recycled « Robin Writes

Well. We found another property—we’ve been looking since September, so almost six months. We’ve put in offers on two places; the first was a cluster from the get-go, and we ended up being the back-up contract, and it looks like it’s a no-go. The second place received five offers the same day, including ours, and we lost it too. Turned out to be a good thing—a hoarder’s house. That explained why so much interior had been removed from the cabin!

This new one, well, we were supposed to go look at it today, except snow happened. Lots of snow. And it’s bad here in the metro area, so I can only imagine what it’s like on the back roads . . .

Rather than wait, and lose out again, we, um, put in an offer last night. Sight unseen. Are we nuts?? Wait, don’t answer that yet!

See, the new place is 35 acres; it has a barn, a clean barn, with steel trusses. An old house, not worth much at all, which is by the country road with the barn. The drive goes back between them to the house—smack in the middle of the property, in the woods.

The house is 900 square feet, with one big bedroom, a bath, and a kitchen/living area. We can work with this. Even has a dishwasher, which I wasn’t planning on.

There IS some clean-up work to do—the elderly gentleman who just moved out has a lot of stuff—NOT hoarder-stuff, just stuff. He may have an auction; he may not. Doesn’t matter to us, either way.

Everything works, everything is clean. The property is a little farther out than I wanted, but in my husband’s mind, since it has a pond that evens things out. Still trying to make sense of that!

He said his first thing to do is call the conservation department and get the pond stocked.

*I* said his first thing to do was move the light fixture over the kitchen sink—it’s about 8 inches off!

I don’t often blog about my book series, REDUCED, because, well, you know how that goes. Besides, they’re all listed down the sidebar here—————->

But just in case you missed all that, and you want more info, I’ll lay it out all nice and neat. And of course, if you’ve read them, feel free to tell everyone how great they are!

[Should I insert a j/k or a wink here or something? Nah, you get that this is all a making-fun-of-promotions thing, right?]

A devastating biological agent is about to be released, to be tested in remote areas. Rumor has it, though, that there is more to this than meets the eye. One group makes plans to hide out, and survive, in case that rumor proves to be truth. Meeting at an abandoned summer camp near St. Louis, Missouri, a dozen old friends gather after the alarm is raised.

Life becomes more precious, more tenuous, as time passes. Government controls tighten, people are herded into the city…or killed. Towns are obliterated. And soon, the enemy agenda becomes obvious.

Abby, like the rest, has special skills – each member of the group was chosen not only because of past ties, but also for their unique training and abilities. She will come face-to-face with death, bear the responsibility for a young girl, and endure the severing of childhood relationships in the most terrible way imaginable.

From mere concealment to reconnaissance to aiding a rebellion, where will it end? Will the entire region be decimated, and who will be left alive to know?

Colonel Barton has been replaced, and the new commander is sending his henchman, Major Blake, to scour the outlying areas and remove any insurgents. Abby and the girls have remained in the cave at the camp, relatively safe for now, but plans are underway to eliminate all of them… for personal reasons, known only to the commander himself.

Soon, however, worlds will collide as Captain Alison Hinson is transferred in from Chicago. In spite of her background, Alison is horrified by the tactics of her superiors in the field and begins to question her own stance on the new government. As she puts together the pieces of the past, she realizes that she and Abby are kindred spirits, faced with a mission not of their own choosing but of circumstance.

Across the country, while officials and mercenaries live the high life, the citizenry are faced with more sanctions, more regulation, and fewer necessities.

Pockets of rebellion are quickly quelled, but incidents continue to increase as more people make the decision to go underground. Literally.

From abandoned caves below St. Louis itself to a subterranean river winding north into Illinois, REUSED will tell you more, perhaps, than you truly wish to know about the potential for the utter collapse of our civilization.

Survival had become a way of life since Co-opComm first launched VADER. Thirteen years had passed, and yet, Abby remained . . . she and the others prevailed where many had surrendered. And died.

Abby is tired. Tired of running and hiding. Tired of struggling, tired of fighting. Ultratron has a new secret weapon—a better, improved version. And the government-sponsored company has a new target, a more heinous plan.

Traveling to Chicago, the heart of the current regime, they come face-to-face with a new threat—or is it? Who is this mysterious Riley, and what does she know about the St. Louis compound? And how? Shadowy inhabitants arise from the depths of the city, but are they friend . . . or foe?

But Abby has only one objective: to defeat the government. Regardless of the cost.