A wild and rollicking martial arts fantasy extravaganza that features prized swords — and swordsmen, a crazy monk attached to a rolling boulder (yup!), serious clan and cult rivalries, and lots of magic and flying.
Nick Eliot, a 28 year old newspaper reporter moves in the guest house of the Forresters'. Everything goes fine until he meets Darian, the Forresters' only child, a 14 year old girl. She develops a crush on him. When he ignores her advances, she's rebuffed and willing to kill him.
Charlie, a poet, hasn't had much luck with women, but then he meets Harriet, the girl of his dreams.. or is it his nightmares. Charlie begins to suspect that Harriet is Ms X, a woman who marries then kills her husbands.
Johnny flees Manchester for London, to avoid a beating from the family of a girl he has raped. There he finds an old girlfriend, and spends some time homeless, spending much of his time ranting at strangers, and meeting characters in plights very much like his own.