According to Hebrew legend, there are 36 righteous men (the lamed vav) per generation who keep the world from destruction by their own merit or being. Nebula Award-nominated author (and amateur Yiddishist) Matthew Kressel takes this legend and expands it in his fascinating first novel, King of Shards, set across a multiverse that includes Earth as well as accursed places from Hebrew lore, like Sheol and Gehinnom.
Daniel Fisher is unaware that he's one of the lamed vav until a strange old man with glowing eyes interrupts his wedding. This demon in human form, called Ashmedai, abducts Daniel from the ceremony, to save him from his bride-to-be, Rebekah, whom the old man claims is the demon Mashit.
Ashmedai and Daniel arrive in Gehinnom, a shard of reality that contains various Bronze Age cultures, intent on meeting Rana, a young woman who aspires to great works of architecture and sculpture. They enlist her help as they journey to see Ashmedai's brother, the angel (or demon, depending on perspective) Azazel, who has power enough to send the adventurers across the multiverse to stop Mashit from killing other lamed vav.
King of Shards is the first entry of the Worldmender Trilogy, and its use of Hebrew culture and legend to build a complex, dynamic setting serves to imbue every page with an epic mythos. Kressel presents a compelling alternate reality that readers can escape to while also pondering the nature of what is real. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor