Gonji: The Deathwind Trilogy

A legendary sword-and-sorcery hero returns! Gonji Sabatake, the conflicted samurai-Viking, seizes Destiny itself by the throat, as he pieces together and pursues the bizarre, mystical quest, which powerful cross-world forces have forbidden--the mystery of the DEATHWIND! Cast out of his Japanese homeland, stalked by assassins both human and supernatural, Gonji surges across a barbaric, myth-infested 16th-century Europe, following the spoor of the creature called The Beast with the Soul of a Man-- But is this a wily Enemy, or an enigmatic Friend? Gonji's embattled, vampire-haunted flight brings him to the magnificent walls of Vedun, fabled and accursed city in the escarpments of the Carpathians, only to find the town vanquished and occupied by mercenaries and monsters, demons and foul sorcery, under the command of the storied, invincible King Klann. Here in Vedun begins Gonji's mighty, willful rebellion against an age-old tyranny, which has held countless intertwined worlds in its thrall. This is just the first of many battles that will imperil loyal friends, comrades, and loved ones in a violent combat to restore universal free will and self-determination, to consign unchained supernatural menace to its foul curling place, to restore honor, faith and love to a world of enslavement and chaos. The adventure of Gonji's mind-boggling quest, revised and restored from its original publication, begins with RED BLADE FROM THE EAST, Book One of The Deathwind Trilogy!

The Book of Death...and of Life. The Carpathian city of Vedun is poised for holocaust: terrifying monsters, vile magic, and brutal mercenaries are arrayed against the anxious secret militia by the multiple-lived King Klann. Vedun's new military leader-the half-breed samurai, Gonji-must seek the aid of the powerful nightmarish creature, Simon Sardonis, who shuns all mankind. But when the inevitable clash explodes, when the ghastly struggle to protect and evacuate hundreds of innocents begins, will Gonji's efforts be enough? Will treachery prove the city's undoing? Can any remnant of a ravaged and brutalized populace be saved from the horror? Or will Gonji's now passionately embraced quest abruptly end with the...DEATHWIND OF VEDUN?

Renegade half-breed samurai Gonji Sabatake has left the survivors of devastated Vedun, certain that his unknown Enemies-with their mysterious agenda, their monsters and their sorcery-are gathering strength for yet another attack on him and his allies. Seeking the aid of misanthropic werewolf Simon Sardonis, Gonji treks into a 16th-century Spain wracked by eerie supernatural forces. Trapped by his adversaries, Gonji is held captive by fanatical power in the torture-dungeons of the Inquisition. He learns of the evil cabal that enslaves multiple worlds and has wrought its venomous power in the highest offices of the medieval Church. Condemned to burn at the stake, Gonji is mystically counseled by a witch whose knowledge of sorcery and science compels him to somehow escape. For he must lead a refugee army, under pursuit of human and sorcerous assassins, in a flight across dark seas and into the interior of darkest Africa. There, to seek a bizarre castle's gateway to warped spatial anomalies, and learn his singular importance to the destiny of a system of concentric worlds. But will that incredible revelation empower or destroy him? Could any single warrior be expected to undertake the burden of such a quest? And even with the uncertain help of the powerful lycanthrope Simon, can Gonji survive the secrets of the... FORTRESS OF LOST WORLDS?

GONJI, the demon-stalked warrior with the soul of his samurai forebears and the heart of his Viking mother, surges on through legend-haunted medieval Europe, seeking the key to his mysterious destiny... His infamy-and celebrity! -has seen a militant cult spawned around his legend and philosophies. Thus, Gonji must face persecution from religious and secular hierarchies, while dealing with human and supernatural assassins. Facing almost certain death, Gonji must make a grim decision. His ally, the enigmatic golden werewolf Simon Sardonis, has come to him with an earnest plea for help in France against a monstrous enemy of his own: the brutal, shape-shifting Farouche Clan. These are sorcerous invaders from another world, with whom Simon shares an eerie kinship. Their savagery overwhelms even Simon's formidable power, and now they threaten the woman he loves. But worse still, the Farouche fiends are the vanguard of a tyrannical, inter-dimensional conspiracy. A conspiracy which has insidiously snared Gonji in its age-old web of evil dominance. But can Gonji and the ferocious lycanthrope Simon together raise an effective force against such colossal evil, when the armies of their world refuse to help? Is there any power mighty enough to battle another world's dark sorcery, when it devours all before it with...? A HUNGERING OF WOLVES?

Two NEW tales of GONJI SABATAKE, the itinerant Samurai-Viking warrior! A rallying cry for fans of the popular 1980s heroic-fantasy series. An ideal entry point for new readers! The novelette "Reflections in Ice" - picking up a mature Gonji, already well into his ca. 1600 A.D. European adventures, ensnared in a desperate crossfire between monstrous oppressors: the undead assassins of the Dark Company; and mysterious horrors residing in remote caves of the snowbound Pyrenees... The novella "Dark Venture" - the most intense, action-packed and classic-pulp-worthy Gonji tale in the canon. The first-ever story of "young Gonji," in dishonored exile from his native land. Now facing deadly peril during a bizarre and ghastly sea voyage; caught in the clutches of a hell where corrupted spells of evil magic go to die... ALSO included is the essay "The GONJI Odyssey"-the definitive chronicle of the series' creation and publishing history...