Patriots (novel series)

Much of Patriots takes place in the Intermountain west, specifically in the Palouse Hills region, in and around Moscow, Idaho.

Cover of the first edition of Survivors.

Much of Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse takes place in the Four Corners 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.[15] Rawles and Survivors were the centerpiece of a Vancouver Sun article by Kim Murphy about the American Redoubt movement that was run by dozens of newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.[16] Marvin Olasky of World magazine called Survivors "...not as well-written as some articles Rawles has penned"[17]

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. ISBN 978-8490182734.[13] A Kindle edition in Spanish was also released in May, 2014. Additional translations into French, German, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Korean are planned.

Cover of the first edition of Founders.

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.[14] 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.[18]

Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse is set primarily in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Montana.[19] It details how U.S. Army Captain Andy Laine infiltrates the Provisional Government's New Army headquartered at Fort Knox 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[14] 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.[18]

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")."[14]

The third sequel in the Patriots series is entitled Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse (ISBN 9780525953906). It was written under contract for E.P. Dutton. The book was released on October 1, 2013.[20] It is set "primarily in central Florida, the Philippines, and northern Australia." The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr.[21] 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."[22]

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 [installment in the novel series]" and also mentioned that "Supporters of the 'prepper' movement…will lap up every detail."[23][24] Jeff Soyer of North Country Review of Books gave the novel a three star rating overall, and a four star rating for Writing Style.[25] Mark Rubinstein of The Huffington Post called the book "[A]nother entertaining and thought-provoking novel, describing steps people can take in the event of a global collapse."[26] 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.[27] 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.

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.[28]