Yesterday I plugged Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers as a great book, implying that I think you should read it. Today I need to modify that plug – you should only read it if you have no real-world pandemic anxiety. The parallels in the book with today’s reality are a bit much. I have only mild pandemic anxiety and the book triggered me in some passages, such as:

• Descriptions of invasive nasal swabs used for plague tests
• White supremacists who take advantage of the plague’s chaos to try to bring down the government
• The dread of not knowing if you’re infected and/or infectious
• Empty streets as people stay home to avoid being infected
• Media charlatans ranting about imaginary cures and causes
• Signs warning those with symptoms to stay away or face violence

And on and on. I’ve never seen a work of fiction predict reality with so much detail. It’s…weird. Unsettling. I can only imagine how Wendig feels.