In this week’s update, we’re going to visit Uranium Springs, a postapocalyptic town outside Holbrook, Arizona. Uranium Springs is the site of the annual Detonation festival, a postapocalyptic “pre-enactment” (read: cosplay) event. Long-Suffering Husband attends every year, along with a few hundred other Mad Max maniacs who are much more optimistic about the postapocalyptic aesthetic than I am. Attendees at Detonation, and its larger, better-known cousin, Wasteland Weekend, make the woman on the left look drab. I’m kind of fascinated by the whole postapocalyptic pre-enactment thing, and I love a good postapocalyptic story. I even wrote one: “Collateral Damage,” first-place winner in the Arizona Authors Association 2020 literary contest (learn more here and here). And I have a soft spot for Uranium Springs Detonation, because it’s the reason I get the house to myself for a few days every year 🙂 But before we get to our virtual visit to Mad Max Land: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s get this party started. The postapocalyptic town of Uranium Springs Uranium Springs is on private land outside Holbrook, AZ, a small desert town best known as the place you stay when you visit Petrified Forest National Park. Accessing the site requires a 45-minute drive on a dicey dirt road. I’ve never attended Detonation, because while I like camping, I don’t like camping in an uncomfortable costume and makeup with no running water, a homemade pit toilet, no showers, high winds laced with desert grit, and 300 drunk people dressed like extras in the latest Mad Max movie. My husband’s pre-enactor friends think I’m missing out. I’m entirely OK with that. Anyway, while I’ve avoided the event like an apocalypse-inducing plague, I’ve been out to the site a few times for informal meetups with my husband’s friends. It definitely has a Mad-Max-meets-Waterworld-Without-the-Water vibe. The land near just outside the grounds is fascinating, with interesting landforms and colors typical of Arizona’s Painted Desert. There’s something about the land and the postapocalyptic encampment at Uranium Springs that inspires me. I’ve been mulling over ideas for a novel based on the world I created for “Collateral Damage,” and there’s a part of me that would love to spend a few days camped out there, brainstorming ideas and creating characters. It would make such a cool site for a writing retreat! Then I remember there’s no running water. Never mind. I wouldn’t last a week in a real apocalypse. Long-Suffering Husband says he’s taking lots of pictures at Detonation, so we should have some photos of the locals next week. You won’t want to miss that. The work they put into costumes and creating an immersive experience is truly impressive. Writing News In my world, there isn’t much news (and I refuse to write about the news in the larger world–it’s far too depressing). I’m still waiting to hear back from the Daphne Du Maurier contest, sponsored by the RWA Kiss of Death chapter. Finalists for unpublished manuscripts are supposed to be announced in May. Pretty sure I’ve checked my GMail account about 35 times per day this week. Send help. This week I’m brainstorming ideas for a mystery short story. Left Coast Crime will be in Tucson next year, and the local chapters of Sisters in Crime are pulling together an anthology for the conference called Trouble in Tucson (see the anthology call here). The submission deadline is June 30, so I’ve waited way too long to get serious about this. Speaking of looming deadlines, the Arizona Authors Association annual literary contest closes July 1, and you guessed it: I don’t have anything ready to submit for that one either. Damn my procrastinating ways! The Memery Speaking of procrastination, I’ve acquired a fresh batch of memes for your viewing pleasure (my procrastination = your entertainment). Here we go: Exactly. I don’t want the next apocalypse to involve worms. People in Mad Max costumes would look silly battling worms. And now I’m picturing venomous 32,000-year-old worms. Truth. I think I’d prefer the worms. Something to keep in mind if the next plague is spiders rather than monkeypox or ancient worms. OK, OK, enough with the worms. Let’s move on to slightly more modern times: “Is your child a changeling or just ugly” about killed me. Business on top, party on the bottom, better known as the Zoom mullet. If you’re ever bored, try imagining what ridiculous conclusions future archaeologists will draw from the remains of our civilization. I won a $100 prize for “Collateral Damage” in 2020, so… yeah. Moving on to the present day (if we must): This next one’s a real tweet from the official Twitter feed of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife: In case you were still on the fence about whether or not humanity is doomed… wonder no more. OMG y’all. I checked their Twitter feed just now to see if there were any entertaining follow-ups and found this: Ahahahahahahaha. And I highly recommend their Twitter feed, even if you aren’t from the US and couldn’t find Oklahoma on a map if someone put a can of bear spray to your head. They’re hilarious. “But here you are in my face”–That line has been making my giggle for 3 days, probably because: And on that disturbing note… I’m out. Whatcha got planned for the weekend? Anything fun? If so, don’t forget the bear and bug spray… and don’t mix them up.