OMEGA SUB 6 RAVEN RISING BY J.D. CAMERON

Copyright 1992.

The Liberator has just picked up the two surviving families in New York. Now they are going to rendezvous with Perry and any survivors he picked up. The ship makes contact with some helicopters that are following them. They claim to be from the surviving Federal Government. A meeting is set up on an island in the Potomac. There Captain Donovan meets the new President Harry Murphy. Murphy was the former speaker of the house and now under the line of succession the President. At first Donovan is glad that the government still survives. He is taken to Raven Rock an underground facility where the COG(Continuity of Government) is located.

It becomes clear that the current President is a power mad dictator. He is drafting all the citizens he captures into his COG. Including Percy who is captured in Georgia. He has plans to brainwash the crew of the Liberator. Luckily Donovan and Percy manage to break out with freed prisoners and escape. They make it safely to the sub and threaten to nuke Raven Rock if they try to stop them. The cowardly President backs down but vows revenge.

The final book in the series went out on a high note. They find the government run by a power mad dictator. We find out the white-shirts were created by a chemical C-210 that was used during the war and somehow mutated. A subplot is resolved on their home island with the dogs being captured and peacefully domesticated. Indeed the story ends with them requesting Liberator bring back plenty of dog food.

A good solid series with potential in exploring an entire planet and having kooky adventures among the survivors. But the Soviet Union collapses and most of these type series evaporated into the mists of time. Apparently the threat of nuclear war was gone and publishers scrambled for other ways to end the world. So we never do find out the further adventures of the U.S.S. Liberator as it cruises the world helping survivors.

OMEGA SUB 5 DEATH DIVE BY J.D. CAMERON

Copyright 1992.

The crew of the Liberator and colonists have settled down in their new home on the island of Espiritu. They run into a problem of some mysterious animals that are attacking and have killed someone. Donovan’s brother Charlie is left behind to deal with this threat as the sub takes off for New York. Finally they will rescue the survivors that they found out about. Along the way they have to battle a pod of radiation psychosis infected sperm whales. They go through the Panama Canal that is now opened thanks to their last visit when they nuked it open. Going along the East Coast they get another message of survivors. A group in Argyle Georgia are besieged by white-shirts. So Percy the executive officer and a seaman are dropped off to make it inland. They manage to find an old Chevy Chevelle and make it to Argyle. Only the compound has been overrun by white-shirts. They do manage to rescue a brother and sister from the crazed zombies. The Liberator reaches New York and in the nick of time rescue the two families from being overrun by white-shirts.

So the fifth book finally gets around to going and rescuing those two families trapped on an island in New York. Nice of them to finally get around to it and like any good cliche story they come in the nick of time. We find out the island they have established themselves on has a problem with a pack of killer dogs. It also establishes some mysterious survivors with sighting a helicopter and a brief radio broadcast. Otherwise not a lot happens in this book. Except of course getting the Liberator to the east coast and doing some more exploring.

OMEGA SUB 4 BLOOD TIDE BY J.D. CAMERON

Copyright 1991.

The Liberator comes on a group of ships around a yacht. After chasing the boats off they board the yacht and find a man killed and woman barely alive after being raped and tortured. They also find the thirteen year old daughter hiding underwater to escape the attackers. They find out the boat was attacked by pirates from Borneo. The pirates attacked survivors on Funafuti in the Ellice Island chain. So they go there to check it out. While scouting the island Captain Donovan is captured. The pirates are from Borneo and lead by Pagon the Invincible. Pagon an educated man has plans for world domination starting in the south Pacific. His Golden Dawn is headquartered on Peleliu island. The crew of the Liberator manage a daring rescue and they nuke the pirates to end their threat.

So David Robbins is back writing and will finish off the series. I enjoy his writing and he crafts an enjoyable action tale. The sub is attacked by a flock of seagulls and it is theorized that animals as well as humans have been effected by the radiation psychosis. So we have had wolves, jaguars and sharks go nuts as well as seagulls. Interesting that Donovan seems to love using nukes to solve his problems. In the last three out of four books nukes have been employed quite casually. Hordes of psychotic white shirts in San Francisco. Nuke’em. Need to blast a hole in the Panama Canal. Nuke it. Need to wipe out crazy Bornean pirates. Nuke’em. Not complaining. I mean that is an effective way to deal with problems. I guess after a nuclear war there isn’t any need to restrain such behavior.

OMEGA SUB 3 CITY OF FEAR BY J.D. CAMERON

Copyright 1991.

The Liberator continues its search for a base in the south Pacific. Meeting up with the colony ship that set out from San Francisco they stop at Papeete in Tahiti. The city is eerily deserted with signs of radioactivity that has dissipated. So taking some supplies the group heads out to Espiritu. There they find a suitable base. Occupied by its lone inhabitant Baltimore Jack a WWF wrestler that bought the island and retired there. With a base secured they get a message from survivors in New York. So the Liberator heads out to rescue them.

The sub goes to the Panama Canal to see if its still usable. The canal was heavily bombed during the war. It is now enlarged by 1 to 5 miles in some places. Half way through they come to their first obstacle a huge crater that blocks the canal forming a long waterfall. On the north shore are hordes of white shirts. The people afflicted with radiation psychosis. On the south shore is Ciudad Romanus the lavish citadel of President for life Romanus of Panama. Here they finds the dictator under siege from drug lords from Colombia out to get his gold. Now they have to fight off these crazies and radiation crazed jaguars.

So for the third book Michael Jahn returns to the series he started. This was another enjoyable story. This would be his last book for the series. Ones after would be written by David Robbins. Not sure why he didn’t continue on but I liked his work. We now have a permanent base for the Liberator. They decide to nuke the crater and open it up then wait a while for it to calm down before heading out to New York. The gold that the dictators were fighting over was radioactive so it was worthless. They picked up some quality machine guns and a micronuke unit. A small nuclear reactor build by the French for home use. Some other interesting facts about the future. The 1996 treaty that ended the Central American War made cocaine legal. The first year funded the revamping of the American education system. The second paid for a national healthcare plan. Oh and the NFL had an expansion team in Leningrad.

So Jahn ended the story with them finally sinking the German sub Nemesis but left it open that maybe the sub escaped. His ending was a sort of open ended final with Donovan and the crew of the Liberator having many adventures that became legend.

OMEGA SUB 2 COMMAND DECISION BY J.D. CAMERON

Copyright 1991.

Captain Donovon of the Liberator the last American submarine to survive WWIII is looking for a base to establish itself. Their first stop is the Marshall Islands. After a run in with the mysterious sub Nemesis which results in a nuclear attack on a derelict Japanese fishing fleet the Liberator continues on its way. In the Marshall Islands the crew is attacked by the natives and Donovon’s brother is captured. After a fight they make peace with the natives. At a feast the volcano blows and they barely manage to escape the destruction of the island. It is soon obvious that the war has triggered volcanos all over the island chain.

This isn’t all the sub has to worry about. The Charkov the most advanced Soviet sub is stalking The Liberator. It’s captain believes the Liberator to be responsible for WWIII and wants revenge. So a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues with the other rogue sub Nemesis also lurking around.

The second book in the series was written by David Robbins the author of the popular Endworld Series. This was good choice as he always manages to write an interesting story. He would go on to write the majority of the books in the series. I was surprised at how caught up in the story I became. There was real tension in the submarine battle that kept me wanting to read more. Robbins managed to keep the characters in character from what Jahn established in the first book. Show he read the first book and was professional enough to try and maintain some sort of continuity for the series. Very often that doesn’t happen in these series with multiply authors.

He did some research on subs but there were some stuff that I didn’t buy. He has the two subs communicate by radio underwater. Now I suppose he envisioned some advanced technology in the 21st century. Still in 2019 that ability still doesn’t exist and seemed highly unlikely. Otherwise this was a good book.

OMEGA SUB BY J.D. CAMERON

Copyright 1991.

It is the early twenty-first century and in this timeline the Soviet Union still exists. It has just recently had a hardline government installed and the world leaders are meeting for a summit to deal with this government in the Sea of Japan. A mysterious sub launches a cruise missile at the fleet and thus starts World War III. The U.S.S. Liberator the newest nuclear sub in America’s fleet is unaware of the war. It is on assignment under the polar ice cap. When it surfaces it finds the world destroyed. Exploring the nearby port of Navy Harbor they find it overrun by white shirts. The survivors that suffer radiation psychosis they wear white shirts and kill anyone not effected.

The sub continues on and finds the floating wreckage of the carrier group Roosevelt floating aimlessly. Seattle is also flattened. They also have a run in with the mysterious sub that caused the war. A radio message from San Francisco tells of a group of survivors. They help this group against the hordes of white shirts and the local warlord a crazed street preacher now cult messiah named Barbarossa. They nuke the white shirts and feral wolves manage to take out Barbarossa. Then with some colonists the sub takes off to set up a base in the Society Islands.

The first in a new post-apocalyptic series. I liked the idea of a sub cruising the world looking for survivors and helping to set up civilization. The first book was written by Michael Jahn who was a journalist and mystery writer. Although he also did some science fiction. He did a good job of setting up the premise to this series. Coming at the tail end of the cold war he already adopted the trend at the time of making a reunited Germany the bad guys. Their sub is implied to have started the war. Also there was a big war in South and Central America against the drug lords. Apparently they used tactical nukes during it. Always a fascinating read to see the predictions for futures that are now the past in 2019. Actually 2019 the nuclear apocalypse should have happened by now according to old Italian movies. Glad I picked up this new series that I never got around to reading when it first came out. A great way to start the new year off.