Hell gets a lot of bad press. But it cannot be that bad… why else would so many people strive so hard to end up there1? It has several good qualities: it’s inclusive! Nobody has to worry that they won’t meet the entrance requirements. Nobody has to worry about winter heating (unless you believe Dante). Nor is boredom an issue.
Hell features in a great many novels/stories/prose works, both the Christian versions and its cousins elsewhere. People avoid going there; having failed at that, they try to escape; they make deals with the denizens of Hell; some even work for Hell. Clerics, lawyers, and guidance counselors might have discouraged such life choices. Readers can enjoy the plot-enabling results of such strategies, as the following five books about Hell show…
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1976)
Midlist SF author’s Allen Carpentier’s bold attempt to endear himself to his fans sends Allen out a window onto a sidewalk waiting many stories below. No more deadlines for Allen! Allen is quite dead. Allen is therefore quite surprised to discover that he still exists. Too bad for Allen that he finds himself in the Christian Hell.
There is a way out of Hell, but not one the staunchly agnostic Allen is likely to discover on his own. Luckily for Allen, he has a guide willing to steer Allen towards salvation. The only way out is deeper into Hell. Allen might be even more reluctant to follow this bold advice if Allen had any idea who his guide might be.
Inferno draws on Dante’s poem. Curiously, the focus seems to be less on how to achieve salvation and more on who the authors feel is surely destined for the fiery pits of Hell. Ever wonder which rival authors, politicians, and pundits Niven and Pournelle disliked? Read this novel and wonder no longer. In their defense, peopling Hell with one’s aesthetic and political enemies has a long history.
Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw (2015)
While the Hell that awaits Rupert Wong is not the Christian Hell, it’s a difference without consequence. Wong desperately wishes to avoid his almost inevitable fate. To that end, Wong is willing to embrace employment options he would otherwise reject… thus his current occupation catering to Kuala Lumpur’s ghouls.
Dragon King Ao Qin has another use for Rupert: tracking down the party or parties responsible for unleashing the Greek Furies on Ao Qin’s now departed daughter. Wong is no detective, but refusing Ao Qin would be a death sentence. As the case involves at least two pantheons of deities, saying yes might also be a death sentence.
Dragon King Ao Qin believes the stick is more useful than the carrot. No surprise that Ao Qin is a terrible boss. This is, as it turns out, not the only field of endeavor in which Ao Qin is terrible.
Mystic Pop-up Bar, written by Ha Yoon-ah and directed by Jeon Chang-geun (2020)
Han Kang-bae is hard-working, kindly, conscientious, and a pariah. This last is thanks to an unwanted, uncontrollable gift: anyone who touches Kang-bae becomes embarrassingly vocal about their inner thoughts. To spare people this irresistible frankness, Kang-bae avoids people.
Pop-up Bar owner Weol-ju has a use for Kang-bae. Centuries before, Weol-ju blotted her spiritual copybook badly enough to be consigned to the Hell of Extinction. Those who rule the afterlives offered Weol-ju one chance to avoid total annihilation: find and solve the problems of 100,000 people2. With the deadline looming, and her grumpy demeanor unsuitable to the task at hand, Kang-bae’s gift offers salvation to Weol-ju… if Weol-ju can convince Kang-bae to work for her. Also if the pair can survive the complications that ensue.
This Korean afterlife features an abundance of loopholes. It is almost as though the supernatural beings don’t entirely agree with the inflexible legal system they supposedly serve, but don’t have the ability to reform it. That Weol-ju has almost squandered the second chance offered seems almost churlish of her.
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (2021)
Determined to win Daisy Buchanan’s heart, handsome but impoverished Jay Gatsby did what any person would do in his place. He sold his soul (and the promise of certain services) to the Devil in return for enough wealth to win Daisy’s affections.
All Jay need do now is steal Daisy away from her husband Tom. He has a cunning plan to achieve this, a plan into which Jordan Baker is reluctantly drafted. Alas, Jay’s plan has a fundamental flaw. For Daisy to love Jay, self-centered Daisy would have to be capable of love. As it is, the only question is which form catastrophic failure will take.
The tale is told from the perspective of Daisy’s Vietnamese American friend Jordan Baker. Jordan, who as a baby was adopted (or possibly kidnapped) by well-meaning Americans, is well aware that she will likely be among the legions deported under the racist Manchester Act working its way through Congress. That her well-heeled pals don’t realize the Manchester Act applies even to people they know is just another example of the unquestioned privilege and total lack of empathy that drive the plot.
If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu (2023)
Journeyman Wen Mingyan works for One Wizard, a sorcerous company dedicated to collecting subscription fees from patrons. One Wizard will even deliver services in exchange for fees, as long as the end result is more profit. Shine Ming Junlei is a One Wizard client, whose problem Wen undertakes to solve before finding out if the problem can be solved.
Shine Ming Junlei discovered an ominous arcane symbol painted on the wall of his accommodations. Soon Shine found demon Wang Ran sharing his body. Wang Ran is an escapee from his employment in Hell. King Death, the Emperor of the Liminal Domain, the Master of Death, the One Who Sees Over All Souls would like his property back, regardless of any consequences to foolish mortals who get in the way.
Wen, the One Wizard employee assigned the case, isn’t all that diligent but he is bored. Wen definitely escapes boredom over the course of this book, but he also gets a pointed lesson in the value of due diligence.
These books are, of course, but a very small sample of the many books about Hell. I may have missed your favorite works…or I might have deliberately omitted them. Whatever. Feel free to mention your favorites in comments below.
