Showing results by author "James Axler" in All Categories

As the 22nd century emerges from the blight of nuclear damnation, humanity is slowly coming to terms with the bizarre new world of Deathlands, where each new generation holds the promise of renewal and redemption — in men like Ryan Cawdor and his son, Dean. Ryan Cawdor and companions emerge from a gateway into the ravaged world of the Rockies. It's old hunting grounds for Ryan and the Titan-haired Krysty Worth — her home and the place where they first came together.

When Ryan ingests bacteria-infested food, he lies near death — his body paralyzed but his mind traveling rapidly back to his early days in the Deathlands...moving through the southwest on post-nuke vehicles called warwags...and his run-in with the Baron. Towse, near what was once Albuquerque, is a ville in a freakishly beautiful landscape populated by scabbies and armed Apaches. Baron Alias Carson and his bejeweled wife, Sharona, welcome Ryan, J.B. Dix, and the Tracker to their treacherous world.

The companions' journey across Lake Huron is interrupted by a pirate attack during a furious storm, and Krysty is pulled overboard during the fray. The companions seek refuge on a submerged freighter occupied by ex-pirate “Mean Pete" Kellogg and his crew. They tell stories of "He Who Shouts in the Lake", a creature under the control of Heidecker labs. The stories say the director of Heidecker labs is brutal and unforgiving, burning local villages to the ground and infecting them with disease. Forget the stories. Ryan knows only one truth. He must get Krysty back.

Ryan travels to the snowy wastes north of the 49th parallel to rescue his young son, enslaved in a mining colony. In this forbidding landscape, one of Ryan's oldest enemies lies in wait, orchestrating a deadly finale to their private war. In the biting cold, Ryan must battle a legion of hunter androids designed to track and kill any intruders with ruthless ingenuity. But for Ryan Cawdor, the need to save his son is greater than any threat the one-eyed warrior may encounter.

Out of the ashes of global destruction, Ryan Cawdor and his roving band of warrior survivalists continue their grim odyssey across a nuke-ravaged America, searching for a sanctuary and the promise of a better life. Emerging from a Gateway into Florida's sultry heat, they enter the domain of a wealthy baron — a technical genius whose seat of power is a rebuilt theme park where the rides are fast and thrill seekers are guaranteed the time of their lives...if they can get out alive. Influencing the baron is a ruthless and hypnotic cult leader and his demonic "family".

An ambush by a roving group of mutant Stickies puts Ryan and Krysty Wroth in the clutches of a tyrant who plans a human sacrifice as a symbol of his power. The execution is set to take place at the new moon — one night away. Ryan devises an escape plan but is betrayed by another prisoner. As they break for freedom, the Stickie leader unleashes a team of hunter-trackers among the maze of narrow canyons of the Southwest. For Ryan and Krysty, there's nowhere left to run....

Emerging torn and battered after a triple jump through the gateways, Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors discover an abandoned cryonics complex - a doomed fantasy begun a century before in a world far away from Deathlands. Dr. Mildred Wyeth is successfully revived from subzero suspended animation and joins the team of warrior survivalists.

Almost leveled by the Soviet missiles that annihilated most of the West Coast, Snakefish is in the midst of a reconstruction, financed by a commodity far more valuable than the usual Deathlands jack. But greed and man's lust for power threaten to shatter the hard-won peace and tranquility of this fledgeling community as disparate factions fight for control of the substance that will give them wealth beyond their wildest dreams.

Generations after a near nuclear annihilation, America is a radiation-ravaged wasteland swarming with a thousand horrifically mutated life forms. Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors barely escape a self-destructing redoubt in the new southwest and embark on a journey overland to find the nearest gateway. But without an adequate supply of food and water, their quest is doomed.

Three generations after nuclear blasts all but vaporized the Earth, a group of warrior survivalists led by a charismatic man named Ryan Cawdor roam the hostile environment called Deathlands. Their quest becomes a grim struggle for survival as they search for a better life beyond the nuke-ravaged cities. And it is one such harrowing journey that brings them to the heart of Moscow.

In the aftermath of the apocalypse, little remains except age-old evils of greed, perversion, and force. But a small group of survivalists cherishes the legacy of human courage and hope. Led by the charismatic Ryan Cawdor, they persevere in a brutal world through warrior skills and a bold desire to regain the promised future. The fertile bayous teem with mutant life-forms and altered species. Off on a trek with his son, Ryan fends off the dangers from marauders and Nature's traps, but also finds signs of hope for humanity's new future.

The nuclear storm that swept the globe has left behind the Deathlands, a legacy of hate and violence. Pockets of survivors live off the ravaged land or on stockpiles found in redoubts. But from out of the ashes, a fearless man spearheads the drive to pierce the heart of darkness.... The gateways are secret installations from pre-dark days used by Ryan Cawdor and his group as escape routes. Once again, the warrior survivalists emerge from a jump and into a world — and empire fallen — ruled by the samurai code. And here Ryan has to face a new threat.

After the liberation of Front Royal from the Magus’ tyranny, Ryan Cawdor and his companions grieve the heart-wrenching loss of loved ones, but must carry on. Ryan and his surviving friends assume leadership roles in Front Royal, contributing to the rebuilding of the ville and the struggle to carve out a future for the beleaguered community. Ryan must learn how to be a good father for his unique baby daughter, and with the support of his larger family do his best to help her navigate the treacherous future that is her destiny.

Stumbling into Restown’s hunting grounds, the companions are welcomed by a flourishing society which stands in counterpoint to Mutieville, a place where enslaved muties are subject to human whims. At the heart of Restown lies an ambitious plan to utilize cryogenic technology to escape the brutal present of the Deathlands and awaken to the glorious future that’s being constructed for the baronial family by their slaves.

Fleeing from the growing sinkhole that was once the Glory mines, Ryan Cawdor and his companions struggle to make their way east to Ryan’s home of Front Royal as a safe haven for delivering Krysty’s child. Along the way, they are welcomed into a Deathlands community based on the structure and devolved traditions of a 20th century Iowa State prison. One of the bizarre customs that has evolved is the tallying of victorious acts of violence as a way of achieving dominance. Through a misunderstanding, Doc Tanner is believed to have achieved 246 of such acts.

After two centuries of nuclear blight, a new America is emerging, forged by those seeking peace and hope for the future. Pocket communities, ruled by local barons, have become the new centers of civilization...and power. But while many desire prosperity, others embrace ideas of ultimate domination. The son of a powerful baron, Ryan Cawdor has chosen his own path through the Deathlands. Now rumors of trouble bring him home to West Virginia, where he'd left his nephew Nathan at the head of the barony.

Krysty Wroth's sentient power comes under psychic attack by a mortally wounded doomie desperate to find a new vessel for her mystical abilities, placing Ryan's group in double jeopardy. As the group flees a firefight in Idaho, escaping upriver with the ragged survivors of a savaged ville, the voyage through the mutie-infested waters leads to a confrontation with a baron who discovery of pre-dark space technology may lead them to the shocking truth of the legacy of Deathlands....

The Marshall islands, once the testing grounds for 20th-century weapons of mass destruction, remain perversely beautiful. But the infested waters become the battleground for looting pirates and sec men in still-functional navy PT boats, all driven by greed and madness to plunder the predark caches of science and technology hidden in the islands. Ryan Cawdor and his band emerge in this perilous waterworld, caught in a grim fight to unlock the secrets of the past.

Life is precarious in post-apocalyptic America, threatened by the toxic environment and the return to savagery. Born into this bleak reality, Ryan Cawdor roams the hell trails of Deathlands with his band of warrior survivalists. All they know is to endure and seize whatever chance they get for a better tomorrow. In the sands of California's Guadalupe desert, Ryan and companions fear that they have crossed time lines when they stumble upon a settlement straight out of fabled Egypt.

In the altered reality of the Deathlands, America's coastal waters haven't escaped the ravages of the nukecaust, but the awesome power of the oceans still rules here. It's a power that will let Ryan Cawdor, first among post-holocaust survivors, ride the crest of victory — or consign his woman to the raging depths. Emerging from a gateway on the ruins of the Georgia coastline, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists embark on a voyage up the Atlantic coast. But treachery awaits as they're beset by pirates, then a violent storm.