All Hell Breaking Loose, edited by Martin H. Greenberg (DAW, 2005)

[image_name]In this collection, sixteen authors tackle all things Hell-related and demonic, with stories that purport to tell it like it really is Down Below. From the humorous to the horrific, they’ll give you a little taste of Hell to savor for your very own.

In Bradley Sinor’s “That’s What They All Say,” a private investigator used to handling the unusual is tapped to deliver the ransom for a kidnapped Lucifer, but will he be tempted to welsh on the deal when he hears what is at stake? In Sarah Hoyt’s “Something Worse Hereafter,” a pair of lovers fight daily against a host of hungry demons, preferring the Hell they know to the worse one rumored to exist if they fail. Adam Stemple takes a look at the traditional deal with the Devil, when a home remodeling crew breaks down the wrong wall in “Burning Down The House.”

Daniel M. Hoyt’s “Devil in the Details” shows that even the Big Bad can be thwarted by bureaucracy and red tape, while Donald J. Bingle uses the fine print to capture the souls of the unwary in “Hell To Pay.” P.N. Elrod speculates on the nature of a convention for demons, featuring her magical cat-man Myhr in “The Name of the Game.”

Those are just some of the cautionary tales to be found in this volume, with other authors including Alexander Potter, Ed Gorman, Dean Wesley Smith, David Niall Wilson, Alan Lickiss, and David Bischoff. It’s a fun bunch of stories, with a little something for everyone, and worth checking out.

Originally posted on SF Site, 2006


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