beginning in 1983, kikuchi has so far written 31 "vampire hunter" novels spanning 44 volumes. all of the official publications in the series were originally published by asahi sonorama until the sonorama branch went out of business in september 2007. the release of "d – throng of heretics" in october 2007 under the asahi bunko – sonorama selection label marked the transition to the new publisher, asahi shimbun publishing, a division of asahi sonorama's parent company. from december 2007 through january 2008, asahi shimbun publishing reprinted the complete "vampire hunter" catalogue under the sonorama selection label.