Episode 193 S5-29
Survival Stories
Featuring:
Dark Days in Denver Ch 30
Special Guest:
Ron Foster
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Ron Foster is a man with a long list of disaster management credentials. His experience in this field, coupled with his childhood spent as a southern country boy, turn his fictional works into educational experiences. His non-fiction books contain many tips and tricks that will keep you fed and surviving during any disaster scenario.
As an individual concerned with preparedness, Ron noticed that many others were not. He published Prepper Road March with the intention of teaching individuals preparedness with a fictional story.
One area Ron doesn't plan for is where his characters direct the novel. He believes in letting the book write itself and oftentimes he is just as enthralled as the reader when he is done.
Ron ended up turning his Prepper trilogy into one book titled The Longest Walk. The whole series is designed to get people interested in prepping. Ron believes that you should, "prepare to lose everything but your mind." He even includes product references in his book in an effort to direct new preparedness minded folks towards quality products that they can use for their personal survival.
When Ron started into the industry ideas like solar storms and EMPs weren't very well known yet. It was concepts like these that encouraged Ron to start teaching people little tricks that could make their lives much better in a survival situation. Things like: How to find water in the city and the fact that fresh foods should be eaten completely before any cans are opened.
Ron draws from his personal experiences to craft his characters. One man, known as Dumptruck, is a bouncer and appears both in Ron's life and in his books. Ron's main character, David, is a fictional representation of himself. Most of the other characters have been designed this way as well to provide depth to their personalities. His characters are typically from the south and Ron has coined the term "southern prepper fiction" to describe the overall feeling of the book. He likes to tell the story with as much realism as possible.
The setting for most of his books is Georgia, Alabama and Florida. However, he has written novelettes to highlight certain characters from other places in the world.
Each book has a new lesson. For example, Ron's book, Old Fart Survival Guide, teaches individuals how to bug-in or shelter in place with minimal work while still doing more for your long term comfort level. In general, Ron takes a backwoods approach of knowing your protein sources and obtaining them with minimal effort. In Our End of the Line, his newest book, the character carries a .22 short. Ron chose this caliber because of the limited amount of noise it makes. In an at home application .22 short is a cheaper ammo than most and it allows you to maximize your practice time.
Ron doesn't really have a favorite prepper author, although he does read a lot of SHTF plan. His favorite preparedness TV show was Colony. Not the drama, the show where they set up a group in a survival situation and filmed them to see how they would respond to the circumstances.
Another great quote from Ron: "If you don't know how to catch a bird, you'll be reduced to eating what birds eat."
If Ron had to leave his home with only one item, it would be his Henry .22. The second item he would bring is a poncho. Ron believes that in a long term survival situation, the biggest skill you could possess is the proper mindset. He believes that the ability to understand the physiology of the disaster will be your biggest asset when it comes to survival.
Featured Quote From Today's Chapter:
"They walked for miles that day through the strange haze that the world became."
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Featured Survival Product:
Family Prep Survival Kit-4 Person
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