Crusaders in Hell

Heroes in Hell #5

by Janet E. Morris (editor)

"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" short fiction by Michael Armstrong
"By Invitation Only" short fiction by Nancy Asire
"The Gods of the Gaps" short fiction by Gregory Benford
"Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" short fiction by C. J. Cherryh
"Springs Eternal" short fiction by David Drake
"Crusaders in Love" short fiction by Bill Kerby
"Snowballs in Hell" short fiction by Chris Morris
"Gilgamesh Redux" short fiction by Janet Morris
"The Nature of Hell" short fiction by Janet Morris and Chris Morris

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction

281 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1987

About the author

Janet Ellen Morris (born May 25, 1946) is a United States author. She began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 20 novels, many co-authored with David Drake or her husband Chris Morris. She has contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series Thieves World, and edited the Bangsian fantasy series Heroes in Hell. Most of her work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written several works of non-fiction.

Morris was elected to the New York Academy of Sciences in 1980.

In 1995, Morris and her husband and frequent co-writer Christopher Morris founded M2 Tech. Since that time, their writing output has decreased in proportion to the success of the company, which works with U.S. federal and military agencies on non-lethal weapon systems and software.

Reviews

[Robert Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this one is average for this series. Most of the stories were very weak and consisted almost entirely of cardboard characters bantering endlessly with the spare main plot (Che Guevara's rebellion and the Devil's Children plotting) at a standstill. However, I did find a couple of strong stories here. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Michael Armstrong was the stand-out and was seemingly a self-contained story aside from further exploring the rules of hell and had a very horror-esque twist ending. I also enjoyed The Gods of the Gaps by Gregory Benford. The story explores hell's rules and existence through the fleeing main character, Gregory Markham as he runs from the murderous troops of Che Guevara. Snowballs in Hell by Chris Morris was an okay story, the strongest bit was before the angel Altos returns Alexander the Great to the dissidents' encampment where much of the story takes place. Most of it was just plain disappointing. Overall, I would advise anyone interested to read just the stories I've mentioned and skip the rest especially since the main storyline (Che's rebellion) never goes anywhere in this book. Otherwise, I would say skip it.

[Durval Menezes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of short stories based on the "Heroes in Hell" theme (ie, the afterlife of heroic historic characters). I've previously read the ones about Gilgamesh published by Robert Silverberg in his own books (some of which were originally published in other collections of this series) and

I'm stopping here, after just 3 stories, because of my copy's very bad print quality is making it terrible to read, and also because story #2 ("Gilgamesh Redux") was the story I came to this book looking for, and it's rather good, rating 3.5/5.
#1 ("The Nature of Hell"), being about the presocratic philosopher Zeno, is not too bad either: rate 2.5/5.
But #3 ("Crusaders to Love") is kinda confusing and tiresome, rating 1.5/5.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hit and miss. As I continue the series, I find myself interested in following the exploits of specific characters and when the anthology stories veer onto others...I find myself skimming. Still caught up enough to go on to the next one.

[John Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun series of what ifs that has Napoleon fighting the Viet Cong and Robert E. Howard hanging with Lovecraft.

[Richard Groller · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best in the series!

[Nancy Raines]

Hell Book 5