An Apocalypse & Coffee? What do these two things have in common? Eliza Knight is here to tell us!

I LOVE coffee… I’ve tried to give it up so many times, but I just can’t! I used to be a major Starbuck’s junkie. But now I have a new obsession, my Keurig. It is GLORIOUS!  The machine makes one steaming cup of gourmet coffee for me at a time, and all I have to do is push a button… bliss! (because I suck at making coffee).

So what is my point, you may be asking? Lol, well, I like to put a bit of myself into each character. My post-apocalyptic heroine, Cambria Sullivan is no different. She’s a kickass chick in my novella, APOCALYPSE OF THE HEART, and she just so happens to love coffee as much as I do…

*****

Outside it was still dark. The stars were out, the moon close. Across the desolate expanse of the broken city, I spied a few fires. At least that was one convenience we still had. The heat of the fires kept people going, kept light alive in the dark.

The people had reverted back to steam power in some things too, which thank goodness, everyone was able to adapt to.

Too bad they didn’t have any of the old steam engine’s readily available to make travel easier.

I crossed my arms over my chest and rocked back on my heels. Dawn would be here soon. Maybe an hour, maybe two. I didn’t keep a clock in my room. It only reminded me of how much time passed. Nearly twenty years since the world ended in a series of nuclear explosions. Man did this. Man had to undo it. Nearly two years since my heart was ripped to shreds by death. Nearly seventy-nine hours since my brother went missing. Less than two hours and I would be in the Sols compound at the mercy of their viciousness.

I shuddered, then quickly forced myself to stop. I couldn’t shudder. I had to be strong. Whatever torture they’d put me through—ripping off my fingernails, burning my flesh, rape—I had to be strong.

I swallowed hard, wrapped an old scrappy sweatshirt around my shoulders and left my room in search of coffee. Life’s sustenance.

The kitchen of our compound had one lantern lit, but was otherwise empty. I frowned at someone wasting an oil canister. We had a significant stockpile from raids over the years, but nothing lasted forever, and supplies would eventually run out.

Using the coffee-machine Burke invented, I brewed a cup of delicious brown java. I like my coffee black. The first sip is always the best, when it is still hot and steamy, and I feel the energy replenish me.

“Morning. Couldn’t sleep?” Jamie asked.

I shook my head.

“Me either. Mind if I have a cup?” he grasped a mug and poured a healthy portion of coffee.

I watched him slurp it down, no savoring there.

“What kept you up?” I asked.

“Trying to get everything in order for today. The Sols are good at strategy, and something about this plan doesn’t strike me as exactly copasetic, you know?”

I took another savoring gulp. “Yeah. I’m not sure why they’d be willing to trade? Burke’s got all the knowledge, unless they tortured it out of him…” I trailed off, unable to even think anymore about it.

“Cambria… We have to be prepared.”

“Prepared?” I didn’t want to think about what he was insinuating.

“Prepared for the worst. They may only be initiating this trade in order to get both you and your brother out in the open at the same time. They can use that opportunity to assassinate you both and then take over the compound. That’s been their goal for twenty years. You remember—”

“I don’t need you to remind me, Jamie,” I snapped. Pain seared through my heart. “I know how evil they are. Two years ago is never more than a second from my mind. You’ll have men posted won’t you?”

Jamie nodded. “We’ll have guards posted inside and outside, all with weapons loaded. I wouldn’t put it past Vaughan to orchestrate an ambush.”

*****

What is your favorite coffee?

APOCALYPSE OF THE HEART

The world as we know it ended on December 21, 2012 when world wars, and nuclear powered weapons destroyed the planet. Now, nearly twenty years to the day of the apocalypse, two factions, the Sols and the Scies must come together to save the planet once again from unseen forces who threaten a second apocalypse.
Cambria Sullivan, is the sister and co-leader of the Scies, scientists who believe in using the power of the brain and development of new power sources to help aide in their survival. Her brother is missing and she fears the Sols—soldiers who rule by power of might over mind—have taken her brother in order to steal his natural power plans. But before she can make plans to avenge her brother, the leader of the Sols, Gerard Vaughan, shows up at her compound offering a trade: Marry the enemy and save the world.

Cambria’s deep-seated hatred of the Sols and what they’ve done to her, wreak havoc with her conscience, and at every turn her body and mind betrays her. Can Gerard and Cambria save the planet and find a deep love, one that started before the apocalypse of the world, and ends with an apocalypse of the heart?

Available now as an Ebook: http://elizaknight.com/ApocalypseoftheHeart.aspx