Sam Penny's New Novel Broken River Introduced at National Earthquake Conference

Broken River tells how a giant 7.9 magnitude earthquake beneath the Mississippi River destroys the United States's economy. The captains of two boats caught on the river must save their ships, crew, passengers, and refugees from the floods and landslides along the broken river and from looters who become pirates in the chaos. This is Book 2 of The 7.9 Scenario, a sequel to Memphis 7.9.

(PRWEB) September 28, 2004 -- Sam Penny, author and lecturer on book tour in St. Louis this week, announced the introduction of his new novel, Broken River, September 27 at the 2004 National Earthquake Conference (http://www.earthquakeconference.org) being held in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 26-30, 2004.

Penny says, "Though my characters are fiction, the physical events in my novels are real and they will happen, we just don't know when the New Madrid Seismic Zone will once again fracture. However, we do know that the planning and mitigation we do today will determine how catastrophic that future earthquake will be."

The theme of the 2004 National Earthquake Conference is Strengthening America: Preparing for Earthquakes and More. The Conference is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Geological Survey.

Broken River tells of what happens to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake once again strikes the New Madrid Fault. It is a sequel to Penny's first novel, Memphis 7.9, Book 1 of The 7.9 Scenario, published last year.

"Imagine the center of the United States destroyed by a giant earthquake that breaks the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers: the dams, the weirs, the levees, the flood controls that the Army Corps of Engineers built over the past 120 years. Can it happen?" Penny asks. "You can bet on it. The U.S. Geological Survey says the chance of it happening in the lifetime of the majority of the people now living in the U.S.A. is one in ten."

In Book 2 of The 7.9 Scenario, the captains of two boats on the Mississippi River try to save their ships and passengers from the worst earthquake to strike the United States in nearly 200 years. Their experiences tell what to expect along our great waterways when our land is once again torn by an earthquake the size of those that struck in 1811 and 1812.

The 7.9 Scenario is an analytical study developed by Penny over the past seven years. "I used government data to determine the impact of a giant New Madrid Fault earthquake under the Mississippi River on the United States. I was startled to find that my calculations estimated a damage zone in the central United States of over 300,000 square miles with 60,000 people killed, 300,000 injured, and 8,000,000 homeless should a 7.9 magnitude earthquake strike the New Madrid Fault today. The dams and levees making up the core of our water control and transportation system would be destroyed."

Our nation could lose as much as 10% of its gross domestic product to this earthquake, enough to plunge it into the worst depression it has ever seen.

Penny continues, "Are the authorities doing enough to reduce these numbers? No. Are they even aware? Some are, but even those who know seem reluctant to push the issue. Can you do something? Yes, but only if you know what can happen WHEN, not IF, a giant earthquake once again strikes the New Madrid Fault. I intend to shine a light on this problem until the country takes notice."

Broken River is a 6 by 9 inch soft-cover trade book of 238 pages with five maps, copyright September, 2004. It is published by TwoPenny Publications with ISBN 0-9755671-1-X. Copies can be ordered from www.the79scenario.com where its price is $16.99 plus shipping and handling.

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Contact:

Sam Penny
phone: 512-632-4626
sampenny@the79scenario.com

A media kit is available at http://www.the79scenario.com/press.html        

Penny is available for in-studio interviews or by phone. His schedule is:
September 22-29, St. Louis area
September 30-October 5, Missouri Bootheel area
October 6-13, Memphis area

TwoPenny Publications
205 Rainbow Drive #10503
Livingston, TX 77399-2005

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