Our review copy of Demons, the new heroic fantasy anthology from Rogue Blades Entertainment and publisher/editor Jason M. Waltz, finally arrived last week.

I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while.  It’s the first Clash of Steel anthology to appear under the RBE banner, although more are planned — including Sea Dogs, Reluctant Heroes, and Assassins.

Demons includes stories from Black Gate Contributing Editor Bill Ward and contributors Brian Dolton and Steve Goble, as well as Elaine Isaak, C.L. Werner, Carl Walmsley, Christopher Heath, Ty Johnston, Laura J. Underwood, TW Williams, and many others.

Twelve of the twenty-eight stories originally appeared in a small press title from now-defunct Carnifex Press in 2006: Clash of Steel: Demon, edited by Armand Rosamilia. As Jason relates in his lengthy Acknowledgements:

It was a sorry day indeed when Carnifex Press was forced to close its doors, prematurely bringing to an end the Clash of Steel series. Or so I thought. In a flash of inspiration, I contacted Armand Rosamilia and made a proposal: Allow Rogue Blades Entertainment to adopt the series, and RBE would swear to carry on its fine tradition of hard-hitting steel-centric sword and sorcery tales. He accepted. Here now is the result of that agreement.

Demons is an anthology

…devoted to the devilish fiends who seek to wreak havoc among mankind upon the mortal plane – and of the paladins and warriors who return the vanquished denizens of all the hells to whence they’ve come!

Looking forward to digging in to this one.  You can find the complete TOC here.