In Which I bring forth snippets and shameful self-promotion

Hello all!

I suppose I'm just in a generous/self promotion kind of mood,because I decided that it would be fun to share part of my new(ish) book, Underground, which you can purchase in paperback form on Createspace.

With no further ado, The Author's Note, an introduction to Asurga.

Imagine for a moment, what would happen if your world as you know it now ceased to exist? What if your beliefs put you in mortal danger?

What if you had to fight for those who were helpless?

Welcome to Asurga, the only remnant left of an association known as The Council of Nations. 

In the early part of the twenty-first century, the super-power known as America flourished. Almost everyone had an education and enough to eat. But other countries had significant threats looming over them. The people of Israel desperately needed rescued from their Muslim attackers.  The Council of Nations debated for many years whether or not to come to Israel’s rescue. By the time they decided in the affirmative, the Promised Land was a heap of ashes.  In response, the governing people of America launched a monumental nuclear attack on the Muslims. The government assured citizens that the war would be over quickly. Instead, it dragged on for months, taking a greater toll on the world than any war before it. Entire countries were demolished, bombed, made uninhabitable. Historians called it World War Three, or, The Greatest War.

 After the end of the war, the people of Asurga began emerging from their charred homes and pulling together to form a close-knit community. Food was shared, medicine given, prayers spoken. Everyone helped his fellow man, and tried to lean on each other and on Jehovah as they struggled back to life. Historians have since called it one of the Great Awakenings. This spiritual awareness happened throughout all of Asurga. Asurga is a tiny country located under a place of wilderness now called The Great Woods. Being few of inhabitants, the Great Woods remained largely untouched. Asurga’s few remaining citizens straggled on foot to glean from the Woods and hunt the animals. They were helped by the residents of The Great Woods, who seemed more than happy to feed, clothe, and provide for the bedraggled citizens.

Shortly after the Great Emigration, an ambitious fellow from The Great Woods decided to merge the refugees with the current government. All refugees were instated as citizens. In The Great Woods, as in all the other countries before The Nuclear War, the government required each citizen to pay taxes. This posed a problem for the refugees. Very little remained of the currency system of the old country, so the people ruling The Great Woods struck a deal with the refugees. At the time of Asurga’s founding, other survivors were believed to exist, so a large militia was thought important to protect their relatively small patch of land. The Great Woods extended an offer to the new occupants: If you pledge to serve half of your adult life in our military, we will let you return to your country, and we will feed, clothe, and educate your children.

The offer, being a great improvement from their current situation, seemed like a bargain to the refugees who had starving families to feed.

In the beginning, Asurga started out as a grand idea, a carefully planned-out country where the leaders hoped to rectify the destruction that had resulted from the mistakes of their fathers.

Laws were set up to protect the religious liberties of every citizen. The newfound closeness of people to God held fast for the next hundred years as Asurga, with help from the Great Woods, focused on cleaning up the wreckage and seeking God above else. Churches were built, preachers were trained, everyone in all of Asurga called upon the name of Jehovah.

Save one.

There were whispers at the time of a militia general whose jealous anger burned against Jehovah, who wanted to take the glory for himself.

When asked by the First Asurga Press, the leading newspaper of the country, he denied it.

But there is an iota of truth in every rumor.

Whatever his motives, one day he went from humble general to self-proclaimed King of Asurga.

In the beginning of his rule, not a whole lot changed. But toward the end of his life, it is said that he wanted to ensure that Asurga would never forget his name. On his deathbed, he signed into law The Proclamation, declaring war on Religion, and requiring all known Christians to be distinguished with a marking, making them targets to the rest of Asurga.

With The Proclamation, the King had swept away every bit of progress and success that Asurga had struggled toward since the Nuclear War.

A few rebellious ones claimed that the early laws of Asurga had prepared for a possible despot and provided for extensive requirements if anyone ever tried to create a far-reaching order that would affect a large portion of the population.

These whisperings, and the people who made them, were soon eliminated. But the ideas carried on to the next generation, keeping the hope and suspicion alive.

Eventually, the King passed, and with his death, the situation in Asurga improved slightly, but the effects of the Proclamation were long and far-reaching. Every attempt to negate the law was overruled by those who had been politically close to the First King.

The children of Asurga grew up without any knowledge of what they had lost, what could have been theirs if they had been born a short one hundred years before.

In essence, they had no idea what a nightmarish world they lived in, because that’s all they had ever known.

It is in this world that our story opens.

And it is in this world that we see our future.

Thanks for reading! And remember, if you feel so inclined, Underground  is available on both Createspace and Amazon.

-Shannon