Go to Hell

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Originally Posted by KatG

if it is a series about one main character who is the main character in each novel of the series, it is not a paranormal romance series.

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I've seen you say that before, but I think things have changed. MaryJanice Davidson's series, starting with Undead and Unwed, are unabashedly centered on romance, and the protagonist of all eleven books is Betsy Taylor, Vampire Queen. It's one of the top-selling series, and no one ever argues that it isn't "really" PNR. There are others that I would probably shelve with fantasy but get shelved with romance, like Marjorie Liu's Hunter Kiss series. So I don't think that criterion is withstanding erosion.

I tend to prefer "descriptive" definitions over prescriptive ones, and I saw a while ago that a PNR blog held a poll for favorite PNR heroine. Mercy Thompson won. She would probably be one of the top choices in a UF poll, too.

But enough of this urban fantasy hijack! The OP told us all to go to Hell.

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Originally Posted by KatG

If I run into any more titles for the Hell criteria, I'll put them up. :)

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Thank you! :)

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Originally Posted by KatG

In comics/graphic novels, there's Hellboy, John Constantine and Ghostrider, just to start.

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I'd add Neil Gaiman's Sandman and it's spin-off series Lucifer.

All the books that I'm aware of have already been mentioned.

John Kendrick Bangs: The "Asociated Shades" books (all satires):

• A House-Boat on the Styx (1895)
• Pursuit of the House-Boat (1897)
• The Enchanted Type-Writer (1899, related stories)
• Mr. Munchausen: Being a True Account of Some of the Recent Adventures Beyond the Styx of the Late Hieronymus Carl Friedrich, Sometime Baron Munchausen of Bodenwerder (1901)

Not a 100% fit, but what about Alan Campbell's Scar Night (running off hazy recollection here) and Hal Duncan's Escape From Hell (haven't read it but the title would suggest it fits. Maybe).

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Originally Posted by KatG

In comics/graphic novels, there's Hellboy

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In name only. For now. Hellboy goes to Hell in the next six months or so, but no-one knows what it'll be like or anything, and on top of that there's 12 trade paperbacks (at least) of Hellboy to read before that happens as well as 12 B.P.R.D. ones before the "Hell on Earth" arc begins (and it's less a 'Hell' and more a general 'hell').

There's the Sandman Slim series (which I heartily recommend). In the first, Slim escapes from Hell, but he ends up going back.....

Truly great stuff.

Ill Second the Sandman Slim series its a pull no punches fast read

I will not derail the thread any further by explaining cross-marketing. :)

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Originally Posted by Loerwyn

In name only. For now. Hellboy goes to Hell in the next six months or so, but no-one knows what it'll be like or anything,

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Well that is the question -- how picky are we being here? If it's only descents into Hell, then that's a smaller group. However, on the comics front, I was reminded that I totally left out Spawn. But there are a lot of comics stories that deal with Hell.

There's also The Last Song of Orpheus by Robert Silverberg. And Steve Erikson's Malazan series deals with different versions of hells.

Sandman Slim! Yes, I know, it's already been mentioned more than once. Tough. ;-)

Has anyone mentioned God's Demon, by Wayne Barlowe? That takes place in hell, at least in part. A demon seeks redemption.

As for PNR vs UF -- there's PNR, and then there's PNR. And yes, for most of us, the two definitely do overlap.

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Originally Posted by KatG

if it is a series about one main character who is the main character in each novel of the series, it is not a paranormal romance series.

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*coughcough*bullsh*t*coughcough*

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Originally Posted by Contrarius

As for PNR vs UF -- there's PNR, and then there's PNR. And yes, for most of us, the two definitely do overlap.

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1) Stop using one of the two words we don't allow.
2) We're trying to move that conversation into a different thread, since it's off topic. I'll go see what you put there, then, shall I? :)

Back to Hell. I forgot Wayne's. That would be another one. I imagine a lot of the Christian fantasy might touch on the topic.

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Originally Posted by KatG

1) Stop using one of the two words we don't allow.

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"Definitely"?

I'm happy with rambling conversations, personally, but I do know that at some point in the future someone will come searching sffworld for books regarding hell journeys, and that person shouldn't have to be subjected to all our digressions.

Clive Barker's Mr. B. Gone takes place partly in Hell. Loved that book!

If I recall it properly there was a story by Alan Dean Foster called To the Vanishing Point where a vacationing family off to a weekend in Vegas decides to "take the scenic route" and drives off into a series of bizarre alternate realities. One of them is literally on a highway to Hell (an apt description of the dusty desert roads between Barstow and Vegas) where drinking fountains spew out scalding hot water and the beaurocrats in charge have trouble figuring out what to do with the vacationing family who clearly don't belong there. Other waystations are equally interesting and bizarre including a popular truckstop diner catering to humans and aliens alike and even a futuristic Las Vegas.

For criminal acts and violence on the stage
For being a brat
Refusing to act your age
For all of the decent citizens you've enraged
You can go to Hell

For gambling and drinking alcohol constantly
For making us doubt our parents authority
For choosing to be a living obscenity
You can go to Hell

You're something that never should have happened
You even make your Grandma sick

You'd poison a blind man's dog and steal his cane

You'd gift wrap a leper
And mail him to your Aunt Jane

You'd even force-feed a diabetic a candy cane

You can go to Hell
You're something that never should have happened
You even make your Grandma sick

For criminal acts and violence on the stage
For being a brat
Refusing to act your age
For all of the decent citizens you've enraged
You can go to Hell

~Alice Cooper Goest to Hell :)