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Alva Press, Inc.
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Sunday, November 7, 2010
What Makes Survival a Dirty Word?
My whole purpose in writing Jolt: a rural noir, was to
encourage dialogue on the question of 'survival', which for many remains such a dirty word that they refuse to discuss it--or
at least they do if one refers to it as 'survival'.
Oh, one can get away with suggestions such
as, "Hey, there's a pencil on the floor. Don't fall on it." Or one can suggest, "Feel
like taking a walk today?" As long as the idea is within the scope of what everyone is used to talking
about it's fine--despite the fact that, at one level or another, in a sense it also refers to survival: survival based on
being informed, preventing injuries, or preventing illness.
So with any luck, we could probably
talk about the shingles vaccination if I explained how yesterday I got a shingles shot at one of the local Rite
Aid Pharmacies--which by the way, is true. And maybe I could get away with stating how people over fifty
who have had chicken pox are most vulnerable to shingles. But then maybe you deny any knowledge of just what shingles
is, so I say, "Well, it's a kind of a rash that can become excruciatingly painful and debilitating, especially if
it becomes recurring."
You mention how you knew some one who had it on their side--once. So I mention
how it's caused by the chicken pox virus and I have a friend who has the recurring form. He's had it for a year
and has to constantly take pain killers to make it through the day and to sleep at night.
Your silence and
facial expression tells me I have pushed just a bit too close to your lack of willingness to talk about really scary
subjects. I push the envelope anyway and ramble on
I mention how I needed a doctor's
prescription after which it took months of waiting for the vaccine to come in and how I had to get it at the drug store as
it is a live vaccine and comes in frozen and they don't usually deliver it to the doctor's office for that reason.
You nod. And maybe you look busy.
Heaven forbid you might be affected by anything that sounds so much like an
STD--even though it isn't.
But I don't stop. I want to tell you that I learned from the druggist about
how most insurances don't cover it, although the Medicare Part D prescription coverage does. And how without insurance,
it costs. About two hundred and fifty dollars to be exact. And how it is better to get it before the age of fifty for the
best protection, but getting it anytime is better than not getting it at all.
You give me a wan smile and change
the topic.
And here I am, still wanting to talk about nuclear survival, or at least trying to get you to purchase
Jolt: a rural noir through Amazon.com so afterward with any luck you might be more willing to talk about the common
sense aspects of responding to nuclear meltdowns and mass emigrations.
And again, you change the subject.
Roberta in Po-Town, Chasin' a ghost with a stick
6:33 pm est
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Roberta M. Roy incorporated Alva Press www.alvapressinc.com on October 5, 2004. The express purpose of Alva Press, Inc., was to ensure a safe venue for
the publication of her works and those with similar focus. As such, upon the completion of the science
fiction novel Jolt: a rural noir, Alva would immediately publish it. Further Alva Press, Inc., would offer a
venue for Roy to publish her children's books, including Yell'n'Tell. (At this point Yell'n'Tell needs
only design as the watercolor illustrations by Dan Dyen are complete and the text fully edited. But then there is also Wedding
Ready, complete, but in need of an illustrator talented in the art of drawing forest animals. But all that anon.)
Currently, until the soft cover version of Jolt's Library of Congress Number
is in, Jolt waits to go to press. Usually the LCN takes but a few days after which will become available in hard cover
at $24.95 and Trade paper at $14.95 (plus $5.50 mailing).
Jolt
was some five years in the writing; its research took longer. It's scientific basis for nuclear survival has been
carefully reviewed by oncologists and experts in the effects of ionizing radiation for accuracy of representation. Jolt
is a fast-paced novel that spans two years in the lives of a group of diverse urban, suburban, and rural residents brought
together in an imaginary part of the northern United States. There in Locklee, the small town to which those who are forced
emigrants flee, they become mutually caught up in the necessities associated with post-nuclear survival.
Check www.alvapressinc.com for a more thorough review of Jolt as well as the most recent updates on its publication
and availability. And should you be so inclined and care to help defray the last payment of its first printing, a check
in the mail to Alva Press for your very own pre-publication autographed copy of Jolt: a rural noir would be a
great help.
Thinking of self-publishing? Emergency response? Send your questions, comments or ideas to RobertaMRoy@alvapressinc.com With your permission, we may choose
to publish on this web site, questions posed of particular interest to the community with your or our
answers. |
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If you
haven't ordered your prepublication copy of Jolt: a rural noir, now is the time to do. Go to www.alvapressinc.com
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1) If you walk out uninjured from a nuclear event, you probably will survive. 2)
The
bywords to survival from
a nuclear event are TDS: Time,
Distance, Shielding. 3) Use regular soap and water to decontaminate from fallout.Strip and shower or cleanse as best you can. Use bread. 4) Nuclear fallout contaminates open water and plants.If there is fallout (ashes),use bottled water and canned goods. 5) Babies as well as adults can take Potassium Iodide (KI) to protectthe thyroid against ionizing radiation. 6) There is no plume with a nuclear power plant meltdown. 7) A large event may seem ‘over there’ if you can’t define its impact.Ionizing radiation is invisible. 8) A family needs an escape plan. 9) A community can respond as a team to mass events. 10) After a mass event, a communitymay heal changed but well.
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Alva Press, Inc., PO Box 2089, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA Telephone (919) 239-3791 Phone/Fax (845) 454-5200
http://alvapressinc.com/id50.html
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