The Slayers' lives are short, and not very sweet. The Watchers' Journals are full of their tales -- their battles, their triumphs, and ultimately, their successors.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is but the latest in a long line of women warriors stretching back to the dawn of humankind. As long as there have been vampires, there has been a Slayer. Usually called in her teens, the Chosen One leads a brief life full of conflict and doom.

From the Anasazi villages of A.D. 1250 to Shanghai, China, in 1866, from Hollywood in the '40s to Buffy's predecessor in Tokyo of the '90s, Slayers have always risen above their most recent defeat.

Four best-selling Buffy novelists come together in a collection of novellas chronicling tales of Slayers past. Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder, Mel Odom, and Yvonne Navarro each present a new entry in the historic line of Slayers.