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James Axler

Transformed by the nuclear conflict of 2001, the earth had turned into a wasteland ruled by anarchy and barbarism. Heirs to this blighted world, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior wayfarers fight for survival... and a way to restore humanity's lost promise.

The preholocaust redoubts housing the dangerous and unpredictable mat-trans units are the legacy of the whitecoat scientists and their precocious knowledge. For the very few in the know, the network of redoubts serves as an escape route and transport through the bleak landscape.

Emerging remarkably unscathed after a mat-trans jump, Ryan and his wayfarers are welcomed by Dr. Silas Jamaisvous in his fortress among the ruins of San Juan. This man of science may hold a vital key to the future, but is he an icon of hope or a dark emblem of the past?

In the Deathlands, time can kill or save...

Terence Aselford

Nanette Savard

Thomas Penny

Colleen Delany

Richard Rohan

Mort Shelby

Jeff Baker

Tymberlee Chanel

A Full Cast

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Deathlands

Dark Emblem [Dramatized Adaptation]

The nuclear Armageddon of 2001 put the world on an odyssey of savage rebirth. Now, little more than a hundred years after the blast, the quest for power is viciously embraced by America's new masters, barons commanding fortresses called villes, policed by stone hearts called sec men. But even in this dark new world, heroes and legends are emerging. One of them is a warrior survivalist named Ryan Cawdor, believed to possess pre-apocalyptic knowledge that holds hope for a beleaguered future.
 
Hungry and exhausted, Ryan and his band emerge from a redoubt into a remarkably untouched pre-dark city and uncover a cache of weapons and food. But the group is not alone. Among other interlopers, the city is guarded by huge winged creatures, protecting the grisly secrets of a nearby barony. Holed up inside an old government building, where Ryan's son, Dean, lies near death, Ryan and Krysty must raid the treacherous ville across the desert where a local baron uses human flesh as fertilizer.
 
In the Deathlands, evil is unstoppable.

Mark Delgado

Zero City

A nuclear apocalypse almost destroyed Western civilzation in 2001, leaving in its place the forbidding world of Deathlands. Though the human spirit has not been broken, the new rules of survival are harsh and barbaric. As barons fight for power in a savage new America, power is claimed with the salvaged arsenals of a predark world: weapons, gasoline and those willing to kill.
The Marshall islands, once the testing grounds for twentieth-century weapons of mass destruction, remains pervesely 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.
(The SkyDark Chronicles - 1 of 3)

Barrett Whitener

Cate Torre

David Elias

Savage Armada

A nuclear Endgame played out among the superpowers created a fiery cataclysm that turned America into a treacherous new frontier. But an intrepid group of warrior survivalists roams the wastelands, unlocking the secrets of a pre-dark world. Ryan Cawdor and his band have become living legends in a world of madness and death where savagery reigns, but the human spirit remains.
 
The South Pacific is a rad-blasted paradise, inhabited by giant mutated crustaceans and savage cannibals. The local baron rules the Marshall Islands with a despotic iron fist and a secret formula for making Deathland's gold: Gunpowder. But his true invincibility lies in his possession of stockpiles of pre-dark rapid fire missiles and a fleet of functional PT boats. Ryan Cawdor and his companions have faced off against the baron and survived. But this time there's only one way out of these death seas—through the sec-men infested waters of the baron's kingdom.
 
(The SkyDark Chronicles - 2 of 3)

Christopher Walker

Judas Strike

A planet ravaged by the apocalyptic blast of 2001 gave birth to a new world of savagery—and a new breed of hero. In a land where violence rules with absolute authority, Ryan Cawdor and his wayfarer survivalists roam the strange, nascent twenty second century, living by their own creed of honor as they continue their search for a sanctuary they can call home.
 
In what was once the nuclear testing ground of the pre-dark world, the Marshall Islands are now the kingdom of the grotesque lord Baron Kinnison. Here in this world of slavery and brutality the companions have fought a fierce war for survival, on land and sea—yet the crafty baron still conspires to destroy these interlopers. Activating a twentieth century hot air balloon left untouched by the blast, they escape to the neighboring pirate ruled forbidden island, with the Baron and his sec men in hot pursuit—and become trapped in a war for total supremacy on this water world.
 
(The SkyDark Chronicles - 3 of 3)

Shadow Fortress

After an atomic blast hurled the world into an uncertain future, the past still reaches out in hope... and damnation. In a kill or be killed world, one steadfast group of survivors possesses superior fighting skills and sense of fair play that have made them living legends. In their struggle to seek a better way of life, they are unraveling the powerful secrets of the hell on Earth called Deathlands.
 
A pre-dark legacy of shattering promise lies beneath the ruins of nuke-ravaged Seattle. Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions come face-to-face with the ancestors of a secret society whose members were convinced that paradise awaited at the center of the Earth. This cult is inexorably tied to a conspiracy of twentieth-century scientists devoted to fulfilling a vision o genetic manipulation.In this labyrinthine ville, carved from the subterranean passages of a doomed past, some of the descendants of the illuminated ones are pursuing the dream of their legacy—while others are dedicated to its nightmare.
 
Even in the Deathlands, twisted human beliefs endure...

Sunchild

More than a century after a multi-warhead nuclear strike wiped out nearly all of earth's population, humanity's feral instinct to survive has spawned a savage new America. Here, the brutality of man and nature conspire against hope. Yet despite its chaos and bloody turmoil, Deathlands is a second chance for the human race...and for a group of warrior survivalists lead by a man called Ryan Cawdor.
 
Deathlands is a living hell, but there is someplace worse: a parallel Earth where the atomic mega-cull never happened. Now this Otherworld Earth is in its final death throes. Yet for an elite few, the reality portal offers a new frontier of raw energy, expendable slaves—a bastion of power for Dredda Otis Trask. Her invasion force of genetically engineered warrior women has turned the ruins of Salt Lake City into the deadly mining grounds of a grotesque new order—one that lies in wait for Ryan and his companions.
 
In the Deathlands, danger lurks beyond the imagination.

Christopher Graybill

Breakthrough

Tortured into existence by a nuclear conflagration, the new frontier of a ravaged America is an ordeal only the most intrepid can endure. Pockets of civilization have emerged, some born of will and hope, while others are breeding grounds for tyranny and madness. Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions have survived all this and worse. A roving band of survivalists driven to seek a better life, they are unwilling to pay the highest price demanded by the unforgiving crucible called Deathlands.
 
Beneath the brutal sun of the nuke-ravaged Southwest, the Texas desert burns red hot and merciless, commanding agony and untold riches to those greedy and mad enough to mine the slick black crude that lies beneath the scorched earth. When a Gateway jump puts Ryan and the others deep in the hell of Texas, they face a no win situation: fry in the heat, or become a rogue baron's sec force for an oil refinery targeted by saboteurs. The task: catch the raiders and win their freedom. Or fail...and face death.
 
In the Deathlands, the unimaginable is a way of life.

Salvation Road

At the heart of the strange new post-nuclear world known as Deathlands lie the mysteries of pre-dark society—secrets that may hold the key to a future of peace...or peril. Armed with rare knowledge of top secret twenty-first-century technology, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists traverse the new America, seeking to claim something beyond the grim reality of Deathlands.
 
In the radiation-blasted heart of the northwest, Ryan and his companions form a tenuous alliance with a society of women warriors in what may be the stunning culmination of their quest. After years of searching, they have found the gateway to the pre-dark cabal of the Illuminated Ones—and perhaps their one chance to reclaim the future from the jaws of madness. But to seize tomorrow, they must confront its deadly guardians: what is left of the constitutional Government of the United States of America.
(The Illuminated Ones - 1 of 2)

Amazon Gate

America has been forever alter by the ravages of a nuclear attack that sent it spiraling toward a virulent new destiny—and by the vestiges of the pre-dark world itself, where humanity's internecine battle between good and evil rages on. Though many of twenty-first-century America's darkest legacies have been entombed beneath the ruins of a wounded planet, some remain dangerously alive...
 
Emerging from a gateway in New England, Ryan Cawdor and his band of wayfaring survivalists ally themselves with a group of women warriors who join their quest to locate the Illuminated Ones, a mysterious pre-dark secret who may possess secret knowledge of Deathlands. Yet their pursuit becomes treacherous, for their quarry has unleashed a deadly plague in the twisted plot to cleanse the earth. As Ryan's group falls victim, time is running out—for the intrepid survivors... and for humanity itself.
 
(The Illuminated Ones - 2 of 2)

Destiny's Truth

Survival in America's nuke-blasted frontier is both a curse and a salvation for Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions. Though the basic needs of existence must be fought for and won with blood—each day alive means another chance to seek refuge and a better way of life in a hostile and brutal world, where hope still fires the human heart.
 
In the relatively untouched area of what was once Niagara Falls, Ryan and his fellow wayfarers find the pastoral farmland under the despotic control of a twisted baron and his slave-breeding farm. Ryan, Mildred and Krysty are captured by the baron's sec men and pawned into the cruel frenzy of their leader's grotesque desires. JB, Jak and Doc enlist the aid of outlanders to organize a counter strike—but rescue may come too late for them all.
 
In the Deathlands, you are sentenced to your destiny from the moment of birth...

Skydark Spawn

In the ruins of a nuke-shattered America, every man, woman and child of the apocalyptic frontier makes a perilous journey to the future. But there is a fork that divides the path toward humanity reborn... and the road deep into the hell that is Deathlands. Ryan Cawdor made his choice long ago, in this barbaric new world that conspires against hope...
 
Eerie remnants of pre-Dark times linger a century after the nuclear blowout. But a traveling road show gives new meaning to the word chilling. Ryan and his warrior group have witnessed this carny's handiwork in the ruins and victims of unsuspecting villes. Even facing tremendous odds does nothing to deter the companions from challenging this wandering death merchant and an army of circus freaks. And no one is aware that a steel-eyed monster from the past is preparing a private act that would give Ryan star billing...
 
In the Deathlands, all you get is a one-way ticket.

Damnation Road Show

Ryan Cawdor has been narrowly rescued from a harrowing, uncontrolled plummet through the maelstrom of time, only to find himself stranded in a place outside of the reality he knows, his savior not quite the man he appears to be. 
At the Cawdor family home of Front Royal, the companions meet Ryan's long lost son, who is no longer who he once was. They learn Front Royal has fallen to invaders, forces under the command of a long-time bitter enemy, and constant nemesis. Woefully outnumbered, as the birth of Krysty Wroth's child grows imminent, the reunited companions must somehow devise a way of stopping the monsters and madmen who collectively are the Magus.
Performed by Richard Rohan; Colleen Delany; Terence Aselford; Delores King Williams; Alejandro Ruzi; Laura C. Harris; Chris Rohan; Tia Shearer; Carolyn Kashner; Bill Gillett; Yasmin Tuazon; David Harris; Zeke Alton; Todd Scofield; Bradley Smith; Chris Davenport; Jonathan Feuer; Andrew Quilpa; Evan Casey; Andy Clemence; Ren Kasey; Drew Kopas; Matthew Bassett; James Lewis.

Delores King Williams

Yasmin Tuazon

Laura C. Harris

Alejandro Ruiz

Carolyn Kashner

Tia Shearer

Bill Gillett

Chris Rohan

Who Lives and Who Dies [Dramatized Adaptation]

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. 
There is still a Magus out there to be reckoned with, along with the dangerous repercussions of recklessly tampering with Gaia.
Performed by Richard Rohan, Terence Aselford, Delores King Williams, Laura C. Harris, Chris Rohan, Kimberly Gilbert, Tia Shearer, Carolyn Kashner, David Coyne, Dylan Lynch, Scott Bruffey, Shayna Small, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Steve Wannall, Matthew Pauli, Audrey Bertaux, Matthew Schleigh, Ken Jackson, Nanette Savard and Lawrence Redmond.

Dylan Lynch

David Coyne

Kimberly Gilbert

Scott Bruffey

Exodus From Hell [Dramatized Adaptation]

"Continuing the timeline established in Deathlands 136: Trade War.
There might be safety in numbers, but numbers attract predators.
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.
Performed by Richard Rohan, Terence Aselford, Lolita Horne, Colleen Delany, Tia Shearer, Nora Achrati, Rayner Gabriel, Kay Eluvian, Alejandro Ruiz, Amanda Forstrom, Anthony Palmini, Audrey Bertaux, Carolyn Kashner, Chris Davenport, Chris Stinson, Christopher Williams, Darius Johnson, David Zitney, Emilea Wilson, Eric Messner, Eva Wilhem, Holly Adams, Jessica Lauren Ball, Jonathan Lee Taylor, Karen Novack, Ken Jackson, Matthew Bassett, Matthew Schleigh, Nanette Savard, Natalie Van Sistine, Nazia Chaudhry, Rob McFadyen, Robb Moreira, Scott McCormick, Steve Wannall, Tanja Milojevic, Torian Brackett, Yasmin Tuazon, and Zeke Alton."

Nora Achrati

Amanda Forstrom

Lolita Horne

Kay Eluvian

Rayner Gabriel

Anthony Palmini

Sea Hag [Dramatized Adaptation]: Deathlands 140

"After the events of Deathlands 139: Exodus from Hell, Ryan Cawdor finds himself reunited with the love of his life and a familiar version of the world he’d known most of his life, with old friends he thought he’d lost forever, and an embodiment of himself that fits the time and place.
Memories of another, alternate life grow vague over time, but this life goes on.
The companions set up a safe haven called simply Home in the Virginia mountains, where they welcome anyone willing to work hard for a better tomorrow. But when an organized and dangerous mutie society intrudes upon the ville’s residents to use as slaves and worse, the old cycle of violence returns.
Performed by Richard?Rohan,?Terence Aselford,?Laura C. Harris, Alejandro Ruiz, Lolita Horne, Colleen Delany, Amanda Forstrom, Bradley Foster Smith, Brandon Burton, Chris Davenport, Chris Stinson, Dawn Ursula, Eric Messner, Eva Wilhelm, Holly Adams, Jonathan Lee Taylor, Ken Jackson, Lise Bruneau, Megan Dominy, Mort Shelby, Peter Holdway, Rayner Gabriel, Rob McFadyen, Steve Wannall, Teddy Trice, Tia Shearer, Wyn Delano, and Yasmin Tuazon."

Chris Davenport

Chris Stinson

Bradley Foster Smith

Brandon Burton

Hell Reclaimed [Dramatized Adaptation]: Deathlands 141

Continuing from Deathlands 141: Hell Reclaimed.
Sleep yourself to a better life.
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. 
The companions are invited to join the baron in this mass hibernation, but swiftly find themselves on the wrong side of a slave uprising.
Performed by Richard Rohan, Terence Aselford, Laura C. Harris, Alejandro Ruiz, Lolita Horne, Colleen Delany, Andrew Colford, Amanda Forstrom, Elena Anderson, Bill Gillett, Bradley Foster Smith, David Harris, Chris Davenport, Danny Gavigan, Eric Messner, Eva Wilhelm, Hannah Curtis, Karen Novack, Ken Jackson, Lise Bruneau, Matthew Basset, Megan Dominy, Nanette Savard, Rob McFadyen, Robb Moreira, Rose Elizabeth Supan, Ryan Carlo Dalusung, Scott McCormick, Steve Wannall, Tyler Hyrchuk, and Yasmin Tuazon.

Elena Anderson

Andrew Colford

Deathlands :Into Delirium [Dramatized Adaptation]: Deathlands 142

"Continuing from Deathlands 142: Into Delirium.
One Nation Under Sod.
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.
Performed by Alejandro Ruiz, Alysia Beltran, Amanda Forstrom, Amin Shravan, Cody Roberts, Coleen Delany, David Zitney, Donald Guzzi, Eric Messner, Jason Keller, Julie Hoverson, Karen Novack, Karenna Foley, Ken Jackson, Laura C. Harris, Lise Bruneau, Lolita Horne, Mark Harrietha, Melody Muze, Mike Ciporkin, Nazia Chaudhry, Nicole Perez, Richard Rohan, Ryan Haugen, Ryan Reid, Scott McCormick, Steve Wannall, Terence Aselford, and Triya Leong."

Julie Hoverson

Eric Messner

David Zitney

Jason Keller

Alysia Beltran

Coleen Delany

Amin Shravan

Donald Guzzi

Cody Roberts

Deathlands :Grave Capitol [Dramatized Adaptation]: Deathlands 143

"Continuing from Deathlands 143: Grave Capitol.
Catch a Lethal Star.
Enlisted for a mission to retrieve the memory of a military satellite that’s been mistaken for an angel by in-bred locals, Ryan Cawdor and his companions head deep into the wild country of Kill Island, only to discover they are being pursued by an old foe harboring a deadly grudge. With enemies on all sides, Ryan and his allies rapidly run out of places to turn ... and no way back.
Meanwhile, Doc Tanner is offered a tantalizing possibility that could end his time with the companions forever.
Performed by Richard?Rohan,?Terence?Aselford, Alejandro Ruiz,?Lolita Horne, Colleen Delany, Amanda Forstrom, Hannah Curtis, Julie-Ann Elliott, Foster Smith, David Zitney, Eric Messner, Jonathan Lee Taylor, K’lai Rivera, Amanda L’orien, Kelly Baskin, Ken Jackson, Mark Harrietha, Martin Dickinson, Peter Holdway, Rayner Gabriel, Scott McCormick, Michael Getz, Tyler Hyrchuck, and Yasmin Tuazon."

Julie-Ann Elliott

Hannah Curtis

Memory Box

"Continuing the timeline established in Deathlands 136: Trade War.
Beneath the waters of Lake Huron a monstrosity lurks, and Krysty Wroth may be its victim.
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.
Performed by Richard?Rohan,?Terence?Aselford,?Lolita Horne, Colleen Delany, Nanette Savard, Stephon Walker, Alysia Beltran, Bradley Foster Smith, Darius Johnson, David Engel, Eric Messner, Jean Rosolino, Joy Jones, Karen Novack, Katie Boothe, Keith Richards, Ken Jackson, Marie Hoffman, Megan Dominy, Michael John Casey, Nickolette Kong, Rana Kay, Rob McFadyen, Ryan Haugen, Ryan Reid, and Scott McCormick."

Stephon Walker

David Engel

Darius Johnson

Kraken [Dramatized Adaptation]: Deathlands 145

Deathlands - The book series

Deathlands - The book series

Deathlands books in order

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