Heart of Vengeance & Other Tales of Azatlán: A Sword & Sorcery Anthology (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781937439989)

Tehanuwak, the Land of Obsidian and Bronze, is a sweeping vista of ancient city-states in the misty highlands and steaming jungles of the deep south to the vast grasslands and burning deserts of the unmapped north. At this vast land's heart lay the Three Empires, proud and ambitious, none more so than that of Azatlán, City of the White Hearth. Ruled by the Naakali, a race of foreign conquerors, Azatlán's legions push ever outward, seeking to bring more of the world beneath the yoke of the Living Sun.

But even in Azatlán, life is not easy. Tehanuwak is a beautiful, diverse land, but it is not a gentle place. These are the lands of feathered serpents and ancient ruins long reclaimed by jungle vines. War is everywhere, both within and without human civilization. The bones of fallen cities litter the land, decaying monuments to forgotten greatness. Monsters created by vengeful powers hunt those who wander alone. Far to the north, the Great Ice grinds south, strange creatures migrating southward out of its path, including beasts not entirely mortal. Demons dwell in the Dark Between the Stars, ever pressing against the barriers erected by the Sun and His sister the Moon long ago. Should they ever pierce it, they will descend on the mortal world like locusts upon a field. The gods defend Their creation, but They grow weary and hungry in Their eternal vigilance, and that hunger can only be satiated with mortal blood.

In this collection of 16 tales, sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, occult detectives and weird fiction readers are given a panorama of a lost Bronze Age world, inspired by the legends and civilizations of Mesoamerica, the American Southwest and the ancient Near-East. Readers of Robert E. Howard, David Gemmel, Miles Cameron will find something to love.