STEVE CARROLL WRITES

The world as we know it has ceased to exist. It has been   over a decade since the visitors first appeared. Though nature still   flourishes, humankind has been crushed and placed under the merciless genocidal   campaign of alien intelligence. Technology   has been ravaged by electro-magnetic   pulses. Humans are forced to wear oxygen converters that conceal their exhaled   breath, by which they can be located and destroyed. They now exist either in isolated   solitude or in fortified communes. The   sky is filled is giant discs that emit   howls as they communicate with each other while on the earth’s surface giant creatures   constantly seek the remnants of humanity to rend and tear apart in the claws   and teeth. Our main character, only ever referred to as “the woman,”   has chosen the life of isolated solitude, serving as a motorcycle   courier,   carrying messages back and forth between the communes (Comms), whe...

When I learned that Ben Haas, creator of two of my favorite action-oriented   western series of all time, Sundance and Fargo , had written a 2-book sword   and sorcery series under the name of Richard Meade, it became something of a holy grail quest for me. I was successful in tracking down the first book in what is called the Grey Lands   saga,  The Sword of Morning Star .  Haas   places his tale in a far future version of Europe that has been reshaped by the   “Worldfire,” a cataclysmic event that is most likely referencing nuclear war (it   is never fully explained). Mankind has degenerated into feudalism, complete   with kings, horseback-mounted   soldiers, and wolf-people—yes, mutant half   wolf/half people beings who ride horses and fight with swords and claws. Most   of the action takes place in   what would be Germany and the names of characters   and places reflect this.  Our protagonist is Helmut, the ...

The Last Ranger #9:   The Damned Disciples  (1988) by Craig Sargent (Jan Stacy) Jan Stacy was a post-apocalyptic series juggernaut, penning not only all 10   volumes of  The Last Ranger   series but   also co-creating and co- authoring many of  The   Doomsday Warrior  series with Ryder Syvertsen under the pen name of Ryder   Stacy.  The Last Ranger  centers on   Martin   Stone, a young man whose father had the foresight to build an   impregnable underground mountain fortress prior to an obliterating nuclear   attack   by the Soviets. It’s from this high-tech compound that he trains young   Martin in survival, martial arts, and weaponry so he can emerge after the   old   man’s death to search for his kidnaped sister—a quest that stretches across the   series. He is always accompanied by his faithful pit-bull,   Excalibur.  In  The Damned Disciples ,  Stone is summo...

False Dawn  (1978)   by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro I first read False Dawn as a 16-year old thanks to my Science Fiction Book Club edition. Its grim nihilistic depiction of a post-apocalyptic America disturbed me greatly at the time; I was excited to revisit it as an adult to determine the cause. The answer came rushing back to me in the very first chapter as I was reintroduced to a brutal world of intense violence, rape, murder, mutants, and giant predatory water spiders. And all described in as muscular a style as possible.  Later in her career Yarbro would become synonymous with the ongoing Count Saint-Germain vampire series that drifts toward gothic romance. But that is far from what we have here as we follow our main characters, crossbow-wielding mutant Thea and former pirate-leader Evan, on a perilous journey through what’s left of America after wars, pollution, famine...