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LongRunningBookSeries of action-adventure novels set in an AfterTheEnd North America, now called [[MeaningfulName Deathlands]]. A detailed prologue in the first novel explains how a [[RenegadeRussian hardline communist faction]] tried to decapitate the entire US political and military command structure by detonating three briefcase nukes during the Presidential inauguration, as a preliminary to a surprise nuclear attack. Things GoHorriblyWrong and the resulting nuclear, chemical and biological conflagation turns Earth into the equivalent of a DeathWorld.

In the year 2104 life in Deathlands is nasty, brutish and short (not to mention frequently mutated) but the HiredGuns of the Trader have things better than most. Travelling from one [[WretchedHive feudal barony and fortified town]] to another in their heavily-armed wagon train, they've become adept at locating the [[ScavengerWorld hidden stockpiles of weapons and equipment]] left by the now-defunct US government.

After an attack on their convoy the Trader's war captain, Ryan Cawdor, saves (and is saved by) a stunningly beautiful female captive called Krysty Wroth. She is convinced that a [[ThePromisedLand gateway to a better world]] lies in the Darks (formerly the Glacier National Park in Montana). This is an old UrbanLegend and Ryan is naturally skeptical, but events force him and several companions (most notably 'Doc' Tanner, a traumatised former captive who appears to have unusual knowledge of pre-war America) to seek it out. [[spoiler:It turns out the gateway is actually a Redoubt; a hidden underground complex containing teleportation technology called MAT-TRANS. The series follows their adventures as the group use the MAT-TRANS PortalNetwork to travel at random from one part of Deathlands to another.]] In doing so they battle an endless array of [[EvilOverlord power-hungry warlords]], kill-crazy marauders, mutant monsters, {{Mad Scientist}}s and various other villains. Expect loads of {{Gorn}} and GunPorn, over-the-top characters, cool events and some crazy landscape. To date the series has reached 100 books with multiple authors, making for some interesting adventures for the characters.

There is also ''Outlanders'', a spin-off series set a hundred years on from the events of ''Deathlands''. LostTechnology has been used to bring the chaotic Deathlands under the despotic rule of a centralised government backed by mysterious forces; the series depicts the efforts of a group of renegades operating from the Darks to oppose them. Employing conspiracy theories and myths from all cultures as underpinnings, ''Outlanders'' quickly distanced itself from the gun-fixated survivalist tone of ''Deathlands'' and struck out in new directions, providing explanations for many of the unresolved science-fiction elements in the earlier series.

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!These novels provide examples of:

* AfterTheEnd: Civilization as we know it is gone.
* AKA47: Plenty of weapons get this treatment, as in the HK G-12 (a fictional variant of the Heckler & Koch G11 caseless rifle) wielded by Ryan in the early novels.
* AllThatGlitters:
** The group find some [[CrateExpectations sealed crates]] and J.D. starts going into [[GunPorn excessive detail]] over what exotic weapons might be in them. Everyone (except J.D.) bursts out laughing when the crates turn out to be full of thousands of plastic zippers.
** Any number of the Redoubts that are scattered all over the U.S. and other locations. The companions frequently find nothing of real value in the old foritifications.
* AlternateHistory: Premier Gorbachev dies in a plane crash in 1993, and a bloody civil war in the USSR presages the elevation of a hardline Soviet government, though it is another faction ''within'' this group that starts the war, alarmed over the decline of the Soviet Union and other events such as a civil war in South Africa, the assassination of Fidel Castro, and an active Strategic Defense Initiative.
* AngstWhatAngst (InUniverse): When ActionGirl Hunaker gets killed, Ryan says it's "like losing my [[HandGuns blaster]]", telling Krysty he [[AnyoneCanDie can't afford to feel anything more]].
* AnnoyingArrows:
** [[spoiler: Outside the very first redoubt one of the party fleeing into the darks is killed by arrows.]]
** In FilmOfTheBook, where Krysty Wroth yanks a crossbow bolt out of her shoulder).
* AntiMatter: Implosion bombs use Anti-Matter in some fashion.
* AnyoneCanDie: Any character is not part of the long running group of characters frequently referred to as "The Companions" can be killed off during the course of a single novel or survive fore a few novels before dying.
* ApocalypseHow: A Planetary Societal Collapse. While modern civilization is pretty much obliterated as we know it, there are enough remnants such as vehicles, weapons, ammo, books and other items that they have not completely lost it all. There is even widespread organization and recovery on a scale sufficient enough to fuel small cities and large towns.
* BaseOnWheels: The Trader uses a converted military command vehicle as base and living area while on the move.
* {{BFG}}: M-60s, .50 caliber machine guns, auto-cannons, and grenade launchers to name a few.
* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Doc Tanner's sometime [[NoSocialSkills girlfriend]], Lori, runs off and has an affair with a local [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad boy]]. She then returns to the group, complaining that his big dick came with a small brain. Ryan dryly remarks that he "hears that's often the way".
* BlackAndGreyMorality: The nanture of the Deathlands makes this a fact of life. People are flawed but there are some really bad people out there who just need killing. Expect to see a shoot first and ask later attitude due to the often justified belief that others will do the same to you.
* BoomHeadShot: Done with often gory details about eyeballs, teeth, and fragments of bullets and bone doing nasty things.
* CarFu: The drivers of the Trader's caravan use this to great effect. Also used in general through out the books.
* ChekhovsVolcano: [[spoiler:The Wizard Island Research Base. It is stated that when they blow the dooms day weapons intended to finish off the world that it would very likely set off the dormant volacano. Sure enough when they blow the facility the vocalno erupts.]]
* ColdSniper: The snipers that do show up are usually this.
* CoolGate [=/=] PortalNetwork: The MAT-TRANS.
* CoolGun: The various personal fire arms of the characters get this treatment in the novels.
* CrapsackWorld: Among the weather, landscape, mutants and other humans, the world is not a nice place to live.
* {{Cult}}: There are plenty of various and sundry cults through out the death lands.
* DeadlyGas:
** The Soviets use chemical weapons along with their biological and nuclear weapons in the event that turned America into the Death Lands.
** When the Trader finds a stache of nerve gas, he buries it and destroys the evidence that lead him there in the hope no-one will ever use such weapons again. [[spoiler:Unfortunately it doesn't work; half his convoy gets gassed with nerve agents]]
* DepopulationBomb: Large numbers of the worlds population are killed off in the apocalyptic war that spawned the Death Lands.
* DoubleTap: Sometimes the characters really need to make sure something is dead. This applies especially to mutants because their internal anatomy is not always the same as humans. Also the events and chaos of battle means not every hit stops enemies cold and some are able to continue fighting unless a follow up shot is made.
* EmergencyWeapon:
** People who work for the Trader have enough hidden odds and ends to make a door breaching charge. They conceal plastic explosives, wires, detonators and a signal detonator in their clothing shoes, seams, and gear.
** Easily Concealed small weapons like derringers and knives also are used in this role.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Modern civilization is gone; see ApocalypseHow entry above.
* EyeScream:
** One of the nicer things that can possibly happen to your eyes is getting them put out.
** ''Neutron Solstice'', the third book in the long-running series, is chock full of this. This happens to [[spoiler:a raven, Jak Lauren's father, TheDragon Mephisto, and the BigBad Baron Tourment after attempting to shoot his brains out.]]
* FilmOfTheBook: SciFiChannel did a fairly decent adaptation of ''Homeward Bound'', where Ryan Cawdor returns to the barony from which he was outlawed. Be prepared however for {{Narm}}ish acting, [[ColorWash too much]] [[RedSkyTakeWarning red tint]], no Doc Tanner or Lori Quint, ex-porn star Traci Lords as a LadyMacbeth-style baroness, and a complete absence of giant mutant monsters.
* ForbiddenZone: The United States of America, also known as The Death Lands.
* FrickinLaserBeams: [[spoiler:Finnigan is killed by one in ''Crater Lake'',]] and the effects are depicted with graphic details.
--> [[spoiler:Finnegan]]: ''"FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK-! (death gargle)"''
* FutureImperfect: The leader of a Russian war party declares his intention to invade the former United States, having read in the old books about how it's a land of wealth and [[ForeignFanservice beautiful women]] instead of the CrapsackWorld it is in reality.
* FutureSlang: [[{{mutant}} Muties]], [[ImAHumanitarian cannies]], [[{{mooks}} sec men]], [[WeaponizedCar war wag]], [[HiredGuns blasters]], [[DeadlyEuphemism chilled]], and [[UnusualEuphemism fireblast]].
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The first novel was written in 1986 and states that WW3 began in 2001, so the series has now become 'honorary' AlternateHistory.
* GrenadeLauncher: They are present but not widely used.
* GunPorn: Oh so many weapons.
* GunStripping: Characters will frequently clean and maintain their weapons.
* HandGuns: Everyone seems to carry them for one reason or another.
* HumanSacrifice: A popular practice with various cults.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** [[spoiler:Kelber (Strasser's chief torturer) dies in this manner when he accidentally swallows a carnivorous insect he'd been planning to forcefeed to his prisoners.]]
** [[spoiler:Baron Zeal, who previously burned one of Trader's men alive with his special torture chamber of doom, eventually tries escaping imminent explosion and being the victim of [[{{Gorn}} a violent and goretastic explosion]], jumps in same torture pit; however, the torture pit eventually winds up in a crater, burning alive as the door was wedged shut, giving Zeal the irony treatment of burning alive for weeks.
* HopeSproutsEternal: Seen in the first novel, and used as a continuing theme in book covers and the RidingIntoTheSunset ending for the SciFiChannel adaptation.
* HostileWeather: Weather conditions include violent hurricanes that reshape the landscape, acid rains that strip the flesh from the body, and sandstorms that can literally abrade the flesh from a body.
* HumansAreBastards: After the survivors of the nuclear winter came back out, apparently the bad got worse. It is noted that those that try to live peacefully and morally are frequently [[SuicidalPacifism wiped out by those who choose not to live so]].
* ImAHumanitarian: This wonderful line on the history of Jordan Teague, Baron of Mocsin.
-->"He took up with a band of mutie marauders who had a rather more liberal attitude to norms than most -- that is, they accepted him, instead of slow-roasting him over a slow fire and eating him..."
* InstantDeathBullet: Described in the various gun battles.
* KickTheDog: The various villains and miscreants do this to one degree or another simply because they can.
* MadScientist:
** In the ''Crater Lake'' VolcanoLair there's a whole ElaborateUndergroundBase full of them. Their madness is applified thanks to inbreeding and isolation.
** The Cerberus Scientists as described through out in the stories, are very much MadScientists.
*** [[spoiler:Dr. Tanner is a victim of the Cerberus scientists time travel experiments that violently ripped him from his time.]] His recollections of the scientists of Cerberus and their related projects paints a picture of a veritable army of MadScientists.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: The Trader's assorted caravan vehicles (war wagons). A personal transport, shelter, trading vehicle and weapons platform.
* MoeGreeneSpecial: Happens with gory detail through out the books.
* MoreDakka: Auto-Rifles, Assault Rifles, and Sub-Machine Guns are favored for their ability to spit hot-leaded death.
* {{Mutants}}: More mutants than you can shake a smoking gun barrel at. After the nuke humanity and nature both mutated in unpredictable ways. Shown as either victims of FantasticRacism or the standard sci-fi pulp AlwaysChaoticEvil opponents.
* MrSmith: Ryan Cawdor secretly returns to the barony from which he was outlawed. One of his companions suggest he use the alias "John Doe", and Ryan is [[TemptingFate less than amused]] to be told it's a pre-Apocalypse term for "corpses that have no name".
* MysteriousPast: Ryan Cawdor and Doc Tanner. [[spoiler:Ryan is the son of a wealthy baron, forced to flee after a palace coup by his WickedStepmother and EvilPrince brother. Doc turns out to be from the 19th century, and had been time-trawled into the 20th by Project Cerebus scientists. When he kept trying to escape to his own time, the scientists sent him a hundred years into the future [[KickTheDog simply to get rid of him]].]]
* NoRangeLikePointBlankRange: Sometimes making sure it is nearly impossible to miss is the best option.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:The Trader is dying of radiation poisoning in the first novel, and walks off into the woods when the pain becomes too much. He meets up with Ryan again in ''Trader: Redux''.]]
* NuclearOption: Both sides in the war used this to blast each other to hell and back.
* PlotDrivenBreakDown: Expect this to happen to modes of transportation, the redoubts themselves, and other potentially useful items a lot. Vehicles will work just long enough in most cases before giving out. This is often justified by a lack of maintenance after a nuclear, over use, and long periods of neglect.
* PoisonedWeapons:
** Ryan mentions there are some marshland mutant groups who poison their weapons.
** In ''Neutron Solstice'' a type of mutant fires poisoned crossbow bolts at the group.
** Poisoned weapons are as serious worry and any melee weapon or non-fire arm projectile wounds are frequently checked for a possible trace of poison.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The Sec forces of Mocsin. They were the patently {{obviously evil}} black uniform-wearing bad guys.
* PrehensileHair: Krysty Wroth has bright red hair that moves according to her mood, wrapping tightly around her head when she is in danger.
* PsychicPowers: Some mutes have these -- [[SpiderSense Sensors]], [[{{seer}} precogs]]; Krysty has powerful [[MindOverMatter telekinetic abilities]].
* RapePillageAndBurn: Standard practice for raiders and bandits. The Trader however believes that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil and forbids his men to do so on penalty of death; this earns him the trust of many otherwise hostile towns.
* RareGuns: They usually fall under a form of AKA47 trope as weapons like the H&K G-12 (The Real Life G-11) and Calico series weapons are also mentioned.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: In the FilmOfTheBook it's the only outward sign of mutation (presumably to save on special effects).
* RuleOfCool: The book contains plenty instances of this to help keep the story interesting.
* SelfDestructMechanism:[[spoiler: All of the Traders' vehicles have these placed into them to keep the wagons and their contents from falling into the wrong hands. When the switch is not activated after a certain period of time (because everyone's been nerve-gassed) the convoy blows up in front of the BigBad who'd hoped to seize it.]]
* ShootTheMessenger: In "''Neutron Solstice''", Baron Tourment delivers this fate to a Bocor seer who brings him bad news.
* SniperRifle: Proper sniper weapons are a bit more rare as the scopes are fragile or easily damaged but those that do exist are functional enough to be deadly. Krysty Wroth tends to be depicted in cover art holding a bolt-action SniperPistol, despite the fact that she'd have [[MoreDakka little use for such a weapon]].
* TheStarscream: It's so normal for a Baron to be overthrown by his [[TheDragon Head Blaster]], that it's become something of a tradition.
* SteamPunk: Steam-powered trucks.
* SurvivalistStash:
** Various military stockpiles and old bases have gear and weapons stashed.
** The Redoubts were to serve as a network of stashes of supplies, weapons, personnel, and other secrets to ensure the government could survive a nuclear conflict.
* TeleportersAndTransporters:[[spoiler:What they find in the hidden redoubt beyond the cerebus fog defense. It's later revealed they provide the ability to TimeTravel as well.]]
* TrueCompanions: Although AnyoneCanDie the more permanent members of the group are:
** '''Ryan Cawdor:''' TheLeader, EyepatchOfPower, TheGunslinger.
** '''Krysty Wroth:''' Ryan's LoveInterest, a beautiful Green Eyed FieryRedhead ActionGirl. Also a CuteMonsterGirl as she has mute powers but none of the physical deformities except PrehensileHair.
** '''John Barrymore Dix''' (a.k.a. '''J.B.''' or [[WalkingArmory The Armourer]]): GadgeteerGenius (weapons specialist), TheStoic, NiceHat, (TheShortGuyWithGlasses in the FilmOfTheBook).
** '''Dr. Theophilus Algernon Tanner (a.k.a. Doc):''' MadScientist, HeroicBSOD, UglyGuyHotGirlfriend (with [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Lori Quint]]) [[spoiler:FishOutOfTemporalWater]].
** '''Jak Lauren:''' HeroicAlbino (a {{Mutant}} in the film), KnifeNut, ChildSoldier, ScarilyCompetentTracker.
** '''Dean Cawdor:''' ChildSoldier, LongLostRelative.
** '''Dr. Mildred Winona Wyeth:''' SassyBlackWoman, CombatMedic, TheGunslinger (Olympic silver medalist sharpshooter), HumanPopsicle (20th century doctor of cryogenics, found in suspended animation).
** '''The Trader:''' EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep, IntrepidMerchant, AFatherToHisMen, IncurableCoughOfDeath. Started off trading for purely mercenary reasons, but now realises he let too many {{Big Bad}}s have too much pre-Apocalypse weaponry and goes to some trouble not to make the situation worse.
* VolcanoLair: Wizard Island is home to an elaborate underground research base filled with inbred mutant scientists. It is a remnant from before the nuclear holocaust and is filled with decaying tech and insane scientists.
* WeaponizedCar: The War Wagons (War Wags for short) and the assault buggies.
* WretchedHive: Mocsin, and many other towns on the eastern seaboard.
* YoungGun: Ryan Cawdor the main character started out as this. Quite a few people often start their careers young.
* VulnerableConvoy: Noticeably averted with the Trader's convoy, which is attacked by mutant marauders who assume his reputation is exaggerated. They turn out to be very, very wrong.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Mutants are discriminated against and subject to pograms. Even Ryan lets some prejudice slip through on one occasion; Krysty Wroth is not amused.