Today, we are featuring a dark fantasy anthology compiled by Janet Morris. Learn about the Mystics in Hell anthology and be sure to enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post.

No heaven can save them from their own twisted visions—

welcome to a side of the underworld you have never dared to imagine.

Mystics in Hell

A Heroes in Hell Anthology

compiled by Janet Morris

Genre: Dark Fantasy Anthology

 

 

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about the book

Mystic Madness!

Join the doomed on their vision quests in eleven stories by the damnedest writers in Perdition: Janet Morris; A.L. Butcher; Joe Bonadonna; Andrew P. Weston; Gustavo Bondoni; Seth Lindberg; Tom Barczak; Michael H. Hanson; Louis Antonelli; Christopher Crosby Morris.

 

Mystics in Hell is the latest volume in the notorious Heroes in Hell series of anthologies and novels created by Janet Morris.

 

A Frame of Mind by Janet Morris & Chris Morris

Kit Marlowe treks back from exile, where he has encountered three witches. Carrying a skull which he found on a blasted heath, he arrives at the Globe, where Satan and the angel of death accost him. At their displeasure, he’s banished once more, this time to return instantly via the powers of the Fates. Satan meets him at a cast party and decrees that Kit not only will spy for him, but play Banquo, beheaded in each subsequent performance of Macbeth.

 

The Come Right Inn by Andrew P. Weston

Where we meet up with one of Satan’s most secretive agents. A charming woman with a finger—and most other body parts—in every pie. She’s bewitching, beguiling, and bedeviled to be sure, but won’t think twice about skinning you alive if you cross her.

 

Abode of Woe by A.L. Butcher

When the self-proclaimed anti-messiah builds a temple on their doorstep and ruins business, Calchas and Cassandra look to some devious means to bring down the walls. Dueling mystics and misinformation bring mayhem to the underworld.

 

Fool’s Gold by S.E. Lindberg

A tale of the Egyptian god of mysticism, Thoth, who seeks conspirators to retrieve the Philosopher’s Stone; with it, Thoth could usurp Satan’s control of the realm of Duat. Taking up the charge is Howard Carter, infamous antiquarian and tomb raider, and the disgraced evolutionist Ernst Haeckel. They discover that King Midas’s alchemical ability to transmute flesh into gold relies on the stolen stone, and Midas is producing Hell’s new gastro-currency: buttcoin. They infiltrate the Mortuary Mint and sabotage the currency’s production. Instead of returning the stone to Thoth, the duo uses it to build up their own fortune. The auditors of Hell, namely the First and Second of the Sibitti, police the matter.

 

The True Believer by  Lou Antonelli

Few national leaders of the 20th century had as much of a negative and controversial impact on history as Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa from 1958 to 1966, when he was assassinated. Commonly referred to in South Africa as “Dr.” Verwoerd, he had a PhD in psychology, and went down in history as The Man Who Invented Apartheid. Now in Hell, Dr. Verwoerd refuses to acknowledge his infernal fate and gets a special visit to set him straight.

 

By Any Means Necessary by Gustavo Bondoni

Umberto Eco knows he’s in Hell; the suffering and multiple deaths that never kill him permanently are more than enough of a clue for a man of his learning.  But when he gets forcibly recruited by Nazi Commando Otto Skorzeny to prove the theories of one of history’s greatest charlatans, he thinks things can’t get any worse.  He’s wrong.  Hell can always get worse.

 

Excalibur by Tom Barczak

When dealing with the harsh reality of the Afterlife: Hell can be hard. But Rasputin has something even harder, and Lafayette Ronald Hubbard desperately needs it if he is going to pull off the greatest magic trick Hell has ever known.

 

On The Run by Michael H. Hanson

Tells of Sufi mystic Rumi, Zen Buddhist Dōgen, and Charlatan Spiritualist Mina Crandon using their new-found magics on the grandest of all quests, to find powerful talismans that will allow them to escape Hell itself.

 

The Sorcerous Apprentice by  Andrew P. Weston

Daemon Grim learns new tricks from an old dog. And just as well. There’s a fallen saint to bring to heel, and she’s not known for playing ball . . . crystal or otherwise.

 

The Colossus of Hell by Joe Bonadonna

Doctor Victor Frankenstein and computer scientist Alan Turing want to build a cyborg. Quasimodo wants to win the hand of the French fortune teller, Marie Anne Lenormand. Rasputin and Cagliostro want to open an exclusive, private club. And a mysterious damned soul, known only as the Orange Ogre, wants revenge against anyone in Hell who ever cheated or betrayed him, laughed at and humiliated him, or even ignored him—especially His Satanic Majesty himself.

 

Strange Arts by Janet Morris and Chris Morris

In a Tower cell, Marlowe’s head struggles to regain consciousness and rejoin his body. Here he finds his Elizabethan spymaster, Walsingham, waiting with J the Merciful and three mysterious Sisters. After painfully stitching together his body and soul, the five entreat him to join their most secret conspiracy.

 

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From The Abode of Woe by A.L. Butcher

 

Paradise’s dim light grew ever dimmer as the hell-lights began to glare with the blue glow of sulfur. It was an unforgiving light for the unforgiven. Word had got around, and crowds had begun to gather for the evening’s entertainment. Calchas had started a book on the outcome of the battle, and the diablos were rolling in.

“Two to One for the Pig Man!” yelled a grifter clad in the sharpest suit of the evening.

“Seven to Four for the Prince!” bellowed another voice, shrill in the crowd.

Kevin the fiend grinned. He was having the time of his unlife; he’d read the small-print.

“Are they ready?” Calchas asked, eying the large and sinister cloth-covered mounds on opposing sides of the temple.

“Yep. Ready for mayhem, master.” A smiling fiend is not something to stir the heart with confidence or joy and Calchas sobered. He wondered if he should feel guilty, but he had enough of that to last a thousand lifetimes and these New Dead had brought it on themselves. At least that is what he told himself and Cassandra.

“Ego fighting ego will bring no good for either. A temple built in haste to honor mere vanity and lies will surely fall to dust.” Cassandra stared at the mounds, hoping these fire-spiting death machines would not bring them all to the Undertaker’s door. Were they too close? She closed her eyes and let her mind wander.

“Will we be punished for this venture?” He’d asked, thinking too late they may have erred and voicing both their fears. He hoped nothing would backfire; plans in hell oft went awry. And he knew that sooner or later he’d pay the price for this deceit.

“This is Hades. Punishment is inherent. But I think not . . . at least not on this day. ‘Rue thy former life, and revel in thy afterlife, for thou art damned.’ Is that not the advice you once gave me? We are the damned. We must survive as we may. But those infernal and wicked weapons of the new-dead — Surely the walls of Ilium would have fallen on the first day.” She paused, “Would we have fought with such demon-weapons of war?”

Calchas gazed over to the two looming cloth-bound shapes. “Probably. Priam and Agamemnon would have found some means to destroy one another, no doubt. Man’s capacity for war outweighs his capacity for reason — and this place is full of the testimonials to that.”

“They will fall in dust as vain men are wont to do.” Cassandra told him.

“They won’t go through with it. It would be suicide. That building will fall down in the next hell-storm,” Calchas replied, doubtful.

They’d watched the crowd assemble from a reasonable distance. “Pack up. In case. And I will try to steer the mayhem from our door to be on the safe side, should the range of those war-weapons be enough to hit us. Make sure you are careful where you stand.

“Look there’s old Assisi. Out for the entertainment, along with everyone else by the looks. Let’s see — drinks are half-price.” Calchas would not let this opportunity pass.

Cassandra nodded, “Where did you get the fire-spitters?”

“Che Guevara owes me a favor. It might be useful to keep one—just in case. How hard can they be to use? Look, come there are our two brave heroes.” Calchas separated himself from Cassandra, still in the guise of the department man, and wandered over to the two Prophets.

“So, gentlemen, are we ready to settle this? Remember the winner gets control of that site, should it still be standing. The loser, or losers . . .will have more immediate issues to deal with.” Calchas motioned to the nearer of the covered shapes. “Who would like Big Bertha?”

The Reverend Henry Prince stared doubtfully at the shape. “That’s not a sword, or a firearm.”

“Give that make a Heck-Cookie!” Kevin chortled. He’d been milling and warming up the onlookers. With a flourish he tugged the cloth away — to reveal a howitzer, pointing towards the Temple of Woe. It was an evil-looking device, as were many man-made machines of death. “Humans, they do like to kill one another in all sorts of inventive ways! Welcome Big Bertha. She’s a friendly girl!”

“And the other?” Smyth-Pigott asked, his voice tremulous.

They walked across to a lower-slung shape. “Gentlemen, meet Roaring Meg, the deadly maiden of the English Roundheads,” Kevin chuckled.

“Not your era, I suppose, but they do the job. They are primed for combat. Meg has helpers: she fires but one ball at a time, yet she’s a fiery lass and one of the more knowledgeable operatives of hell has evened the odds.” Calchas held his palm out, containing dice. “Whoever rolls snake-eyes gets first choice, but Meg is a little slower, and older, and thus she fires first.”

“What happens if we refuse this ridiculous plan?” Henry Prince could not take his eyes from the cannon.

“Refuse? I wasn’t aware that was an option.” Calchas feigned surprise.

Kevin murmured something in Calchas’ ear, “My associate says it is an option but if a refusal is forthcoming then all rights are revoked to build now and for infernity, Sentence will be the six-hundred and sixty-five years of cleaning Perish sewers, and you must publicly affirm your rival as the true Chosen One, the true heir and the ultimate seer. And as both are equally guilty you will have to work together, and your women too, forever. If both refuse, then it must be done at exactly the same time. Whomever speaks first is deemed the greater coward.”

learn about an included author

British-born A. L. Butcher is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet, and a dreamer, a lover of science, natural history, history, and monkeys. Her prose has been described as ‘dark and gritty’ and her poetry as ‘evocative’. She writes with a sure and sometimes erotic sensibility of things that might have been, never were, but could be.

Alex is the author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles and the Tales of Erana lyrical fantasy series. She also has several short stories in the fantasy, fantasy romance genres with occasional forays into gothic style horror, including the Legacy of the Mask series. With a background in politics, classical studies, ancient history and myth, her affinities bring an eclectic and unique flavour in her work, mixing reality and dream in alchemical proportions that bring her characters and worlds to life.

She also curates speculative fiction themed book bundles on Pubshare - for the most part - the Here Be Series

Alex is also proud to be a writer for Perseid Press where her work features in Heroika: Dragon Eaters, Heroika Skirmishers – where she was editor and cover designer as well as writer – as well as Lovers in Hell and Mystics in Hell – part of the acclaimed Heroes in Hell series. http://www.theperseidpress.com/

 

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Enter the Mystics in Hell Giveaway Here

Today, I have a nonfiction college guide to share in our book blitz spotlight! Learn about Thinking Critically in College: The Essential Handbook for Student Success by author Louis Newman! 

Date Published: April 1, 2026

Publisher: Manhattan Book Group

Finally, a book that actually prepares you for college! Nearly every first-year college student discovers that college courses are more academically challenging than high school. Professors expect you not just to absorb material but to analyze and synthesize it, to consider multiple perspectives, to evaluate conflicting evidence, and then to apply what you've learned in new contexts.

Drawing on a lifetime of experience teaching and advising students, former dean of Academic Advising and associate vice provost at Stanford University Louis E. Newman explains how to do all this, and more. Whatever your background or academic interest, this book will prepare you for college-level learning. Thinking Critically in College is the definitive guide, not only for those in college, but for everyone who needs a refresher on thinking clearly.

"Even students who have taken college-prep and AP courses are unprepared for the type of learning that will take place in college. Thinking Critically in College is poised to help all students at all types of institutions develop the dispositions and skills necessary for success in college." -LYNN PASQUERELLA, president of Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

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Ask a group of book lovers how to organize a bookshelf, and you'll get a surprising number of opinions. Some people have a system so precise they could find a single paperback in the dark. Others have what looks like complete chaos—but somehow know exactly where every book is hiding.

The funny thing is, neither approach is wrong.

Our bookshelves tend to evolve right along with our reading lives. They grow, shift, overflow, and occasionally get completely reorganized after a weekend spent saying, "I'll just move a few books around." Before you know it, every shelf is empty, there are stacks of books all over the floor, and you're questioning every decision you've ever made.

Sound familiar?

Whether your shelves are meticulously organized or happily overflowing, they probably reveal a little something about how you experience books. Not in a scientific "personality test" kind of way—but in the wonderfully bookish way that readers tend to recognize in each other.

Let's take a look.

Alphabetical: You Like Knowing Where Everything Is

There's something undeniably satisfying about alphabetical order.

Every author has a home. Every title is exactly where you expect it to be. If someone asks to borrow a book, you can walk straight to it without scanning every shelf like you're on a literary treasure hunt.

This method is especially handy if you have a growing collection. Once you reach a few hundred books, remembering where you tucked that one mystery novel you bought three summers ago becomes...a challenge.

If alphabetical order is your thing, chances are you appreciate a little structure. That doesn't mean you're obsessed with organizing—it just means you enjoy knowing where your books live.

Honestly, it's hard to argue with a system that saves you from saying, "I know I own it...I just can't find it."

By Genre: Your Next Read Depends on Your Mood

Maybe today is a cozy mystery.

Other days practically demand epic fantasy, historical fiction, or a heartwarming romance.

Organizing by genre makes perfect sense if your reading choices depend on how you're feeling rather than which author comes first alphabetically.

Instead of searching for one specific book, you're browsing for an experience.

Need something fast-paced? Head to the thrillers.

Looking for comfort? Romance or cozy fiction is waiting.

Want to disappear into another world? Fantasy already has its own shelf.

Your bookshelf becomes less of a filing system and more of a menu.

By Author: You Believe Great Writers Deserve Their Own Space

Every reader has at least one author they'll buy without reading the description.

You know the ones.The moment a new release is announced, it's already on your wish list.

Keeping each author's books together isn't just practical—it feels right. You get to see their entire body of work lined up on the shelf, and there's something incredibly satisfying about watching those collections grow over time.

Especially when each of their spines match so well!

By Series: Because Breaking Them Up Just Feels Wrong

Let's settle this right now. Who thinks book series simply belong together?

I don't care if organizing alphabetically would put book three on a completely different shelf from book one. Some rules simply aren't meant to be followed.

Whether it's fantasy, mystery, or romance, seeing an entire series lined up in reading order is one of life's small joys.

And yes, the unfinished series with one missing book will absolutely catch your eye every single time you walk past.

By Color: Your Bookshelf Is Part Library, Part Home Décor

Few bookshelf styles inspire stronger opinions than organizing by color.

Some readers love the clean, colorful look. Others can't imagine separating authors just because one book happens to have a yellow spine.

Here's my take: if looking at your bookshelf makes you smile every time you walk into the room, you've done something right.

Sure, finding a specific title might take an extra minute. But if you know your collection well enough, you'll probably find it anyway.

Besides, books are meant to bring joy—and sometimes that includes making your shelves look beautiful.

By Size: You're Making the Most of the Space You Have

Not every bookshelf is built for giant fantasy hardcovers, oversized coffee table books, and tiny mass market paperbacks all at once.

Sometimes organizing by book height is the easiest way to make everything fit on the shelves.

The tall books go here.

The short books go there.

The awkward oversized coffee table books? Bottom shelf, on its side, just where it belongs.

It's practical, efficient, and oddly satisfying the the books line up in orderly style--without books sticking up or out at strange angles.

By Reading Status: Your Shelves Are Always Changing

Some readers organize according to where each book is in its journey.

Books you've read.

Books you're currently reading.

Books you'll definitely get to...eventually.

(That last category has an interesting habit of growing.)

A dedicated TBR shelf is both exciting and slightly intimidating because every new addition comes with a little burst of possibility—and a quiet reminder that there are never enough reading hours in the day.

Still, what a wonderful problem to have.

The "I Know Where Everything Is" Method

To everyone else, your shelves look random.There doesn't appear to be a system.

Fantasy sits next to biographies.

A cookbook somehow ended up beside classic literature.

Paperbacks are mixed with hardcovers, and there's no obvious pattern.

Then someone asks where a particular book is.Without hesitation, you walk over and pull it off the shelf.

Apparently there is a system. It's just one that exists entirely in your head.

The Double-Stacked Bookshelf

If you've reached the point where there are books behind the books...welcome!

You've officially entered the "I might need another bookshelf" stage of book collecting.

Except another bookshelf doesn't actually solve the problem.

It just gives you more room to buy more books.

Somehow the shelves fill up again faster than expected, and before long you're creating neat little stacks on side tables, desks, or anywhere with a flat surface.

No judgment here. I suspect many of us know this story all too well.

The Curated Shelf

Not every bookshelf is designed to hold every single book you own.

Some readers create shelves that feel almost like little snapshots of their reading life.

A favorite novel displayed with the cover facing outward.

A candle that you know smells like an old book store.

Maybe a framed book quote mixed into the shelf.

A plant that's somehow surviving despite being surrounded by readers who occasionally forget to water themselves, let alone houseplants.

These shelves aren't trying to maximize storage. They're creating a space that invites you to slow down, pick up a book, and stay awhile.

The Ever-Changing Book Shelf

Here's a secret I think most book lovers understand. Very few bookshelf organization systems stay the same forever. 

You alphabetize...until you buy an entire fantasy series that doesn't fit.

You organize by genre...until one author writes mysteries, thrillers, and historical fiction.

You finally get everything looking perfect...and then you come home from the bookstore with six more books.

Organizing a bookshelf isn't really a one-time project. It's an ongoing conversation with your collection.

And honestly, that's part of the fun.

So...What's the "Best" Way to Organize a Bookshelf?

The best system is the one that makes you happy every time you reach for your next book!

If that's alphabetical, wonderful.

If it's by genre, fantastic.

If it's by color, series, reading status, or a wonderfully mysterious method that only makes sense to you, that's great too.

Bookshelves aren't meant to impress strangers on the internet. They're meant to serve the people who read the books on them.

And maybe that's what they really say about us.

Not whether we're organized or creative or practical.

But that we care enough about our books to give them a place in our homes—and in our lives.

What do you Think?

As always, I'm curious...How do you organize your bookshelf?

Do you stick to one system, or has it changed over the years? And be honest—have you ever started reorganizing "for just a few minutes" only to realize three hours had disappeared and every book you owned was piled on the floor?

You're among fellow book lovers here. No judgment--just lots and lots of books!

This morning, I have a historical literary fiction / crime drama novel to share in our featured book spotlight! Learn about San Quentin Exodus and author Bill Smoot--and be sure to enter for a chance to enter the book tour giveaway at the end of this post!

What happens when a literature teacher channels her inner Nancy Drew to break an inmate out of America’s most famous prison?

San Quentin Exodus

by Bill Smoot

Genre: Historical Literary Fiction, Crime Drama

 

 

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Should you purchase an item via our links--we may receive slight compensation from an
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about the book

James, a still-water-runs-deep boy, struggles to navigate the rough streets of Oakland, California, in the 80s. His only friend is a pit bull he rescues from dog fighting. On the cusp of college, James commits a crime that results in a prison term of thirty to life. 

 

Allison, a young Indiana girl obsessed with Nancy Drew novels, vows that her life’s mission will be to solve mysteries and help people. Introverted yet daring, Allison moves to Berkeley to teach prep school and volunteers as a tutor at San Quentin. She meets James when he is approaching fifty, learns his story, and after his parole denial, channels Nancy Drew to plan his improbable escape. 

 

San Quentin Exodux is a braided novel about two people whose lives cross in a quest to reset an ill-fated life. It is a story infused with misfortune and pain, but also with hope and a fierce humanity.

 

“San Quentin Exodus, Bill Smoot’s deeply compelling novel, introduces readers to the world of prison but really to the much bigger world of his characters’ lives, inviting us to follow the trajectory of each as it unfolds with surprise and mystery, love and loss. Like all good literature, San Quentin Exodus ultimately asks us to reconsider everything we believe—or think we believe. Smoot is the consummate storyteller: restrained, wise, compassionate.”
—Lori Ostlund, author of Are You Happy?

 

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Prologue

 

Wings

In one week Allison Anderson will commit her first felony: section 4550 of the California Penal Code, helping someone escape from a state prison. Almost everyone who knows her would be stunned with disbelief. For her, it’s the ultimate realization of who she is.

One autumn evening six years ago, Allison entered San Quentin Prison as a volunteer tutor. Walking across the prison grounds, she gazed at the forty-foot walls, the spirals of razor-

wire, and the imposing guard towers. She wondered how an inmate might escape. It was her first time in a prison, and the question engaged her problem-solving mind. She did not know

that one day she would devise an escape plan. She did not know that she would put that plan into action. At the time, it was just a thought experiment, a challenge for a woman whose childhood heroine was Nancy Drew, girl sleuth.

Allison’s most vivid memory of entering the prison that evening was the birds. When she and her group rounded the hospital building and walked across the yard, she saw geese and gulls scratching the ground on the baseball field. It was mere minutes before the October sun would set, and their white feathers glowed like gold. A single goose stretched his neck, dipped his thick body, and with a push from his feet and a flapping of his great wings, he rose from the ground and glided across the field, then soared over the wall. Other geese did the same, their necks piercing the air like arrows. Sea gulls followed. The walls and guard towers were mere landmarks below them, like trees or outcroppings of rock, obstacles they cleared with ease. They didn’t need an escape plan. They had wings.

 

The First Day and the Last

They say that the two days of prison an inmate remembers most vividly are his first and his last. Everything in between is a blur. James’ first day was 30 years ago. His last—maybe—will be in one week. If Hemingway’s character could walk away from war, James can declare his separate peace from prison. It’s time to move on, regardless of what the parole board has ruled. It’s necessary. An absolute must.

For society, James is a statistic, another Black man languishing in prison, costing the state $75,000 a year. His escape—if it succeeds—will save taxpayers money. For himself, it will be his personal exodus, his promised land of another chance at life. If things go according to plan, no one will know how he did it. He will just disappear, a man become a ghost. Allison is a smart young lady, and he can’t find any flaws in her plan, but he is haunted by that old saying: If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

James is filled with yearning and fear. The greater danger is not that he’ll get caught and have time added to his sentence—though that’s a real possibility—but that the hope he’s allowed himself to feel will die. That’s the greater risk. The loss of hope he could not bear.

He lies in his bunk, trying to conjure up positive images. The thought of freedom makes his skin prickle. The shadows of the bars cross his body, spill onto the concrete floor. He listens to the cell block tick with sound, as if the walls are straining to breathe. He imagines a sea gull soaring on the wind.

 

about the author

Bill Smoot grew up in Maysville, Kentucky, and attended Purdue University where he was editor of the campus newspaper, The Purdue Exponent. Fired as editor by the university president, he was reinstated after protest from students and faculty. He went on to graduate school at Northwestern University, where he received a PhD in philosophy. He has taught for four decades at levels ranging from sixth grade to university students. He currently teaches courses at Mount Tamalpais College at San Quentin and the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning at UC-Berkeley. 

 

His essays and short stories have such publications as Ninth Letter, Crab Creek Review. The Nation, Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, Western Humanities Review, Narrative, and Salon.com. His the author of Conversations with Great Teachers and a novel, Love: A Story. Mr. Smoot currently lives in Berkeley, California, with his dog Artemis. 

 

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