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TENGU: The Mountain Goblin
"TENGU The Mountain Goblin is a gem amidst the gravel bed of thrillers that claim to feature martial arts. Donohue knows the drama and integrity of both martial arts and fiction, blends them both together in this solid, savvy novel that adds to his literary and popular entertainer reputation. Donohue satisfies readers with sly humor, bone-deep knowledge and clear eye." James Grady, author of SIX DAYS OF THE CONDOR and MAD DOGS
While Sensei and Deshi were both excellent reads, Donohue has truly raised the bar in Tengu, the third installment of his groundbreaking Connor Burke series. Reminiscent of Barry Eisler’s spectacular Rain Fall, this action-packed thriller depicts a gritty realism that only a seasoned martial artist can accurately portray. Appealing characters, engaging dialogue, exotic locations, and extraordinary insight into Asian martial traditions all bring the fascinating story to life. Once you start reading this marvelous book it’s damnably hard to put back down. Highly and wholeheartedly recommended. Lawrence Kane Author of Surviving Armed Assaults
_________________________________ Prologue: Demons A famous physicist once said that it’s impossible to examine the world objectively: the very act of looking disturbs the gossamer filaments that bind the universe together and, as a result, they vibrate with unanticipated harmonics. Our mere existence changes everything. We move through life thinking that the distinction between ourselves and others, between ourselves and the world, is absolute. The Zen masters know better. We are linked in ways that are both intimate and fearsome.
I have come to believe that this is so. I don’ t think I could ever have anticipated the events that would have brought me somewhere far from my home, preparing to kill the one person I most admired in the world. Looking back, it is as if we were drawn to that place by a chain that, for all its invisibility, was stronger than the steel of the sword that my master taught me to wield.
Our progress through this world sets the sea of molecules in motion. Like tide or wind, our very passage through the world creates unseen patterns in the fabric of life. They churn and swirl. Some fade away into quiet; others spawn into things of a size and monstrous intensity we could never imagine.
These, ultimately are the demons that haunt us. They are not some force from out there—they are creatures of our own making. They grow, sometimes without our awareness, spinning off into the darkness, until the day their orbit brings us once more into collision.
The old teachers were men alive to the currents that swirled around them. Human storm cells themselves, they churned through life with an intensity that de- stabilized the system. And they knew this. So they searched the darkness, aching to divine the pattern of the cyclones that moved, just beyond the limen of consciousness. The power they sensed was something to harness, something to defend against. Something to fear. And the melancholy dignity they have passed on to those who follow in their footsteps is this: if you train hard enough, you can face the looming force in the darkness and not flinch.
The sensei, students of both motion and stillness, know that the quest for mastery and control creates new currents, new powers, and new challenges.
These challenges become tests that some survive. But all too often, only the bystanders remain to tell the story.
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