James Axler books

Anthologies

Deathlands Reading Order

Earthblood Reading Order

Outlanders Reading Order

James Axler is not a single author but a shared pen name, used by Gold Eagle Books to brand their post-apocalyptic action lines as a consistent product. The name appeared first in 1986 on Pilgrimage to Hell, the opening volume of Deathlands, and has remained in use ever since across more than 230 novels in four separate series.

The Deathlands books, which make up the core of the output, follow Ryan Cawdor and his companions through a devastated 22nd-century North America where nuclear war has warped the landscape and human civilization has fractured into feudal baronies and worse. The Outlanders spinoff, created largely by Mark Ellis, expanded the universe with a more science fiction-heavy premise involving ancient alien visitors whose influence shaped human history. Earthblood, a shorter trilogy from the early 1990s, sits apart from both.

For readers approaching this catalog for the first time, Deathlands is the natural entry point given its length and the depth of world-building that accumulates across more than 150 entries. Outlanders works well as a companion series rather than a replacement, sharing the same universe with different characters and a different narrative focus. The books deliver what they promise: high-action pulp fiction set in a memorably grim future, published with the regularity that comes from a collaborative writing process.