On the Concept of Demons

The monsters in their stories never knew fear. The survivors who shared them knew little else.

For Kathmin of Helsin, “demons” are more than just another bloody legend lost to the mists of time. As a professor of anthropology with a taste for unpopular research, he’s spent his career collecting ancient stories about the impossible nightmares that appear in the prehistory of almost every culture in the Galactic Union. These demons stalked the stars, shattered worlds, and then vanished without a trace.

When an impossibly massive ship appears on the edge of contested space, the major powers of the galaxy scramble to understand it. Recognizing that the monsters who emerge closely resemble the descriptions from kathmin's research, he is pulled from his lectures and dropped into a first-contact operation—one he’s spent his life being openly mocked for studying.

On the other side of the airlock are the “demons” of those ancient myths. They are everything the dusty manuscripts and scrolls promised—fast, strong, terrifyingly competent, and more dangerous than anyone in the galaxy is prepared to face. As the first-contact team races to understand them, they're surprised to find these demons are also curious, approachable, and determined to be more than the monsters the galaxy remembers.

Caught up in fragile new alliances, rushing to understand the threat, Kathmin and his cohorts have to decide what to believe. Are the legends of his bloodthirsty demons, who conquer worlds and topple empires, real, or are those standing in front of them offering friendship? And what will they do if both are true? The galaxy has to learn where myths stop and truth starts, and it needs to learn it fast.

On the Concept of Demons is a character-driven blend of reverse first-contact science fiction, military tension, humor, and found family—perfect for readers who like:

• alien scholars trying to understand a first contact situation
• competent crews, politics, and high-stakes, high-reward diplomacy
• the half-truths that become the full myths of a culture's legends
• good friends, new friends, the commonalities that make us all human on the knife's edge separating us from our demons.

This revised and expanded edition grew from a beloved r/HFY serial into a full novel, bringing Kathmin’s long-promised journey—and his demons—properly to light.