AHERN, Jerry

   Working name of US author Jerome Morrell Ahern (1946-), most of whose output consists of violent post-HOLOCAUST novels, most notably in his Survivalist sequence, in which ex-CIA agent John Rourke attempts to preserve his family after a global nuclear conflict. Perhaps the most influential series in the subgenre of SURVIVALIST FICTION, it comprises Survivalist 1: Total War (1981), 2: The Nightmare Begins (1981), 3: The Quest (1981), 4: The Doomsayer (1981), 5: The Web (1983), 6: The Savage Horde (1983), 7: The Prophet (1984), 8: The End is Coming (1984), 9: Earth Fire (1984), 10: The Awakening (1984), 11: The Reprisal (1985), 12: The Rebellion (1985), 13: Pursuit (1986), 14: The Terror (1987), 15: Overlord (1987), 16: The Arsenal (1988), 17: The Ordeal (1988), unnumbered: The Survivalist: Mid-Wake (1988), 18: The Struggle (1989), 19: Final Rain (1989), 20: Firestorm (1990) and 21: To End All War (1990). The continuation - beginning with the unnumbered The Survivalist: The Legend (1991), 22: Brutal Conquest (1991); 23: Call to Battle (199224: Blood Assassins (1993), 25: War Mountain (1993), 26: Countdown (1993) and 27: Death Watch (1993) - takes place after the Earth's atmosphere has been destroyed by a catastrophic fire, and Rourke has saved his family and himself by entering cryogenic sleep, emerging after 500 years to find a world deserted except for the personnel of the Eden Project - fresh from 500 years of hibernation aboard a fleet of space shuttles - and surviving groups of Nazis (sic) and fanatical communists. A second but similar sequence, the Defender series, comprises The Defender 1: The Battle Begins (1988), 2: The Killing Wedge (1988), 3: Out of Control (1988), 4: Decision Time (1989), 5: Entrapment (1989), 6: Escape (1989), 7: Vengeance (1989), 8: Justice Denied (1989), 9: Death Grip (1990), 10: The Good Fight (1990), 11: The Challenge (1990) and 12: No Survivors (1990). With his wife, Sharan A(nn) Ahern (1948-), whose contributions were sometimes anonymous, he wrote the short Takers sequence, comprising The Takers (1984) and River of Gold (1985), as well as some singletons. He also contributed Deathlight (1982) to the long-running Nick Carter sequence, writing as Nick CARTER. Other works: The Freeman (1986), Miamigrad (1987), WerewolveSS (1990) and The Kamikaze Legacy (1990), all with Sharon A.Ahern.

   See also: SOCIAL DARWINISM.