When the power mysteriously goes out across the country, Martin‘s Plan B is to walk the 50 miles from Boston to his home in New Hampshire. His plan B must be revised to include Susan: a woman he only knew as a teller in his bank. They make it to his home in New Hampshire but they still have to adapt to a grid-down world. This podcast is a reading of Mic Roland‘s Siege of New Hampshire series. Available at http://mic-roland.com
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Roland S. Martin Podcasts
In this first installment of The Rise and Fall of the Utopians, we find the six college friends meeting on the Saturday before the power goes out. They are showing off and sharing the bushcraft skills they had learned over the past week. Several of the group talk of the certainty that society faced an immanent collapse and how they were going to fl…
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After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, worries flared up that America could be heading for a sort of civil war. Those words got mentioned over three hundred thousand times on X in the days afterward. Are they right? Is it overblown? Brian and Jeff square off in differing opinions over whether a civil war is coming. While not as action-packed as a…
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Is there an "ideal" Bug Out Vehicle? Is it necessarily a jacked up monster truck with knobby mud tires? Would a humble Toyota Camry do? Mic, Jeff, and Brian discuss what they have for BOVs and what (if anything) qualifies as the ideal. They also share some recommendations for how to "idealize" whatever you've got for a vehicle. Sherp ATV — Jeff's n…
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The final chapter of Susan's Raid. After a low-speed chase in horse-drawn wagons and yet more running, Susan, Paul and Charon catch up with the bombers at the Ashland bridge. There are guards posted, so the bombers run north to an alternate target. As the train approaches the small iron bridge, Susan's team interrupts the bombers. Susan is suddenly…
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Pundits are frequently warning of an impending financial doom, two in particular -- the loss of the US Dollar as world reserve currency, and/or the hyperinflation of the dollar as backdoor way to negate America's huge national debt. Are the fears well founded? Has either ever happened before? If so, what happened to people then? What did they do? I…
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Susan, Charon, and Paul camp out in the woods east of Bristol in hopes of catching the bombers at dawn. Overzealous townsfolk flush out the bombers who get ahead of the team again. Both bombers and the team become exhausted from the chase. Just when Charon thinks he might pick one off with a sniper round, yet another wrinkle emerges. The story is g…
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Some sort of doom is always out there, just a couple months away. Just one more data point to tick this way or that. As Brian says, They (the prophets of doom) are killing us off every week." Whether it's a comet striking the earth, or a financial collapse — right around the corner! — or the Yellowstone supervolcano; it's always something. How can …
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Susan, Paul, and Charon travel north on their borrowed bicycles. They make decent time until Paul and Charon's bike suffers a blowout at high speed. They proceed on foot but the bombers got ahead of them again. Susan's team are stopped at checkpoint to the town of Bristol. They have no valid ID and an implausible story about someone trying to blow …
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Mic, Brian, and Jeff take a look at the Deep State which has been trying to rule the world a lot longer than AI has been. Historically, the Deep State had become a feature of past empires and often contributed to their downfall. What is the common citizen to do? Would a world run by AI be better or worse than the Deep State? If you were entertained…
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Susan convinces Charon to get the injured bomber some help in exchange for information. The bomber tells where the group planned to go and that their target is the railroad bridge in Ashland. Susan finds a local woman who will send help. She also has walkie-talkie contact with a man who can radio ahead to alert the people of Ashalnd. Show Mic you a…
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Following up on the earlier episode about AI and Prepping, Mic, Brian, and Jeff look at the potential doom of having AI given control over crucial facets of human society but getting too smart for the people who think they can control it. Some people welcome AI control. Some don't care too much. Some are very afraid. Are we getting spooked over pot…
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Susan comes face to face with evil in the three men who stumbled across them in the woods. After she faces down evil, they resume pursuing the bombers. They come across one of them later, injured in a fall and left behind by his fellow bombers. What should they do? Enjoying this story? Come on, admit it. You are. Show Mic you're enjoying these adve…
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Drones are becoming the weapon of choice on today's battlefield. As police departments become increasingly militarized, it seems like only a matter of time before local governments use drones and autonomous robot dogs to control the populace. What might a future with hostile drones be like? In this episode, the boys watched three short videos (link…
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Charon continues to track the three bombers as they travel north. He named them Boots, Stripes, and Dots based on their footprints. When the bombers veered off-trail to sleep through the day, Charon had his group set up farther along to set up another attempt at an ambush. But, when morning comes, Susan, Paul and Charon are discovered by locals and…
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Extra: Avoiding Budget Doom: It takes discipline
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How does an average Joe (or Josephine) prep on a limited budget? Mic, Jeff, and Brian look into ways to find the funds to prep if you're not a movie millionaire. They discuss some tips and explore some of the pitfalls to avoid. Brian and Jeff also confess to some things they had done wrong over the years. If you are appreciating these topical episo…
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Susan, Paul, and Charon spend the night following the three bombers along a power line cut that runs north to the city of Claremont, NH. Charon has kept pace with them but does not want to overtake them. His plan is to let them bed down for the day and set up an ambush a bit farther ahead — catch them as they resume their travels in the evening. Su…
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Having some water stored is one of those prepper basics. What options do you have for getting more water when your stored supply runs low? Mic, Brian, and Jeff explore three options. You might power your electric well pump via batteries and an inverter. You could fetch "wild" water from a nearby body of water. You might put a hand pump on your well…
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Susan, Charon, and Paul arrive at Basin Farms, near Bellows Falls. The fill in the farmer who is a Coalition operative of their plans to ambush the bombers. Sneaking through Bellows Falls by night, they get ready to cross the river but are stopped by the arrival of the bombers and their boss. Susan sees them receive the explosives and their instruc…
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Even if you didn't die in any of the other "dooms", (comet impact, zombies, nukes, etc.) you will still not escape Gray Doom. Everyone gets older. Can on older person, who is not capable of running a mile with a fifty-pound backpack or hand-to-hand fighting, still be a prepper? Mic, Brian and Jeff discuss what prepping for being old or how prepping…
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Charon figures to dispatch the three would-be thieves but Susan talks him out of it. She thinks they're not hardened criminals but desperately starving. The men tell of being shut out by the state for having offended some low-level officials. Susan hatches a plan to get the men's identity papers restored. Her plan involves some melodramatics, but i…
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If international tensions break out into a wider war, it is likely to fought differently than previous wars. What will be the same is that the home front will become a target. Instead of Zeppelins, enemy bombers, V2 missiles, or Cuban paratroopers invading, the assault on the home front will likely be cyber warfare -- software viruses and backdoors…
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Susan, Paul and Charon embark on a road trip up to Bellows Falls to meet a Coalition operative. They have one of Paul's cows in the wagon as cover story for their trip. They face the expected challenge of government checkpoints. In the remote backwoods, they face a different danger -- highway bandits who want to steal their cow. Enjoying the Susan'…
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Extra: Is There a Cure for Lonely Prepper Syndrome?
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Many preppers confess that they feel like they are the only ones in their family, or social group who prep. Making matters worse, some preppers are afraid to let anyone know that they prep, for fear of either being ostracized or worse, becoming a target of the (theorized) starving hordes. Mic, Brian, and Jeff discuss the problem and some options. L…
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In an effort to stop the men who plan to hike into New Hampshire and blow up a railroad bridge, Susan, Paul, and Charon visit Doug. This, so Charon can send a coded message back to his handlers in the Coalition. They reply told of an operative at a farm near Bellows Falls. Now, the three have to concoct a plausible reason for them to be traveling a…
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Brian, Mic, and Jeff take another look at AI. This time, not in the fictional (and tyrannical) form of Skynet or Colossus, but as a here-and-now influence in our lives. Will AI replace humans for many jobs? Will AI tend to isolate people from each other? For preppers, is AI a good thing, or a bad thing? Links: CNBC: Bill Gates says humans won't be …
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Susan sneaks out of Boyd's Farm in the dark of night. She meets Charon in the woods outside of the little Deerfield airport. They make their way to the plane without being detected. Charon plants his explosive under the wing, but people start coming from the house. He has to cut the fuse very short and run for cover. The plane explodes just as the …
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Mic, Brian, and Jeff discuss the challenges of staying prepared when traveling long distances. They share a few of their travel "horror" stories too. With TSA's restrictions on what can be brought as carry-on, a prepper is more limited in their travel EDC. The guys discuss what they have done to stay as prepped as they can while traveling. Links: O…
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Susan, Paul, and Charon set out to a farm near West Dover, VT with a load of manure. That, as cover for them checking out the small plane that the Coalition sent Charon to deal with. En route, they encounter checkpoint guards and a skeptical farmer who had no idea why they were there. Enjoying Susan's Raid? Help keep the stories coming by keeping M…
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The eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano is one of those mega-disasters that some preppers worry about. Mic, Brian, and Jeff discuss two movies, one with the irresistable title of Volcanic Doom. The second is Supervolcano. The latter actually being about the catastrophic eruption of the Yellowstone volcano. They use those movies as jumping off …
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Charon's presence is almost discovered by a surprise inspection of area homes following reports of strange sounds over the village of Marlboro. Charon is hidden just in time and inspectors search for clues. After they leave, Charon outlines his mission -- to find and neutralize the small plane that has been hindering Coalition efforts in the backco…
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Extra: Grid-Down Fire Dangers, with Brian Duff
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In a grid-down situation, people will turn to alternate means to cook, for lighting, and to heat their homes. These alternates often involve fire — propane stoves, candles, propane heaters. These pose a higher risk of starting a fire in your home. And, at a time when the fire department probably isn't coming. What can you do? Mic's special guest fo…
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Susan and Paul prepare a night landing spot for the Coalition operative. He arrives in a not-quite-dignified landing. It's Charon. They gather up his paraglider gear and return to Paul's house. While Charon urges them to destroy the glider gear so it can't be discovered, Susan feels the gear is too valuable as a resource. She and Paul must figure o…
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As a nod to winter, Mic, Jeff, and Brian, all watched the 2018 movie, Arctic, starring Mads Mikkelsen. He is the pilot of an airplane that crash-landed somewhere in the arctic. His survival skills have kept him alive for several weeks. When a rescue helicopter arrives, it too crashes due to storm gusts. Only the copilot — a young woman — survived, …
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The story opens with Susan and Paul carrying food and water to some livestock hidden in a high woods. They are circumventing a new law that limits how much livestock people can own. Susan tells of discovering that the mysterious regular white van is carrying gasoline. She deduces that the gas is for an equally mysterious airplane the Feds are opera…
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Mic, Brian, and Jeff discuss the 2014 movie Aftermath: an independent production about a group of average folks who gather in a north Texas farmhouse cellar to try to survive the radioactive fallout from a nuclear war. This is another of those Everybody Dies movies. The boys comment on what the writer did well for conveying prepper knowledge, and w…
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The final installment in the backstory of Harold Perkins -- the man who had the steel casting expertise to fix that broken locomotive. In this chapter, Red has dropped them off at the woods along the border. They have to travel by night, without lights that passing drones might see. Then, hope that they've stayed on course to meet the people who th…
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Extra: Trump Doom, Terror Doom, Storm Doom
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So much Doom! With inauguration just a short while away, the boys review some of the doom we've been told will befall us all. In a more realistic vein, the threat of terrorists remains, regardless of who sits in the White House. We're told that hacker-terrorists have infiltrated many infrastructure systems. If they strike and take down infrastructu…
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The moment has come. Harold and his family must sneak out of their guarded townhouse and into the secret compartment in James Reddimer's truck. Red manages to involve a guard in restarting the truck as a way of proving his truck was empty. Harold worries about many things as they seem to be traveling no place in particular. The travel authorization…
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Mic, Jeff, and Brian all watched the movie Homestead over Christmas week. This is independent Angel Studios' screenplay based on the book series Black Autumn. Originally planned as a series, the first two episodes became a movie. More episodes to follow, says Angel Studios. The boys look at prepper lessons to be learned from the film and touch upon…
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Casting Dorn's part cannot be put off any longer. Red has a one-shot plan to rescue Harold and his family. While it means escaping to "lawless" New Hampshire, it is better than certain death. Their conversation over the details is masked by the roar of the furnace. Red plans to sneak them out that evening. Dorn, however, orders them to be ready to …
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With renewed concerns of possible nuclear exchanges (Ukraine/Russia, Iran/Israel) Mic, Brian, and Jeff explore some of the reality behind nuclear blasts and more importantly, fallout. These were fairly topical among Americans during the Cold War, but with the fall of the Soviet Union, nuclear realities have slipped out of the mainstream American co…
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While assessing their dismal prospects, (their work is doomed to fail) Harold discovers that a secret resistance organization has a couple of operatives working around the foundry. He recalls a neighbor of his down in Canton Boston telling him about the secret society. Harold confronts one of the operatives to request help. The operative makes no p…
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Mic, Brian, and Jeff discuss how the holidays can be significant for preppers. Part of it is having to maintain one's situational awareness when out in crowded public places. Ne'erdowells seek out crowded places to cause trouble. A more positive holiday feature are the deep discounts. A good time for the shrewd prepper to save on preps. Links: Hot …
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Harold and Mario share a lunch of Canton rations (cold mush). They want to discuss their predicament, but are aware that the foundry's office is bugged. Fry, one of the laborers assigned to the project, shares the news that they are to cast a second aluminum blade base. The first crew's casting failed. The rumor is that the first crew were taken ou…
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Extra: Post-Election: Time to stop prepping?
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Mic, Brian and Jeff have a roundtable discussion keying off of Todd Sepulveda's November 10th podcast. Todd talked about some people who were prepping for post-election chaos seem to have just stopped prepping since chaos didn't happen. Was that a reasonable response? Because Trump won, will things be safe, secure, and problem free -- at least for …
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Harold Perkins arrives at a small abandoned foundry well outside of the protective bounds of Canton Boston. He, and another man, have been ordered to cast a new aluminum base for a wind turbine blade. The overseer of this project, a Mr. Dorn, is sternly adamant that failure is not an option. Dorn gets angry when Harold says the small foundry does n…
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Extra: Should you count on FEMA, or prep?
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Mic, Brian, and Jeff look at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in light of the recent hurricanes and aftermath. Did FEMA deserve the bad press it got? Is FEMA actually supposed to rescue people? Mic looks at the old Civil Defense model (pre-FEMA). Brian looks at the current Swedish version of Civil Defense -- which is strong on DIY. Below are…
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Martin and his crew assemble the Ferals for the hike into Manchester. They are blocked by the stocky man and his men who insist on taking some of the Ferals as their own personal slave labor. Stocky's plan is derailed by the Overseer of the Grange. After all of that, the long march into the city begins. Once in the city, the Ferals find opportuniti…
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Extra: Post-Apocalyptic Rebuild...in 15 Minutes
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This week, Jeff, Brian and Mic will be discussing a 15-minute intro video by a scientist named Lewis Dartnell, who tries to sort out what humanity would have to know to rebuild civilization after an apocalypse. Of course, you can't describe everything you'd need to do to rebuild our current civilization in just a short video. Some things he touches…
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Martin and Margaret try to manage the sudden horde of Ferals that have settled around the Simmons house. While a solution is found, they put many of the Ferals to work in exchange for a meal of pine fries. A big project to keep most of them busy is digging out an area for a pond along the little stream on the Simmons' property. The work is interrup…
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