EMP Equipping Modern Patriots

[hjmoosejaw]

A friend and coworker, the other day, approached me, and asked if he could have a minute of my time. I said, sure, what's up? He said he wanted to give me a book that his son had just written. My friend knows of my interest in "Prepping". Anyway, I told him I was honored by his gift, and would be glad to read it. Now, I'm not one that likes to read. Usually, only books that help me research any subjects I am interested in, but NOT fiction. I can't force myself to sit and read a book from cover to cover, if it's fiction. He asked that when I got finished with it, if I would go to Amazon, and write a review. I assured him, I would. I glanced at it last weekend, and couldn't put it down.  I'm just bummed that there isn't more of it to read. (348 pages) The author, Jonathan Hollerman, was a SERE instructor in the Air Force. When not working at his main job, he consults others on prepping and survival. He is even designing a BOL for a famous football player. (I'd like to see that one) Like I said, the book is fiction, but it's tied in with real life scenarios that make you think, while teaching you a lot, that could possibly save your life some day. The main character is Sean, a survival expert that has a regular day job. Until one day when he and his pregnant wife, realize that an EMP attack has happened, in the middle of Winter, and they must get out of Pittsburgh, and make it to the family farm, miles out into the country, where he will join up with family to face a life that will never be the same. It's very well written. It puts you right there, because we all have loved ones, just like the ones in this book. Take a peek at the link. I highly recommend it! 

 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/368956

http://shopping.search.yahoo.com/search?p=equipping+modern+patriots

[JohnyMac]

Awesome hj! I will down load it tomorrow and let ya' know what I think. 

[JohnyMac]

Well I just finished EMP Equiping Modern Patriots by Jonathan Hollerman. On a JohnyMac scale I would give the book a solid 3.5 on a 1-5 with 5 being perfect.

My main criteria on a book is - Does it keep me turning pages...This book did.

I downloaded the book for $5.95 from https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/368956 which I thought was a bit pricy for an e-book but what ever hjmoosejaw recommended it. I downloaded the PFD version which proved to be cumbersome to read on my computer with a few pages missing. Where do e-pages go? Are they like socks that disappear in the laundry? Anyhow I digress.

The plot-line was good with an EMP attack followed up with the proverbial journey to the family farm and then to the previously planned and built BOL (Bug Out Location).  The ending had a positive twist like many other books of this genres have. I suspect there will be others as the ending was a bit open ended.

Besides a good entertaining read I was able to harvest some idea's from the book that reinforced things we have done at our BOL. Plus it gave me some additional idea's in area's I have not thought about.

Only two area's of the book that bothered me were: the lack of patrols by the hero & his pose at the BOL and the amount of money that they and others had sunk into their BOL. Most folks would not have the money to do what they did to make their BOL the palace that it was. Just saying...

Grammatically do not expect a James Lee Burke novel here. At times I found the dialog a bit stiff & forced. Also I had to reread some action scenes several times to get the jest of what just happened. With that said, Mr. Hollerman has written a novel which I have never done so whom am I to judge.

With that all written, I would give the book a buy and read. I think you will enjoy it.

Thanks hj for recommending it. 

[Jonathan Hollerman]

From the Author:   

Thanks HJMoosejaw and Johnymac for the write up and I'm glad you both enjoyed the book! This has been a wild and crazy ride for me.  I have been working as a retreat/prepping consultant for a few years and was pretty frustrated with some of the bad information I had been reading in multiple survival/prepping books. I never expected the book to take off like it did. Without any marketing (or even a website at the time) my book has been listed in the TOP TEN BESTSELLERS LIST on Amazon (Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic genres) since the second week it was released. 

To start out with, I am always happy to see honest reviews with constructive criticisms. 

Per Johnymac "Grammatically do not expect a James Lee Burke novel here"  I couldn't agree more with you Johny.  When I finished the book, I was working on a budget... as in free, so I couldn't afford a professional editor and asked a friend of mine to edit it.  It turned out to be a learning mistake.  It looked good to me and I figured I was probably only going to sell maybe 200 books the first month anyways.  Then surprise, out of nowhere I sell over 3,000 copies and my book jumps into the top ten on Amazon.  I had to scramble and pay a little extra to get a professional editor to rush my book, but she should be done with it by the end of the month.  I will be releasing a second edition(professionally edited) hopefully in early January.  If anyone here has read the book, and found issue with the editing, PM me with your address and I'll send you an autographed copy free of charge when they come in.

Per Johnymac "the lack of patrols by the hero & his posse at the BOL"  IMHO, there are pros and cons to patrols, situation depending.  Moving patrols in a SHTF situation may be warranted depending on your location, topography, and size of the area you are defending or guarding.  I prefer multiple hidden LP/OP locations and watchtowers overlooking the entire property and letting the enemy come to you (fall into a trap).  Patrols draw attention from their movement regardless of how skilled they are and any attackers worth their salt will certainly target the patrols first making them sitting ducks.  Now that being said, stationary/hidden recon is the best scenario for the property in the book but patrols may work better in your area.  If a retreat property is located in flat topography where an elevated LP/OP is not available, or if covering a very large area, then patrols are definitely a must.  There are other instances where patrols are needed, but I'm trying to keep this as short as possible.  That is my humble opinion on the subject, and value anyone's input as being a true survivor demands that you stay flexible and open to all ideas and constantly evolve your thought processes.

Per Johnymac: "the amount of money that they and others had sunk into their BOL. Most folks would not have the money to do what they did to make their BOL the palace that it was. Just saying..."  Johnymac, I couldn't agree more with you here as well.  I had wanted to have my book fully focused on helping people on a budget.  In my opinion, that is a severely undeserved area of survival literature with a lot of really bad advice floating out there.  i.e.  "Bugging In" in suburbia or some city apartment is NOT AN OPTION in a "complete collapse" situation.  Another terrible idea are the "I'm going to live in the forest" people.  As a former Survival Instructor in the Air Force and having spent a full month in the mountains with no food,  I can assure you one thing... 99.9 percent of those Rambo forest dwellers won't last the first winter, guaranteed.   Again, I would have liked my book to be solely devoted to those with minimal finances but I also had some considerations in regards to my experience building advanced retreat locations that I wanted to discuss and put out there. So I wrote my book to try and cover all the different scenarios from the city person with no prior preps, to the farmer with some skills and some minor preps, and lastly considerations for a fully stocked retreat. 

Johnymac, please don't take what I wrote as a rebuttal or complaint.  I sincerely appreciate your inputs and would love to discuss them some more if you'd like PM me.  Lastly, I see you are an Administrator here.  I mentioned earlier that I am releasing a second edition soon and I am looking for review snippets from prepping related businesses that I can put on the updated front and back cover of my book.  A review snippet from "UnchainedPreppers.com" on the front or back cover of my book would be great.  As I am selling over 100 books a day now, it would probably be mutually beneficial and help get your forum name out there as well.  Let me know.
 
God Bless,
Jonathan Hollerman
GridDownSurvival.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615885926/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0Z1JRG3W3VE710FEXWCE&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846

[JohnyMac]

Thank you Jonathan for your response to my review of EMP Equiping Modern Patriots. It is so refreshing to hear from an author who likes constructive criticism (whoops no one really ever likes it) wants constructive criticism.

The time you took to write a response sends a clear message that you want to turn out a very good product. This can be seen by your kind off to the folks on the forum.

Jonathan wrote:
If anyone here has read the book, and found issue with the editing, PM me with your address and I'll send you an autographed copy free of charge when they come in.

I will definitely post a review later today. 

Welcome to the forum!

[crudos]

Jonathan, glad you found our forum here. Will definitely be looking to pick-up a copy now. 

[hjmoosejaw]

Howdy Jonathan! Welcome Aboard! Your father mentioned that you may be checking out this forum. He is a very good man, and it's a pleasure to know him. I'll be looking for more of your posts here on this forum, and hope to pick your brain from time to time. I know it's a little early, but have you considered a sequel? I'm glad to hear your book is doing so well. I know your dad is a proud papa. Again, glad to have you aboard, and maybe if I take my copy into work, your dad could get it signed for me. Whatcha think?  HaHa     By the way, a karma +1 for your book.

[Jonathan Hollerman]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.  Glad to be here.  HJMoosejaw, give your copy to my dad and I'd be happy to autograph it for you.

[hjmoosejaw]

Thanks, will do.

[hjmoosejaw]

Well,  I went back to work yesterday, Jan. 2nd, after a twelve day Christmas holiday. My buddy, Jonathan Hollerman's Dad, ( a nicer guy, you couldn't meet, by the way) returned my signed copy of "Equipping Modern Patriots". I gave it to him, before the holidays, for Jonathan to sign, as his dad said he would be seeing him. Thank you much, Jonathan. I'm glad your book is doing so well. Keep up the good work.