The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons

by Paula Guran (Editor), Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin

Twenty-seven fantasy tales from Neil Gaiman to George R. R. Martin, plus many more, are collected in this anthology of speculative fiction. The renowned storytellers assembled here will challenge our concept of good and evil and provide us with new ways of seeing right and wrong: even angels can fall and demons will strive for redemption.

***

We tend to think of angels as good and demons as evil, but angels do sometimes fall, and even demons have been know to seek redemption.

Humankind has long been fascinated by angels and demons ...

Angels - messengers, guardians, warriors - have been considered as friendly or fearful, godly guides or instruments of holy wrath, gentle bringers of comfort or merciless fighters, exalted or fallen.

Demons - adversaries, tricksters, rebels, tempters - have been seen as incorporeal forces of great supernatural evil as well as entities able to assume either terrifying or beautiful form in order to exercise their power.

Whether writing stories with absolute distinctions between unblemished good and pure evil or exploring the grey netherworld between, the imaginative and talented authors of these 27 fantasy tales are syre to delight and provoke in equal measure.

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies, Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Angels, Demons

544 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Paula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. She is also senior editor of Prime's soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

How can you beat an opening line like this:

"Between sophomore and junior years was the summer my parents sent me to the urban day camp, and Katie got impregnated by the demon."

This is a fun short read. I am in the process of tracking down all of this authors work.

There are a couple of links here on GR that will take you to the story to read for free. The story was published by Subterranean Press magazine in 2011.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to critique a book that is a collection of short stories. But there were a lot of stories I really enjoyed in this book. Perhaps the hardest thing was switching from story to story, because the difference of narration between each author was rather jarring. But I enjoyed it. There were a few that had me just blinking in shock as in "what did I just read" and some that I grew so bored of that it was a struggle to get through. But there were a few that were little nuggets of gold that had me taking longer breaks than I should have at work just so I could finish them. Particular favorites were "Murder Mysteries" by Neil Gaiman and Elegy for a Demon Lover by Roger Gerberding.

[Ade Couper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another multi-author short story collection- & this is a pretty good one.

"Angels & Demons" looks at stories of....well, angels & demons, funnily enough...Most of the stories in this volume are well worth a look, with the standouts (for me) being "Lammas Night" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, "Murder Mysteries" by Neil Gaiman, & the sublime "The Big Sky" by Charles de Lint.

Well worth your time.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really funny and interesting satirical short story. It is told from a young girl's point of view who relates the story of her friend Katie who gets pregnant in the summer between sophomore and junior years of high school... by a demon.
A combination of satire, magical realism, and coming-of-age, it focuses a critical lense on the absurdity of people's behavior surrounding teen pregnancy.
It is a story that can be read on different levels: ridiculous and ironic enough to laugh at, but reflective enough of the real world to be thought provoking.
I loved the narrator voice and specific POV of the main character, giving you a strong sense of age and her relation to the world that she lives in. I felt like I was dropped off by a time machine to a very specific time and place. Overall the narration made the story really charming with her simplistic yet ironic observations. Very The-Perks-of-Being-a-Wallflower-esque.
There are some extremly hilarious scenes when the main character goes with Katie to Planned Parenthood and the protesters get all confused about whether they should be protesting or not and have a little debate about what to do. "But it's a DEMON." And someone responds, "It's still God's creature!" and other parts that are sad but true. Katie's life is a nightmare what with the teachers' incessant in-class harping about abstinance and demon-human relations, the school gossip, being kicked out of her extracurriculars, and being shunned by her church... The whole demon metaphor was effective in describing the way people treat the situation--like you are carrying the spawn of satan.
The story does end on a good note though, with the simple message that life does go on. Even if you are carrying a DEMON CHILD.
I'm so glad I came upon that little snippet of Valentine's work. Looking forward to checking out some of her other stuff!

[MB (What she read) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short funny story read online, see http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine...

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad anthology by any stretch of the imagination, but there were only a handful of really good stories to appreciate here. While there were similarly only a handful of outright bad stories, that still leaves over half of the anthology as stories that will leave you going "meh". Having the editor act as hype-man before every story just made the experience aggravating on top of that.

[Sula · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny how often you can come across certain sentences that you just think 'I bet a guy wrote this', and you look up to the top of the page to see the author's name and it confirms those suspicions! I did enjoy a couple of the stories, but overall the collection was not that great.

[Lynn Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got fed up after 3 short stories and gave up!

[Katja Vajserman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this long ago. I remembered some stories as very good. But when I started reading it again I couldn't get into it so I stopped. Maybe I'll give it a try once more.

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep:
3 stars - Like original idea about vampires but not very captivating.
Stackalee:
2 stars - Too rushed.
Bed and Breakfast:
1 star - Boring, skimmed last 1/2.
Frumpy Little Beat Girl:
4 stars - Really good but ended too quickly with two many questions (want a full novel), strong Doctor Who vibe.
The Night of the White Bhairab:
1.5 stars - Didn't feel connected to or enamored of an characters, DNF
...And the Angel With the Television Eyes:
4.5 stars - Really want a longer version, really like the original metallic medieval monsters and the worldbuilding.
Lost Souls:
1 star - Boring, DNF.
Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel:
2 stars - Also boring.
Demon:
NOPE
At this point I was super bored and stopped reading.

[Pachelbel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it for free here!

This little story deals with teenagers, unexpected pregnancy, abortion, and demons. Katie accidentally gets knocked up by her demon lover (he neglected to tell her that demon sperm eats right through condoms), and we get a glimpse of what reproductive rights would be like if there was a risk of the baby being born with horns, causing the mother to burst into flames, or eating the mother's soul after birth.

Valentine treats the topic with weight and humor and hope, and it is soooo good.

[Gina Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because I'm interested in the subject matter, it's a nice, thick book with a lot of stories. An interesting collection of short stories with their own spin on angels and demons, good for dipping in and out of. Of course there were some tales I enjoyed more than others but this is a great collection and I enjoyed reading every story. Will definitely be revisiting this in the future!

[Fern · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally love short stories by assorted authors because if you don't like one you'll probably like another. In this case, though, I felt more of the stories missed than hit. There's a few I will remember with pleasure and probably read again, but overall I was a little disappointed.

[Hannah Daykin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some were good, some not so good. Given me an idea of which writers to look out for and which to avoid. Was a little disappointed by the stories of the writers I know - I think I set my expectations a little too high for them.

[RB]

Just bought this today. I'm surprised to see that it's releases here in the Netherlands now, when the scheduled US release is for July 2013...! Looking forward to be reading this one!

[SmokingMirror · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Tanith Lee "The Man Who Stole The Moon." An exceptional Flat Earth tale, very entertaining as it evokes the original conception of the world of her series and its denizens.

[Emma]

worse book i have ever read, didnt enjoy 1 story out of the book.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection - including a story Neil Gaiman wrote in his teens!

[Kimberley doruyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

one word review: disappointing

[MarkZer0 · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5
10% good stories
20% average
70% just bad and boring.

[Saul Escalona · Rating 4 out of 5]

6/10 stories are very good 5 star rating.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't recommend this book. The stories just did not wow me.

[Bill Borre]

"Demons, Your Body, and You" by Genevieve Valentine - Katie has an abortion after becoming pregnant with demon spawn.

"Stackalee" by Norman Partridge - wc