Dämoren was released one year ago today.  In honor of the occasion, I wanted to share a few facts about it. And since Dämoren has 18 shells, I decided on 18 facts.

**Spoilers Below**

1:  Dämoren was originally planned to have been built by the Italian gun-maker Beretta. But when researching, I learned that Beretta didn’t do much work with revolvers in the late 19^th Century.  It was changed to a Holland & Holland pistol, a British gun-maker. It wasn’t until after finding pictures of Joseph-Célestin Dumonthier’s cutlass revolvers that I changed it to a Dumonthier pistol and added the blade.

2:  There are 21 characters living in the chateau when Matt arrives, him making 22. I’d originally planned for five more, but decided I already had more than enough characters.

3:  The demons that inhabit the jade masks are shishi lions.

4:  The Valducans can confirm 46 holy weapons at the beginning of the book.  They discover one more, bringing the total to 47.  By the end, there are 36 (with a 37^th being rebuilt).

5:  Matt being a male character was a last-second decision.  Because I was already so far outside my comfort zone by writing something other than Sword & Sorcery, I decided to make him male.

6:  The Valducan’s airplane is a Fokker F27 turboprop.

7:  Max Schmidt was named after actor Max von Sydow. However, his character was inspired by Walter from Hellsing.

8:  The Mel Gibson movie that Matt watches in his Canadian motel room is Lethal Weapon.

9:  Dämoren takes place in 6 countries and 3 continents (7 countries if you count the interludes).

10:  Neil Gaiman’s use of informational interludes in American Gods inspired their use in Dämoren.

11:  Dämoren’s name was rooted off of the German word  dämon, which means, demon. While I personally love the umlaut in the title, the problems that readers might face when typing searches for it led us to listing it as Damoren on Amazon and Goodreads. 

12:  There was a cut chapter that explained that Ben and Natuche were in a secret relationship. Ben deeply regretted that he never told Natuche that he was in love with her. The chapter was cut because it was the only chapter that wasn’t in Matt’s Point of View and it stuck out.

13:  Dämoren took 15 months to write.

14:  The Wendigo attack in Chapter 1 takes place in upstate New York off of Kinzua Lake. My wife’s family owns a cabin at the same location.

15:  Aside from their holy weapons, the Valducans use several firearms. Matt uses a Mac10 Ingram.  Luiza and Luc both use a SIG Sauer P226 (Luc’s is tan). Allan uses a Walther PPK.  Malcolm caries a sawed-off Remington double barrel. Kazuo uses a WWII Colt M1911.  Jean uses a Steyr AUG at the mine scene. Schmidt carries a .357 Magnum revolver. Ben carries a 5-shot .38 Special.

16:  Demonic breeds shown in Dämoren are: Wendigo, Strutter, Ghoul, Vampire, Werewolf, Oni, Ifrit, Hellhound, Lamia, Rakshasa, Succubi, Itwan, Shishi, Tiamat, and an unnamed orange thing. Demonic breeds mentioned, but not shown are Aswang, Sigben (a.k.a. Chupicabra,) Tengu (the bird-headed thing in Matt’s story), and an unnamed bipedal horned lizard.

17:  Chapter 1 is obviously a prologue, but because so many people have expressed a dislike for prologues, and often skip them, I labeled it Chapter 1.

18:  Lunar eclipses are a major plot point to the novel.  There was a total lunar eclipse on the night Dämoren was released*

Bonus 19th Fact: (because Dämoren regained one shell):  Dämoren’s technical stats – Seven-shot single action centerfire revolver.  11mm bullet.  Loading gate on left side. Eight-inch octagonal barrel with ten-inch blade. Gold leaf. Small red gems along barrel and a prayer (without “amen.” That’s on the bullet.) The handle is straight, angled down. It is ivory and capped with two wolves heads in bronze.

*OK, technically the next day, but in the early AM before sunrise, so I’m counting it.