, almost too good to be true. So it is not surprising that in the fictional story, the failure of such a vaccine brings trouble.

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    1. Getting the flu when you have asthma would be very scary, Cynthia. We can only hope a good vaccine is found someday. Thanks for stopping by.

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  16. What a great twist in the plot of a disaster book, 'he universal vaccines backfires and disaster results'. I've yest to see this scenario in a story so well done to Susan and best wishes for a smashing success.

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  17. I read one series with this scenario several years ago. It was set in England, and did a great job of exploring how people would react. It's a great plot idea.

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  18. This sounds like a good storyline and plot.

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  19. It's scary how quickly civilisation could fall! I'd really not be cut out to survive - in a movie, my character would be out before the opening credits finished ;-)

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  20. Congrats to Susan! I do get a flu shot every year. I had a great immune system when I was young, but now that I'm older, not so much. I do think mankind will fall with a long moan, but I also think there are those who will fall between the cracks and carry on.

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