Grace Hamilton: Crafting Stories that Leave Readers Begging for More
You can probably tell what books Grace Hamilton specializes in by looking at the following series of novels she has published:
Series
Books
Publication
EMP Lodge
Dark Retreat
February 2017
Dark Hunt
April 2017
Dark Defiance
June 2017
Dark Destruction
August 2017
Dark Redemption
October 2017
Dark Descends
November 2017
Dark Revival
December 2017
911
Death Lines
February 2018
Dead End
April 2018
Dead Reckoning
June 2018
After the Shift
Freezing Point
September 2018
Killing Frost
November 2018
Black Ice
January 2019
Survivalist Reality Show
Surviving the Swamp
March 2019
Surviving the Refuge
April 2019
Surviving The Elements
May 2019
Small Town EMP
Survive the Chaos
July 2019
Survive the Aftermath
August 2019
Survive the Conflict
September 2019
Surviving the End
Crumbling World
November 2019
Fallen World
December 2019
New World
January 2020
Supernova EMP
Dark End
March 2020
Deep End
April 2020
Bitter End
May 2020
Final End
June 2020
Island Refuge EMP
Escaping Conflict
August 2020
Escaping Chaos
September 2020
Escaping Capture
October 2020
EMP: Return of the Wild West
Survive the Fall
December 2020
Survive the Attack
January 2021
Survive the Journey
February 2021
EMP Catastrophe
Erupting Trouble
April 2021
Erupting Danger
May 2021
Erupting Chaos
June 2021
EMP Disaster
Emerging Chaos
September 2021
Enduring Chaos
October 2021
Breaking Chaos
November 2021
Dark Nation
Escaping Anarchy
February 2022
Enduring Anarchy
March 2022
EMP Aftermath
Broken World
July 2022
Chaotic World
August 2022
Dangerous World
September 2022
Divided World
May 2023
Collapsed World
June 2023
Lawless World
July 2023
EMP Sabotage
No Rescue
December 2022
No Relief
January 2023
No Escape
February 2023
Over a relatively short period of 5 years, Grace Hamilton produced and published at least 49 books within 14 series, all of which revolve around the same theme of surviving a nationwide disaster. Some people call it post-apocalyptic, while others refer to the same thing as doomsday stories. Grace Hamilton prefers the term “prepper fiction” to either of those.
Prepper fiction has been indeed on the rise, most prominently in the United States, and for good reasons. Real-world preppers have finally reached a “mainstream” status but not before a series of historic disasters over the last decade nearly crippled major cities and their population.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy left extensive damage across the entire East Coast and inland states including Indiana, West Virginia, and Ohio; millions of people were left without homes and power. The hurricane season in August-September 2017 remains one of the costliest on record and caused long-term damage in the southern Continental U.S. as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. And then in October of the same year, California suffered a heavy blow from a ravaging wildfire. Such a rapid succession of disasters resulted not only in large-scale infrastructure devastation and the loss of thousands of lives but also in an evaluation of the nation’s culture of preparedness. Just a few years later, COVID-19 sent another reminder of how fragile society and government can be in the face of unprecedented calamity.
Although the disasters in most of her books are not natural but EMP-related catastrophes, the same principle remains that preppers, especially the effective ones, can survive even the worst situations imaginable. Hamilton herself has had her fair share of unpreparedness when a flash flood forced her to retreat to a mountain cabin for nearly a week with little sustenance. It was the very hardship that sent her to explore the prepper lifestyle both in the real world and in literary form. She is a prepper, writing prepper fiction.
Hamilton writes all the stories mainly because she feels the need to explore many scenarios in the aftermath of colossal disasters, either natural or otherwise, and navigates life in a presumably collapsed society. Every prepper book has one or two things in common. The story takes pleasure in self-reliance and condemns those who lack self-preservation. Inevitably following a catastrophic event, many people just cannot accept the facts that the electric grid has failed and will not supply any more power, the banking system has crumbled and their money is gone, the supply chain has been crippled and there is nothing in the grocery store, wastewater treatment facility is no longer functional, the phone doesn’t work, and so on. The society in panic turns chaotic, and the government will do nothing useful to restore order.
Not everyone is a fan of prepper fiction. That said, Hamilton’s books – all 49 of them – were written and published in a seemingly impossible quick pace to prove that the demand was through the roof. Also, the subtitle “A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller Filled with Captivating Characters & Prepper Info” comes with just about every book in the EMP Sabotage and EMP Aftermath series. While the disasters and stories are parts of imaginary scenarios, the preparedness aspect likely emerges from the viewpoint of a true prepper.
We think the general theme of Grace Hamilton’s prepper fiction, whether the result of an EMP strike or natural disasters, follows the basic premise of an ideal survivalist’s story. The plotline starts with the world or specific country having been destroyed and the protagonists do everything in their power to move on with a changed society. They might dream about bringing back the old order as they knew it before the disaster only to realize that the best they can do is to try to establish a local peace amongst the ruins of the world.
Have you read any of Grace Hamilton’s books? Do you think the prepper aspect of it feels accurate and relevant? We’d love to hear from you.
Other things you might want to know:
What is prepper fiction?
The terms “prepper fiction” and “post-apocalyptic fiction” are sometimes used interchangeably, but they do not refer to the same idea. In general, the latter typically starts with high hopes for the world and society as the post-disaster time begins. Throughout the journey, you come across like-minded people but not very reliable and skilful others who will kill to take what you have. It takes a long time to end up with a realization that you should trust nobody else; you can only rely on yourself to survive. Prepper fiction starts at the same spot where the post-apocalyptic story begins. As the name suggests, a prepper takes great care at anticipating the worst in the first place to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Upcoming book by Grace Hamilton?
At the moment, there is no word about any upcoming book by Grace Hamilton.
Who is Riley Miller?
Two prepper fiction books titled Endless Winter (November 2021) and Endless Storm (March 2023) are co-authored by Riley Miller and Grace Hamilton. Miller has not written or published any other books yet.
