The Demonologia Biblica

by Dean M. Drinkel (Editor), Colleen Anderson, Lily Childs

The Demonologia Biblica: compiled and edited by Dean M Drinkel. The first in a collection of anthologies to be published by Western Legends throughout 2013 under the banner “Tres Librorum Prohibitorum.” A lexicon of demons full-to-bursting with great writers (some new, some award nominated, some award winning) from all around the world.

Barbie Wilde, William Meikle, Jan Edwards, John Palisano, Tracie McBride, D.T. Griffith, Kate Jonez, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Raven Dane, Jonathan Green, Lily Childs, Daniel I. Russell, Christine Dougherty, Mark West, Magen Cubed, Colleen Anderson, Emile-Louis Tomas Jouvet, Dave Jeffery, Nerine Dorman, Adrian Chamberlin, Sean Sweeney, Andy Taylor, Sam Stone, Dean M. Drinkel, Sandra Norval, Nicholas Vince.

Genres: Horror

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 25, 2013

Reviews

[Bambi Goggio · Rating 3 out of 5]

25 short stories and a poem about demons any which way you can. There's a little something here for almost every horror reader from the sublime to a little dark humor and beyond.

[Nerine Dorman]

So far as anthologies of speculative fiction go, this one’s a mixed bag; not all the stories were quite to my taste, but I’ll touch on the ones that did stand out for me, and also share a little bit about the one I wrote.

C is for Chordewa: Pet Therapy by Jan Edwards tells of a demonic cat that feeds on the lives of the terminally ill in a hospice. I think it’s the grinding inevitability of death that gave me a chill for this one. Especially how some of the patients still try to make a stand against the death-dealer.

Tracie McBredie’s E is for Eisheth stands out for me mostly because I know that whenever she’s at the pen, I’m in for a treat. This was no exception. The story oozes a brooding, oozing dark sensuality; the demon Eisheth seduces humans and slowly steals their vitality. They are addicted to the very thing that is slowly killing them.

Simon Kurt Unsworth is a master of horror, and with his H is for Hrace, he’s certainly in top form with the creepiness factor. I’ll never quite look at a circle of standing stones in quite the same way again. Also, yikes, the oppressive atmosphere … it was a relief when, well … The totally unexpected happened.

My story is S is for Sitakh: Old Scratch will be a treat for those of you who’re familiar with my Books of Khepera. This little tale features my favourite unrepentant black magician, Jamie. The premise is simple: what if Christians who failed to exorcise a demon turned to a demon-possessed occult practitioner to do the job?

Of course things don’t quite according to plan for Jamie, and he has some unintended results. His solution to the problem is, well … inventive.

W is for Wolf: Urban Wolf by Sam Stone had an unexpected twist that I appreciated. Maybe it’s because I’m intimately acquainted with the advertising industry that I found this tale to be particularly nasty and delightful.

Granted, there are 26 stories collected here, so other readers are bound to find some that stand out more for them than others. Pulling together any anthology is no joke, and a lot of work goes into a project of this nature. (I’m speaking from personal experience here.)

So, if you’re looking for infernal entertainment of this kind, then this collection of brimstone-laced may offer you what you’re in the mood for. Even better, you might discover new authors who appeal to you (and that’s always good motivation to dip into a short story collection).

[Hal Bodner · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE DEMONOLOGIA BIBLICA is a rough piece to review. While I liked the collection very much, and while much of the work was well done, nothing in particular specifically reached out and grabbed me and made me exclaim, "Wow!"

The concept is a fascinating one, that of presenting an alphabetical series of stories, each related to one of the demons from the Key of Solomon whose name begins with the relevant letter. To his credit, Drinkel sets his theme and sticks to it. He doesn't seem to have been tempted to include an ill-fitting story simply because it was written by a "name" author, nor did he allow stories to appear which only peripherally relate to his thematic guidelines. He gets kudos for that.

Unfortunately, his taste falls short in terms of the material he chose. While there are certainly some very interesting pieces, a surprisingly small number of them live up to their potential. And that is a shame because there is a LOT of potential here. One rather wishes that, in some cases, he had accepted more of these stories contingent on a rewrite or more of a fleshing out. Too many of them seem like promising first drafts.

On the flip side, there's nothing here that is baffling of glaringly unreadable. Everything is well-executed and, had the concept been less innovative, they probably would have been fine. But given the richness of what Drinkel seems to have tried to do, the results were mildly unsatisfying.

I certainly wouldn't suggest passing up this anthology if you happen across it. But I don't feel strongly enough about it to urge anyone to go out of their way to find it.

[Gareth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad to say that apart from one or two stories (Nerine Dorman's contribution being the shining star), this was a fairly tedious collection of GCSE standard shorts. One even ended with the English teacher's most despised "But that's impossible ... isn't it?". If you're consodering reading this, just go read some of Nerine Dorman's stuff instead. As I intend to do now ...

[Kate Jonez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection. So many fascinating tales.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection from editor Dean M. Drinkel with a wide range of writers.