In the streets of the sukh, Daniel Vehmund moves among snake charmers and dagger jugglers. Wanted for murder, he travels the world, lured on by a brilliant diamond and a curse, caught in the sway of every full moon... On a Mediterranean seacoast a death ship washes ashore, and the tide takes it out again, cleaned of its bloody cargo...In the frozen West, a woman, trapped in a loveless marriage, receives a rare diamond from her husband. It has a flaw in its center that looks almost like a wolf. Unknowingly, she awaits the beast, and will be drawn to him as he is drawn to her. Until a deadly sliver of meteorite in the snow sets them both free... In the snow-covered forest the beast lifts his heavy head. He kills and is unkillable. He is beautiful and horrific. He is the fear and the power, the envy and the magic and the desire. And he has come home to claim his place at last...
Author
Tanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7." Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress. Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971. Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing. Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror. Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s. Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
