We love our love stories. We love reading about someone lonely who finds someone in a tale that usually includes the words “unbridled passion” and “setting fire to my loins.” I’ve written plenty of those tales.

However, that’s old hat. Some authors are writing love stories in the midst of dire situations where very few are thinking about love and romance, but somehow, in the middle of deep despair, that sweet amor wriggles its way in. I just finished reading a trilogy by Eric J. McConnell where two men enter a loving relationship while fighting for survival after a nuclear attack.

Imagine going to the mall on a day that seems like any other day, and you’re just going to get your phone fixed. You banter with the guy who is trying to restore your phone to normalcy, and suddenly there’s a big boom. Lights flicker and go out. Everything shakes. Then you wake up in the dark, aside from some emergency lighting, and realize you’re trapped in the phone store.

That’s how things start with Mall, the first book in the trilogy.

Now imagine trying to get out of that shop and looking for others who might have survived what turned out to be a nuclear warhead hitting the city. Some are found, but some of those are quickly disappearing.

It turns out the owner of the mall, a member of an elite family who sees all the commoners in the rubble as people to exploit, is snatching people with the help of some lowly minions who were apparently absent when they were handing out morality and decency. A dark mall, fear running rampant and an unseen foe that could stuff you in an abandoned office and lock you away without a second thought—now that’s where romance springs up.

I was really impressed with Mall, and so I made the plunge and bought the other two books simultaneously on Amazon. That doesn’t happen often, so it’s a credit to Eric McConnell, an opera singer turned author.

The story continues in the second book, Park. Luke and Jay, our little lovebirds, have received a radio transmission asking survivors to congregate at city hall for supplies and so on. At this point, it’s been over two months since the nuclear attack, so available food and other necessities are starting to dwindle among the mall survivors, so Luke and Jay head out to find out what’s what.

The pair don’t get very far when they’re attacked by bandits and one of them is seriously injured. They’re able to take refuge in the remains of an amusement park with a new group of people, many of whom were performers in a circus. However, it’s not long before they realize their new home is just as perilous as their old home, and the man who runs the place is just as deadly as the one who owned the mall.

Out of all the books, it was the third one, Ship, that made me feel the most uneasy—but in a good way that really makes you appreciate literature.

During their time experiencing the harrowing horror of the amusement park, Luke and Jay find out there’s a cruise ship that is searching for survivors and seeking to bring them to an island where they’ll be able to start life anew. Everything starts out nicely enough, but anyone who has ever read fiction knows that the light at the end of the tunnel usually means there’s a train coming at you.

People start getting sick on the cruise, including Luke, and that’s when the ship goes into lockdown, with passengers forced to remain in their cabins. It brought about the collective dread we all felt during the coronavirus pandemic when everything shut down and we all had to stay home isolated from friends and most family. Interestingly, it was during our pandemic that Eric McConnell decided to plunge into the crazy world of writing novels.

Even after Jay is told Luke has succumbed to the illness, he’s determined to find a way to help the rest of the ship. With great relief, he discovers that the rumors of his lover’s demise were greatly exaggerated, but then they find out the same sadistic family that ruined the mall and the amusement park were back to continue their depravity on a ship full of people.

Romance can always happen on a dusty road, a sunflower-filled field or a darkened restaurant. Finding it in a place where hope seems lost—that’s a great way to make people pay attention. I recommend everyone give his books a read. You won’t be able to put them down. I sure didn’t.