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Posted: 5/11/2012 3:47:53 AM EDT

Some of you may not be old enough to remember it, but there was a pretty good series called The Survivalist written by Jerry Ahern.

It had a bit of a SciFi take on things (especially as the series progresses) which might put some of you off. It is a little dated as the commies are the bad guys. Like a lot of pulp fiction, the hero is a bit of a super hero and does all kinds of things that really can't happen, which may be why the books were often found next to Mack Bolan and The Destroyer.

I read most of them. I think there are at least 30 volumes.

It is a series that was written by a professional author and it makes reading a whole lot easier.

You might see them at used book sales or yard sales. You might want to give one a try if you run across one somewhere.

I think they have been re-released in Kindle format but they want $8-10 each for them. I think I still have the paperback versions somewhere.

It was a series that had a long life as such things go, stretching from the early 80s into the 90s. Like many such series, the earlier books tended to be more plausible. The author eventually runs out of ideas that are plausible as a series progresses, no matter how good the author is.

Posted: 5/11/2012 5:33:53 AM EDT

[#1]

I just dug them out from my book tubs.

His main character carried more firepower than Duke Nukem.

Colt Python
Colt Lawman
2 Detonics 45s
AR15
Couple of knives
Speed loaders and AR mags.

They were fun to read.

Posted: 5/11/2012 3:35:43 PM EDT

[#2]

Yep, I remember reading them.

Posted: 5/11/2012 6:18:51 PM EDT

[#3]

Yep.

I still have the entire series (except #2) sitting around somewhere.

Decent read, but got like alot of other serial books that repeat over and over.

Still enjoyable.

Dave

Posted: 5/11/2012 6:22:12 PM EDT

[#4]

I have them somewhere. I almost bought myself a Detonics when Ahern bought the rights to the company and started manufacturing.

Posted: 5/13/2012 12:20:03 PM EDT

[#5]

The early ones were good but around volume 8 or so the story just turned stupid .

Posted: 5/13/2012 1:52:42 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
The early ones were good but around volume 8 or so the story just turned stupid .

I don't recall just where it got a little out there, but to me when he went 500 years into the future it got a little goofy. Even so, it was not bad, although as I mentioned the later books are not as good as the early ones.

Posted: 5/13/2012 8:45:17 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
I just dug them out from my book tubs.

His main character carried more firepower than Duke Nukem.

Colt Python
Colt Lawman
2 Detonics 45s
AR15
Couple of knives
Speed loaders and AR mags.

They were fun to read.

And a Styer SSG.

It was more of a WW3 fantasy than a survival novel, I though. Maybe the first half of the first book was survival oriented.

Posted: 5/14/2012 9:59:39 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I have them somewhere. I almost bought myself a Detonics when Ahern bought the rights to the company and started manufacturing.

I was thinking about getting a Detonics, too, but the guy in the gun store mentioned that Colt made a smaller version of the 1911, so I ended up getting one of them(Officer's Model).

Posted: 5/14/2012 11:03:22 AM EDT

[#9]

I read them all, got me through some long boring nights while stationed in Germany.

Ahern has a new series out now, called the Defender. The first one was OK.

Posted: 5/16/2012 1:18:39 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
I read them all, got me through some long boring nights while stationed in Germany.

Ahern has a new series out now, called the Defender. The first one was OK.

I used to call in at the bookstore when we'd hit the PX to see if they had any of the series in stock ;-)

Great times, plus his Motorbike... Great memories.

Tony

Posted: 5/16/2012 2:45:43 PM EDT

[#11]

I use to read a good post SHTF series called "The Guardians" . Anybody know what happened to it ?

Posted: 5/16/2012 3:13:36 PM EDT

[#12]

This is the series where the hero, his brainy Jewish sidekick, and his wife have to fight their way to a "suspended animation" chamber to survive the evil soviet instigated scorching of the earth, just to reawaken 500 years later and fight super commie nazis? Jerry Ahern must laugh so hard he craps himself thinking that people actually paid good money to read that crap.

Posted: 5/16/2012 3:20:16 PM EDT

[#13]

I learned what "ambuscad" (sp) meant, and that you should never top off your .45 1911 mags, and scoped CAR-15's could make torso hits at 600 yards on Ruskie tank commanders killing puppies, hmmm what else? Jewish men prefer German subguns...oh, and battered Browning Hi-
Powers...Brigands are bad guys...sometimes Rourke would just breathe...

Posted: 5/16/2012 6:09:34 PM EDT

[#14]

Maybe you're thinking of WW Johnstone's ASHES series?

I read all of those too, his Tri States idea has a lot of merit.

Posted: 5/16/2012 6:58:52 PM EDT

[#15]

I read many of the Survivalist series as well. Detonics never had such a good marketer/advertiser as this author!

Posted: 5/18/2012 11:49:53 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I have them somewhere. I almost bought myself a Detonics when Ahern bought the rights to the company and started manufacturing.

I was thinking about getting a Detonics, too, but the guy in the gun store mentioned that Colt made a smaller version of the 1911, so I ended up getting one of them(Officer's Model).

yeah when I was a teenager I bought all the books - even have one book that had pages from another book printed in it by mistake. Anyway, it was that series that led me to getting a Washington made Detonics MC1 - thing was part of someone collection that after he died stupid kid sold to a gunshop for next to nothing & the gunshop owner didn't have a clue what it was really worth. The thing is a safe queen now.

It was pure fantasy, every shot was a head shot - all the women were always beautiful, he always survived, the retreat in the mountain would have cost millions of dollars to stock/upgrade... and the damn enterance to it - he did by himself? Yeah, right... it keeps ones mind occupied.

Topic hijack I got to speak to Johnstone who wrote the Out of the Ashes series a few years before he died. Interesting guy, he was actually trying to get a Tri-State type preparedness group together. He had some good ideas, but the books grew tiresome quick. Goes in, kicks ass, gets a piece of ass in the meantime. Up until a few years ago I believe other authors were writing the series to keep it alive.

Posted: 5/28/2012 4:02:03 AM EDT

[#17]

They are available on audio book now if you want to torture the wife and kids on long drives.

http://www.graphicaudio.net/c-144-survivalist.aspx

Posted: 5/28/2012 5:54:03 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

They are available on audio book now if you want to torture the wife and kids on long drives.

http://www.graphicaudio.net/c-144-survivalist.aspx

http://www.graphicaudio.net/images/Product/icon/sur001.jpg

They have Mac Bolan too

http://www.graphicaudio.net/c-14-mack-bolan.aspx

Posted: 5/28/2012 7:42:27 AM EDT

[#19]

I read most of the early ones. It was pure fantasy, but an entertaining read. It helped that, as a gun writer (Jerry Ahern also wrote for one of the gun magazines), he was knowledgeable about the guns, knives and holsters. In fact, most of his magazine articles were reviews of holsters.

Posted: 5/28/2012 6:11:26 PM EDT

[#20]

Read a couple of the Survivalist series...never could get into it.

Read most of the Ashes series... Ben Rains was the lead if I remember...Thompson Subgun was his choice weapon...the tri-state idea appealed to me for a long time....parts still do i guess

Mack Bolan kicked ass in the first series ( Mafia Wars) kinda lost interest somewhere after that

Posted: 6/3/2012 4:18:46 PM EDT

[#21]

Don't forget, his pistols were Metalifed. It took me forever to figure out what Metalife was. I must have skipped he part where he described what it was.

Who remembers Doomsday Warrior?

jd1

Posted: 6/4/2012 8:01:55 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Don't forget, his pistols were Metalifed. It took me forever to figure out what Metalife was. I must have skipped he part where he described what it was.

Who remembers Doomsday Warrior?

jd1

I thought it was Hank Frost's Browning HiPower from the They Call me the Mercenary series (by Axel Kilgore, aka Jerry Ahern) that was Metalifed.

A quick check on Google shows that J.T. Rourke carried stainless Detonics Combat Masters, though his 'backup' Colt Python was MagNaPorted and Metalifed.

Posted: 6/4/2012 10:33:22 AM EDT

[#23]

If I remember correctly, the Survivalist books were pure fantasy-land stuff, like using a Harley for a fighting vehicle. If you like reality, read something else.

Posted: 6/7/2012 10:50:19 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
If I remember correctly, the Survivalist books were pure fantasy-land stuff, like using a Harley for a fighting vehicle. If you like reality, read something else.

No is saying these books offer anything remotely akin to reality.

Posted: 7/28/2012 8:37:27 PM EDT

[#25]

Just read somewhere that Ahern just passed away.

Dave

Posted: 7/31/2012 7:38:20 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Just read somewhere that Ahern just passed away.

Dave

Found a box with most of the series still intact...pulp paper can be finicky.

Posted: 9/1/2012 6:39:13 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
This is the series where the hero, his brainy Jewish sidekick, and his wife have to fight their way to a "suspended animation" chamber to survive the evil soviet instigated scorching of the earth, just to reawaken 500 years later and fight super commie nazis? Jerry Ahern must laugh so hard he craps himself thinking that people actually paid good money to read that crap.

I stopped reading the series when they went into the "suspended animation" and woke up 500 years later. Not a big sci-fi fan and that killed the series for me.

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