The ''Patriots'' novel series is a five-novel series by survivalist novelist and former U.S. Army officer and blogger, James Wesley Rawles. It is followed by his ''Counter-Caliphate Chronicles'' novel series. ''Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse'', the first book in the series, was first distributed as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

in 1995 and first published in paperback in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. It was updated and re-published in paperback 2009, and then in hardback in 2012. In one week of April 2009, shortly after its release, it was ranked #6 in Amazon.com's overall book sales rankings, which was attributed by the

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

to the book's appeal to "a small but vociferous group of people concerned with survivalism". Set in the near future midst hyperinflation and a catastrophic global economic collapse, ''Patriots'' tells the story of a group of survivalists that flee riots and chaos in metropolitan Chicago to a survivalist retreat that they have prepared near

Bovill, Idaho Bovill is a city in Latah County, Idaho, United States. The population was 260 at the 2010 census, down from 305 in 2000.Christian publishing firm in

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. They abridged the book to 31 chapters and re-titled it ''Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse''. This was the publisher's best-selling title from November 1998 to January 2005. In early 2005, Huntington House went out of business, and the copyright reverted to the author. In November 2006, responding to pent-up market demand, Rawles self-published a restored 33-chapter edition of the novel, through XLibris, a vanity press. ''Patriots'' was the best-selling title for XLibris from late 2006 to early 2009. In late 2008, the rights to the novel were purchased by Ulysses Press of Berkeley, California. After updating the novel and adding both a glossary and an index, in April 2009 Ulysses Press released the 33-chapter edition under the new title ''Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse''.

Setting

Much of ''Patriots'' takes place in the Intermountain west, specifically in the

Palouse Hills The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primari ...

region, in and around

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Reception

Critical reception for the various releases of the book has been generally positive, gaining a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

among the survivalist community and a positive review from the '' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. A reviewer for the ''Tennessean'' newspaper called the novel a "combination military thriller and how-to survivalist guide." Over time the book has gained a larger following, with Rawles speculating that the ongoing financial crisis accounted for the book's popularity among a wider readership traditionally not interested in survivalist themes. Sara Nelson of ''The Daily Beast'' referred to the novel as "The Most Dangerous Novel in America." The Kirkus Review described the series as "long on details about guns, survival techniques and military capabilities and short on the suspense".

Translations

The first translation of ''Patriots'' was released in May 2012. This was a Spanish edition, titled ''Patriotas''. It was translated by Ernesto Rubio Garcia and published by La Factoria De Ideas, in Madrid, Spain. .

Sequels

Rawles authored four sequels in the ''Patriots'' series. The first two sequels were published by Simon & Schuster: ''Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse'' in 2011 and ''Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse'' in 2012. Both of these sequels were also produced as audiobooks (by Brilliance Audio), and as e-books. In 2013, E.P. Dutton released the fourth novel in the series, titled ''Expatriates''. This sequel is set primarily in Australia, the Philippines, and Tavares, Florida. This was followed in 2014 by a fourth sequel, titled ''Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse''. It was released on October 21, 2014. Sales for the sequels were strong, with ''Survivors'', ''Founders'' and ''Expatriates'' all achieving places on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.

''Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse''

Much of ''Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse'' takes place in the

Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

region, specifically in and around Bloomfield and Farmington, New Mexico, although the book's climax takes place in and near Prescott, Arizona and several sub-plots take place as far away as Afghanistan. The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr. On its release day, October 4, 2011, ''Survivors'' rose to #2 in Amazon's overall book sales ranks and #1 in their action-adventure category. On October 23, 2011, it was listed at #3 in the New York Times bestseller list in the fiction hardback category. Rawles and ''Survivors'' were the centerpiece of a Vancouver Sun article by Kim Murphy about the

American Redoubt The American Redoubt is a political migration movement first proposed in 2011 by survivalist novelist and blogger James Wesley Rawles which designates Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming along with parts of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington, as ...

movement that was run by dozens of newspapers, including the '' Los Angeles Times''. Marvin Olasky of '' World'' magazine called ''Survivors'' "...not as well-written as some articles Rawles has penned" Rawles uses an unusual contemporaneous approach to writing sequels. Rather than the traditional formula of following the same group of characters farther into the future, he instead uses a novel sequence method that portrays different characters in different geographic regions, but in the same near-future timeframe as in ''Patriots.'' In his Introductory note to ''Survivors'', Rawles stated: "Unlike most novel sequels, the storyline of ''Survivors'' is contemporaneous with the events described in my previously-published novel ''Patriots''. Thus, there is no need to read it first (or subsequently), but you'll likely find it entertaining." The first of several translations of ''Survivors'' was released in May 2014. This was a Spanish edition, titled ''Supervivientes''. It was translated by Ernesto Rubio Garcia and published by La Factoria De Ideas, in Madrid, Spain. . A Kindle edition in Spanish was also released in May, 2014. Additional translations into French, German, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Korean are planned.

''Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse''

''Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse'' is a 2012 ''New York Times'' best-selling novel by author James Wesley Rawles and is a sequel to ''Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse''. The novel was released on September 25, 2012, by Atria Books. The book peaked at #4 in Amazon's overall book sales ranks, on its release day. The book premiered on the New York Times Bestsellers list at #11, but dropped to #27 a week later. ''Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse'' is set primarily in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Montana. It details how U.S. Army Captain Andy Laine infiltrates the Provisional Government's New Army headquartered at

Fort Knox Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...

in the midst of a War of Resistance. It also details the cross-country trek of Ken and Terry Layton, and introduces a new character: Joshua Watanabe, a U.S. Air Force NCO, stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, in Montana. The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr. ''Founders'' was released on September 25, 2012, by Atria Books. The book premiered on the New York Times Bestsellers list at #11, but dropped to #27 a week later. In his brief review of ''Founders'', Gregory Cowles of the influential '' The New York Times Book Review'' poked fun at the comma in Rawles's name, but granted: "Rawles is a well-known survivalist, and he's surely the only writer on this list whose fans frequently ask him how best to stockpile food (it depends on which food) or whether to favor bullets over gold during the total collapse of civilization ("You can't defend yourself near as well with a Krugerrand")."

''Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse''

The third sequel in the Patriots series is entitled ''Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse'' (). It was written under contract for E.P. Dutton. The book was released on October 1, 2013. It is set "primarily in central Florida, the Philippines, and northern Australia." The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr. The audio book was narrated by Eric G. Dove. The publisher's web page summarizes the storyline: "When the United States suffers a major socioeconomic collapse, a power vacuum sweeps the globe. A newly radicalized Islamic government rises to power in Indonesia, invades the Philippines, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and finally northern Australia. No longer protected by American military interests, Australia must repel an invasion alone."

''Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse''

The fourth and final sequel in the ''Patriots'' novel series is a 416-page book entitled ''Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse''. It was released on October 21, 2014. This sequel was written under contract for E.P. Dutton. It is set primarily in the Bella Coola region of western Canada. Reviews of ''Liberators'' were also positive. Publishers Weekly called ''Liberators'' the "rousing fifth after-the-apocalypse thriller nstallment in the novel series and also mentioned that "Supporters of the 'prepper' movement…will lap up every detail." Jeff Soyer of ''North Country Review of Books'' gave the novel a three star rating overall, and a four star rating for Writing Style. Mark Rubinstein of The Huffington Post called the book " other entertaining and thought-provoking novel, describing steps people can take in the event of a global collapse." In a radio interview on October 20, 2014, Alan Colmes mentioned that the novel's title indicates that Rawles actually expects an economic collapse in the near future, and Rawles confirmed that because of uncontrolled government spending and indebtedness he does indeed anticipate a collapse. The novel debuted at #48 in Amazon.com's overall rankings, #1 in their Science Fiction-Dystopian novels category, #1 in their Mystery novels category, and at #1 in their Action & Adventure, War & Military novels category. The novel premiered at #20 on the ''Publishers Weekly'' hardcover bestsellers list, reported on November 3, 2014.

''Counter-Caliphate Chronicles'' novel series

Rawles followed ''Patriots'' series with the ''Counter-Caliphate Chronicles'' novel series. On December 1, 2015, Rawles released the novel ''Land of Promise'', the first book in the ''Counter-Caliphate Chronicles'' novel series. This science fiction novel is a geopolitical thriller that is a considerable departure from his previous ''Patriots'' thriller novel series. Set in the late 2130s, ''Land of Promise'' fictionally describes the world under the economic and military domination of a Global Islamic Caliphate, brought about by a fictional new branch of Islam, called The Thirdists. The novel also describes the establishment of a Christian nation of refuge called The Ilemi Republic, in East Africa. It is the first release from Liberty Paradigm Publishing, a publishing venture launched by Rawles in partnership with his literary agent Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group.

Printing history

*''The Gray Nineties'' (19 chapter draft). Distributed as shareware from 1995 to 1997. *''Triple Ought'' (27 chapter draft). Distributed as shareware from 1997 to 1998. *''TEOTWAWKI: The End of the World as We Know It''. 33 chapters with six appendices, self-published edition, The Clearwater Press, Kooskia, Idaho, Velo-bound, 1997-1998. *''Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse''. 31 chapters, 342 pages, abridged trade paperback edition from Huntington House/Vital Issues Press. It was in print from November 1998 to January 2005. *''Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse''. 33 chapters, 384 pages trade paperback from XLibris. It was in print from November 2006 to February 2009. *''Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse''. 33 chapters, 398 pages, updated trade paperback edition with glossary and index, from Ulysses Press, Berkeley, California. *''Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse—Unabridged Audiobook'' was released on December 31, 2009. This audiobook, from Brilliance Audiobooks was narrated by Dick Hill. *''Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse''. 33 chapters, 400 pages, revised edition in hardback with a glossary and index, from Ulysses Press, Berkeley, California, November, 2012.

References

External links

Official author site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patriots: A Novel Of Survival In The Coming Collapse American post-apocalyptic novels American political novels American adventure novels Novels set during World War III Novels about rebels 1990s speculative fiction novels 2000s speculative fiction novels 2010s speculative fiction novels Techno-thriller novels Dystopian novels Self-published books Novels about survival skills 1995 American novels 2009 American novels