The ultimate survivor, it seems

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I suppose it is sort of fitting that “The Survivalist” series of books has managed to …uhm..survive…after the death of it’s author. I may be a little late to the party on this, but it appears that despite Jerry Ahern dying a few years back his famous pulp series is continuing on…

I am a bit perturbed by this. Ahern’s original series, which is a guilty pleasure, required a certain suspension of disbelief if you wanted to make it through his books. But, despite the outrageous over-the-top invincibility and deus-ex-machina luck of the main character, there was still a bit of a foundation in reality…at least, up until a dozen books in where it became more sci-fi than just -fi. But even that still had a bit of a tenuous basis in reality. This book tells us “Corrupt politicians, Neo-Nazis, Aliens, the returned Atlanteans or those thought to be dead for centuries; who is about to finally bring down the human race?” Aliens? Atlantis? Ah, poor Jerry….they should have thrown the copyrights in the casket with you and let the series die a somewhat dignified death.

This somewhat parallels the old “Guardians” pulp series which met a similar fate – the original author moved on and strings of ghost writers came in and all consistency went out the window as, again, somewhat-based-in-reality gave in to shark-jumping nonsense.

Hands down winner, though, for most dissatisfying way to end a series goes to “J. Johnstone” of the infamous “ashes” series. A series of pulp novels so formulaic I literally believe they used the exact same text from the previous books and simply changed supporting character names and locations. The final chapter to this series was so dissatisfying and limp that it effectively alienated the few fans the series had left.

Post-apocalyptic fiction is a genre that used to be pretty fringe. It’s become far, far more mainstream as the whole ‘zombie’ thing has become a cultural touchstone for such fiction. Early fiction did exist, of course, but they were standalone books…not series. As best i can tell, Ahern’s series was the first modern post-apocalyptic serial. It’s heartening that there is still an audience for it, but it’s a little sad to see it become what it appears to have become. It’s like an old Hollywood starlet, far past her prime, slathering on makeup and old costumes to try and recapture the magic from her heydaynd instead being a pathetic and pitiful caricature of her past.

As much as I liked Ahern’s series, I think I’m going to give the post-mortem installments a pass.

 

27 thoughts on “The ultimate survivor, it seems”

  1. Your reaction was similar to mine when I found out the series got continued after Ahern’s death. He seemed uninterested in continuing it while he was alive, and squeezed a few extra bucks out of the series by selling the audio book rights to graphic audio right near the end. Writing new stories after he has passed and can’t protest seems a bit ‘weekend at Bernies’.

    Even though Ahern’s books haven’t aged well, and would probably be hard for someone who wasn’t around for the cold war and doesn’t remember the paranoia that spawned stuff like the Survivalist to get in to, I think the writing holds up pretty well when compared to the stuff coming out now. Jerry wasn’t Stephen King, but he wasn’t too bad either. His books had plots the reader didn’t have to do much thinking about to follow, basic but understandable characters, and a resolution (or, more often, a cliff hanger leading in to the next book). More than half of the more modern books I have read in the genre have been jumbled messes of bullshit written by people who have no training or talent.

    • Well, theres a very good reason for that distinction you mention between current books and Ahern’s – this is the age of digital self-publishing. Ahern had to produce a product someone thought was good enough to market and then it had to go past an editor. Nowadays any moron with Miscrosoft Word can hack out 75,000 words and dump it on Amazon as an e-book…warts and all.

      • You ain’t kidding on the self publishing pap. Then add in the next trend of so many authors being women. They just think differently ( not worse or better ) and to me most times it sounds like a rehash of “Interview With A Vampire”, nothing but Feelings chapter after chapter. I’m not even sure how I watched the movie the first time. Yet, I can’t even read NY Publishing anymore either. Even older authors are pimping PC with their books now. They don’t have the common courtesy to eat a bullet instead of selling out. I can’t get a decent book at the library anymore, where the price is more agreeable. Well, I guess Rome didn’t work too well either, in the end.

  2. I blame Amazon generally, and Kindle Unlimited specifically, for the low quality/volume ratio of post apocalyptic fiction.
    There are a lot of “get rich writing ebooks” methods being pushed that show authors how to delve into Amazon’s statistics to find genres that are moving books, subcategories with less competition, how to use keywords, and other tricks to piggyback off of other writers success. This mainly boils down to finding books that are selling well and trying to make sure that when people are finished with that book/series, your book is shown to them by the Amazon sales algorithm.
    The problem with this from my viewpoint is that survival themed books require a bit of knowledge and expertise to be interesting. The genre has been inundated with authors cashing in on interest who can churn out characters and stories but who obviously know next to nothing about actual survival skills being put into practice. The most recent trend seems to be towards telling “stories” about people who are not actually well prepared nor knowledgeable (this serves to hide the authors lack of same) who roll along through a juggernaut of story goings-on mainly through heavy use of deus ex machina.
    My “suspension of disbelief” is seriously damaged these days, so much so that I’m not sure that my $9.99 Kindle Unlimited monthly charge is paying off. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t find $10 worth of Unlimited books that I actually finished reading last month. It seems that with ebooks, much like everywhere else, you get what you pay for.

  3. Got about 5 pages into Ahern and decided it was written for 14 year olds. Not being a snob, I just thought it was formula pulp. But I tend to like darker/more realistic stuff, so it may be just my snobbishness.

    re zombies: I FN HATE zombie crap. I was around when talking about ‘zombies’ instead of a certain minority group started to be a thing. iirc, that first became entrenched into the lexicon at GlockTalk. Yeah, its not really about zombies; at least until Hollywood caught wind of it and totally missed the point.
    Now, that said, based on the recommendation of Many people, I read Adrians Undead Diary when it was still a serial on the web. I Highly recommend it even if you don’t like zombie stuff. Just keep remembering what the word zombie is really for.

    I’m more encouraged than anything over the volume of post apoc books. Theres always going to be Crap, but every now and then I find an author I never would have known of (or who may have never even gotten published under the old system). I tend to read Authors more than anything else and often cruise the forums to see what others are enjoying. Crap usually is pretty obvious, certainly by page 20, and I get all my new authors via Libgen anyway. (buying their other work when I find a good one).

    I see it like a form of Capitalism- bad will die out and the good authors will be rewarded and continue. Let the Marketplace decide.

  4. I still have the first 20 books and “The Legend” as these where the only ones publish here in the UK (no idea why number 21 was not done as it is before “The Legend”. Two of the books were not given numbers for some unknown reason,”Mid-Wake” set between 14 & 15, and “The Legend” set between 21 & 22).
    I liked them a lot back in the 80’s (but come to that I read the first ten of the The Guardians Series by Richard Austin https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/the-guardians/43305/ and even when reading them could not give you one character name).
    It’s been years from the time I read them but I have very fond memories of them and read them many times.
    There was a lot of major plot-holes in the stories. The main one being the hero Survivalist (Doctor) John Thomas Rourke (always use the full name) wife (Sarah Rourke no known middle name) does not like or want his lifestyle and will not have anything to do with it in the house – even a sleeping bag. But for some reason is fine with him building the ultimate survival bunker, two hours from their home. He spends six years and it must have been even in the 80’s $1M on it, so his family cam survive, but he forget to tell his wife where it is, not even pointing it out on a map. This despite him having a job where he could be killed at any time. They spend the first nine books wondering around what is left of the USA trying to find each other. No plan to meet up or even better spend one day and show her where all the money went.
    I have to say they are a lot better than I make them sound, well the first ten anyway after that it all went SF.

  6. For a man who died six years ago he still post a lot on his website http://www.jerryahern.com
    Jerry Aherns Survivalist came to a end with “The Legend” in 1991 which I am told was written as the last book not just ending as the publisher no longer want any. The new ones with out him started in 2013.
    There are two Kindle only Editions of” The Survivalist Short Story Collection”
    Book 1: Shades of Love
    Book 2: Once Upon a Time
    There are also two spin-off series from the Survivalist booke:
    “The Rourke Chronicles” telling the same story from his sidekick ” Paul Rubenstein”
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628152087/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_JdbIDbW2QNQH2
    “Camp Zero” a childrens spin off
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628154810/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_SdbIDbB78NGVP
    I believe both series now have two books.

  7. I listened to the original Survivalist series by Ahern that Graphic Audio put out. I want to say 30 or so books took me 6-7 years to listen to. The first 6 books were great then it dropped off a bit. But was entertaining in the 80’s action move way. Kind of the like the new Rambo movie I watched last night was. It was 80’s all over again. I read about 40 pages of the post Jerry Ahern Survivalist series and didn’t like it.

  8. I was saddened by how the series has become, just is pointless with all the alien, clones and other b.s. However I have the detonics combat master, Sting 1a, now I want a Crain life support system 1. Guy named Greg Wall is making real nice versions of them, might have to get one.

  9. I totally get it about the Amazon post apocalyptic fiction market. I wrote my own novel that took years to finish, and while it is not One Second After, it is a full length novel that is better written than most of the crap on there. And the sheer amount of crap being pushed out by Paul authors who have their family and friends give it five stars when it doesn’t deserve it buries really good quality self published novels. Damn frustrating.

  10. Let us not forget the other popular “suspend belief” series of novels that it strikes me were popular around the same time, “The Executioner”, where Mack Bolan took on the Mafia. No, not survivalist/prepper fiction, but entertaining none the less. But followed the same idea of essentially the same formula for each book. Ahern did publish a “survival guide” sort of book shortly before his death, which I picked up at the NRA bookstore outside of Washington DC. Mostly reasonably practical advice for short term situations as I recall. Have not looked at it in years though. I think it was titled Survive: The Disaster and Emergency guide, or something like that.

  11. Now i’ve got to go pull the Detonics out of the safe and play with it a bit. Waste of time on the books, money on the pistol but back in the day I enjoyed both.

  12. Oh yes, I remember him. I am sure I have a dozen or so of his books in the garage or shop. Couldn’t wait to get a Colt Commander (if I remember right) in the early 1980s. Never did follow the series much past the 1980s. I do remember the Ashes series, and read a few of those also. Long ago…

  13. Regarding Amazon books and their possible quality/readability:

    Most/some? of them can be partially read before buying. Click on the book cover on the sale page, and a sort of pdf of the first part of the book can be read. Length varies, probably depending on the actual book page count, and it opens within the Amazon tab itself.
    If you can get through the entire bit without heaving, it is probably readable. I think I’ve only scrapped one book after buying it this way. (gave that POS a single star review, and would have given it a negative if that was possible. I’ve got over 400 books on my Kindle) Lots of times I decide the book is too expensive for the quality, or I add it to my book wishlist for when I feel richer.

    For zombie stories, my #1 pick is John Ringo’s Black Tide series. THERE is an author I wish could write faster!

    Hard to go wrong with these three writers for adventure/mystery and military and mil/SF:
    Alistair MacLean
    John Ringo
    David Weber

    • Alas John Ringo is a inspiration writer, he starts a lot of good series then drops them when his interest wains. He has written lots of epic stories but rarely gets beyond the Empire strikes back part of the story line.

      • Yeah, I have noticed that about 3 books is his limit of attention span. Sometimes more can be forced to appear, if enough leverage can be brought to bear, I’ve heard him mention.

        Those with talent can be odd or frustrating to others. Just the way talent gets expressed by humans. It’s rarely a round peg/round hole world when the limits get pushed. BT;DT, and most people are incapable of comprehending the difference, or willing to deal with it if they can.

  14. Mr. Ahern was a talented writer but as I enter into the twilight of my life I now consider non-fiction to be a learning opportunity and fiction to be mental masturbation.

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