Introduction

The editorial quality that observers identify as most responsible for widening the appeal of SF&F is depth of character. At one time, science fiction was mainly about the technology of the future. In order to satisfy more general readers, publishers have opened the genre to more human concerns.

In adventure fantasy the characters tend to be very developed, unlike hard-core science fiction which focuses on hardware

and presents undimensional people.

(PI Market Research Report;

SF Focus Groups 1981)

Another useful finding from the 1981 focus tests was that in SF&F, “the storyline must be reflected in the title. Titles help categorize the type of book and determine its desirability.”

We have responded to these points in developingDeathlands .

The human dimension is the one aspect of an author’s art that is difficult to convey in a concept outline. Please be advised that the requirements for general popularity of the near-future fiction genre, such as character motivation, emotional complexity, sex and action developments, are all vital parts of theDeathlands package even though it is not possible to do them justice in these story outlines. The title of the series,Deathlands , sends a clear and intriguing message to the potential buyer.

The Author’s Conception

Jack Adrian intends to produce a series of books that inspires identification in the reader; in other words, his characters are real people. This will not be “outpost” science fiction—such as early Heinlein—that appeals only to male readers and concentrates on raw adventure at the expense of carefully plotted suspense and character development. This is a postholocaust adventure fantasy with stringent rules. Rules are an absolute must for the majority of readers who look on SF&F or action adventure as their escape entertainment. The “tomorrow” of the story must be firmly recognizable as an extrapolation of today, with fixed laws and mores that make the people and the settings real. This is to be fiction about relationships, personal motivations and important historical possibilities. Nevertheless, the author stresses that the dynamic of each book—with its separate adventure and separate explosive ending—comes from basic action adventure.

This is an action-adventure story whose jumping-off point happens to be a science-fiction one. First and foremost, these books are the story of a quest. I want to keep the books as much as possible action adventure with bizarre-horror overtones and science-fiction undertones.

Packaging the Vision

A Picture Is Worth

These comments should serve as art information for the first Deathlands book,Pilgrimage to Hell . Much of what Jack Adrian has written will also be useful for the following three books in theDeathlands series.

The Deathlands themselves are the environment of the world after a nuclear holocaust. The point about the series is that there is rife after the holocaust, albeit in a drastically changed and unfamiliar world. The characters in the book are the second or third generation to be born after the holocaust. Thus they are slightly different from us, although recognizably humans of present time. Their clothes are unique to them, and they have undergone subtle mutations.

The books are adventure stories in the “near-future fiction” category. But we do not want to categorize the books in the way they look, so perhaps the only point to make about the category that is relevant to the art is that near-future fiction has one foot in today and one foot in tomorrow. It is partly and recognizably the present, and partly and recognizably the future.

Because we want to avoid a pulp-story “adventure” look, we discussed the overall direction of the art, and the particulars such as the background and whether to show characters—and where.

Starting from the agreement that the art should be wraparound, we decided that at least two of the characters should be visible. They should be together, and placed in an off-center position on the front cover; their size and their positioning—preferably lower right—make it clear that there are more important elements on this cover than the presence of the book’s heroes.

The potential background grew to very vivid life as we discussed the concept behind the series. The key element that carries the meaning of the series, and that will be a hook for its popularity, is the contrast between the death and destruction of our known world in the Deathlands, and the signs of very real and very different life that prevails in the Deathlands.

We agreed that we would explore existing documentary evidence of what atomic-bomb-blasted cities, and countryside, and atolls—from the Pacific testing—look like. We should also absorb Jack Adrian’s descriptions in order to detail some of the vegetation and weather conditions and ecosystems in general that he is imagining in this series.

Hopefully the artist’s sketches will creatively play with some of the possibilities of the plant life and sky colorations and so on that are only broadly described by Adrian. It is not possible with a book before it is written to detail every aspect of biology, life-forms, etc., that will entertain the readers in the final text; therefore the artist should have some license in his efforts to suggest postholocaust life. Thus far we have decided on the details to this extent: The front cover should show the blasted remains of part of a North American city—providing it is a prairie or Midwest city, such as Omaha, Nebraska, because that is where the first book is set. The ruins have existed as ruins for some years. New life in the form of grasses and plants is visible throughout. At least two human beings are visible. The sky is unusual in its cloud patterns or color. The picture wraps around to show the geography beyond the city, maybe a mountain range, a winding river. In the city itself, architectural images such as an almost destroyed church should be used to discomfort the viewer with the contrast between the familiar and the future.

The succeeding books in the series should extend the vision of the first book into more and more detail about parts of the Deathlands. For example, Book 2 is set in the Bering Strait, changed somewhat by climate conditions: the bleakest of wastelands scarred with ashes, with the aurora borealis more vivid than ever. The third book is set in what remains of the Florida Everglades. The fourth book is calledBlood Valley , which is something of a description in itself. So there will be plenty of opportunities to show harsh but exotic environments that contrast with the evidence, or at least the hope, of life.

Dialogue Between Writer and Artist

First of all I realize this is a sketch, and I realize, too, that it’s a kind of symbolic pic simply to include the three main characters.

Okay. The cave. To me this looks far too much like the kind of hideout used by WWII Maquis or resistance fighters in the mountains of Italy or Greece or Yugoslavia. That is, pretty primitive. But these guys are not lurking around in damp caves. They do have a certain level of sophistication in their lifestyle.

First we have to establish whether the background (b/g) should be a hidden old U.S. Army “stockpile” cavern dug out by the army and unearthed by the Trader or whether it should be one of the top-secret redoubts created by Army and scientists at roughly the same time (i.e., late twentieth century).

A stockpile is, as I see it, something that those in power in our era had blasted out of the rock to store weaponry, dried food, ammo, generators, etc. (i.e., anything laid down in secret in case of nuclear devastation so that those in command could use them if stuff started running out). I see these stockpile areas as concrete walled, with maybe a metalled road running into it. A kind of underground quartermaster’s stores. There would be a neatness about these manmade caverns that typifies any kind of Army activity of this nature. A kind of underground warehouse, if you like, undisturbed for a century until the Trader begins to find them, unearth them.

A redoubt is far more sophisticated. Something else entirely. Another world: we can all imagine stockpiles. We know damned well that that is exactly what the U.S. Army, and indeed the British army, French army, German, Russian, etc., are doing anyhow, all over the U.S. What I’m postulating is probably equally true: that those in command are digging out even vaster caverns full of stuff that is far more sophisticated than guns, ammo, grenades, and so on. It’s just that in my scenario the stuff our scientists today are burying is superbizarre, really way-out, utterly over the edge. That is, a network of “locational gateways” throughout the U.S. We are in A. We can get to B by walking into a wall of fog. B may well be two thousand miles away, but we can do it in the time it takes to snap one’s fingers.

Either one of these backgrounds could be used for the foldout. Our three main characters, in roughly the same attitudes, simply set against one of them.

If a stockpile b/g:

I would think rough concrete walls, alloy shelving, lines of crates stretching away into a distance point. Concrete floor, dusty. The whole thing smacks of a utility warehouse, stark and clean and spare, but underground. I’m aware that the mouth of the cavern in the pic is going to be made wider and higher, so we can see a bleak Deathlands terrain outside. Fine. If this locale is used, what I suggest, to give the pic extra punch, is as follows: Where the crates are now there should be the front, the snout, of one of the Trader’s war wags, bulking huge. This war wag is a big mother; we don’t need to see the whole of it—say, just the front third. This won’t affect the positioning of J.B., which I like a lot, because he could be sitting on a crate beside it with his back to it, in exactly the same position as now. Similarly for Ryan and Krysty, whose positioning is excellent.

This would certainly give a feel ofPilgrimage —but it would not give a feel of the series as a whole. If that kind of atmosphere is wanted in this pic, then I suggest that the b/g should be of a redoubt.

If a redoubt b/g:

It should be something akin to what one sees in places like the NORAD command center. Screens, computer walls, consoles. High-tech, but deserted, dusty, unused for a century. The floors would not be concrete. The walls would not be concrete. There would be glass, strip lighting. The computers would be online. Lights would be flashing from the computer walls in a subdued but kaleidoscopic manner or pattern.

It may well be argued that computers would not remain online for a century. I accept that. But it doesn’t matter. In the next fifteen years some guy will solve that problem, and in any case it is not central to my story. If things like that work, they work. The people like Ryan, in 115 years, will certainly ponder how all this stuff is happening, but he won’t be able to solve it because he won’t have the technical know-how, and neither will anyone else (except one or two who have such secrets locked in their brains—but that’s getting into storyline).

Characters:

I like these a lot, but feel there needs to be a certain amount of refining.

J.B.—

At the moment he has too much flesh. I would personally like him much more ferrety, ratlike, skinnier. The expression on his face is perfect, but the face as such should be much thinner, and his body equally so. I like the white sweatshirt, and I like very much the lighting striking him, body and face. I think he should simply be much skinnier. He is a wiry little bastard.

Krysty—

I’m aware that her hair is going to be much longer, which is fine. I don’t think she should have that upsweep of hair. It should flow down, rather than look as though it had been maybe blow-dried. As I said, I’m aware this is a sketch, but I would like her with more cleavage. This is a personal obsession! I’m not now sure about the throwing knives: what I originally envisaged were longer ones, which in any case should be so positioned that she will drawleft -handed, not right-handed. As a very small detail, maybe we should get an impression of a few more pockets—map-pocket style, zippered—on her pants. Bits of business like that.

Ryan—

Overall I’m impressed. I like this character. I feel safe with him. Apart from the weaponry, which we can talk about, and one particular item—which I’ll get to—there are only one or two fine details. Perhaps his hair should be very slightly more “bushed out”…veryslightly more “Afro.” In the story he will wear a scarf, as described in my original character refs. You may not feel this needs to be drawn in here.

The big item is this business of the eye. I’m aware that there’s a feeling that my writing background is too comic-strip oriented. My own view is that there is a certain amount of overreaction here. Any visuals I may have come up with, that is, thekind of visuals, can be found on comic-book covers as well as a zillion paperback covers. And very good p/back cover, too. We could get into this further but it’d be a waste of valuable time.

The whole point about Ryan is that he needs—in the background I’m giving him—to be visually disfigured. His eye was sliced out by his own brother. That is strong stuff, and gives me an extremely strong plotline to be developed later in the series. Ryan’s brother—youngerbrother—has killed their parents, other children, put it about that this was done by Ryan, put a price on his head, grabbed his birthright, and given Ryan just cause and reason to hate the shit out of him. He has also disfigured Ryan. And I want Ryan to look as though heis seriously disfigured with a whacking great scar or as though something serioushas happened to him—under an eyepatch. If there’s a choice, I prefer the latter. All this happened ten years ago, or thereabouts. By now Ryan has had time to get used to only having one eye; he can compensate when aiming a rifle, and he makes allowances in other ways. That happens. But a milky eyeball does not give me what I need.

In the Writer’s Eye

Character Profiles

Ryan Cawdor

He’s tall, maybe six feet. I don’t want him too tall, i.e., over six feet. Nor do I want him to look like a Greek god. This is a rugged guy in a rugged world, although he isn’t bulky or overly muscled. I’d rather see him slimmer than hefty. I don’t want an Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has a narrowish frame and a narrowish face, with deep-set eyes.

I can’t see his hair properly but I do know that it isn’t gung-ho crew, shaved to the skull. In 2090 people would have figured out that wearing long hair is an asset: keeps your head warm. On the other hand, I don’t think Ryan’s hair should be too long, not even shoulder length. It should certainly be thick and chunky, maybe a little curly. Try a semi-(but only semi-)Afro on a narrow-boned face and see how it looks. Ah! I think I know what I’m trying to get at— Elliott Gould, the film star. But maybe even more “chunky” (i.e., thick) hair. Raven, in coloring.

He has deep-set eyes, blue, chilling and brooding for the most part. This doesn’t, however, mean the guy never smiles. Also a kind of wariness, just a hint, as though he trusts few people. There is a reason for this, and evidence is the long scar that runs down one side of his face, from the corner of his left eye—as we’re looking at him, the eye on the right-hand side of his face—about down to the corner of his mouth. This should not, of course, disfigure him, but rather add to his, if you like, mystique.

That scar is a souvenir of his escape, some years before, from the family home. It was given him by his younger brother who had just had their mother and father slaughtered so he—the younger son—could take over. Cunningly this was engineered so it would seem Ryan had done the slaughtering. In a desperate fight Ryan’s cheek is opened up by his knife-wielding and maniacal brother. Ryan escapes, but this grim and appalling memory lives with him always. It’s why he’s suspicious of people, why he’s become a loner, why he’s bitter, why he wants, at some stage, revenge.

Or, instead of the scar down his left cheek, he has no left eye at all and a scar down his right cheek. He wears an eye patch. This, I think, would look particularly attractive, art-wise.

The younger brother took one eye out in this terrible and bloody fight, but in trying to whip the other eye out screwed up, hence the scar. The scar will become a seared and livid white at moments of tumultuous fury and stress. When people he knows see that scar whitening up, they run for cover. It doesn’t happen too often. I prefer this as it really lends stark drama to the memory of the murderous treachery of his brother that I want to use in concrete form in at least one of the books, though not the initial one.

Incidentally, apropos that, I’d prefer it if not too much was revealed about Ryan’s past in prebook publicity or blurbs, certainly not that he has a brother who cut his face open or took one eye out. Strong hints as to a terrible memory of the past, yes—concrete descriptions of what happened, no. Eye patch, or merely scar? Any comment would be helpful, especially at this stage. I frankly prefer eye patch and scar—plenty meaty and visual and fairly unusual.

Ryan is tall, tough, rangy, a natural leader of men and women. He is a pragmatist, a realist, too. He knows exactly when to fight and will fight against all odds, but, too, he knows when to retreat, to retire in good order to save his forces—the mark of a good general.

He’s in his early thirties, no more. Certainly no less. He has strong hands, but these are usually encased in skintight black gloves, open at the wrist, perhaps folded back one turn, loosely.

I see him in black, mainly. With one major exception, which we’ll get to later. A black shirt, maybe thick material T-shirt. Black pants, knee-length black boots, hard wearing.

His belt. On this he has a pistol holster, with a handgun in it. Heavy-cal automatic. That is on his right hip. On his left hip, angled so he can reach for. it with his right hand, is a short scabbard. This will contain not a sword, but a panga: the kind of machete-style weapon the Mau Mau used. From tip of blade to end of grip, maybe eighteen inches long. No more. He has a knife scabbard out of sight at his back. We see a couple or three grenades attached to the front of his belt, a small water bottle.

As I said, he is overall in black. His topcoat is a black thick jacket that reaches to just above his knees. Here we see it open, and we get a blaze of contrast in coloring as the lining is thick white fur. It’s a kind of parka, and the interior of the hood, thrown back now of course, is white-fur-lined, too. There will be room in this coat—zip-up pockets externally and internally—for all kinds of hardware: spare mags for the automatic, etc.

His main weapon, which he holds across his chest, is what I’m calling the Quartz Cremator. This will be a laser rifle. The real science of it is as suspect as hell, but no matter. I have only a sketchy idea of what it should look like, but it mustn’t be too long. On the other hand neither should it be one of those very short new-style bullpup weapons NATO is starting to use now. It must look impressive. It’ll have a Starlite-scope viewer on it, that’s for sure. It can send out a wide beam of pure blazing destructive energy or a needle-thin beam for cutting. The look of the weapon on the cover ofThe Ninety-Nine was very powerful indeed. I thought it was a made-up piece, but now learn it’s some kind of common or garden shooter you people take down the subway with you. But the actual physical look of the thing is impressive. Perhaps the Cremator should not be quite as lengthy; it should certainly have a more interesting technological fascia to it.

Finally, Ryan’s scarf. He wears one round his neck, loosely knotted at the throat. It hangs down to his navel, or maybe just above. It will be of some very silklike material and will be weighted at both ends, although not so’s you can notice it overmuch. Perhaps this, too, could be white in color or maybe blood crimson. The scarf is weighted, of course, because Ryan uses it like a Thuggee’s scarf, or even as a bola.

Krysty Wroth

Age group: in between twenty-four and twenty-eight. I see her as maybe two or three inches under Ryan’s height, whatever that turns out to be. Her most spectacular feature is her hair: this is sensationally scarlet crimson. No kidding around here. This isn’t red hair, or auburn. This is deep and torrid hued. At its normal length it will reach in a thick crimson cascade over her shoulders, front and back, and halfway down her back but not waist length. Of course she’s a mutant, so in fact her hair can stretch—reach to an astonishing length, maybe as much as twenty feet or more. But we don’t need to bother with this, I think, in a cover illustration sense. Too, I’d prefer it if it wasn’t blurbed in prebook promos.

Her eyes are large and wide, an emerald green, deep, unfathomable pools. She is long limbed, full breasted and strong, with steely muscles hidden beneath a soft yet supple body. She is intelligent, alert, quick-witted. She is confident, self-assured; she can get along very well without Ryan Cawdor, yet she is attracted to him as though to a magnet, just as he is attracted to her—to her fierce and independent spirit, to her coolness in the face of danger and disaster.

Her face has high cheekbones: I’m thinking along the lines of a woman of the American Indian races. Something like the actress Cher, though her face is perhaps too full cheeked.

She wears, for the purposes of cover illustration, combat-style gear: a close-fitting catsuit in a dark green material that emphasizes both her own coloring, the red hair, olive white skin, and her shape. She has one ammo belt draped across and around her, with pouches for spare mags on it, for the automatic rifle she carries, usually in the back-slung position. Crosswise to this ammo belt, she wears a knife belt with four throwing knives. She’s ambidextrous, but draws her knivesleft-handed. She, too, can have grenades at her belt. She wears knee-length boots, not thigh length.

It occurs to me that Krysty might wear a headband around her hair, green hued, a ribbon, or elastic material, not metal. You might try this; see how it looks. Although I like the idea of that swath of flame red hair blowing in the wind.

J.B. Dix, the Weapons Master

InPilgrimage to Hell , in the initial stages of the story, we’ll see that J. B. Dix, along with Ryan, is colieutenant to the Trader. They both work for the Trader, take their pay from him, plan routes and trade and journeys with and for him. The Trader depends on these two men, although perhaps he treats Ryan more as his natural heir and successor. When the Trader is killed, Dix naturally falls in behind Ryan. Dix is no leader, per se, and he knows it, but he’s an extremely handy guy to have around.

As his title, the Weapons Master, implies, he handles all the hardware on the Trader’s land/war-wagon convoys across the scarred and treacherous Deathlands. He sees to it that everyone who works for the Trader is well weaponed up; he’s in a sense like the quartermaster of the outfit.

I see Dix very clearly: he’s about five foot six inches, no more. Thin, wiry, agile, with an intense manner, full of nervous energy. He, too, is around thirty. Or perhaps a little older than Ryan—midthirties. He has a very tight crew cut, almost a prison cut, a thin nose and beady eyes behind steel-rimmed round glasses—what used to be called granny glasses; like John Lennon used to wear when he was punking it, or like Leon Trotsky wore. He smokes thin black cheroots continually: they’re going to be the death of him one of these days. And he eats a lot, but has so much nervous energy that starch is simply burned up.

Oddly, he scorns the newer-style weapons like laser rifles and so on, but is crazy for old mid-twentieth-century weapons with a lot of punch. The idea of rounds feed up from a mag into a barrel excites him. He gets off on bangs. Thus his weaponry will be, in twenty-first century terms, old-fashioned. His philosophy is that any goddamned dingbat can carve slices out of people with a laser beam, but it takes real class to be able to mess with the automatic rifles and hand hardware of one hundred years ago.

I see him in a worn brown leather zip-up jacket, jeans, knee boots. He has one magazine belt draped around his chest. His belt is wide. It contains numerous pouches and pockets, as well as grenades, and a water bottle at the side. On his right boot there is a knife scabbard—he’s right-handed. He wears a hat, a kind of Indiana Jones-style hat, but with a wider brim. Although the brim must look “soft” it has in fact short lengths of steel sewn into it, turning the hat into a vicious throwing weapon. Dix carries over his left shoulder, always, what looks to be a kind of large airline bag, on a long strap—bottom of bag reaches to his thigh-made of canvas. In this bag are things I haven’t even dreamed up yet.

History and Destiny

Major Characters

Ryan Cawdor:

Major protagonist. Third and youngest son of Baron Titus Cawdor of the ville of Front Royal, the seat of the barony located in the Shens in what used to be Virginia. A man with a presence, he is tall, rangy, powerfully muscular. He has longish black curly hair and deep-set intense blue eye— the right eye, that is. A scar cuts across an otherwise ruggedly appealing face, and his missing left eye is covered with a patch.

Ryan, a loner in essence, is tough, pragmatic and fully equipped to deal with harsh realities. For him, survival means immediate reaction to perceived threat.

Weapons used are a 9mm SIG-Sauer P-226 pistol with built-in baffle silencer, his panga, the long knife and the Steyr SSG-70 rifle.

The Cawdor family history:

Lady Cynthia was the mother of the three Cawdor sons. Morgan was the eldest, Harvey the middle one. After her death, a year or so following Ryan’s birth, the baron took Lady Rachel for his second wife.

Ryan was about fourteen when Morgan was killed in an explosion. The death was caused by the evil Harvey, but he cast suspicion on Ryan. When Ryan was fifteen, Harvey and his sec men tried to destroy him. Warned by a loyal retainer, Ryan survived, although he was grievously wounded by his brother. Hopeless and embittered, he fled the barony and eventually ended up riding shotgun for the Trader in the Deathlands.

Other developments in the family include Harvey breaking a taboo and siring a son with Lady Rachel. Eventually Lady Rachel smothered Baron Cawdor with a pillow in his sleep, as related by Ryan inHomeward Bound .

In a final reckoning, Ryan returned home inHomeward Bound , and Harvey, Jabez Pendragon and Lady Rachel met their end. Ryan installed Nathan Freeman, Morgan’s son, as the new Baron Cawdor.

Krysty Wroth:

Titian-haired beauty born to Mother Sonja in the ville of Harmony. (InPilgrimage to Hell , Mother Sonja died when Krysty was young. In later books there are references to her as if she may still be alive, and inCrossways , accounts of her wondering off somewhere after Krysty left town, her fate unknown.) Other family mentioned is Uncle Tyas McCann, now deceased. Krysty is long limbed, full breasted, with a highboned face, crimson prehensile hair and green eyes. She has some mutant traits, such as her hair, which seems to react to her moods—e.g., it will curl around her head and shoulders when danger threatens and unique muscular control during lovemaking. Her greatest asset is the ability passed down the maternal side to call on the power of Gaia, the Earth Mother, which lends her unusual strength, but in the aftermath exacts a great physical toll. A realist herself, she is prescient on occasion and “feels” things.

Krysty has been with Ryan in a close relationship sincePilgrimage to Hell , when he rescued her from rape by a major villain, Cort Strasser. They are equal partners, on the basis of personal strengths and capabilities, though Ryan remains the undisputed leader.

In attire she often favors coveralls and likes Western boots with silver ornamentation. Currently wears dark blue Western boots, with chiseled silver points on the toe and silver spread-wing falcons embroidered on the front. Also she has a long black fur coat, not the smooth sleek type, but shaggy looking. One of her weapons is a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson Model 640.

Doc Tanner:

First appearancePilgrimage to Hell . Full name Dr. Theophilus Algernon Tanner. Obtained science degree from Harvard. Ph.D. Oxford. Born in South Strafford, Vermont, 14 February 1860, married Emily, nee Chandler, 17 June 1891. Two children: daughter, Rachel, 1893-96, and son, Jolyon, 1895-96. Doc was trawled forward in November 1896 to 1998. In December 2000 he was sent forward from a gateway in Virginia. He had been trawled from Omaha, Nebraska. During September 1896 he was with friends on vacation in New Mexico Territory, where he made friends with the local Mescalero Apaches. Speaks their language. He’s six-three and extremely skinny. Wears a faded and stained frock coat, cracked knee boots. Has thin legs and creaking joints. His voice is rich and deep, his teeth peculiarly excellent. Affects an ebony sword stick with a silver lion’s-head handle and rapier blade. His hair is long and gray, his face deeply lined.

The paradox is that Doc is really only about thirty-five, but he looks in his sixties. This must be the result of a temporal anomaly that can’t be explained logically. He carries a blaster from the Civil War, a Le Mat, which has a single scattergun barrel, firing a .63 round, as well as a second revolver barrel, firing 9 .36-caliber rounds, though he recently acquired a .44 model. He worked on Project Cerberus. Was caught by Jordan Teague, baron of Mocsin, and tortured by his sec boss, Cort Strasser. He carries a kerchief with a swallow’s-eye design. His gun is carried in a fancy, hand-tooled Mexican rig. He has pale blue eyes and suffers occasionally from nosebleeds. Favorite expression is “By the Three Kennedys!”

Doc is kindly and wise and also surprisingly courageous. His affair with teenager Lori Quint was quite old-fashionedly romantic. His mind was damaged by the two chron jumps and by his treatment at the hands of Strasser. It’s generally much better, but he still rambles and stress throws him badly. His memories of before the long winters are patchy. He misses his wife and children very much.

The time-trawling experiments were part of Operation Chronos, a subdivision of the Totality Concept, which explored arcane and esoteric possibilities of future warfare. One of its subdivisions was Overproject Whisper, which in turn spawned numerous other research missions. One, Project Cerberus, involved transfer of matter from one location to another—jumping. Operation Chronos focused on time trawling, and Doc Tanner was the most successful effort of that particular attempt. The aim of these umbrella organizations and their subdivisions, established in predark days, was to ensure the safety and power of the United States against all aggressors.

Dr. Mildred Wyeth:

First appearanceNorthstar Rising . She is a medical doctor, who had been involved in the development of cryogenics. She is black, a stockily built woman in fatigue-style clothes, in her middle thirties, with her hair in multiple beaded braids. She is tough, irreverent and has an ongoing conflict with Doc Tanner that is partly caused by their different styles, with occasional mellowing toward each other.

Birth date 17 December 1964. On 28 December 2000, she was in hospital to undergo abdominal surgery for a possible ovarian cyst. An idiosyncratic reaction to the anesthetic left her in a coma, with vital signs sinking. To save her life, she was cryogenically frozen. Ryan Cawdor and the others came across her and restored her successfully, while her life-threatening symptoms seemed to have been reversed, perhaps from the effects of deep bodily rest during cryogenic suspension.

Her father, a Baptist minister outside Montgomery, Alabama, was burned inside his church by Klansmen. Mildred also had a brother, Josh, a preacher himself.

A relationship had developed between Mildred and the Armorer, but this seems low key. There are some references to their lovemaking, alluded to, while Ryan and Krysty are more vigorously active.

Mildred was an Olympic free-shooting silver medalist. Her personal weapon is a ZKR 551 Czech-built .38-caliber target revolver.

The Trader:

He is probably middle-aged, around midforties or late forties, a tallish, well-built man with grizzled hair. Smokes cigars. He found hidden stockpiles of weapons, and a sea of gas in vast containers, beneath the “Applayshuns.” The weapons, the gas and other predark goods became his mainstay as he traded and bartered across the land, traveling with his trusted Armalite in the war wags with his lieutenants and gunners, fighting a running battle with mutants, marauders and pillagers.

He is the ultimate survivor, vigilant and suspicious but honorable, with personal rules of conduct: no gratuitous killing, no rape or taking anything by force. He drives a hard bargain, yet maintains integrity and concern even in the hopeless environment he moves through. Although there were customers for a vast stockpile of deadly nerve gas he had uncovered once, he disguised the site from those who would ruthlessly profit from it.

At the end of the first novel, he left the group to die by himself from rad sickness, but rumors kept surfacing about his survival. Following up one of these rumors, Abe tracks him down inRider, Reaper , and they join Ryan inRoad Wars . Trader has been offstage again since the end ofShadowfall , when in an altruistic act he leaves the group, and loyal Abe joins him. Last glimpse of them is one showing the enemy all around them.

J.B. Dix :

John Barrymore Dix, known as the Armorer. J.B. acted as the Trader’s weapons master and booby trap expert. He is a wiry but fairly short man, with round, steel-rimmed spectacles. He always wears a battered fedora. He has had vast experience in the Deathlands himself, and won’t fear any confrontation. Also skilled at finding access or egress anywhere, or with any machinery and tools.

A close ally of Ryan’s, J.B. has a complex, devious mind, though that may not be apparent from his somewhat gruff and usual monosyllabic manner of speaking. His weapons are an Uzi and a Smith & Wesson M-4000 scattergun. He relies on a minisextant to pinpoint their location after a jump.

Jak Lauren:

First appearanceNeutron Solstice . Jak is now sixteen years old, five feet four inches tall and 110 pounds. He has a narrow, scarred face; the jagged scar on his left cheek tugs up a corner of his mouth in a crooked smile. He wears a leather-and-canvas camouflage jacket with strips of razored steel sewn in. His pistol is an enormous satin-finish .357 Magnum with a six-inch barrel. Several leaf-bladed throwing knives are cunningly concealed about his person. He sees very well but only at night. This is because Jak is albino, with a mane of fine, snow white hair and ruby red eyes. He’s a great acrobat and lethal hand-to-hand fighter. His hometown was West Lowellton, Lafayette, Louisiana. His speech is elliptical; he drops articles and pronouns. He wears a ragged fur jacket under his coat, with sleeves hacked out. Tough fingers and hands. His Indian name was Eyes of Wolf. Speech sometimes casually obscene.

Jak is a child who never had a childhood. Mentally scarred by the battles his father’s gangs had with the notorious Baron Tourment, Jak is a little adult with a ferocious fighting brain. Sometimes he lacks judgment.

He’s the hunting and scouting ferret of the party. He has great admiration for Ryan. Having had appalling times in his youth, Jak is looking for some form of security. He left the group for a while to settle on a New Mexico ranch.

When his wife and child were killed by marauders, he rejoined the companions.

Dean Cawdor:

Introduced inSeedling , Ryan’s son is now portrayed as eleven, verging on twelve. His mother was Sharona, the wild wife of a powerful baron, or Rona, as Dean refers to her. He is tall, with dark curly hair, dark eyes, high cheekbones and a serious mien. He is a spitting image of Ryan. He is no ordinary boy, brought up to survive by his mother. The precepts she drummed into him—to guard his identity, lie readily to protect himself except to those closest to him, the willingness to kill and maim to defend himself with his Browning Hi-Power—make him older than his years. After his mother’s death, Dean was entrusted to the care of Sharona’s closest female friend, who had been enjoined to find the boy’s father.

Dean always knew that his father was a spectacular, tall and handsome man who would one day come for him. For some time he boarded at the Nicholas Brody School in Colorado to acquire some book learning.

Abe:

Abe has been offstage with the Trader sinceShadowfall . Originally portrayed as a tall, lanky individual, in later books he has been portrayed as a little bit runty, short. He sports a thick mustache, his long flowing hair tied up in a knot at the back of his head. He was a gunner for the Trader’s War Wag One.

Rumors of the Trader’s survival and whereabouts prompted Abe to locate the man. InFury’s Pilgrims Abe departs on his own following a new source of information, and at the end ofRoad Wars they rejoin the others. But inShadowfall , Trader is separated from the group, and Abe elects to give him support to the end, if need be.

Lori Quint:

Deceased. First appearanceRed Holocaust . An attractive, well-endowed young woman with long golden hair who liked suede clothes, cleavage and high heels, she was second wife of the gatekeeper Quint in Alaska, then became special companion to Doc Tanner.

Her weapon was a pearl-handled .22-caliber Walther PPK. Eventually she had a shift in personality, which seemed to prepare the reader for her demise by fire inIce and Fire .

Michael Brother:

Deceased. First appearanceFury’s Pilgrims , during a time-trawling attempt. Michael was an eighteen-year oblate, dedicated to religious life in the Retreat of Nil-Vanity in northern California. Michael’s appearance, his features and long dark hair, brown skin, were indicative of Indian heritage. Slimly built, and muscular, he was a martial-arts expert, with incredibly fast reflexes.

Michael joined a retreat when he was three, and he had trouble dealing with the world and adjusting. InDeep Empire andTwilight Children he fell in love and had an affair, but his mental balance was finally compromised by what he perceived as his own cowardice, and he killed himself inRider, Reaper .

Noteworthy

(D Signifies deceased.)

Akhnaton:D .

InNightmare Passage . Also known as Alpha and Hell Eyes because of his red eye color. He was one of a pair—the other, Epsilon, had had an early accident—the product of a genetic program to develop a superhuman capable of existing in a postholocaust wasteland. Akhnaton had been in stasis for a time, then returned at the presumed appropriate time. He considered himself a god-king, and ruled the city of Aten. To increase his supernatural powers, he was building a pyramid and planned to establish a dynasty with Krysty Wroth. He was killed during the ceremony to place the pyramid’s capstone, because of a conspiracy led by his daughter Nefron.

Beausoleil, Katya:D .

Known as the Countess, introduced inCircle Thrice . An evil baron in northern Tennessee. Her adviser was Straub. She wanted to conceive a child by Ryan. Killed in a final confrontation with him when both plunged from cliff top into raging river.

Boldt, Prince Victor:D .

InBitter Fruit . Ruled Celts in a Druidic society based out of Wildroot. Killed by Ryan Cawdor when trying to release bacterial plague designed by his father to wipe out existing humans and start afresh.

Brennan, Baron Edgar:D .

InIce and Fire . Head of ville of Snakefish in California. Killed by Hell’s Angels over control of fuel.

Burroughs, Major Drake:

Bitter Fruit. Some type of survivor from predark days, he was head of well-equipped army unit operating out of redoubt in Dulce, New Mexico. Involved in mysterious Project Calypso.

Carson, Sharona:D .

Called Rona by son Dean. She was the wild wife of Baron Alias Carson from Towse. Beautiful blond hair, violet eyes. After her brief, torrid involvement with Ryan ended and he moved on, she fled from her husband and gave birth to their son Dean. She died offstage, but entrusted a woman friend to look after Dean and locate his father.

Carson, Baron Alias:

Recalled in flashback inTime Nomads as chief of Towse, west of New Orleans. Ryan Cawdor had a passionate encounter with his wife, Sharona.

Carter, Alan:

Water sleep. Head of security for Shauna Watson’s commune.

Cawdor, Baron Titus:

Father of Morgan, Harvey and Ryan Cawdor.

Cawdor, Harvey:D .

Middle Cawdor son. He was born with some defects of body and soul. He was power hungry and cruel, quite twisted. Fathers son, Jabez Pendragon Cawdor, with Lady Rachel, his stepmother. He was killed by boars after a showdown with Ryan inHomeward Bound .

Cawdor, Jabez Pendragon:D .

Son of Harvey Cawdor and Lady Rachel Cawdor. Nephew of Ryan Cawdor. Killed by Krysty inHomeward Bound .

Cawdor, Morgan:D .

Eldest Cawdor son, killed by Harvey.

Cawdor, Nathan Freeman/Baron:

Morgan Cawdor’s son, found and installed by Ryan as the new baron inHomeward Bound .

Charlie:D .

InMoon Fate . He was a highly intelligent mutant who was killed by Jak’s wife, Christina, when he tried to take their newborn daughter.

Connrad, Baron Vinge:

The Mars Arena. One of the five barons who staged the annual Big Game. The baron whose team won the gladiatorial contests ruled the surrounding villes for the next twelve months.

Conte, Sergeant:

Bitter Fruit. Underling of Major Burroughs, who pursued companions via mat-trans unit to England.

Danielson:

Nightmare Passage. Also known as Osorkon, his Aten name. He’d been a gunner in War Wag One for the Trader.

Dorothy:

Twilight Children. A love interest of Michael Brother’s. He brought her to the gateway as they made their escape, and Dorothy may have entered the mat-trans with them.

Gehrig, Blackjack:

Bitter Fruit. A black marketer and raider captain for Taylor Henstell, who ran the village New London, England. He rescued Ryan and the companions, and felt they were indebted to him.

Ginsberg, Rick:D .

One of the first freezies successfully revived inIce and Fire . A specialist in the workings of the gateways, he said they’re equipped with a fail-safe locking system, so that transfer couldn’t be made to a completely destroyed redoubt. The man suffered from incurable Lou Gehrig’s disease, and sacrificed himself to save the others inRed Equinox .

Guenema:

Morgan Cawdor’s wife, a mutie girl with jet black eyes. According to rumor, she was pregnant with Morgan’s child and disappeared after husband’s death.

Hardcoe, Sparning:

The Mars Arena. Baron of one of the local villes, one of the five barons engaged in gladiatorial games.

Harrier, Connaught Catherine:D .

Nightmare Passage. She’d been Danielson’s woman, but became the god-king’s companion at his behest. She bore him Nefron, but then died when he tried to make sure that she bore him a son.

Incarnates:

Nightmare Passage. Akhnaton’s sec men, dressed in costumes of Egyptian deities, wieldedmetauh rods that stunned or killed with “mena” energy.

Lady Cynthia:

Mother of the Cawdor sons, first wife of the baron.

Lady Rachel:D .

Baron Cawdor’s second wife. Mother of Jabez Pendragon Cawdor. Killed by Doc Tanner inHomeward Bound .

Johnson, Captain Long:

Bitter Fruit. Son of a baron, well educated, collected books. Pirate by trade. Knew of Doc Tanner’s past, and bore notions of revenge toward Doc.

LeMarck, Hayden:

The Mars Arena. Sec boss of Baron Hardcoe.

Mandeville, Baron Nelson:D .

Cold Asylum. He held gladiatorial contests in his ville of Sun Crest in Kansas.

Mandeville, Marie:D .

Baron Mandeville’s cruel, perverted, beautiful daughter. Killed by Michael Brother inCold Asylum .

Mashashige:D .

Japanese shogun. He was actually a gentle man who adhered fiercely to Japanese tradition and bushido. Committed seppuku inKeepers of the Sun .

Midnites:

Fury’s Pilgrims. A band of mutie women who lived underground, they kidnapped Krysty.

Morse, Kenny:D .

An old armorer, faithful to Ryan. Killed for his loyalty.

Moses:

Twilight Children. Leader of Quindleyville, in an unknown location. Inhabitants were young and beautiful, because anyone over twenty-five was euthanized. He may have been killed as the companions fought their way out.

Nefron:

Nightmare Passage. Child of Akhnaton and Connie Harrier, she fell out of favor with her father and plotted successfully against him. When he died, Nefron succeeded him.

Nelson, Baron Alferd:D .

InShockscape . Leader of Vistaville in Colorado Rockies. He attempted to rape Krysty.

O’Brien, Dr. Connaught:D .

Flashback cameo inNightmare Passage . Lived in predark late 1990s, and was advocate of the kind of “technogenics” that created Akhnaton. She inspired the mix of maternal and amorous feelings of love that Akhnaton experienced for women.

Quadde, Captain Pyra:D .

InDectra Chain , set in Maine, with twisted Quaker traditions. She enlisted her crew for sexual pleasures. Tried to capture Krysty and was killed by Ryan.

Ryuku:D.

Leader of the shogun Mashashige, and outcast leader of therodin , an army of landless samurai in the remains of Japan. He was killed inKeepers of the Sun .

Sharpe, Baron Sean:D .

InGround Zero , near Washington, D.C. Schizophrenic baron collected mutant creatures and humans.

Stanton, Harry:

Seedling. The man ruled a subterranean city in Manhattan.

Strasser, Cort:D .

A.k.a. Skullface. A cruel, sinister man, he first appeared inPilgrimage to Hell , where he was head of Teague’s sec force. He appeared again inPony Soldiers , and as Skullface inLatitude Zero , where Ryan killed him.

Straub:D .

Slimly built, over six feet, shaved head, with opal in right ear, gold front tooth. Eyes dark brown, almost black, with tiny flecks of silver whirling in them. Appeared to have some mutie power. Played role inShadowfall , and was seen near the departing Trader. He was killed by Doc inCircle Thrice .

Teague, Baron Jordan:D .

Appeared inPilgrimage to Hell . Ruler by intimidation of the town of Mocsin, a brutal, gross man-mountain who intended for his empire to become the most powerful in the Deathlands.

Thoraldson, Baron Joruld:D .

InNeutron Solstice . Lord of Ragnarville in north Minnesota, where they practiced Viking cult.

Tomwun, Mark:D .

Appeared inDeep Empire . Leader of a group ostensibly researching dolphins on the Florida Keys, but they were mutating the creatures into killer hunters. Tomwun and his followers got killed by the dolphins in the aftermath of an earthquake.

Torrance, Baron:D .

Appeared inTrader Redux . Ruler of ville of Hightower in the Grand Canyon. Shot by Trader when he insisted on marrying his daughters off to Ryan and the Trader.

Torrance, Bessie:D .

Another Torrance daughter. Planned to wed Ryan, and killed by him in effort to escape.

Torrance, Cissie:D .

Appeared inTrader Redux . Daughter of Baron Torrance. Planned to wed Trader. Killed by Ryan.

Tourment, Baron:D .

InNeutron Solstice . Practitioner of debased form of voodoo, murdered Jak’s father. Killed by Ryan.

Traven, Adam:D .

Appeared inDark Carnival . The leader of a Mansonesque cult, and the real power behind Baron Zepp.

Tyler, Emma:D :

Doomie, liked by Jak, encountered in Washington, D.C., inGround Zero . Killed by Baron Sean Sharpe.

Uchitel:D.

Red Holocaust. Leader of a gang of Russian guerrillas in Alaska.

Watson, Shauna:D .

Watersleep. Leader of a commune in Georgia, she was murdered by Admiral Poseidon.

Yashimoto, Takei:D .

He wanted to avenge his brother’s death in earlierDeathlands novel. Ryan killed him inKeepers of the Sun .

Zepp, Baron Boss Larry:D .

Ruled over a revamped theme park in the ville of Greenglades in Florida.

Zimyanin, Major Gregori:

First appeared inRed Holocaust . Leader of a quasimilitary cavalry unit in Alaska. Returned inRed Equinox as a major-commissar and inDark Carnival , where he kidnapped Dean. InChill Factor , there was another confrontation when Ryan rescued Dean from a slave mine in Canada, and it appeared that Zimyanin was killed.

Gateways in the Series

Many gateways, with their mat-trans units, are in underground military complexes called redoubts. Gateway chambers are hexagonally shaped, with glowing metal disks in floors and ceilings. Color of armaglass walls differs according to location. During a jump, tendrils of mist swirl around the chamber, and nausea, headache and nightmares are experienced. The jump can go wrong, off into some void.

The code for accessing the redoubt via the vanadium steel doors is 3-5-2, and it is reversed to 2-5-3 to lock up.

The code for the security lock on the chambers is 108J. A fall-back device is provided with the LD—Last Destination—button.

Gateways

#1Pilgrimage to Hell Nevada/Montana area. Brown-tinted armaglass.

#2Red Holocaust Alaska. Pale blue armaglass streaked with gray.

#3Neutron Solstice Louisiana. Dark-blue-smoked armaglass.

#4Crater Lake Oregon. Deep crimson armaglass.

#5Homeward Bound Upper New York State. Dark blue armaglass.

#6Pony Soldiers New Mexico, U.S. Southwest. Vivid golden yellow armaglass.

#7Dectra Chain Maine. Deep, brilliant turquoise armaglass.

#8Ice and Fire California. Pallid, translucent gray armaglass.

#9Red Equinox Moscow. Earth walls. Early chamber.

#10Northstar Rising Minnesota. Dull brown armaglass.

#11Time Nomads West of New Orleans. No description of redoubt walls. This redoubt is destroyed when a self-destruct code is set off.

#12Latitude Zero New Mexico. (Second redoubt here.) Silver-tinted armaglass.

#13Seedling New York City/The Bronx. Golden armaglass.

#14Dark Carnival New York. Golden armaglass. (Jump at end mentions New Mexico redoubt as pale, filtered silver color armaglass.

#15Chill Factor North of the American continent. Possibly Canada. Dark brown, almost black armaglass walls.

#16Moon Fate : New Mexico (second redoubt). Silver-tinted armaglass walls.

#17Fury’sPilgrims Chicago. Rich, deep glowing purple armaglass walls.

#18Shockscape Colorado Rockies. Rich cobalt blue armaglass walls.

#19Deep Empire Florida Keys. Pale yellow armaglass walls.

#20Cold Asylum Kansas. Cherry red armaglass walls.

#21Twilight Children New Hampshire. Light purple armaglass walls. Also, Louisiana’s sand dunes. Dark blue armaglass walls.

#22Rider, Reaper New Mexico. Pale silver armaglass walls.

#23Road War No jump. Cross-country trip.

#24Trader Redux No jump.

#25Genesis Echo Maine, dark gray armaglass walls.

#26Shadowfall Maine, Dark gray armaglass walls.

#27Ground Zero Western Islands, dark brown armaglass walls, flecked with white. Washington, D.C, sky blue armaglass walls.

#28Emerald Fire Amazonia. Pallid green armaglass walls.

#29Bloodlines Bayous, south of Lafayette. Dark brown armaglass walls.

#30Crossways Colorado. Salmon pink armaglass walls.

#31Keepers of the Sun Japan. Fiery orange armaglass walls.

#32Circle Thrice Northern Tennessee. Purple armaglass walls.

#33Eclipse at Noon No redoubt in this book.

#34Stoneface Dulce, New Mexico. Walls of concrete blocks painted dingy white. Also, inside the Mount Rushmore facility is a huge six-sided mat-trans chamber, its armaglass greenish blue.

#35Bitter Fruit Concrete redoubt in Dulce, New Mexico. In England, near the remains of Stonehenge, indigo armaglass walls.

#36Skydark Carolinas, near the Shens. Violet armaglass walls.

#37Demons of Eden There is an unspecified reference to a previously visited redoubt in Montana.

#38The Mars Arena No redoubt in this book.

#39Watersleep Redoubt in Florida’s Greenglades Amusement Park, with its blue-green armaglass walls. (Occurred inDark Carnival) . Also, there is a redoubt near the coast of Georgia, in the Kings Bay naval base.

#40Nightmare Passage Kings Bay redoubt, Virginia. White-yellow armaglass walls. Another redoubt is inland from Los Angeles and 150 miles to the north, with pale rust brown armaglass walls.

#41Freedom Lost North Carolina. Dingy opaque gray armaglass walls. Redoubt is under a medical facility. South Kentucky. Jade green armaglass walls.

#42Way of the Wolf South Kentucky. Jade green armaglass walls.

#43Dark Emblem San Juan, Puerto Rico. Blue armaglass walls.

#44Crucible of Time Near Fresno, California. Deep maroon armaglass walls.

Images from Deathlands

Homeward Bound

The earth is all the home I have.

—W. E. Aytoun

Ice and Fire

This ae nighte, this ae nighte, every nighte and alle, Fire and sleet and candle-lighte, and Christe receive thy soule.

—from the medieval ballad

“The Lyke-Wake Dirge”

Northstar Rising

There is night and day, brother, both sweet things, sun, moon, and stars, brother, all sweet things: there’s likewise a wind on the heath. Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?

—”Lavengro”

by George Barrow

Time Nomads

The past and present are only a heartbeat apart.

—from Tunnel Vision by Laurence James

Published by Blackie,1989

Bitter Fruit

Was it just a quantum shift

magic mushroom,

the Reaper’s white umbrella. Lo, Nineveh and Tyre,

Sodom and Gomorrha.

—from the diary of Marylou Crawford A.D. 2001

Dark Carnival

It is a profound mistake to underestimate the lure and attraction of a great evil. The highway of history is lined with the whitened bones of those who have fallen into that error.

The Abyss within the Skull

by Thomas Wun

Demons of Eden

Nothing lives long, Only the earth and the mountains.

—Death song of White Antelope

Cheyenne war chief

Pony Soldiers

The frontier is always with us, just a little beyond tomorrow’s dawn.

T.K. Lobkowitz 1824-1893

Deep Empire

There are those who see the future as a place of sunshine, honey and sylvan glades. Others see it as a time when eggs molder in their shells, corpses lie rotting in the streets and the little children weep. Who is to say which is correct?

—from Smiley Smile or Breaky Heart?

by Jeremy Christian, Ortyx Press, 1992

Chill Factor

Most of us would not be capable of taking the life of another human being, whatever the provocation. A minority might do it if sufficiently aroused. But there have always been and always will be the mercifully small number of men, and women, who can kill. And kill. And kill again.

—The Upward Spiral of Death

Hamilton Binder, 1903

Beyond Deathlands

Mark Ellis on theOutlanders Connection

The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.

—Benjamin Disraeli

That comment from a former prime minister of England kept circling in my mind when I assembled the basic components of the firstOutlanders novel,Exile to Hell .

I had always been intrigued by Disraeli’s observation, since it alluded to the Iceberg Principle: what we view as reality is only the tip of a vast mass, submerged beneath a sea of ignorance, cover stories and revised history. What we know about everyday reality is nothing compared to what we didn’t know—and to what we may never know.

At the inception ofOutlanders , after the decision was made to place it in the Deathlands universe ninety-some years hence, the first order of business was not only to build a bridge of continuity between the two series, but to establish substantial differences between them.

Certainly there seemed little point in creating anotherDeathlands imitation. That had been attempted before by various publishers with varying degrees of success. Therefore, the science-fiction element inDeathlands , as exemplified by the Totality Concept, was the most obvious place to anchor the thread of continuity and to stretch it in another direction.

Long timeDeathlands readers know that the Totality Concept and its many subdivisions have loomed large in the series since the inaugural novel,Pilgrimage to Hell . However, the mysteries posed by the Totality Concept projects were rarely examined in depth. How were all of these scientific marvels created? Where did the technology come from? What was the purpose of all those mat-trans units and the subterranean redoubts?

Operation Chronos, which trawled Doc Tanner from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, then propelled him forward into the future of Deathlands, held the most contradictions.

For example, if Operation Chronos allowed even limited time travel, it didn’t seem likely that none of the scientists involved had peeked into the future and caught a glimpse of the holocaust that swallowed the world on January 20, 2001. And having caught that terrifying glimpse, why did they not take steps to avert it?

It was an intriguing question, so I set about positing something of an answer, and from that solution grewOutlanders . Applying the Iceberg Principle, I extrapolated that the Totality Concept was linked to the nukecaust, and it in turn was part of a concerted conspiracy against humanity that stretched back thousands of years.

Another mystery that perplexed me was the apparent stagnation of society in the Deathlands. Though a considerable amount of technology had survived the nukecaust relatively intact, it seemed strange that with the templates in place, a new society had not been built upon the ruins of the old.

Historically civilizations rose, attained high states of advancement, men fell into ruin. After a period of recovery, the civilizations again rose—all part of a natural continuous cycle.

Yet, in the Deathlands, it seemed evident that some force opposed the cycle, preventing the restoration of balance. Obviously that opposition was unnatural, imposed from without. The question of who—or what—brought that force to bear remained to be answered, if not completely identified.

Shakespeare wrote, “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.”

A chilling scenario, but one that applies to many of today’s mysteries, most of which are sneered at or dismissed as either paranoia or conspiracy theories. The framework ofOutlanders is built upon a foundation of asking “what if they aren’t conspiracy theories?”

In the back-story crafted forDeathlands , the nukecaust grew out of Cold War tensions, a very obviouswhat if . InOutlanders , thewhat ifs . are taken a bit further, extrapolating that the political events triggering the nuclear apocalypse were engineered for a very definite purpose. Therefore, Operation Chronos could not avert the atomic catastrophe without defeating the master plan.

As our world hurtles toward the millennium, evidence slowly mounts that many of our ideological enemies we once took for granted were manufactured to meet political needs. What if the ideologies were themselves manufactured as control mechanisms for the human race?

It is part of human nature to control our environment, oftentimes violently. What if our environment was not truly ours, that we were viewed only as tenants and our struggles to control it impinged on the rights of thereal owners?

Out of thesewhat it’s grew the Archon Directorate, the ultimate conspiracy. In ancient religious texts, archons were described as the spiritual jailers of humanity, imprisoning the divine spark in the souls of man. But even naming the Archon Directorate as the puppet masters, the engineers of the nukecaust and all of its horrors doesn’t explain everything. As the series continues, more clues to the real identities of the Archons and their actual agenda will be revealed.

The postnuclear holocaust world ofOutlanders is quite different from the one Ryan Cawdor and his people adventured and fought through. In some ways, it appears far more secure, certainly less anarchic, but in other ways it’s far, far worse. InOutlanders , the struggle for survival has progressed beyond the physical, and now it’s a war for the human spirit. The basic theme is discovering the truth. It deals with uncovering the unknown, solving mysteries and exposing the lurking secrets of the forgotten past that mold the present and the future. The heroes are locked in a battle with a remote, merciless enemy, and not only are their individual lives and freedom at stake, but all of humanity’s, as well.

The main cast of characters was consciously designed to superficially suggest theDeathlands protagonists without imitating them. Obviously the backgrounds of Kane, Grant and Brigid Baptiste are far different than those of Ryan, Krysty, J.B., et al.

Although they were spared the daily struggle for physical survival, the holocaust they suffered was one of heart and mind, but no less devastating than the one that almost destroyed the world nearly two centuries earlier.

Having Kane and Grant spend most of their lives as Magistrates, or in the parlance ofDeathlands , as sec men, is a dramatic counterpoint to the fierce independence displayed by Ryan and his companions. The trauma of discovering that everything they believed in was based on lies, a conspiracy to manipulate a conspiracy, is a shock they continue to try to come to terms with.

Though the heroes ofOutlanders are larger than life, they are invested with very human failings. None of them is infallible; they are prone to errors of judgment, to fits of temper, to arguing among themselves. They struggle to rein in their prejudices and see the true enemy.

The most durable characters spring from mythic archetypes, common ideas or images that are adapted, usually unconsciously, by storytellers. Kane, Grant and Brigid represent an archetypal trinity: Kane is all fiery passion and anger, Brigid is cool and analytical, while Grant is the bridge between them both, the moderating influence of two extremes.

Domi, the fierce outlander girl, serves as the symbol for oppressed humankind eking out an uncertain existence beyond the cushioned tyranny of the baronies.

All of them are united in the Promethean quest to bring the flame of knowledge to light the darkness of the oppressed human spirit.

Another dramatic departure fromDeathlands is shifting the focus from wandering to achieving an objective. Part of this objective is removing the heel of the barons from the collective neck of humanity; another part is seeking out the truth of Earth’s hidden history, since one cannot be accomplished without the other.

But the protagonists often learn that truth is not an absolute, that what they accept as gospel in one novel may turn out to be only a half truth in another. Nothing is for certain inOutlanders and nothing should be taken for granted.

However,Outlanders is first and foremost an adventure series, and as such, the heroes must face formidable enemies. The oligarchy of the nine barons serves as an ever present menace, butOutlanders features individual villains of apocalyptic stature.

The thirst and quest for power displayed by the Tushe Gun, Lord Strongbow, Salvo, Colonel Thrush and others spring from more than just a desire to act out depraved impulses to rape and torture. Though the villains may do both, it is only a small part of their will to gain power for its own sake. Their schemes usually involve objectives far more complex than mere personal gain.

And as the villain’s stature is apocalyptic, so are the adventures of theOutlanders heroes: deep beneath New Mexico are strange beings, neither human nor alien, but a frightening hybrid of both, the avatars of the race that will inherit the Earth. Their first encounter with Kane, Brigid and Grant was a draw, but other conflicts are inevitable.

An ancient black city, half as old as time, rears out of the Mongolia wastelands, bringing with it a terrible power. On a forgotten space station on the dark side of the moon, a deadly plan devised long ago reaches zero hour, a plan that spells destruction for two worlds.

In future novels, Kane’s, Brigid’s and Grant’s travels will take them to even stranger places to play for ever higher stakes.

When all is said and done,Outlanders is a series of high adventure and wild action. And there can be no grander adventure than indulging the healthy human hunger for the truth—even if that truth is one we may never recognize or, if we do, never fully comprehend.