Personally, I'd like to see a new member added to the group.  Not just for a short time, but for quite a long run.   I'd like to have someone new to follow/learn about.

I agree with sandman. The likes of Lori Quint, Michael Brother, Richard Ginsberg, Man Whose Eyes See More, etc. harken back to the good old days. Of course, you can't kill off a main character, but these others I grew to love and it was sad when they died/left the group but it made for fantastic reading. At the very least, I'm ready for the main contingent of companions to get some new weapons (Sunspot is the last book I read so I'm 4 books behind but something tells me not much has changed for the group - If  I'm wrong, don't tell me!).

I still love the books, but..........things seem to be getting kind of stale in my opinion.  I'm ready for a good shake up for the characters.

    Yes Mr. Miles, I agree with you.  Or if you could fine an auther to write about where I grew up, in Cyprus, that would be great.

The thing is the Deathlands universe is really an "anything goes" premise at this point and I would like to see that taken to the extreme. 

Less formula, more originality! 

Maybe battle Nazis in South America one volume and then a colony of mothmen in West Virginia the next. 

How about some other forms of government besides baronies?

How about some mutants less like stickies and more like say...the X-Men?

How about a transmat that doesn't work for a change?

How about the companions being proactive for a change?

The possibilities are really endless.

I haven't been a regular reader of DL in many years.

I'd like to see more continuity from book to book, something more then just a 2 or 3 book storyline arc.   

I also did not like some of the just plain nastiness involved in some of  fairly recent stories that had been talked about in previous versionsof JA.  I believe that the books need to be written in a more intelligent manner that would appeal to more than "4th grade truck drivers" as a few certain individuals have professed. 

Tone down on the overt sexuality in the books.  Not every book needs to have a porn scene between the major characters or explicit sexual depravity by the bad guys in each story. 

Those are just a few of the things that would need to be accomplished to bring meback to the series as a faithful follower.

[QUOTE]Llew32 wrote

I haven't been a regular reader of DL in many years.

.... 

I also did not like some of the just plain nastiness involved in some of  fairly recent stories that had been talked about in previous versionsof JA. 

....

  Not every book needs to have a porn scene between the major characters or explicit sexual depravity by the bad guys in each story.

[/QUOTE]

So, you haven't been a regular reader in many years, but you don't like things in recent books that you haven't read but you heard some other people talk about?  That's hardly fair.  I don't reacall any "porn scene" or "sexual depravity" in recent books.  The most recent book in the series to get truly awful reviews was "Strontium Swamp", which came out almost three yeears ago.  The one that was completely beyond the pale was "Black Harvest" from four years ago.  That's two books out of the last seventeen that match what you are talking about (which, yes, is two too many).

I would defiantly like to see the group on some kind of quest, in older books they where always looking for a  better place then the Deathlands. Some back stories or single stories about each person would be cool , like why Mildred started sharp shooting, or what Ryan was up too in the years between escaping from home and when he met up with Trader. Having a new way of getting around,the mat-trans is great but how about a new war-wag , so they can use it like a mobile base. And finally a new character to stir things up, some one that does not fit into the group that well, if you have seen the TV show Firefly then the character Jane on it would be cool.

Hello everyone.  Long time reader, first time poster.

I think Plague Lords is moving things in the right direction.  The other glimpses of the world have been brief.  I still feel that Deathlands itself (North America) still can tell some interesting stories.  The quality of goods and resources in Deathlands is vanishing, and people are competing more aggresively over a dwindling supply.  This is all well and good, but I would love to see what else is going on in the world. 

[QUOTE]Luke wrote

The quality of goods and resources in Deathlands is vanishing, and people are competing more aggresively over a dwindling supply....

[/QUOTE]

I cant agree, in almost every new book we see people running around with new and unused weapons and more and more petrol driven vehicles apearing. Even the much talked of "mil spec" gas would have a long time back turned to useless syrup and unless the weapons and ammo had been stored in some over preasure sealed chamber they too would be no more than bright clubs and slingshot ammo.

The current crop of writers, I think (notice this is MY thought only on this no one elses), write the books as if skydark happened 50 years ago instead of the 200 plus years it should be.

For all its worth, the most recent two books feature the following significant plot elements:

• The Matachin using slave labor to row their ships (which have been converted to galleys) for most of the time, conserving their fuel use to only when it is absolutely necessary
• A fully functioning oil refinery in Veracruz, in an area that did not suffer any direct (or indirect) damage from the nuclear strikes on Skydark, thus providing a current source of fuel for the ships in question.

[QUOTE])3az )3aziah wrote
 

I cant agree, in almost every new book we see people running around with new and unused weapons and more and more petrol driven vehicles apearing. Even the much talked of "mil spec" gas would have a long time back turned to useless syrup and unless the weapons and ammo had been stored in some over preasure sealed chamber they too would be no more than bright clubs and slingshot ammo.

The current crop of writers, I think (notice this is MY thought only on this no one elses), write the books as if skydark happened 50 years ago instead of the 200 plus years it should be.

[/QUOTE]

While I agree with you that there has been a lot of new weapons around lately, these are special cases.  One also needs to consider the quality of goods in BoomT's trading ville in Plague Lords.  Useless crap, by any standard, with the exceptional stuff being held back.  Also, the guns held by Magus, Delphi, and their respective thugs is an exception, not a norm.  Same with Thunder Road.  I think to the average Deathlander, premium blasters are a luxury item, like toothpaste, nudie magazines, and sweet smelling soap.

There are stockpiles all over Deathlands. If Trader found some, why not other traders? The barons are the people who can afford to acquire these weapons, so his sec force would be well armed. As well, many redoubts have been looted, so it is feasible that lots of weapons were in circulation. Don't forget that there were millions of weapons in the U.S. at the end of skydark. And I think most writers take pains to mention that a weapon the average person might have is in poor ondition.

[QUOTE]Wordsmith-reprise wrote

There are stockpiles all over Deathlands. If Trader found some, why not other traders? The barons are the people who can afford to acquire these weapons, so his sec force would be well armed. As well, many redoubts have been looted, so it is feasible that lots of weapons were in circulation. Don't forget that there were millions of weapons in the U.S. at the end of skydark. And I think most writers take pains to mention that a weapon the average person might have is in poor ondition.

[/QUOTE]

I point you at the Outlanders series that tells us otherwise about the stockpiles in "other" redoubts.

Unless of course DL is happening in a different casement to OL ?

Pilgrimage to Hell tells of stockpiles located in places other than redoubts. What's your point, Jim? All I'm talking about is weapons being available to the great unwashed due to being millionsoof guns all over late 20th century America.

Mark established early on in Outlanders that the redoubts and stockpiles weren't completely cleaned out until the Program of Unification about 10 years "after" the DL series.

Hello guys been a long tim. i'm reading plague lords now about half way . And i must say these is one of the better ones as of late very well writen and the writer has do his home work. i said all this just to say i think we will is more things leading to the OL  soon just my .02 

[QUOTE]Raboy wrote

Mark established early on in Outlanders that the redoubts and stockpiles weren't completely cleaned out until the Program of Unification about 10 years "after" the DL series.

[/QUOTE]

At this point since OL has veered completely away from just about any recognizable connections to DL, it's best for DL to do the same. 

I look at both as being merely possible parallel realities to each other.

They are without question in the same time and same universe. Nothing parallel about it, regardless of what anybody thinks.

LOL!  That's too bad, but I'm glad to see someone care so much about continuity! 

Wait a minute...uhh...same time?  Really?

If I...or anyone else for that matter...had time to waste I'm sure I could find about...oh...maybe a HUNDRED examples of why Deathlands and Outlanders couldn't possibly exsist in the same reality.

But why bother...LOL!

Parallel universes are so confusing to us great unwashed.  Best to keep 'em as simplified as possible......readin' bout Ryan and such don't gimme them headaches like tryin' to read Eric Flint...