Showing results by author "James Axler" in All Categories

Ryan Cawdor's post-holocaust odyssey across America is about to come full circle—Ryan Cawdor is going home. Forced away from Front Royal by a power-mad brother who had already committed fratricide, Ryan had roamed a devastated America searching out the small pockets of life where civilization was being reborn. Emerging from a gateway in the ruins of New York City, Ryan decides to put his own house in order—it's time to avenge the deaths of his father and older brother.

Caught in the vice of the mountains, J.B. and Mildred are ripped from their friends by snowmobile-riding bandits that worship violence, velocity, and their black-horned Baron. Ryan tries to mount a rescue, but against raging blizzards, drug-fueled barbarians and a fracture in his own ranks, progress is frozen in its tracks.

The companions are caught in the destructive path of a nihilistic doomsday cult devoted to killing anyone over the age of twenty-one, even their own people. Ricky falls under the spell of their charismatic leader when his allies are imprisoned and scheduled for a showy execution. Someone needs to argue the case for his allies, but it’s an argument that will require some very special persuasion... of the 9 mm caliber variety!

Seeking insights into the Gaia Force, Krysty travels with Ryan to the hidden island enclave of the Sisters of Mother Earth. While there, Ryan reaches some much-needed inner peace, while Krysty gains new insights into her connection with Gaia. But the Sisters are unprepared for a raid by an invader who can channel Earth powers with a ferocity unseen before, burning through earth witches like the Sisters and Krysty in his quest for absolute power... unless the companions can defeat him and his mercenary army.

Washington, DC, was hardest hit in the nukecaust that heralded the Deathlands era. But beneath the crater of radioactive ruins, a functioning city of survivors is crafting a culture that plans to reshape America. Ryan Cawdor and his companions enter into this enclosed, underground world and find an ordered and progressive society based on the tenets of the US Constitution. But as they settle into this seeming idyll, the companions uncover a sinister threat at the ville’s heart and a bold plan to finally wipe out the last remnants of humankind.

The mysterious barons who once controlled post-apocalyptic America have evolved into their true entities, inhuman overlords poised to reclaim the planet they were forced to abandon millennia ago. All that stands between the complete enslavement of the human race is a group of exiles, waging war against an enemy of unlimited power and patience.

A former Magistrate in the grim world of post-holocaust America, Kane cuts his ties to the ruling order and its launched on a reluctant quest to uncover the truth about a bitter enmity that haunts humanity. He knows the answer is out there - beyond the garrisoned cities, the Outlands' hell zones, the ancient seats of planetary power. Barely ahead of a Grudge task force, Kane and his fellow exiles venture from Cerberus redoubt to the hell zones and other global hot spots via the Mat-trans units.

Cryogenically preserved before the nukes obliterated their own way of life, an elite team of battle-hardened American fighting men have now been reactivated for duty, commanded by this supreme manipulator. Their first mission in a tortured new world: Move in and secure Cerberus Redoubt and the mat-trans network at any cost. In a world where trust is hard-won and harder kept, Kane and his fellow exiles must convince Team Phoenix that they are on the same side — for humanity and against the hybrids and their willing human allies.

Having narrowly escaped with their lives from the redoubt near Cornerstone, the Deathlands survivors known as the Companions arrive via mat-trans at a destination they presume to be North Dakota, if the mysterious codes given them while in Cornerstone are accurate. That assumption is soon put in doubt as they discover a devastated city covered in continual ashfall, a sky perpetually obscured by black clouds illuminated only by sporadic lightning. The former metropolis is not deserted, however, but densely populated with ravening hordes of barely human creatures.

Torn between swearing allegiance to the mysterious imperator and maintaining control of their individual territories, the barons are vulnerable. Imprisoned in Cobalt's Area 51 stronghold, Kane, once a soldier of the ruling elite, is aided by rebel forces who fear future genocide for both human and hybrid alike. As the baronies factionalize, Kane and his compatriots must choose sides in a war that is about to shift the paradigm of power and deal human destiny a terrifying new twist....

Bizarre murders are taking place in a fertile farming community, and the locals are quick to point fingers at Ryan and his companions. But they know another culprit is responsible. A colony of mutants has been driven from its underground home, forced to find sustenance in the light of day. And only human flesh will satisfy their hunger. Caught between a rock and a horde of hungry cannibals, Ryan and the companions face an ultimatum — help the cannies reclaim their territory, or risk becoming the next meal.

An earthquake in the Arkansas dust bowls leaves the companions for dead, until they are all reunited except for armorer J. B. Dix. Alive, though with no memory of the past, he is in the uncertain employ of the iron fisted ruler of a vital outpost along the routes that traverse the wastelands. Duma is the biggest, most dangerous ville in all of Deathlands, where jolt, jack, booze, and sex are worth more than human life. Stalking Duma and preparing to attack this orgy of firepower is a crazed band of inbred worshipers of Nagasaki...and their unwilling new sec force led by Ryan Cawdor.

When a mat-trans malfunction strands Ryan Cawdor and his friends in a gutted redoubt in the West Indies, the crystal waters offer them a tantalizing glimpse of untouched splendor. But the oasis is abruptly shattered by violent and ruthless pirates, and Ryan has to barter with a young guide, a teenage boy on a blood quest against a sadistic local warlord, to navigate a land teeming with predators-mutie, human and animal. The race is on to find a second redoubt, buried deep in the inhospitable heart of Monster Island.

Justice is a damning word in what used to be called Oklahoma, thanks to a sadistic baron known as the Hanging Judge. Crazy, powerful, and backed by a despotic sec crew, the judge drops innocents from the gallows at will. When Jak narrowly escapes wearing his own rope as a necktie, a rift among the companions sends them deep into the mutie-infested wilderness outside the ville. Separated and hurting, time is running out for the survivors to realize they're stronger together than they ever could be alone — before a ruthless madman brings them to the end of their rope.

Of all the resources Ryan Cawdor and his group struggle to recoup, hope for escaping the grim daily life-and-death struggle has suffered most. But now reports of a ville holding the mythical waters of rejuvenation, a fountain of youth, appear to be true, luring Doc and the others on a journey inspired by promise, tainted by mistrust. Hiring on as sec men with a convoy headed to the healing waters of Babyville, the survivors discover the deadly price of immortality.

The crew of the US space vessel Aquila returns from a deep-space mission to find that a devastating plant blight has stripped away all civilization, its legacy a nightmarish wasteland. In what's left of the world, the only law is tooth and claw, kill or be killed. Traveling through the savaged countryside to wrest from death surviving kin and friends, the astronauts grimly cling to a glimmer of promise for a new start. Far to the northwest is Aurora, a secret base offering a way out of the decline into darkness.

The lethal plant cancer know as Earthblood had destroyed life on the planet in a matter of months, leaving a barren wilderness road where markers are corpses and cities are death traps. Into this nightmarish world the crew of the United States space vessel Aquila returned, a world of grim hunger and sudden death.

The woods surrounding Lake Huron are filled with danger and bounty alike. Pirates frequent the waters, cold-hearted cannibals and stickies wander the woods, and the mystical Sea Hag and her Hag-Sworn keep an eye on it all. A local moonshiner has offered to escort the companions through the forest to the nearby Martkplatz where they can resupply at the ville’s annual trade festival. However, the companions get more than they bargained for when forces converge on Marktplatz and kick off the festival with a bang.

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.

The quest for Earth's domination remains the primary directive of an ancient, inhuman enemy. Challenging this alien bid for iron rule, an elite force led by former magistrates wages war against Earth's enslavers. These rebel commandos are resourceful, dedicated and possess the immutable human willpower to survive — by any means necessary....