<![CDATA[Julie L. Casey - News]]>Sun, 25 Jan 2026 16:47:14 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[The best books about an apocalyptic event that causes a dystopian future]]>Sat, 24 Jan 2026 22:17:49 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/the-best-books-about-an-apocalyptic-event-that-causes-a-dystopian-futureClick here to view my list for the best books about an apocalyptic event that causes a dystopian future.
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Book III of the Teenage Survivalist series now available!]]>Sun, 06 Aug 2017 02:58:28 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/book-iii-of-the-teenage-survivalist-series-now-available
Picture

ICE QUEEN: Teenage Survivalist III

Taylor knows what it takes to survive. She’s been surviving on her own as long as she can remember while her parents alternated between drug-induced catatonia to rehab to jail. But does she have what it takes to survive the failure of the world's power grids, her parent's and older brother's painful withdrawal from drugs, and the emergence of the mental diseases the drugs have been masking for years? Unlike her friends from books I and II—happy-go-lucky Bracken and brooding avoider Ben—Taylor analyzes each aspect of her harsh new reality with candor and quirky observations.

​Published by Amazing Things Press.

Buy the Book
]]><![CDATA[2015 Kindle Book Awards Semi-finalist]]>Fri, 14 Aug 2015 00:57:42 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/2015-kindle-book-awards-semi-finalist

How I Became a Teenage Survivalist has been chosen as a semi-finalist in the 2015 Kindle Book Awards! Finalists will be chosen September 1st and the winners on October 1st. Congratulations to all the semi-finalists and good luck in the finals.
]]><![CDATA[Review of How I Became a Teenage Survivalist]]>Tue, 11 Mar 2014 23:13:57 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/review-of-how-i-became-a-teenage-survivalistPicture
Nice review from Salvation and Survival

The Perfect Book For Your Teenager
     World events are hard enough to comprehend and face for adults.  In fact, I would venture that many will find themselves uninformed and ill-prepared should any number of likely scenarios come to fruition.  So, if mature Americans are scared of facing their fears, think of what it is like for our younger generations; especially those in their teenage years who are on the cusp of reaching for their future goals.  How do we brace them for the possibility of disruption to their daily lives, and instruct them on getting through the coming chaos, without scaring the living daylights out of them?  The profusion of "Survival" books on the market have not been suitable for our younger populace ... until now.
     Author Julie L. Casey has provided not only an informative approach, but an educational and entertaining way to reach our kids and move them towards a prepper mindset.  She has written a book, entitled How I Became A Teenage Survivalist, in which she appeals to the teenage sense of adventure while subtly tutoring them in the fine art of survival.  The book is written from the viewpoint of sixteen-year-old Bracken, but has characters that will appeal to younger teenagers as well as the older ones about to enter adulthood.  
     Bracken begins his story after the advent of PF (Power Failure) Day.  He recounts how a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the sun changed his and his family's lives abruptly and permanently.  The author is able to weave survival situations into the plot that will make your teenagers think of the repercussions of such an event.  At the same time, she provides the solutions that the family and their neighbors develop so that your kids can see that they can adapt and thrive without modern conveniences.  I especially liked that the storyline was appealing and natural; it wasn't contrived in order to present a "how to" survival manual.  That would be a turnoff to teenage readers.
     Instead, the book is able to present events in a manner that will captivate the interest of this age group.  What would it be like to live in a world where there is no electricity?  Bracken and his brothers are resourceful in inventing ways to make pop bottle "lightbulbs", and homemade washing machines.  They learn the value of working the land for their food, how to conserve the gasoline they have, and enjoy riding horses into town to visit their friends.  Their mother introduces them to the many ways herbs can be used for medicinal purposes, and ... gasp! ... they even realize that they don't miss all the electronic gadgets and technological time-wasters they had before PF Day!
     The author also includes a touch of light romance in her story that is sure to appeal to both girls and boys as they begin to explore the concept of love in their teenage years.  But lest you think the book is all sunshine and lollipops, Julie Casey introduces her readers to the dark side of what an electro-magnetic pulse can bring.  She doesn't shy away from the violence that will inevitably come as those who live in the city begin roaming the countryside in search for food and shelter.  She introduces the concept of martial law (being careful to keep it more benign than it likely will be) and the right to defend one's self and property.  She also informs her readers that many people will die due to the lack of life-saving equipment and medical supplies.  She doesn't overly sentimentalize what our lives will be like, and she presents the information in an ever-widening awareness of the reality of life without electricity, without uniform law, and with only our ingenuity and our ability to care for each other to see us through.  
     If you are struggling with a way to approach your teenagers with the topic of survival training or prepping for The End of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI), I suggest that you use this book as a conversation starter.  Your teenager will likely have lots of questions about your own personal situation and you can begin a dialogue about how he/she can take part in preparing your family for a possible breakdown of society.  In fact, this book stresses the importance of family.  Everyone, including grandparents and the youngest sibling, have value in protecting the family unit during turbulent times.  Think of I Was A Teenage Survivalist as a kinder, gentler strategy to introduce the younger members of your family to some scary concepts.  And to be honest, it's not too juvenile for the timid adults among us, either.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars!

This book is available on Amazon for under $10 in paperback, and 99 cents for the Kindle version. Not a bad investment to bring your kids into "the real world."  Click on the Title link in the post to go to Amazon and order today!
]]><![CDATA[Sequel to How I Became a Teenage Survivalist Now Available as eBook]]>Tue, 11 Mar 2014 23:07:01 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/sequel-to-how-i-became-a-teenage-survivalist-now-available-as-ebookPicture
Ben's 13th year was when his family fell apart, but his 14th year is when his whole world, or more precisely, the whole world, collapses. He had thought 13 was his unlucky number, the year that Time turned its back on him, but he was wrong; that year, it was he who had turned his back on Time. The following year, the fury of the sun turns back Time for everyone in the world.

On PF (Power Failure) Day, a huge electromagnetic surge from the sun destroys the power grids and civilization as we know it. Living in the middle of downtown Kansas City makes survival nearly impossible. Starvation, dehydration, disease, freezing temperatures, and out-of-control fires imperil the desperate population. After facing unimaginable losses, Ben finds hope for the future when he meets Sara, who has endured her own share of agonizing loss. But when a murderous gang threatens to take away everything Ben has left, they flee to a wilderness area of a large city park where they learn to live off the land for survival.

Click here to buy on Amazon.
]]><![CDATA[Interview in the Kansas City Star]]>Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:19:54 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/interview-in-the-kansas-city-starRead this article, Could a Giant Sunburst Unplug Earth? in the Kansas City Star. 

PictureJOHN SLEEZER
Could a Giant Sunburst Unplug Earth?
February 15
BY RICK MONTGOMERY
The Kansas City Star

Julie L. Casey, a St. Joseph area author of young-adult books, can’t help but ponder the possibilities.

“Everything shuts down,” said Casey, of rural Union Star, Mo. “Without electricity, there is no manufacturing. No medicines. No processed food.

“No gasoline could be refined or even oil drilled.”

Such thoughts compelled her to write a novel published last year, “How I Became a Teenage Survivalist.” It tells of a Missouri farm boy’s triumph in the wake of a massive sun flare that took away the conveniences he knew.

Her publisher, Pants on Fire Press, will soon release a sequel set in downtown Kansas City.

Different boy. Same geomagnetic storm.

The second book is scarier than the first, which served up more hope than horror.

“We can learn to live without electricity,” Casey said she was initially thinking. “Ask any survivalist. The best place to be is out on a farm.”

But in the city?

Spoiler alert: In her sequel, downtown becomes a disease-stricken ruin.

Read more here: www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article339245.html


]]><![CDATA[Exclusive Interview with Examiner.com]]>Fri, 17 Jan 2014 23:53:40 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/exclusive-interview-with-examinercomCheck out this exclusive interview I gave Examiner.com: examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-with-julie-l-casey.

Thank you to Daniel Calder for the interview! Also, check out his other articles at examiner.com and his ebook The Dietitian's Guide to Eating Bugs!
Picture
Exclusive interview with Julie L. Casey

Daniel Calder St. Petersburg Sustainable Living Examiner

January 17, 2014

This writer was fortunate enough to have been granted an exclusive interview with Julie L. Casey, author of the novel How I Became a Teenage Survivalist. Julie's interest in the topic of survivalism dates back to her childhood: "Even as a child, my games were always about living as they did in olden times, either as a pioneer or a Native American. As an adult, I've often daydreamed about how we would live if life was less modern, but I never thought of it in terms of a post-apocalyptic, survivalist situation until I wrote How I Became a Teenage Survivalist" (Casey). She likewise believes that children would benefit from legitimate survivalist knowledge beyond mere games:

"I believe all children would benefit from knowing several of those skills, and homeschooling is a great environment to learn them. However, at my husband's small school (he's a public school science teacher), the 8th grade English class read HIBATS the last week of school, and then went on a 24-hour survivalist campout where they learned many survival skills, like making a rocket stove, foraging for a wild salad, and fishing for their supper. My husband, our homeschooled sons, and I got to go along and share our knowledge with them. It was an awesome experience. I am now working on a curriculum to go along with the book that would allow teachers, parents, librarians, book clubs, and anyone else who is interested to try some survival skills at a level that is appropriate for their situations" (Casey).

Indeed, she is convinced that the time may come in our own lifetimes during which such survivalist knowledge will be of great importance to us:

'There's no doubt that at sometime during our lives, we will most likely all be faced with some kind of situation where survival skills will be a boon, if not a necessity. Natural disasters, war, economic collapse, or even cyber attacks can all cause massive power grid failures. For us, one such disaster was the 1997 Midwest Ice Storm, which left us and most of the region without power for seven days. It was a rude awakening to how much we depend on electricity to survive. We were lucky that we could still drive to an area with power, but it made me start thinking about a situation in which there would be nowhere to go for help. After reading about the Carrington Event of 1859...I knew that a CME (coronal mass ejection) from a solar superstorm could pose this kind of global threat(Casey)

While it was not originally her intention, per se, to become a spokeswoman for the importance of survivalism, she quickly realized that the importance of having such knowledge would constitute a central element of the narrative: :I didn't start out writing the story with the intent to proselytize about the importance of survival skills, but I soon realized that would be one of the main foci of the story. Another is the importance of pulling together as families and neighbors to find solutions to the problems of survival(Casey)

Apart from an interest in the utility of survivalism, Casey also notes that her interest in the subject stems naturally from her independent personality: "I have found that life goes much smoother when you don't have to depend on someone/something else to do for you. Personal responsibility and independence is something I preach strongly to my sons"(Casey)

She notes that the most important elements of survivalism consist of "the knowledge to be able to find and sanitize water, find and grow food, heat your home, and treat diseases and injuries"(Casey). She elaborates:

'Therefore, knowledge is the key to survival. The most important skills: finding adequate shelter (if staying in your home, this includes a safe way to heat it in cold temperatures), finding and purifying water, then foraging for and growing food, in that order. In an extreme survival situation, one should follow the rule of threes: you can survive only three hours in extreme conditions without adequate shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food(Casey).'

For fans of her work, she has already finished the first draft of her sequel to the novel. It will be published by Pants on Fire Press sometime 2014:

'Instead of being a continuation of the story in HIBATS, it is a parallel story, the story of Ben, a kid who appears about halfway through HIBATS. Ben survives the first year and a half after Power Failure Day in Kansas City and barely manages to stay alive long enough to make it out of the city. He faces unimaginable loss, devastating thirst and hunger, and many terrifying situations. As any survivalist will tell you, being in a big city is the worst place to be in this kind of situation. While HIBATS I shows the best case scenario of survival, HIBATS II shows the worst(Casey)

(J. Casey, personal communication, January 17, 2014).



]]><![CDATA[How I Became a Teenage Survivalist nominated for a Cybil Award]]>Tue, 12 Nov 2013 02:50:59 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/how-i-became-a-teenage-survivalistnominated-for-acybil-awardPicture
Award-Winning Children’s Book Publisher Receives Six Nominations For Cyblis Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov. 11, 2013 - WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- Florida Children’s book publisher, Pants On Fire Press, is pleased to announce thatTales from Farlandia: Ozette's Destiny by Judy Pierce, Resilient by Patricia Vanasse, How I Became a Teenage Survivalist by Julie L. Casey,I Am Currency by Whitney Grady, Paranormal Properties by Tracy Lane and A Butterfly Without Wings by David M. F. Powers have been nominated for the 2013 Cybils Awards, or Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards.
The Cybils Awards are a series of book awards given by children's and young adult book bloggers. The awards were created to address an apparent gap between children's book awards perceived as too elitist and other awards that did not seem selective enough.

Books are nominated by the public in ten genres of children's and young adult literature: Book Apps, Easy Readers & Short Chapter Books, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Novels, Non-Fiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Books, Non-Fiction Picture Books, Poetry, and Young Adult Novels. Nominees go through two rounds of panel-based judging before a winner is announced in each category. Finalists and winners are selected on the basis of literary merit and kid appeal.

About the books:

Tales From Farlandia: Ozette’s Destiny by Judy Pierce

Ozette, a white squirrel, must flee Earth World when she is wrongly blamed for the destruction of their sacred woods simply because she is different. Clutching only a golden acorn, Ozette escapes to Farlandia, a magical kingdom where her grandmother has said the young squirrel will find her destiny.

·  Series: Tales From Farlandia
·  Paperback: 162 pages
·  Publisher: Pants On Fire Press; 1 edition (February 14, 2013)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-13: 978-0982727195

Resilientby Patricia Vanasse

While searching for their identity, two unique teenagers find each other, but so does the military mastermind who created them.

·  Perfect Paperback: 324 pages
·  Publisher: Pants On Fire Press; 1 edition (September 2, 2013)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-13: 978-0986037320

How I Became A Teenage Survivalist by Julie L. Casey

A post-apocalyptic tale in which Earth is hit with a solar superstorm, and 15-year-old Bracken and his family must figure out how to survive without electricity.

·  Paperback: 260 pages
·  Publisher: Pants On Fire Press; 1 edition (March 27, 2013)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-13: 978-0982727119

I Am Currencyby Whitney Grady

Knowledge is power, but what if it were currency? In a post-technological age, after books have been replaced with digital counterparts (and then lost completely) remembered knowledge is invaluable. So for tenth grader Nevel, having a photographic memory is a secret his family has struggled to keep.

·  Hardcover: 190 pages
·  Publisher: Pants On Fire Press (October 21, 2013)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-10: 0986037397
·  ISBN-13: 978-0986037399

Paranormal Propertiesby Tracy Lane

While working on the set of his parent’s ghost hunting TV show, 14-year-old Jake Weir discovers that he can see, hear and talk to ghosts. This talent comes in handy when he makes a deal with the ghost of Frank Barrone, a gunned down lounge singer made famous by his booze-soaked ballad, Barroom Eyes.

·  Paperback: 192 pages
·  Publisher: Pants On Fire Press; 1 edition (February 14, 2013)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-13: 978-0982727171

A Butterfly Without Wingsby David M. F. Powers

When a caterpillar spots a green leaf waving from the top of a tree, he does not think twice about the dangers lurking about. Instead, he comes up with a plan to trick those who would otherwise eat him by making them think he is a butterfly with wings.

·  Hardcover: 48 pages
·  Publisher: Pants On Fire Press (August 27, 2013)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-13: 978-0982727126

Pants On Fire Press is an award-winning Florida children's book publisher of picture, middle-grade and young adult books. We publish big story ideas with high concepts, new worlds and meaty characters for children, teens and discerning adults. Disney is our heritage which is why we strive to follow a high degree of excellence while maintaining high-quality standards. Titles we publish will tell stories that entertain. At Pants On Fire Press entertainment is everything. We are always on the lookout for Action, Adventure, Animals, Comedic, Dramatic, Dystopian, Fantasy, Historical, Paranormal, Romance, Sci-fi, Supernatural and Suspense stories. www.pantsonfirepress.com

Contact
Pants On Fire Press
***@pantsonfirepress.com

Read more here:  Cybil Award
]]><![CDATA[How I Became a teenage Survivalist review by Readers' Favorite]]>Mon, 11 Nov 2013 02:51:31 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/how-i-became-a-teenage-survivalistreview-byreaders-favorite
Book Review
Reviewed by Kim Anisi for Readers' Favorite

When the power goes out on PF Day (PF for Power Failure), Bracken, the main character in How I Became A Teenage Survivalist by Julie L. Casey, realizes that he is quite lucky. He lives on a farm with his family and they have everything they need to survive: their own vegetables and animals, and a will to adapt. And adapting is something that becomes very important when you have no power - which means there is no fridge to keep things cool, no lights, no heaters, and no video games. Bracken's family will have to learn to survive - not only will they have to become even more self-sufficient than before, there's also the problem with looters who would like to help themselves to whatever they can find.

Reading How I Became A Teenage Survivalist had a number of effects on me: it entertained me, it taught me about a variety of alternative power sources, and it kept me thinking about what I would do if something like the PF day ever happened to me. That's a whole heap of things for a book to do! Usually books either entertain or teach you - but only the really good ones combine this. Julie L. Casey did a great job. The book is well written and very well researched. If you manage to keep all of the information in your head, then you'll already have a few good pointers on what to do if you ever find yourself without power for a long time. But if you only look for entertainment, the book also delivers - it's really hard to put down.

Read more here: Readers' Favorite
]]><![CDATA[How I Became a Teenage Survivalist Book trailer posting and review by Bookkaholics.com]]>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 01:52:08 GMThttp://www.julielcasey.com/news/how-i-became-a-teenage-survivalistbook-trailer-posting-and-review-bybookkaholicscomI liked the book trailer for How I Became a Teenage Survivalist by Julie Casey. I think it brought everything you needed to be put into a standard book trailer especially for the young adult readers. A little suspense couldn’t hurt, but overall it look professional, the audio was clear, and the plot was easy to understand. The narrator’s voice was nice and the characters all gave a feeling of what it would be like to read the book.

It’s interesting to see a book asking young people to think about what they take advantage of. Whether young people want to read about this is another question.

Read more here: Bookkaholics.com
]]>