A Personal Demon

by David Bischoff, Rich Brown, Linda Richardson

What happens when a college professor of medieval literature gets a little too drunk and conjures up a beauty of demon right in the middle of a faculty party? Well, if the professor is Willis Baxter and the demon is a four-thousand-year-old lush and lovely lady named Anathae, the result is bound to be wild. Various short stories collected into one volume.

Cover Artist: Tom Hallman

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Humor

250 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1985

About the author

aka Mark Grant (with Bruce King), Brad Quentin (with Terry Bisson)

Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories about a medieval professor who conjures up a demon at a party, and hijinks ensue. It is cleverly written, definitely knows it is not high literature, yet has fun with the concept. The first couple of stories are stronger than the last, but all around a great light read.

[The Joy of Erudition · Rating 2 out of 5]

The afterword stated that this book (originally a series of short stories) was explicitly intended as a lighthearted romantic comedy about a lovable demon girl's mischief in the life of a stuffy university professor, and, in the beginning, the three authors more or less achieved this goal. But around halfway through, the tone began shifting, and by the end it had become a morose and all-too-serious portrait of bitterness, alcoholism, self-loathing, impotence, and the pettiness and maliciousness of social circles. I would have given this 3 stars, but the latter parts of the book dragged it down too much.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this one at my local used book store. The premise was interesting and the story was humorous. This book was originally published in the magazine Fantastic, edited at the time by Ted White, back in the '70's. My copy has an afterword by Ted White telling the story of how the authors met, collaborated, and eventually published this humorous yarn. I recommend it.

[Eduardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly not a literary masterpiece, but it's one of the funniest fantasy/Sci-Fi books I've read. There are a couple of moments that were laugh out loud—like in Hitchhiker's Guide

[Jared · Rating 2 out of 5]

“There is an old saying: those who mess with the bull may get the horns.
Could it be, dear reader, that the same might be said of demons?”
-
A messy attempt at capturing the essence of pulp. For all of its paranormal hijinks and overindulgent prose, “A Personal Demon” just…isn’t a whole lot of fun. The skinny on the plot is this: a thirty-something college professor unwittingly summons a lesser demon named Anathae (technically half-human/half-demon but who’s keeping score) during a house party. She convinces him not to send her back to Hell, and shenanigans ensue from there - mostly in the form of their romantic partnership and attempts to keep her identity a secret.

The story is broken into five parts, each introducing a new side character who gets roped into their antics, and almost always ends with Anathae doing some vague magic to send things back to normal. Rinse and repeat. In theory this is all fine, and there are a few chuckle-worthy lines, but there are so many passages that needlessly meander over these characters only for them to become completely irrelevant within one or two chapters. It got to the point where I just started skimming over paragraphs because I could not possibly care less. It doesn’t help that a lot of the attempts at humor just didn’t really land with me either (the book has this intentionally stuffy prose that reads as though an old school literature professor is telling you the story by a fireplace with his pipe in his mouth. The charm wore off quickly for me). I actually found the highlight of everything to be the surprisingly sweet relationship between Willis and Anathae, wish fulfillment be damned.

Although, I have to say it, their romantic moments are CONSTANTLY undercut by the author(s) direct references to Anathae’s body being that of a sixteen year old’s. It is brought up again and again, to the point of borderline fetishization. I’m surprised this element of the book remained in tact when you consider it was co-authored by three different writers. To their credit, there is a whole subplot involving Willis wanting Anathae to look older - one of his neighbors actually calls for a welfare check on her, thinking she is a minor being abused (bruh) - so the writers are obviously aware it’s a weird thing, but it just begs the question of why include it in the first place?

I honestly hover between 1 and 2 stars on this book. Even in my descriptions of it, I’ve probably made it sound more interesting than it is. It’s a simple and fun premise but sloppily executed. At its best it will occasionally deliver a good nose-exhale, at its worst it feels like you are suffering your own personal demon. I think I’ll stick with 2 stars because that goofy cover art is just too freaking good.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories collected here, which are more novella length than short shorts, were originally published in Fantastic magazine, edited by Bischoff. They chronicle the travails of Professor Willis Baxter at Powhattan University, the "old P.U.", beginning when he summons up a naked and nubile she demon, Anathae, at a fundraising event. The target of the fundraiser, Norman Rockhurst, thinks that the demon is a stripper, part of Willis' magic act, and invites (or perhaps summons is a better term) him to a political rally taking place at his home several nights later. When Willis' dowdy girlfriend, Gertrude Twill, discovers Anathae the next morning, still a bit underclothed for the weather, at his apartment, she storms out and resolves in her heart to destroy him. His rival and fellow professor, Larry Hawthorne, wants control of the demon for himself, and covets the same promotion to head of the Literature Department that Baxter does, so the stage is set for conflict through several humorous episodes.

This book has the flavor of some of the Incomplete Enchanter series as written by DeCamp and Pratt at their prime (I may have to re-read and review that series one of these days). Light reading for an enjoyable weekend.

[Eric]

Full Review: https://monsterbookclub.com/2023/03/0...

[Nathan Bas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Altogether a fun read that loses steam in its final two sections.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light humour for when you need something distracting, but not too deep.

[Amanda Westfal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and quirky, I loved reading this book. Random purchase from a used book store!