He has published numerous popular novels and non-fiction works about military and alternative history, thrillers, and speculative events.
His three alternate novels of the Civil War were co-written with politician Newt Gingrich; two also had the participation of writer Albert S. Hanser.
[5] Forstchen based his research for One Second After on the 2004 bipartisan Congressional study of the potential threat to the continental United States from an EMP attack: Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack.
Drawing on this and other government and private studies, Forstchen explores in his novel what might happen in a "typical" American town in the wake of an attack with electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) weapons.
[6] Forstchen has been invited to make presentations regarding the threat of EMP before members of Congress, and at STRATCOM, Sandia Labs, and NASA.
[citation needed] Forstchen's novel Pillar to the Sky (2014) explores the concept of a Space Elevator.
Forstchen's thesis is that the building of such a permanent transportation system to high Earth orbit would reignite America's economic and technological prominence in the 21st century.