Help me ID this post apocalyptic series (book) from my youth...

Cafe Society
1

I had a period back when I was just a young lad when I voraciously read a handful of “Post apocalyptic” practically pulp series.

The most memorable of this, is of course, the “Wingman” books, but there was one that I only read the first of, and I can’t remember what it was called.

The basic plot, from what I can recall, is that after some sort of collapse or attack of the American government, the lead hero and a band of like minded folks headed north, to carve their own country out of the region of Montana and surrounding states.

I remember as they travelled they gathered up gold and equipment from the temporarily lawless lands they moved through.

Once arriving at their destination, they set up a “border”, said “no lawyers allowed” and set about building what I now recognize as Libertaria. hehehe

Any clue as to what this book was, or the series?

2

Could it be Dies the Fire? I know they went through Montana but I think they eventually settled in Oregon.

3

It isn’t S. M. Sterling. I seem to remember a bad series called “Badlands” or something like that.

4

*Dies the Fire *was published in 2004; if the OP was a young lad when he read it he’d…still be a young lad.

5

That is why I find it so annoying when people on these boards ask a question about something that happened “when I was a kid” without giving us the slightest clue as to whether this was 5, 10, or 25 years ago.

6

Definitely not Dies the Fire. I like that series, but it is a bit more recent.

I read the book I’m thinking of in probably 1988 or 1989.

Guns featured prominently, of course.

I seem to recall the government getting it’s act together, and the gov’t and businesses having to ask for their equipment back. I could be wrong.

7

That’s definitely the series I’m thinking of, then. All my search terms are coming up negative, though. The books have been out of print since the early 90s, I’m sure.

Or maybe not. The series I’m thinking of is the “Deathlands” books.

8

Found it, after some extensive Wiki and Amazon cross referencing.

Apparently I read the first in the “Ashes” series, by William W. Johnstone.

This would be the first one.

Reviews seem to be a bit… mixed. To say the least.

Thanks all!