Review: ENDWORLD - THE FOX RUN

Setting

THE TIME:  100 YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR III

THE PLACE:  WHAT USED TO BE CALLED AMERICA!

ENDWORLD is one of the most admired SciFi series of all time.  Fans do not just 'like' the series. They 'love' it.  The characters are brought to such vivid life, they are unforgettable.  Typical of the author, his pulp fiction prose flows at lightning speed.  An apocalyptic epic, a study of human nature, an exciting serial, ENDWORLD is all of these.  It is also a superb study of the Warrior Ethic. With fascinating insight, Robbins examines the martial ideals of various cultures and times as embodied in his Warriors.  His subtexts involve the fundamental importance of the family and the home.  He also delves into the nature of politics and creates entire post-war societies based on every type of government under the sun, and what happens to those they govern.  Find out for yourself why fans adore this series so much.
 
Take the ENDWORLD plunge. You will be glad you did.

(from a fansite) 

My Thoughts
Wow, this is the book that started it all for me.  I am in agreement with everything said above.  The balance between action and character and story is awesome.  There is morality/religion but it's worked in very subtlely within being preachy.  There is almost perfect balance between the different characters and they are each given a chance to develop as the series goes forward. 

Copies of these original books, with their super pulpy covers, would appear to be harder and harder to find, although some diligent internet searching could yield something.  The first books of the series were recently reissued and hopefully Robbins will return to this fantastic series again someday.
 
Final score: 8 out of 10

• Title: Endworld - The Fox Run
  
• Author: David Robbins
  
• Publisher: Leisure Books; Original edition (July 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084396233X
• Available at Amazon.com

Review: THE BLACK BERETS

The Setting
In the dirty war of covert operations, they were the government's most deadly secret weapon.

The CIA trained them for one thing and one thing only- to kill swiftly, silently and mercilessly. Then it turned them loose on the battlefields of Asia, sending them out on missions so ugly that not even the army could be told.

But now the war was over. Beak, Rosie, Cowboy, Harry and Runt were in limbo until their old CIA control sent them back into the hell of Vietnam in search of a man who should be dead. Could five shell-shocked vets become a combat-honed killing machine again? And,if they could, how long would it be before the CIA acted to stop them, to shut them down-for keeps....(taken from the book)

My Thoughts
I would not classify this as PA fiction, there is no apocalypse taking place in the story.  This title falls more within the range of Mac Bolan style military adventure.


Final score: no score given

• Title: The Black Berets - Deadly Reunion
  
• Author: Mike McCray(pseudonym)
  
• Publisher: Dell; 1st THUS edition (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: ???

Review: THE LAST RANGER

The Setting
The place: America.  The time:  the future.  Atom bombs have decimated some of the big cities; conventional weaponry has battered the rest.  In a landscape of jagged ruin and rubble, marauding biker gangs and neofascists battle for power, defenseless survivors are sold into slavery, and government by the people is but a faded memory.  Yet within this violent chaos, one ex-Green Beret has had the foresight to place his wife and family in a special mountain hideaway to protect them from the war he knew would come.  Schooled in the hardened ideals of his father, and eager to face the outside world, the son of Major Clayton Stone now emerges from his shelter-while a dangerous new America awaits...(taken from the book)

My Thoughts
Written in the mid 80's, this story fell off the rails pretty quick for me.  While I sensed the author was trying his best to build up the back story of the father and son relationship, there was just too much of it at the beginning and the whole thing took on a very slow, drawn out pace.  I feel as though the history would have been better served in smatterings throughout the book or even in future volumes in the series.

Once the story shifts into present day, there is a lengthy description of a Native American ritual that is meant to demonstrate the son's new awakening to the world around him.  Unfortunately the book is half over before we get to that point and, for me, things never improved from there.

Final score: 4 out of 10

• Title: The Last Ranger
  
• Author: Carig Sargent
  
• Publisher: Popular Library (May 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0445202351
• Available at Amazon.com

Review: AFRIKORPS

The Setting
The year is 2175 and the earth has succumbed to the detrimental effects of greenhouse gasses  For over 100 years, humans have lived in biospheres, each strategically placed in various parts of the world.  Each biosphere is given certain pieces of human culture to protect, based on the geographic location.  Outside the biospheres, hostiles have taken back the wastelands.  Left for dead by the biosphere inhabitants, the hostiles are being slowly re-introduced into human society as Pioneers, colonists thrown out into the wastelands to help reseed the planet with mankind.

The Story
This series of 6 books follows the main character of TC Creighton, a veteran US tank commander with and eye on retirement.  Setting up the arc for the whole series, this book follows TC as he makes his way to Africa as part of a newly formed, multi-national military task force called Afrikorps..  Africa is decades behind the rest of the world in its technology and it has begun to fall prey to an enigmatic force from the south.  Known as the Marauders, their goal is to sweep across Africa, either recruiting or killing any and all inhabitants they encounter.  Their ultimate prize id the resource-rich lands of Europe to the north.

Enter Afrikorps, acting as the spear tip towards uniting as many of the nomadic tribes of Africa as possible in order to mount a sustainable resistance.  Leading from his high-tech tank, known as Ribald's Chariot, TC Creighton and his crew of rough and tumble tankers seek to recruit a nomadic shaman that may turnout to be the key to ultimate victory in the unforgiving deserts of Africa.  And so their journey begins...

My Thoughts
This was an overall good read, it left me interested enough to seek out the 2nd book of the series.  The characters are not all that deep but they serve to play their according roles.  I did find the lack of depth a little hard to take at times, it's not easy to care about what some of these people are saying without an anchor of some kind.  The flat characters are balanced by a suitable amount of tank warfare and that becomes the obvious draw in this story.

My hope for the rest of this series is that most of the ideas touched on in book 1 will be further explored and expanded upon in the subsequent volumes.

Final score: 6 out of 10

• Title: Afrikorps
  
• Author: Bill Dolan
  
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm) (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061002038
• Available at Amazon.com

Vicarious Living In The Aftermath

While I've always been a fan of zombies and all the related fiction/films, I've strayed from another love over the years. The love of survival in a post apocalyptic world. This genre of fiction has such a rich canvas of possibilities and I'll be exploring some of those on this blog.

I will state for the record...I like mindless violence and heroic archetypes. As a child of the 80's, I grew up in a culture of "America vs. Russia." It was prevalent in movies(Red Dawn), sports(U.S. Olympic Hockey Team), and politics(Mr.Gorbachev...tear down this wall!)  I read many books that followed this sentiment into the post apocalyptic world.  I remember The Doomsday Warrior and Aftermath series.  I didn't fully appreciate the pulpiness of those titles like I do now.

As for what to read, I'll be using the Post Apocalyptic Book List as my jumping off point.  I happen to be a fan of books in a series so I'll start with those.  I'll usually read the first title before committing to the whole series.  All my opinions and reactions will be shared here in the hope that others will be turned on to some fun reading.

My warning: Many of these books are out of print and very few are available in ebook or PDF forms.  My main source for the works will be Amazon.com, which seems like a fairly reasonable place to locate most of the older titles.

I encourage readers to follow my progress and suggest other books they feel would fit the bill of the post apocalyptic genre.  Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions.

Well, that's it...my vehicle has a full tank of juice, I've packed plenty of ammo, and I've taken my anti-radiation pills.  Let's turn the key and hit the gas.