In cultures throughout human history people have believed that some part of themselves continued to exist after they died. Part of that belief is that living can influence what happens to the dead in the afterlife, and the dead can return from the afterlife to affect the living. Death Gods: An Encyclopedia of the Rulers, Evil Spirits, and Geographies of the Dead describes the many ways the afterlife—especially that part of the afterlife commonly known as Hell—has been characterized in myths from around the world. The hundreds of entries provide readers with a guide to the afterlife as portrayed in these myths - its geography, its rulers, its inhabitants, how they got there, and what happens after their arrival. While the Devil is a prominent resident and ruler of the afterworld in many religions, especially Christianity, this book examines many other versions of Hell whether presided over by the Devil, Hades, or one of the many other rulers of the dead. Death Gods provides concise encyclopedic entries on all aspects of the mythology of the afterlife: The underworlds form the myths of cultures from across the globe—for example, Xibalba, the underworld of the Quiche Maya; Di Yu, the underground realm of the dead in Chinese mythology; the gods and demons of the afterlife—the Hindu god of death and justice Yama; Ahriman, the evil twin of the benevolent god Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrian mythology; Buso, the invisible ghouls who haunt graveyards and feed on human corpses in Philippine mythology. The volume includes an extensive bibliography of the most useful resources for understanding the mythology of death and the afterlife.

Death has intrigued humanity from the very first recordings of civilization, and even from before. Belief in an afterlife and the prospect of lost ones returning has always intrigued the imagination of the living, but nothing more so than the vengeance wreaked from beyond the grave by those who have been wronged by the living. Perhaps most appealing of all to our sensibilities are those who dwell on the border, the witch doctors, necromancers, and haunted creatures that find their existence on the boundaries between the living and the dead, seeking to intercede, or perhaps to draw the unwary across that narrow ledge. All of them, the living, the dead, and the undead can be found within these pages, collected together under the auspices of Death, the one surety who will follow all of life. In The Death God’s Chosen, ten excellent authors seek to examine questions ranging from the nature of the undead and their humanity to the sadness and loss that grip the ones who were left behind. And to explore the nature of those who perch on the boundary between: the necromancer and the witch doctor, long figures of frightening tales and disfigured dreams. So come, let the spirits of death intrigue and enthrall you in The Death God’s Chosen!