Heroes in Hell

For those of you who have might not be familiar with the Heroes in Hell universe, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

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Heroes in Hell is a series of shared world fantasy books, within the genre Bangsian fantasy/horror, created and edited by Janet Morris and written by her, Chris Morris, C. J. Cherryh and others. The first 12 books in the series were published by Baen Books between 1986 and 1989, and stories from the series include both Hugo Award winners and Nebula nominees.

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Janet resurrected the series through her own publishing company – The Perseid Press – in 2011 with Lawyers in Hell, and the universe has continued to expand with six anthologies and four novels since then:

 

 

 

As you can see from this quick glimpse, there’s a wealth of dark and despicable delights to delve into. And what a choice! Bent lawyers; devious rogues; hopeless dreamers; cursed poets; censured doctors; dastardly pirates, and hapless lovers.

But why so many?

Ah, that’s what you have to understand about hell, it’s an ever expanding smorgasbord of shameful deviants with all sorts of perverted desires that ends up dooming them to eternal suffering.

Here’s a little equation I like to use to explain why Heroes in Hell keeps getting bigger and better.

dS >> 0ᵑ

Now, some of you might recognize this equation, as it’s the satanized version of the second law of thermodynamics. Or, as its better known in the underverse, the Law of Infernodynamics.
Let's break it down a little:
Let's break it down a little:
Basically, the sum of each condemned soul’s damnation, (d),
Combined with (S), Satan’s all-pervading unholy will,
Is vastly greater, (
Combined with (S), Satan’s all-pervading unholy will,
Is vastly greater, (>>) than anyone’s chance of escaping or being happy again, aptly represented by, (0ᵑ), that’s zero to the nth degree!

Ouch!

So, what’s in store for those who end up in one of the many levels of hell?

Ah, for that I’d encourage you to stop by, either at The Perseid Press

 

Perseid Press

 Or at your favorite online book retailer to find out more.

 

And if you’re unsure as to where might be a good place to start, why not pick a theme that appeals. After all, there are plenty topics to choose from, and the choice is only going to get bigger.

Stay tuned, you’ll find out what I mean in the next post.

 My Review of. . .
Demon in White

Demon in White

I’ve been itching to get to Demon in White, the third installment of the Sun Eater Sequence, as it’s been a journey of discovery, following along as Hadrian Marlowe, the young man who wanted nothing more than to travel the stars in search of knowledge and peace becomes the tyrant the galaxy needs.

Here’s a hint of what’s in store from the cover blurb:

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Hadrian and his Red Company have been serving the Empire in military engagements against the Cielcin, the vicious alien civilization bent on humanity's destruction. And they've been successful: a cult-like fervor building around Hadrian following a particularly impressive victory. But popularity comes at a price: an assassination attempt, triggered by those within the Imperial government who are scared of his rise to prominence.

Now the Empire has turned dangerous, Hadrian and his crew leave to pursue his true interest: a search for a long-rumored connection between the first Emperor and the Quiet: the ancient, seemingly long-dead race. And he will find the next key to unlocking their secrets in a massive library on a distant world.

The coordinates for their origin planet.

A planet that no longer holds life, but may still contain answers.

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Now the scene is set, what did I think?

Awesome! Absolutely awesome.

And it has to be at close to 750 pages long. But this is the thing. Although Demon in White covers the sweeping vista of a number of planets spread throughout the immense expanse of a galactic empire, it doesn’t lose the personal touch. The story keeps its center by concentrating on Hadrian Marlowe’s transition from hero to legend. And from legend to virtual godhood in the eyes of the people that follow him.

And therein lies the rub.

If there’s one thing you need to understand about heroes, it’s that there’s no room for them in the Empire. For heroes build a reputation of invincibility, and such reputations attract the worst kind of sedition: Followers. Zealots who believe more in the object of their fervor than Caesar himself. And the Emperor mustn’t be challenged, for he is jealous of his rule and the Chantry are ever willing and able to make an example of those who fail to tow the party line.

Yes, Hadrian Marlowe learns to his cost the consequences of victory.

His rank, his success, his devotion – to duty and uncovering the truth about ancient beings both vast and incomprehensible – has ramifications he couldn’t possibly have imagined. And not only does he end up fighting against an evil from beyond the veil of time; not only must he contend against the worst and most powerful of the Cielcin overlords, but he must fend off multiple death threats from members of the royal family, the government and the Chantry, all of who want to see him dead.

As I noted at the outset, this is an awesomely epic extravaganza of far future science fiction. The pace is well judged throughout; the battle scenes precise, bloody and brutal; the gradual reveal of just what it is behind the events taking place, mind bogglingly spectacular; and the story arc, superb.

And THAT’s what I’ve really enjoyed about this series. As I mentioned in my review of Empire of Silence and Howling Dark, this far-fling operatic production carries all the scope of Frank Herbert’s, Dune; The scale of Arthur C. Clarkes, 2001: A Space Odyssey; and the poignancy of Barry B. Longyear’s, Enemy Mine. It’s huge. Yet Christopher Rucchio has managed to avoid wasting time with ‘filler material.’ Everything you read is relevant, and one of the best metaphysical journeys you will ever take in the discovery of the past, present and future of the human race.

Do yourself a favor, and enlist in the Red Company!

Amazon Review

 This Week's Review Of. . .
Be Afraid . . . Be Very Afraid!

Howling Dark

In this, the second book of the Sun Eater Sequence, Hadrian Marlowe’s life begins to spiral out of control. Seeing what happened to him in Empire of Silence, that’s saying something.

Here’s the blurb for Howling Dark:

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Hadrian Marlowe is lost.
 
For half a century, he has searched the farther suns for the lost planet of Vorgossos, hoping to discover a way to contact the elusive alien Cielcin. He has pursued false leads for years among the barbarian Normans as captain of a band of mercenaries, but Hadrian remains determined to make peace and bring an end to nearly four hundred years of war.
 
Desperate to find answers, Hadrian must venture beyond the security of the Sollan Empire and among the Extrasolarians who dwell between the stars. There, he will face not only the aliens he has come to offer peace, but contend with creatures that once were human, with traitors in his midst, and with a meeting that will bring him face to face with no less than the oldest enemy of mankind.
 
If he succeeds, he will usher in a peace unlike any in recorded history. If he fails, the galaxy will burn.

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Hadrian Marlowe wakes from cryo-sleep to find himself light-years further away from the Empire’s clutches, and one step closer to discovering the location of elusive Vorgossos. And therein lies the rub. On every occasion he thinks he’s gained vital information, he discovers those clues to be nothing but smokescreens and illusions that do nothing but lead him along divergent paths.

However, those trials and tribulations serve another, just as important purpose. They notify ‘strange & terrifying powers’ of Hadrian’s existence. Drawn into a web of dread and shocking potential, Hadrian Marlowe is beset by doubts and indecision. Yet he is matured by his experiences. So much so, that when hard decisions have to be made, he isn’t slow in stepping up.

The thing is, stepping up puts him directly in harm’s way. And in this adventure, Hadrian Marlowe is ever beset by the potential for great harm. From the Empire, who view him as an embarrassment to be silenced; from the Cielcin, who, despite his earnest desire for peace, look on all humans as chaff to be reaped; from long-dead legends who have no right to be alive; from diabolical nightmares who have never known the fragility of flesh and blood; and even from his closest friends.

Yes, death is Hadrian Marlowe’s closest friend. And it’s astonishing how things work out for him when that specter comes-a-calling, for ‘something’ has Hadrian in its cosmos-spanning eye, and he has a task to accomplish before it’s/they’re done with him.

As I mentioned in my review of Empire of Silence, this awesomely epic space opera portrays the scope of Frank Herbert’s, Dune; The scale of Arthur C. Clarkes, 2001: A Space Odyssey; and the poignant message conveyed in Barry B. Longyear’s, Enemy Mine.

It’s magnificent stuff, is better than the first book, and will keep you engrossed from beginning to end.

Bravo, Christopher Ruocchio. Bravo indeed!

Amazon Review

Lockdown Distractions

Still Completely Sane

 This coming week's diversions are:

Something Old

Something New

Should be fun!

 Where No Man

(Including Simon and Garfunkel)

Has Gone Before

Empire of Silence

This is the first book I’ve read by Christopher Ruocchio. And if the Empire of Silence is anything to go by, it certainly won’t be the last. Take a peek at the introduction to this story:

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It was not his war.

The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders.

But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier.

On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world.

Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

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Yes, Hadrian Marlowe is a man born to power and privilege. Yet, he sees such things as a living hell, and yearns to break free of the shackles chaining him to an unbalanced institution that panders to a privileged elite, while fighting a 300 year old war against the Cielcin. The society he was born into is rigidly indoctrinated by the elitism imposed by the Chantry, and enforced by the Emperor and his legions. Such elitism does nothing but to rob everyday citizens of their humanity and simple decency.

Hadrian realizes this, for he possesses something rarely seen in this far-future empire. A conscience. He knows things need to change and longs to travel the vast expanse of the stars in order to seek answers to questions that should have been asked long, long ago.

So he decides to do something about it . . . or at least, he tries to.

As a result, he is rendered excomminicado, his inheritance as first in line to his family’s wealth and power simply wiped away; he’s sent into exile; sold into slavery; ends up begging on the streets of an impoverished backwater planet; fighting as gladiator fodder in the colosso.

And just when he’s on the verge of throwing in the towel, discovers something that truly captures his heart and soul: clues as to the origins of life in the universe. And far from the rhetoric spouted by the Chantry, it isn’t anything to do with humanity. Oh no. Something more ancient and vaster than mankind can possibly imagine once used the cosmos as its playing ground. And humans?

Well, that remains to be seen.

Be warned. Empire of Silence is a lengthy tome. But it’s well worth the commitment it takes to read it. Ruocchio is an accomplished world builder, and weaves a rich tapestry of far-future, galaxy spanning expansion that maintains a brisk yet steady pace throughout, without losing the personal touch.

The main characters are detailed and credible. You can relate to – or hate – them in equal measure, while the supporting cast, though many and varied, add attention to detail that adds credibility to the star system spanning arena in which the story is set.

While reading, I was distinctly reminded of the scope of Frank Herbert’s, Dune; The scale of Arthur C. Clarkes, 2001: A Space Odyssey; and the poignant message conveyed in Barry B. Longyear’s, Enemy Mine.

It’s great, epically proportioned stuff, and will keep you turning the pages in your haste to find out what happens next. (And in all honesty, it’s a great way to while away the never-ending lockdown hours)

Amazon Review

 Cookie Anyone?

Refresh your memory of my last visit to the After Rot cafe, where we mulled over the meaning of cookies, munched on life, giggled like schoolboys, and pretty much took a long-distance break from the lockdown.

(Pretty much sums life up eh?)

After Rot

 Lockdown Distractions

(My Sanity Teeters on the Edge of an Abyss)

To help focus my fragile mind, I'll be mixing it up with - to myself, at any rate - favorites slanted on the "something old and something new" idiom.

This weeks diversions are brought to you, courtesy of. . .

Something Old

Something New

See you on the other side :)