Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology by Jason M. WaltzS.E. Lindberg rating: 5 of 5 stars
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.
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