“Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre” is the latest novel from Max Brooks, who gave us the NY Times #1 bestseller “World War Z.”  The latter was a remarkably well-researched picture of how societal breakdown would probably actually take place in something like a zombie apocalypse, and Brooks has taken the same approach with a different mythical monster: Sasquatch.

            The story is set near Mount Rainier, a volcano that has not erupted since the 19th Century, but does so in the novel.  At the center of the tale is the appropriately named Greenloop, an idealized community of well-off Progressives located far from civilization.  The newest high tech computers and devices abound. The politics are Green, the eating habits are Green, and you can just about imagine a life-size poster of AOC on a wall somewhere in every perfect home. The residents presumably use their Teslas to drive a long distance to shop at Whole Foods and Trader Vic’s, because Greenloop is not a Backwoods Home shade of green: there is no evidence of crops, livestock, or other self-reliant food production there.

            And, of course, there are no firearms in Greenloop.

            But then Mount Rainier – nearly twice the size of Mount St. Helens, and you remember that — erupts violently. Greenloop escapes damage, but the surrounding roads are wiped out by lahars, volcanic mudflows. Cell towers are down and communications are completely cut off.  There is no more food to be had.  Wildlife flees the fire and lava…and so does a family of Yetis.  Who make their way to Greenloop.

            And are very hungry.

            These Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) are very smelly, very large, very strong, very mean and very well coordinated in strategic pack hunting. One by one, they kill and eat the humans.  It is sad as the Greenloop residents discover that paring knives don’t work well to fend off large hairy monsters, and arrows aren’t much better. They learn that their decorative bamboo can be fashioned into spears, and that it’s hard to fight on 500 calories a day as their food supply dwindles. In the end, there are only two survivors – a once-starry-eyed young woman who has learned to face reality the hard way, and an orphan child for whom she has become the guardian.  As the book closes, they have set off into the woods with jerky they’ve made from the flesh of slain Yetis. Whether their goal is to kill more sasquatches or find civilization is unclear.

            Personally, I see it as a validation of the gun owner’s life style. With the right hardware, the battle would have lasted about one medium-long chapter, and the hunger problem would have been solved with hundreds of pounds of protein.

26 COMMENTS

  1. With cell towers down and the resulting lack of internet access, how does the lady learn how to butcher a Sasquatch/Bigfoot (a new TV commercial features a Bigfoot who complains that his name is actually Dave) and make jerky?

  2. The problem with including realistic use of firearms in monster movies is the movie becomes rather short.

    Even a T-Rex goes down very quickly with one 30-06 round to a knee joint.

      • Decades ago there was a short done on the premise above. You saw a reflection of a young lady obviously home alone at night. Windy, noises that could have been branches scratching against the house and some other noises. The camera was the young lady’s eyes, going to each sound. Eventually, she decides she needs to check the basement. Goes down the stairs, turns and some threat (gimme a break, 40+ years ago) appears from beneath the stairs. And, she blows him/it away with a double barrel shotgun. End

        Extremely well done. May have been someone’s UCLA film school project that very obviously studied Hitchcock and learned from the master.

    • Who thinks to shoot a T-Rex in the knee? Gregory Michael Capstick has been gone for a long time now.

  6. One thing, uncle Mas: Sasquatch/Bigfoot is indeed real. A friend in Canada (retired RCMP) has seen credible evidence of this.

  9. It sshould be quite interesting to see what develops with the coming election. How many are truly learning lessons of nature. And seeing beyond the facade of current events and trends.

  10. As I sit here in Redmond not all that far from those famous mountains, I chuckle. Just back from a walk with grandchildren, I am acutely frustrated with the fact that I will not get to visit the gun range I heard off in the distance and that I Am walking around for the first time since leaving RI with only less than lethal tools at my disposal. And more so that I will not get to visit or train with Marty and Gila a bit south of here. Maybe on the next cross country? Regardless, I wonder at the (likely) greater natural event on the horizon … the Yellowstone cauldron. I read fictional story about it’s eruption in the nit too distant future. Guns were not a primary thought at the time but communications and knowledge were. Ham Radio, experience with eruptions and more were elucidated in the book (shovel volcanic ash off your roof much?)

  11. Bought the ebook and downloaded it to my Kindle earlier in the week. I am looking forward to reading it. I live about 20 miles from Mt Rainier National Park, but unlike the Greenloops settlement, my neighbors and I are all pretty well prepared and trained.

  12. I read World War Z when it first came out. It was excellent. It was way better than the movie, and the movie was pretty good. I’m going to have to get Max’s latest book. Hopefully it will be as good.

  14. Also, for Paul S: the US Geological Survey says a Yellowstone Caldera “event” is actually very unlikely. It just isn’t that kind of volcano.
    Sitting right next to the King-Pierce county line as I do, I keep a close eye on the various USGS Volcano Observatory accounts.

  15. Mas, have you ever read “Alas Babylon”? It was written in 1959 and when I read it in 1984, during my time in the service, I swore it was a new book. It was a great read.
    Larry Cunningham

    • “Alas Babylon” is still a very good read. Similar are Bruce “Buckshot” Hemming’s – “Grid Down” – series, as well as William Forstchen’s “One Second After” series.

  16. Based on what we learned in LFI1, you suggested that it rarely if ever made sense to shoot to protect property. Considering even the most justifiable shooting carries with it six and seven figure legal bills, it makes more sense to let the criminal take the property, and call the insurance company.

    Should that apply to your home? If those five hundred descend on your property, should you try to leave your house, and escape? I know Castle Doctrine applies here, but you’re still going to be left with the aftermath of a shooting over property.

  17. World War Z has some parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic in that they (a) both started in China and (b) both hit the U.S.A during an election year.

    Fortunately, Covid-19 only turns people into unemployed, mask-wearers rather than flesh-eating zombies. Also, Covid-19 comes with an “expiration date”. The Covid-19 pandemic will effectively be over on November 4th, 2020. The day AFTER the 2020 Presidential Election.

    If, by an evil chance, Joe Biden happens to win the contest, then the Anti-American Media will not want his first term tainted by Covid-19. While the virus may remain active (in the real world), the REPORTING on it will melt away like a dusting of snow in the August heat! By the date of Biden’s inauguration, there will not even be a “whisper” about the virus in media reporting. All those CDC and Covid-19 websites will vanish into that void where all of the old internet stuff goes to die.

    On the other hand, if President Trump wins re-election, it is still likely to fade away. The only reason to hype it now is to continue to hurt the economy so as to hurt President Trump’s re-election chances. If President Trump wins re-elected anyway, then the strategy will have failed.

    The pattern has been to push these attacks upon President Trump ONLY so long as they have a chance of working. Once they fail, they get quickly dropped and some new effort then gets cooked up. Consider the following:

    1) The Russia Hoax was pushed for a long time because, with the Mueller investigation still underway, there was hope of it working. Once the Mueller investigation ended and his final report was released, and nothing of significance was found, the matter died away. While a few Democrats still cling bitterly to “Russia, Russia, Russia”; most have moved on.

    2) The same thing with the Stormy Daniels stuff. With Michael Avenatti’s arrest, it is “toast”.

    3) The slander effort against Justice Kavanaugh was the same. It was pushed HARD as long as it had a chance of working. Once the Senate voted to confirm him, however, it melted away.

    4) The pattern repeats itself with the Ukraine Impeachment effort. It was pushed HARD as long as it had a chance of working. However, once the Senate voted it down, it was dropped like a hot potato.

    So, we can be sure that the Covid-19 effort will (from the perspective of the Democrat-Media Complex) either succeed or fail on November 3rd. Either way, its usefulness to them will be over and it will fade into the sunset.

    Yep, once you wear your mask to cast your vote on November 3rd, you can toss it into the trash. You won’t need it after that date! 🙂

    • TN_MAN: I get what you’re saying, but I must respectfully disagree in part.

      The national media will drop the Covid-19 issue for sure.

      The Democrat state governors, however, will not. It gives them power and lets them sign executive orders to restrict the rights of We The People in their states. Oregon’s Kate Brown, for one, laid out the state’s re-opening plan — four phases — with clear goals for each county to meet before they can move to the next phase, which included being required to maintain each phase for at least three weeks before they could apply to move on to the next.

      Thus, rural (read: Republican-majority) counties would be at least 12 weeks re-opening, even if they followed all the rules and never had any Covid-19 cases.

      Then, suburban counties were held back; they applied and were denied even if they met all the requirements.

      Then, urban/suburban counties were allowed to move to Phase 1 even though the didn’t meet all requirements, and to Phase 2 one week later.

      Then there was a resurgence of cases (most sensible people credit the protests/riots where thousands of people aren’t “social distancing”, the government blames holiday BBQs and birthday parties where 10-12 close friends and family are … less close than normal), and the Governor, by executive order, pulled the whole state back to effectively Phase 1 (regardless of where the individual counties were) and instituted a state-wide mask-in-public order. Note: There was no significant up-tick in Covid-19 deaths, just positive cases (increased testing has nothing to do with that, I’m sure [/sarcasm]).

      And I have no doubt we’ll see more restrictions and “Fake News” before this is over.

      All because The People’s Glorious Governor has tasted power and is loathe to let it go.

      So yes, the national media will drop it after Nov. 3rd, as it’s no longer useful for their purposes. But the Democrat governors and their local media lackeys will not, as it still is useful for theirs.

      • @ Archer – “But the Democrat governors and their local media lackeys will not, as it still is useful for theirs.”

        Maybe so. but maybe not. It really depends upon the results of the 2020 Election. Remember, Elections have Consequences.

        If Biden, and a bunch of other Democrats, get elected on November 3rd, the totalitarians will be cheered. They will pat themselves on the back and congratulate themselves on how smart they are and how their propaganda and oppression worked like a charm.

        Here is a Life Principle that everyone should remember: That which is rewarded will prosper and grow. Note that this principle applies to both good and bad things.

        For example, if Hard Work is rewarded then we will have more people working hard and productivity will increase. On the other hand, if one establishes a Welfare State where sloth and dependency are rewarded, then more sloth and dependency is what you will get.

        Another example, If crime is punished and prosecuted to the extent that the penalties involved in crime outweigh the rewards, then crime will decrease. On the other hand, if crimes go unpunished so that “Crime Pays”, then crime will increase.

        Anything that is rewarded will increase. It is the way the World works.

        if the efforts of the Democrat-Media Complex, to sow division and chaos during this election cycle, are REWARDED so that many Democrats are elected to Public Office, then we can expect EVEN MORE division and chaos in the future. Remember the Principle: Anything that is rewarded will increase.

        So, if the November 2020 Election results are FAVORABLE to the Democrats, then your comment (above) will hold TRUE. The Democrat governors will REJOICE in their POWER and OPPRESSION and what we have experienced, to date, will only be a foretaste of what is to come.

        On the other hand, if the Voters deliver a stinging rebuke to the Democrats this November. If President Trump wins re-election and the Republicans hold onto the Senate, re-take the House and flip some governor seats from Democrat to Republican, then THE FEAR OF GOD will be put into the Democrats. Their “Chaos and Division” strategy will have been punished instead of being rewarded.

        In this event, the remaining Democrat governors will all think “I’ll be the next to be kicked out of Office. I better start pandering to the People Pronto if I want to save myself from the chopping block”.

        In this event, all these totalitarian Democrat governors will suddenly “find Jesus” and start “singing a different tune” with respect to the covid-19 song.

        So, it depends upon the results of the election this November. It is REAL IMPORTANT for the American People to cast aside their apathy, get off the couch and VOTE FOR AMERICA this November. Your VOTE does COUNT and it is desperately NEEDED if we are to save America from being steamrolled by Marxism and Identity Politics.

  18. How ironic! Janet Reno’s unshaven relatives chowing down on the liberals who helped her advance in American politics. I have a friend in Montana who years ago claims he has seen a large furry creature that walked upright in some dense woods and it moved so fast he couldn’t keep up with it. No distinct footprints were visible although there was a stinky odor left in the path of this creature. I told him it could have been Janet Reno taking a stroll in the forest, but he said the beast wasn’t that big and ugly.

  19. Uncle Sam paid me to watch the skies around Mt. Rainier for close to three years. I occasionally got a very good look at some steam coming from vents very high up on the mountain that seemed to come up through the deep snow. I got in a couple of hikes to the Goat Rocks on Mt. St. Helens about six years before she blew her top. Mt. St. Helens is a foothill compared to Mt. Rainier. An eruption of Mt. Rainier will be the Big Kahuna, make no mistake. And it will come eventually. Goliath might be able to down a Sasquatch with a spear, but no sane woman I have ever seen would even attempt it. I knew one individual who spent a lot of time in the woods around Everett, and his descriptions of Sasquatch there were very credible and not at all jerky-inspiring.

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