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Wing Commander author Dr. William Forstchen has found quite an audience with his most recent writing, the "One Second After" series. The books tell the story of the aftermath of a horrific EMP attack which renders modern technology useless and they've become very in vogue among "preppers" who are concerned about surviving major disasters. And now they're making a movie! Dr. Forstchen is executive producing the film which shoots in September. Here's the press release:
Movie Adaptation Just Announced for Apocalyptic Bestseller One Second After: Shooting to Begin in September
WASHINGTON, D.C., DC, UNITED STATES, April 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Author William R. Forstchen, Ph.D., announced that his New York Times #1 bestseller, One Second After, about an EMP strike against the United States, is being adapted into an MPI Original Film (Motherland, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game) in association with Startling Inc. (Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon). The feature film is penned by legendary sci-fi screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling, Sense8, Jeremiah, Babylon 5), with Forstchen serving as an executive producer. Scott Rogers is directing the film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Bulgaria this September.
Long regarded as a foremost expert on EMP technology, Forstchen has been consulted by numerous federal, state, and local governments and private entities and has spoken at conferences all over the United States.
His book One Second After was the first to give readers a realistic look at an EMP strike and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. One Second After spawned three sequels, each of which is a fictional exploration rooted in the cold, solid facts of how an EMP strike above U.S. soil would impact society.
“I believe the threat of America being hit by an EMP weapon is the single greatest danger to our survival,” Forstchen said. “Electricity is the fundamental building block of our society. Everything is predicated on electrification.”
An EMP causes widespread cataclysmic damage to power grids due to what’s called the Compton effect, he explained.
“An electromagnetic pulse is the byproduct of detonating a nuclear weapon. When a nuclear weapon is detonated 200 to 250 miles above the Earth, the gamma ray burst when it hits the upper atmosphere sets off the Compton effect. In essence, a giant electrostatic discharge hits the earth’s surface and wipes out electronic devices as well as entire power grids, leaving affected areas in the dark,” he said.
For more information, please visit One Second After by William R. Forstchen.
More About William R. Forstchen
William R. Forstchen is a New York Times bestselling author and a Professor of History at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He holds a doctoral degree from Purdue University with a specialization in military history and technology. He is the author of more than 50 books.
A noted expert historian and public speaker, he has been interviewed on FOX News, C-SPAN and many others on topics ranging from history to technology and cultural issues, to space technology development, to security threats.The other interesting aspect of all this is that the novel was adapted for the screen by J. Michael Straczynski, best known as the mastermind behind Babylon 5. Straczynski has a slight connection to Wing Commander: in an August 8, 1996 GENIE post he mentioned that he had met with Chris Roberts 1n 1995 to discuss working on what would become the Wing Commander movie: "Actually met Chris Roberts last year, when we were in some preliminary discussions about us doing a Wing Commander movie or series. He definitely wants to be a film-maker." Pretty neat crossing of the streams! (JMS' Wing Commander bona fides had already been established at that point; he had previously posted asking for cheat codes for Wing Commander III!).
