Search Worlds Without End

Twenty years ago, five master criminals known as the Demon Princes raided Mount Pleasant to enslave thousands of inhabitants in the lawless Beyond. Now Morwen Sabine, a daughter of captives, has escaped her cruel master and returns to Mount Pleasant to recover the hidden treasure she hopes will buy her parents' freedom.

But Mount Pleasant has changed. Morwen must cope with mystic cultists, murderous drug-smugglers, undercover "weasels" of the Interplanetary Police Coordinating Company, and the henchmen of the vicious pirate lord who owns her parents and wants Morwen returned. So he can kill her slowly...

Set in Jack Vance's Demon Princes universe, at around the time of Kirth Gersen's hunt for Attel Malagate and Kokor Hekkus, Barbarians of the Beyond is a return to "Jack Vance Space" and space-opera derring-do that follows in the science fiction Grandmaster's footsteps.

Star Kings are a race of non-humans who characteristically disguise themselves as humans -- but humans with a difference. Power alone is their goal -- a goal that is sought no matter the price in ordinary "human" life. Kerth Gerson was NOT a Star King, but he was looking for one -- a very specail Star King, a Star King who had murdered his parents many years before. All Gerson knew was that the Star King's name was Attel Malagate. Throughout endless galaxies of space, Gerson hunted down his Star King and finally found him....

Jack Vance excels at writing a series of shorter works that together comprise a grand, interstellar adventure. Such is the The Demon Princes, a series of five tales that chronicle Kirth Gersen's quest for vengeance against the five demon princes. The princes led the Mount Pleasant Massacre, a raid that destroyed Gersen's family and his world. But now Kirth is on their trail, and no matter how many galaxies there are to search, he will find them one by one and exact his revenge. This first volume collects three of the five Demon Prince stories, while the second volume will carry the remaining two.

In the midpoint novel of the "Demon Princes" series, Kirth Gersen sets his sights upon the mysterious Viole Falushe. Vance describes this murderous creature as a "sybarite." "Sadistic pervert" would probably be a more apropos phrase. After several false leads, Gersen backtracks the villain to his point of origin - Earth, of all places! Then the trail moves outward again, to the starworlds and a place back of beyond where there is actually a physical Palace of Love.

Kirth Gersen carries in his pocket a slip of paper with a list of five names written upon it--the names of five Demon Princes. The Demon Princes are a race of beings who disguise themselves as humans and delight in power and destruction. however, to Kirth they are merely murderers who killed his family and destroyed his home planet--and who deserves to die for those misdeeds. Three have already fallen in Kirth's hands, but there are two more names on his list, two more Princes who will live only long enough to regret their evil ways.

Lens Larque was just as unique as the other Demon Princes--uniquely appalling. He was personally ugly, startling vicious, and arrogant above all others. Larque's own mission was a villainy of the highest order, and his personal obsession with success kept him hidden well from attackers--almost well enough. Howard Alan Treesong poisoned his friends, tortured his colleagues, and wrote his own horrific holy book, The Book of Dreams. But, clever as he may be, a galaxy-wide guessing game will be his undoing--and Kirth Gersen's sworn vengeance will be complete.

After a devastating earthquake that left most of Japan in ruins, the district ward of Shinjuku in Tokyo has opened up a doorway into another dimension--becoming the halfway-house suspended between the mortal world and the supernatural.

Setsura Aki, undercover P.I., is considered the best "man hunter" in the business. He allies himself with friend and rival, Doctor Mephisto--a wizard of physical and spiritual surgery. Together, they battle the evil forces that overrun the city.

Coming from the deepest and darkest parts of China, four immortal demons, led by the Princess of vampires, have surmounted four thousand years of space and time to seize control of Shinjuku and make it their own.

It is up to Setsura and Mephisto to uncover their new formidable foes' dark plans for the city. Can the duo stop them before they plunge the living populace into a new level of fear and slavery none can escape?

A vicious vampire gang four thousand years in the making has awakened from its slumber in order to seize control of Demon City Shinjuku. Princess, Kikiou, Ryuuki and Shuuran are as persistent as they are merciless, especially when the target of their attacks is Setsura Aki.

A treacherous house of reptiles built of giant leeches and poisonous snakes--Ryuuki's ghost koto "Silent Night" and his malevolent demon qi--Shinjuku's heavily armed police becoming vampires and attacking its own citizens--

Demon City is transforming into Vampire City before their very eyes.

To make matter worse, despite his wizardly powers, Setsura is assaulted by Shuuran and is turning himself. His trusted friend and colleague, Doctor Mephisto, shows ominous signs of becoming a slave to their wills. Setsura has never before experienced such dangers in his life!

The immortal vampire gang led by "Princess"--Kikiou, Ryuuki and Shuuran--is slowly but inexorably taking over Demon City Shinjuku. Its citizens and the administration alike are turning into vampires. Mephisto has apparently allied himself with them of his own accord.

Setsura Aki stands alone on the brink of extinction, tested by one desperate counterattack after the next. Intending to snuff out his life once and for all, Princess unleashes the self-regenerating Kazikli Bey (better known abroad as Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula).

Meanwhile, concerned about the worsening state of affairs in Shinjuku, a team of foreign legionnaires--Special Forces Operational Detachment "F"--is dispatched to Demon City.

This Medusa of a supernatural face-off has grown another head. The confusion deepens and Shinjuku's fate hangs in the balance. But what is Mephisto really up to?

As the immortal Demon Princess inexorably transforms Demon City Shinjuku into a vampire metropolis, Setsura infiltrates her manor house alone. There he encounters the puppet paramours and "picture soldiers" created by the warlock Kikiou.

The witch Galeen Nuvenberg once again comes to the rescue. But that only draws her into Princess's crosshairs as well.

Meanwhile, panicked by the growing vampire hordes in Shinjuku, the Japanese government and its American allies resolve to sterilize the city with nuclear weapons. As if taunting the stranded and isolated Setsura, the countdown to disaster has begun.

Princess, the legendary evil vampire from ancient China, and her followers Kikiou and Ryuuki have unleashed the plague of vampirism upon the already debauched and depraved city on the edge of the abyss. As more and more of Shinjuku's citizens turn into creatures of the night, a secret government plan is hatched to annihilate Demon City with a nuclear device.

As the clock ticks down, beautiful manhunter Setsura Aki enters Princess's kingdom to retrieve Princess's hostage--the Prime Minister of Japan. There he meets a mysterious mask maker from a bygone era and undergoes a transformation. But will it be in time to save Shinjuku?

Meanwhile, the Demon Physician--Doctor Mephisto--remains a voluntary prisoner in Princess's camp. To what end--and whose side is the good doctor truly on?

And in Shinjuku's Magic Town, Tonbeau Nuvenberg and the Doll Girl find the portal to Princess's kingdom--a box sealed by magic. To open the box, they must do the impossible: access the timeline of the Universe itself--the Akashic Records.