Dilvish, the Damned is a collection of fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 stories by American writer Roger Zelazny

Roger Zelazny

Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...

, first published in 1982. Its contents were originally published as a series of separate short stories in various fantasy magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

s. Prior to publication, Zelazny's working title for the book was Nine Black Doves. The working title was later re-used for the fifth volume of The Collected Short Stories of Roger Zelazny collection, as a tribute to Dilvish. The storyline begun in this collection was resolved in the novel The Changing Land

The Changing Land

The Changing Land is a Locus Award nominated fantasy novel written by Roger Zelazny, first published in 1981. The novel resolves the storyline from the various Dilvish, the Damned short stories -Plot summary:...

, which was published before the other Dilvish stories appeared in book form.

Plot summary

Dilvish is the descendant of both elves and humans, a scion of a prominent Elven house and "the Human House that hath been stricken" which lost its peerage for mixing Elven and Human blood. Hundreds of years before the main story, he comes across a dark ritual being performed by the sorcerer

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

 Jelerak who is sacrificing a human girl. He attempts to stop the ritual but is turned into stone, with his soul banished to Hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

. His body became a statue, and for many decades it resided within the square of a nearby town that he had formerly saved from enemy conquerors. When this town is again in need of a hero, their citizens' plight allows Dilvish the passage he needed to escape from Hell. He returns to the world of the living with his steed, the metal demon horse Black, and a burning desire for revenge against Jelerak, but must first repulse the assault against the endangered town. Dilvish then goes to call upon the Shoredan - a cursed people bound to his family. He searches for Jelerak in the Tower of Ice and finds the sorcerer's apprentice and his sister trapped there. The two of them believe him to be a servant of Jelerak sent to kill them.

Contents

The original short story sequence comprising Dilvish, the Damned was originally published as follows:

• "Passage to Dilfar" (Fantastic Stories of Imagination
  Fantastic (magazine)
  Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease...
  
  , Feb. 1965)
• "Thelinde's Song" (Fantastic Stories of Imagination
  Fantastic (magazine)
  Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease...
  
  , June 1965)
• "The Bells of Shoredan" (Fantastic
  Fantastic (magazine)
  Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease...
  
  , Mar. 1966)
• "A Knight for Merytha" (Eternity SF
  Eternity SF
  Eternity SF, also known as Eternity Science Fiction and Eternity, was a semi-professional science fiction magazine published by Stephen Gregg out of Sandy Springs, South Carolina. The magazine was issued from 1972–1975 and was briefly revived from 1979-1980. It contained stories from famous...
  
  v. 1, no. 3, 1974)
• "The Places of Aache" (Other Worlds
  Other Worlds (magazine)
  Other Worlds Science Stories was an American science fiction magazine, edited by Raymond A. Palmer with Bea Mahaffey. It was published by Palmer's Clark Publishing in Evanston, Illinois beginning in the late 1940s...
  
  2, Jan. 1980)
• "A City Divided" (first published in this collection, 1982)
• "The White Beast" (Whispers 13-14, Oct. 1979)
• "Tower of Ice" (Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers
  Flashing Swords! 5: Demons and Daggers
  Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in December 1981 as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club, and in paperback by Dell Books simultaneously.The book collects five heroic...
  
  , Dec. 1981)
• "Devil and the Dancer" (first published in this collection, 1982)
• "Garden of Blood" (The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6
  The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6
  The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6 is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in November, 1980...
  
  , Nov. 1980)
• "Dilvish, the Damned" (first published in this collection, 1982)