All The Write Stuff: Monsters in Hell

Things are changing, even for the Devil and his subordinates, in ways that will cause exciting, if not outright liberation . . .

Monsters in Hell

A Heroes in Hell Collection

created by Janet Morris

Genre: Dark Paranormal Fantasy Anthology

In the Heroes in Hell series, Monsters in Hell continues existing plot lines and relates new stories with characters from all epochs of human history as they struggle against torment and even more common problems derived from their unique personalities and backgrounds. But wait, things are changing, even for the Devil and his subordinates, in ways that will cause exciting, if not outright liberation . . .

The Green-eyed Monster - Janet Morris & Chris Morris

The Pied Piper of Harmelin - A.L. Butcher

Dogs of War - S.E. Lindberg

The Tarnished Horde - Joe Bonadonna & S.E. Lindberg

From Hell to Eternity - Joe Bonadonna

Fire in the Blood - Chris Morris & Janet Morris

What is something unique/quirky about you?

We breed Morgan horses. We consult with Morgan breeders to help them choose breeding combinations to achieve a desired result.

We are also song writers; Janet plays bass guitar and Chris sings and plays guitar. We have an album on MCA records. Look for Christopher Crosby Morris on Soundcloud or N1M.com

Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

Janet wrote her first book in 1975 and Chris was the first one to read and comment on it. Their marriage survived. A routine emerged where Chris would read aloud all the new drafts and we would make edits on the spot. After a few books Chris’ ideas became frequent enough that we agreed he should have credit for writing, whereas before we had kept separate Janet’s storytelling and Chris’ songwriting. The rest, as they say is history.

Who is your hero and why?

Heraclitus of Ephesus, a pre-socratic philosopher, whose Cosmic Fragments foreshadow our knowledge of reality and how to perceive it. Among his precepts is the statement that change alone is unchanging. We’ve worked Heraclitus’ fragments in here and there throughout our books.

Which of your novels can you imagine being made into a movie?

All of them. We write cinematically, our books are vivid adventures undertaken without knowing the destination. I, the Sun, The Sacred Band, Outpassage and M.E.D.U.S.A. are particularly suited to film. The Threshold Series is a feast of opportunities for today’s special effects creators.

What inspired you, to write Monsters in Hell?

Monsters is a take on what most people think hell is like. In our stories, there are certainly monsters, but they are monsters of a different sort as well as the kind with sharp teeth and fiery eyes. For example, the way the fallen angels fight among themselves is something unusual, but who knows, possible?

Convince us why you feel Monsters in Hell is a must read.

Monsters in Hell is a must read only if you enjoy stories that push beyond the limits of clichés. Our writers enjoy telling stories without being able to lean on threats of death or pain as easy ways to motivate their characters. Also, we hate bar scenes. Get the drift? 😊

Who designs your book covers?

Most of our covers, including Monsters in Hell, are realized by Roy Mauritsen, a gifted graphic artist.

Advice to writers?

As for advice to writers, here is all we know: write the story you want to read. Start at the beginning, go to the end, and stop. Seriously. From start to finish you must inhabit the construct in a manner that makes the reader choose to continue; if you, as the writer, can’t feel what it’s like being there, your readers can’t either. So close your eyes, look at your feet where they are standing on the story’s ground; tell me what you see. Tell me what you hear. Ask at the end of each paragraph ‘what happens next?’. If you lose touch with it, wait until you’re back inside it. Tell the story that comes to you, and from you, to me.

EXCERPT

Fire in the Blood
by
Janet Morris & Chris Morris

“Do not give dalliance too much rein;
the strongest oaths are straw to the fire in the blood.”
– William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Sir Frances Walsingham steadied himself at the entrance of Martin Tower. As long as he had worked for a moment like this, he was nearly unmanned by its arrival. How long it would last he did not know. He must make the most of its every tick.

What made this moment so precious was the absence of Satan, temporarily sidelined by Samael’s betrayal. How long it would take the Devil to right his house was impossible to guess.

Until then, Walsingham must move rapidly.

Entering the Martin’s banquet hall, Sir Frances inventoried the collection of souls he might recruit for his purpose. For here they were, history’s cavalcade of thinkers, poets, shamans, rebels, martyrs . . . and fools.

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland giddily pranced among these gathered, ushering the select to sign his guest register and the most notable to autograph miraculously preserved copies of their seminal texts — Henry’s famous library.

And the food. Tray upon tray of forbidden victuals of every kind and color lay open to all, many of whom were already lying besotted ’neath boards overburdened with fare. Paradise here was not yet lost.

Frances’ coterie of conspirators had just grown by one Nietzsche, one Jung, and one Joseph Campbell when he himself was accosted by the host of this affair. The 9th Earl was plainly in the throes of delight. Eyes gleaming, Percy’s first remark was a belch as he proffered a glass of port to his courtly adversary in life.

“Henry, this is all a bit too much; you’ll sink them before I can get them on board. Where’s Marlowe? Shakespeare?”

Henry could only manage a grin and wave his own goblet to take in the crowd. “O Walsy, give it a rest. They’ll be along in good time.”

Shakespeare was now the undisputed center of Walsingham’s emergent design — the reordering of the underverse’s power structure. Previously bounded — above by Erra, Babylonian god of plague and mayhem and his seven Sibitti, and below by Satan, Prince of Lies — Sir Frances’ cosmology had expanded today to include nonaligned influences possibly above those Above. There stood the bible writer, J, with the three weird sisters still recognized by many in hell as the Fates, before whom even gods were said to quaver.

Savoring the glass Henry had served him, Walsingham quietly recalled the previous day’s gathering at Pandemonium: Shakespeare stepping onto the Devil’s dais was a moment of real change. Humanity’s bard had triumphantly regained his identity as teller of stories past, present, and yet-to-be told.

Astounding.

Lest Will doubt his instincts of that moment and shrink back into subservience as publicist to perfidy, Frances must now emphasize and reinforce Will’s new station: author of eternal significance.

But where was Shakespeare?

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Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D2YCPWY9

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/monsters-in-hell-heroes-in-hell-by-joe-bonadonna-and-s-e-lindberg

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212319680-monsters-in-hell

About the Authors

Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 30 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. Most of her fiction work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national security topics.

Christopher Crosby Morris (born 1946) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a lyricist, musical composer, and singer-songwriter. He is married to author Janet Morris. He is a defense policy and strategy analyst and a principal in M2 Technologies, Inc. He writes primarily as Chris Morris, but occasionally uses pseudonyms.

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Author Links

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