North Korean launch is a deadly threat to this country

Gingrich and author warn that the North Korean launch is a deadly threat to this country

Black Mountain, NC, March 30, 2009 – North Korea has announced it intends to launch a satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8.  They have come under immense criticism from many countries over this launch but they are determined to continue.  In fact, JapanÂ’s defense minister is considering mobilizing a missile shield to protect citizens in the event the launch fails.  The website NEWSMAX is featuring an op-ed piece by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and author William R. Forstchen, that links the potential of a North Korea launch with the threat of EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse).  North Korea has stated that if anyone interferes with the launch, it will be considered an act of war.  Due to the devastating outcome of an EMP threat to this country, it will be a war that is entirely the fault of North Korea.

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/grigrich_emp_weapon/2009/03/29/197257.html?promo_code=2A89-1

The gamma and x-ray effects of EMP on this country would be catastrophic.  Not a single electronic would escape the power of this magnetic force.  It would wipe out televisions, radios, phones (including cell phones), automobilesÂ…literally anything that depends on wire, metal, antennas or power lines.  There would be no way of keeping food cold, no way of heating or cooling homes, no medicine available, no food in supermarkets – nothing!  In one second, the entire power grid, communications network and transportation system of the United States will come to a grinding halt.

Dr. William R. Forstchen, masterful author of One Second After (TOR/Forge Books), devoted years of research to EMP and while the story is written as fiction, it is based on cold, solid facts.  This is the story of what might transpire in the year after an EMP attack - an attack (according to one Congressional study) that could leave upwards of ninety percent of the American population dead from disease, starvation and civil break down.  The respect Dr. Forstchen has earned for this concise and accurate story has resulted in his book being cited before the House Armed Services Committee as a grim but realistic look at the outcome after an attack by EMP weapons. 

One Second After is the story of Professor John Matherson; ex-military; single parent of two young daughters and a history professor at a small college in the mountains of western North Carolina when the attack occurs.  With his military background, he knows immediately what has happened while his neighbors believe it is just another power failure.  In the days to come, grim reality sets in as refugees from nearby cities flock to the country.  There is still no form of communication; pharmacies, hospitals and nursing homes run out of supplies; supermarket shelves are bare, and law and order h eads towards complete collapse as thousands die and survivors scramble to stay alive.  When members of his small town band together under his leadership they are not sure how long they can hold out without supplies or against the armed gangs who are pouring out of ravaged cities, ready to loot and kill all in their path.  With only a few short months of insulin left for his youngest daughter - for John and his family it becomes a descent into hell!

Conversations with long-time friend Newt Gingrich, inspired NY Times best-selling author Dr. Forstchen to write this book and lead to an introduction to Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.,MD), head of the Congressional Investigative Committee on EMP and whose 2004 report declared an EMP attack presented the single biggest threat to America.  Before the House Armed Services Committee, the Congressman endorsed FortstchenÂ’s book in hopes that its searing, emotional story will arouse the American public to action before time runs out. 

As an editor with Aviation Week and Space Technology declared “it is not a question of ifÂ…it is only a question of when.”  Check out this brilliant author and his action-packed thriller at www.onesecondafter.com.

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TIP SHEET:

CNN International News Report

The United States has no plans to shoot down the North Korean rocket, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in an interview with CNN's Jill Dougherty, but will raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang carries out a launch.

"We are doing our best to dissuade the North Koreans from going forward, because it is provocative action," Clinton said. "It raises questions about their compliance with the Security Council Resolution 1718. And if they persist and go forward, we will take it up in appropriate channels."

Book Reviews:

Stephen Coonts, author of The Assassin, says about the book: “Civilization slides into the abyss of a new dark age in his horrifying apocalyptic novel.  Forstchen has put Bin LadenÂ’s wet dream on paper and, in the process, taken civilization straight to the rack.”

Joel Rosenberg, author of The Sleeping Dragon, says: “Forstchen’s work has flair and power.”

David Hagberg, author of Dance with the Dragon, sums it up with: “Good storytelling consists very simply of creating characters so believable that the reader forms a deep bond.  Forstchen did such a damned fine job with One Second After that shortly after the first page, I had been reeled in

hook, line and sinker.”

Whitney Scott (Booklist) writes: “In a Norman Rockwell town in North Carolina ….ex-servicemen recall “Korea in ‘51” as military action by unlikely people becomes the norm in Forstchen’s sad, riveting, cautionary tale; the premise of which Newt Gingrich’s foreword says is completely possible.”

W.E.B. Griffin and Wm. E. Butterworth, IV add: “The only thing more terrifying than this masterfully crafted story is the possibility of it actually happening – and not a damn thing being done to protect us.”