B.J. Farmer

I live in Southern Indiana, not far from the Ohio River and Kentucky, where I was born – way down in the eastern part of Kentucky, where all the Hillbillies come from. For an awfully long time, I sort of ignored that heritage. The older I get, though, the more I accept it and love it, including Bluegrass Music, which is a distinct change of pace when you consider I love bands like Slipknot and System of a Down. Some of it even works its way into my writing. Sam, one of my favorite characters, is about as Appalachian as you can get!

Speaking of writing, I’m not one of those people who’ve been writing all their lives. I picked up the writing bug late in life. Since then, and with a couple of years of practice under my belt, I published my first book in March 2020. Nine days before we found ourselves embroiled in a pandemic.

Even before the pandemic, I was interested in the end of the world. It makes sense, then, that I’d write apocalyptic fiction, which is what I’ve indeed settled comfortably into. That’s not to say I don’t have some other types of stories pinging around the back of my head, because I do. One thing at a time, though.

My current series, the Long Dark (which isn’t related at all to the game), is about leverage and friendship. I know. Trust me, those aren’t keywords you should try to use to sell apocalypse books on Amazon – or maybe anywhere, for that matter. Trust me, I know.

But hear me out. What if you were a comparatively weak country, and you couldn’t go toe to toe against the military might of the US? What if, however, you had lots of time on your hands? So much time that you slowly send thousands of your “people” to the US, where they assimilate just enough not to rouse suspicion. Meanwhile, they wait in the shadows because, remember, you have patience. Their numbers grow every year.

Then there’s something else, and it’s big. Your scientists come up with something that adds even more oomph to the leverage cocktail: an agent that allows you to take control of the host population? Sounds awful. For the US, anyway.

I did mention the friends’ part – it is actually consequential. These friends are probably not who you’d want to be your last bastion of hope, though. Sadly, they are. Armed with knowledge of what is happening, they make their way through one crisis and near-death situation after another, and sadly, not all of them make it out alive. The real question is, and I’ve not even written it yet, how will they stop the Order and the Grays – plus all the craziness that happens as the world descends into total war and madness?

Oh, I have a new series about ready to hit come the first of the year. The working title is: Coded Salvation: The Collapse. Yeah, it’s pretty dire. AI going nuts wanting to become a God, and not to mention the dude who created it – well, her.

Thanks for checking all this out. It’d be great if you’d check out my Facebook page (I don’t update as much as I’d like, even though I have a New Year’s resolution spooling up), and maybe even follow me on here.

Thanks, Billy Joe.