The King has summoned you, Lone Wolf, last of the Kai Lords, to his citadel at Holmgard. Your quest is to recover a missing shipment of gold and locate the patrol which has disappeared while investigating the suspected theft. As you and your men equip yourselves for the long ride ahead, you glimpse a crow perched on a window ledge high above. As it flies away a shiver runs down your spine--in Holmgard the crow is a symbol of impending danger.

Joe Dever, the creator of the bestselling Lone Wolf adventure books and novels, has achieved world-wide recognition in three creative fields--as an award-winning author of international renown, as an acclaimed musician and composer, and as a games designer specialising in role-playing games.

On graduating from college in 1974, Joe Dever became a professional musician, and for several years, he worked in the music industry in Europe and the United States.

While working in Los Angeles in 1977 he discovered a then little-known game called 'Dungeons & Dragons'. Although the game was in its infancy, Joe at once realised its huge potential and began designing his own role-playing games along similar conceptual lines. These first games were to form the basis of a fantasy world called Magnamund, which later became the setting for the Lone Wolf books.

Five years later, in 1982, Joe won the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons World Championships in Baltimore, an event held before 16,000 people. Inspired and encouraged by his success at Origins, Joe decided to quit the music business and devote his time to writing and games design.

In 1983, after a brief spell at Games Workshop in London, he wrote Flight from the Dark--the first Lone Wolf interactive gamebook. His manuscript immediately attracted a frenzy of interest from three major London publishing companies, all of whom bid for world rights. Joe accepted an offer of publication from Hutchinson's (later to become Century Hutchinson Ltd; now Random House UK) and Flight from the Dark was first published in 1984.

This first book sold more than 100,000 copies within its first month of publication, and overseas rights were snapped up by twelve countries (including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Sweden). The success of Joe's first book laid the foundations for the future of the Lone Wolf series, which has sold millions of copies around the world.

The Lone Wolf series ended after 28 books and 14 years. Joe has continued to work in the games industry as script writer and games design consultant.

Gary Chalk, the illustrator of the early Lone Wolf series, was born in 1952, grew up in Hertfordshire, England. Being interested in history, he began playing war games at the age of fifteen. When he graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts in design, Gary spent three years training in a studio before becoming a teacher in art and design.

Gary was working as a children's book illustrator when he became involved in adventure gaming, an interest which eventually led to the creation of several successful games. He is the inventor/illustrator of some of Britain's biggest-selling fantasy games including Cry Havoc, Starship Captain and Battlecars (co-designed with Ian Livingstone). He is also known for his work on the very successful game, Talisman.

Gary was working at Games Workshop when Joe Dever asked him to illustrate some of his manuscript of Flight from the Dark. The two teamed up after that and, they continued to work together until the eighth book in the series, The Jungle of Horrors.

Gary has also drawn the illustrations in Redwall and related books, The Prince of Shadows gamebook series, and several books which he also authored. Gary continues to enjoy war gaming and works as an illustrator and model maker. He maintains a website with examples of his work.

Internet Edition published by Project Aon. This edition is intended to reflect the complete text of the original version. Where we have made minor corrections, they will be noted in the Errata.

Publication Date: 29 March 2003

Text copyright © 1985 Joe Dever. Distribution of this Internet Edition is restricted under the terms of the Project Aon License.

Text copyright © 1985 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1985 Gary Chalk.