Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology

by Jason M. Waltz (Editor), Armand Rosamilia (Foreword), Steve Moody (Contributor)

Who stands between Humanity and the Abyss? With one foot in the heroic past and one swinging fist in the future of fantastic storytelling, these 28 tales of swashbuckling adventure give answer. The heroes of these stories face insurmountable odds—and do not always prevail. Strength of muscle might fail; strength of will may falter before mankind's oldest enemy. Demons. Creatures of utter dark and fire's flare. Immortal princes of Hell who damn as well as destroy, who look upon humanity as playthings . . . and prey. Emerging from the shadows of the past; slithering from other dimensions; clawing their way out of the Pit; summoned by mischief or mistake. Clad in fair flesh or foul form, they are thirsty for blood, hungry for souls. Against this ancient evil men and women rise in challenge, heroes who meet the demonic host with cold, sharp steel. The next time a shadow by the windowsill issues a diabolical moan or whispers from the eaves, you’ll wish you had one of these heroes along. Barring that, you’ll want to have this book. So strap your armor tight, grasp your sword tighter—if such false hopes will comfort you—and prepare to enjoy worlds where terror and courage are two edges of the same blade.

Genres: Horror, Sword and Sorcery, Anthologies, Fantasy

230 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 30, 2010

About the author

I edited and published numerous heroic titles under Rogue Blades as both RBE, a micro publisher of heroic adventure fiction, and RBF, a nonprofit literary publisher of explorations of the heroic. If you enjoy hard-hitting, fast-paced tales of ringing steel and dark magics found in the battles of lore and myth, updated and written for the modern reader, you should check them out.

Personally, I also write heroic tales. Jason M (with and without that pesky period) are one and the same. Jason M Waltz enjoys sharing tales of heroes who are willing to step into the gap...sometimes to fill it, sometimes to make it wider.

Reviews

[S.E. Lindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick Review and 2023 edit :
A stellar concept for a collection; "Demons" delivers many entertaining tales. *** Note, the original eBook (*.mobi, 2012) version was marred with truly demonic formatting, but the 2023 Kindle version fixed all this! ***

Concept: Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE) delivers what it claims: a sampling of demon stories and adventure. Your chance of finding appealing stories is decent with 28 entries. Chock full of demons, champions, possession, witches, etc.. Kudos to RBE for keeping these tales alive from a 2006 publication (Carnifex Press). The purpose of an anthology is to provide an array of options, allow new readers to explore the genre, allow self-described “veteran readers” to identify new authors, and enable reading in small doses (i.e. great for traveling or parents with small children constantly interrupting their activities). “Demons” delivers this.

Content For anthologies, we do not expect to enjoy all entries. We expect to experiment with small doses of new material/authors. For me, three stories that emphasized personal demons (or personal challenges) were outstanding. They stuck with me and are worth rereading:
- Fifteen Breaths - by Phil Emery
- Into Shards - by Murray J.D. Leeder
- Through the Dark – by Darla J. Bowen

Many more were entertaining:
- The Man With the Webbed Throat –by Steve Moody
- Body Guard of the Dead –by C.L. Werner
- The Beast of Lyoness –by Christopher Stires
- The Vengeance of Tibor – by Ron Shiflet
- First League out From Land –by Brian Dolton
- Son of the Rock -by Underwood Laura

The remaining tales were largely more juvenile in content or pacing … or (as a long-time, desensitized fantasy reader) the material did not impact me; however, they should appeal to the younger adult audience or readers making the transition to darker/edgier fiction.

Demonic Kindle formatting -- fixed in 2023!
The original edition (~2012) I provided a 3/5 stars since the conversion to the Kindle reader (and its App for the iPhone) was simply terrible. Very pleased with the 2023 update and am glad the Kindle auto-updated (you may have to enable this) and that all future readers can access the stories more easily.

[Armand Rosamilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I might be a tad bit biased about this one, lol... but it really does have some phenomenal tales in it!

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice mix of madness, menace and monsters with only a few stories that I didn't feel as into as others.