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A Short Stay in Hell

by Steven L. Peck (Goodreads Author)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 330 ratings · 112 reviews

An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he’ll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of hi...more

Paperback, 108 pages

Published March 23rd 2012 by Strange Violin Editions

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Jun 05, 2012 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: death-is-not-the-end

i wasn't sure i was going to like this one. the concept is ripped from a borges story about a library containing an infinite number of books; every permutation of every possible arrangement of letters; shelves and shelves of endless volumes, many of which are pure gibberish.

and in this book, this is one of many possible hells.

it seems zoroastrianism was the one true religion. oops. sorry all you suckers and mormons and buddhists - you are all going to hell. but hell is not forever, all you need...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Kris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kris by: Jacob

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

Peck uses the Borges story "The Library of Babel" as inspiration for his own take on a version of Hell in this thought-provoking novella.

As the story opens, Soren Johansson finds himself dressed in a robe, sitting on a metal folding chair with a view of men and women who are screaming while swimming in a lake of fire. He soon learns from Xandern, the 8-foot tall demon who welcomes him, that he has died, that Zoroastrianism is the one true religion, and that he is being sent to a specific versio...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: freebies-for-reviewing, 2012

Mormon Soren Johansson dies and wakes up in the afterlife, only to find that Zoroastrianism was the one true faith. He's then banished to a hell suitable for his rehabilitation needs: a library of near infinite size, containing every possible book ever written, one of which is his life story. Can Soren find that elusive book?

I got this book for free from the publisher, and normally that would make it feel like a homework assignment from a crabby teacher once the "free book" excitement wore off....more Mormon Soren Johansson dies and wakes up in the afterlife, only to find that Zoroastrianism was the one true faith. He's then banished to a hell suitable for his rehabilitation needs: a library of near infinite size, containing every possible book ever written, one of which is his life story. Can Soren find that elusive book?

I got this book for free from the publisher, and normally that would make it feel like a homework assignment from a crabby teacher once the "free book" excitement wore off. Not so with this one. It's a damn good book.

A Short Stay in Hell reminds me of something Philip Jose Farmer would concoct after digging through some of Hermann Hesse's notes, or if Hermann Hesse tried writing Riverworld. Soren wakes up in hell with a perfect 25 year old body, gets free food from kiosks, and is resurrected when killed. Sounds Farmer-ish, right?

The library Soren wakes up in is based in part on Jorge Luis Borges Library of Babel. It's light-years tall, containing every 410 page book that could possibly ever be written. Needless to say, Soren's road to redemption isn't going to be a stroll down to the corner pub for a beer.

Lots of things happen in this slim volume. It explores what immortality would be like while performing a seemingly impossible task. I don't want to give too much away but there's a near-bottomless chasm between the two walls of the library and it gets heavy use.

Even though the first word I used in the summary is Mormon and Zoroastrianism also made an appearance, I wouldn't say it's religious fiction. It's more about one man dealing with an impossible task over an untold number of years. Still, he gets to read so it can't be all that bad...

Like I said, this book was pretty slim. About the only complaint I have would be that the writing was a bit rocky in the early going but it smoothed out after the prologue and really moved the story along. Other than that, I would have liked it to be three or four times this long. It's either a high 3 or a low 4. I'm going to go with the 4.
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Mar 15, 2012 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: You!

Shelves: 2012, short-fiction, i-own

March 2012

Hell is a vast, immeasurable, nearly infinite library--and you can only check out one book.

Bad news for most of the human race: there is only one true religion, and it's Zoroastrianism. The good news: Ahura Mazda is a merciful god, and nonbelievers are not condemned to hell for all eternity. But they will be there for a very, very long time. For faithful Mormon Soren Johanssen, hell manifests as a library of nearly infinite proportions--a library, inspired by the story "The Library of...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Jami rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a rather disturbing, thought-provoking novella. Read it in a single sitting. One of the most horrific hells I've ever pondered. I'm sure it will be in my brain until the day I die. Some parts reminded me of Peter Beagle's A Fine and Private Place, others of Orson Scott Card's short story "A Thousand Deaths." A good read, but don't expect a happy ending. It's about hell after all.

Available very inexpensively as a Kindle book.

Update: It's been nearly a year since I read this and I still fi...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Marvin rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I first read the description of this brief book I was fascinated by the premise but also had some questions. Why would the description emphasize that the protagonist is a "faithful Mormon". The letter from Strange Violin Editions that came with this advance copy only piqued my curiosity with its stated mission being to release writings by "Mormons, former Mormons, and people interested in Mormonism who seek thought-provoking, intelligently written, Mormonism-related books that strive to att...more When I first read the description of this brief book I was fascinated by the premise but also had some questions. Why would the description emphasize that the protagonist is a "faithful Mormon". The letter from Strange Violin Editions that came with this advance copy only piqued my curiosity with its stated mission being to release writings by "Mormons, former Mormons, and people interested in Mormonism who seek thought-provoking, intelligently written, Mormonism-related books that strive to attain a high level of literary quality." I wondered if this book was possibly a religious tract of some sort beyond the somewhat bleak and horrific plot description.

It is not. While it has strong philosophical tones, it is quite existential and offers more questions than answers. And they are questions that are relevant to anyone regardless of their religious or philosophical background. The Hell of Peck's novella is based on a short story by Jorge Luis Borges about a library containing an allegedly infinite amount of books. The new arrivals are informed that the true religion is Zoroastrianism. "Zoor-what-ism?" acclaims one shocked Christian. The main character is sentenced to a vast library with the goal to seek out the book that contains the story of his life.

But eventually even this seemingly final exile into hell is questioned. Peck in his accessible and delightful style seems to have written a story about uncertainty and our attempts to make that uncertainty have meaning. Despite the heavy sounding plot, A Short Stay in Hell is an easy and engrossing read but it also full of ideas that stick with you long after the last page. At the beginning of our protagonist's trip into hell, he is given a list of rules. The last rule in not commented on much in the book but it stayed with me...

Lastly, you are here to learn something.Don't try to figure what it is. That can be frustrating and unproductive.

It appears that Peck's hell isn't all that different from life.

Four and a half stars.

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Mar 20, 2012 Lisa Butterworth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fast read, but count on it dwelling in your mind for a while as you can't help but contemplate what eternity really means, and your brain tries to comprehend things so large and long that it literally boggles. Plus a great story, sympathetic character development, and fascinating hi-jinks ensue.

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Mar 02, 2013 Martha rated it 5 of 5 stars

What an eye-opener this book is. Today, I appreciate the birds singing, the cockroaches crawling, the flies flying more than ever; I just finished “A Short Stay in Hell”.

This was a concept of hell that I’ve never thought about before and that’s what makes this book so good. It makes you think about religion in a whole different light.

Back a few months ago I read a review of this and was excited to try it. I had to order it at Barnes & Noble, it wasn't on the shelf. I am so glad I did. Steve...more

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Aug 01, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefiction

I really enjoyed this book. Okay, partly because I know the author and have many of the same interests. The first chapter was weaker than the others because of a bit of didacticism, but keep reading because it keeps getting better the whole way through. The universe he builds is a lot of fun to imagine. He states that it's the universe of the Jorge Luis Borges story about the library, but he puts so much of his own spin on it that to me it only seems Borges provided the skeleton. The author fles...more

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Oct 28, 2011 Corianne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a book to read right before bed.

what happens when a good Mormon boy dies and wakes up in a Zoroasteren hell? Basically, this book. Minus one star because I found all the exposition about Mormon theology to tedious (but then, I'm a quasi-active Mormon, so take that as you will).

Over all, this is a short book packed to the gills with charm and horror. I had nightmares for two days after reading it--and I really don't remember the last book that gave me nightmares. The more I think ab...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-read

Fabulous, fun and thought provoking. The story line is reminiscent of Larry Niven's "Inferno", and Robert Heinlein's "Job: A Comedy of Justice".

Mormon man discovers that 'the one true church/faith' was Zoroastrianism and that those who weren't believers spent an indefinite, but not infinite, time in a hell suited to their particular life and interests. Thus the narrator/protagonist finds himself in a hell that is based on Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel" along with other bookish people...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Jenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic. I love Borges, and I enjoyed Peck's "The Scholar of Moab," so I went in with high expectations for this novella about a man's experience in the library hell created by Borges in "The Library of Babel."

High expectations met, and even exceeded. Peck is rapidly earning a place as one of my favorite authors!

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Sep 13, 2012 Gloria Mundi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-about-books, curiouser-and-curiouser, death, demons, fantasy, my-own-personal-brand-of-cocaino, religion

Imagine, you have just died. I know, kinda crappy, right? But! At least all your earthly suffering is over. Whatever caused your death is no longer troubling you and you are restored to the prime of your youth and deposited into a vast, almost infinite library filled with every book that could ever be written and where you do not age, you have perfect memory and are able to recall every word you have ever read and every event that has ever happened to you, your every injury and even death are he...more Imagine, you have just died. I know, kinda crappy, right? But! At least all your earthly suffering is over. Whatever caused your death is no longer troubling you and you are restored to the prime of your youth and deposited into a vast, almost infinite library filled with every book that could ever be written and where you do not age, you have perfect memory and are able to recall every word you have ever read and every event that has ever happened to you, your every injury and even death are healed overnight, your every culinary desire is met by an automated kiosk and you are surrounded by people who are pretty similar to you in background. You would think that you are in heaven, wouldn't you? Or at least a book geek's version of it. Yet, you'd be entirely and completely wrong. Because you are actually in hell. Or one version of it based on a short story by Borges The Library of Babel.

Until I read the book, just the concept of a library as hell was complete anathema to my mind. The story tells you straight up, however, that this is hell, as you are greeted by a polite but very red demon against the backdrop of bodies burning endlessly in tar and lava and told that you are here because the one true faith is Zoroastrianism, so bad luck for you unless you worship the Lord of Light and Wisdom Ahura Mazda. Here he is by the way:

(I seriously need to go read up on this stuff as this is the second book made of awesome which I have read in the last year which is based, at least in part, on Zoroastrian mythology).

The devil, of course, is in the detail and comes down to how you define a "book". Because for me, you see, in order to be a "book" something needs to not just be shaped as a book (in fact, with the advent of e-books, it doesn't even need to be shaped as a book at all) but also have content capable of conveying meaning (even if it is meaning which I am not capable of understanding). Whereas in the Zoroastrian hell library, a "book" is essentially a paper book of a set size, 410 pages long and with a set number of lines per page and letters per line consisting of about 95 characters on the standard English keyboard arranged in all possible variations which gives us 95 to the power of 1,312,000 possible books, i.e. quite a bit more than there are electrons in the universe and a library that's about 7,16 to the power of 1,297,369 light years wide and deep but the vast majority of which are just a random arrangement of letters and symbols which carries no meaning whatsoever.

Your task in this hell is to find your earthly life story without errors. "If your story is accepted, you will be admitted into a glorious heaven filled with wonders and joys beyond your imagination." Oh, and "you are here to lean something. Don't try to figure out what it is. This can be frustrating and unproductive".

This book was mind-blowing. It is a book about philosophy and religion and the meaning of life – all things that normally make me cringe and move slowly away but here it was all done in such a gentle non-patronising non-head-bashing way, it was fascinating. My only complaint is that it was not long enough. At the start, it is described as a book found by the narrator in the library. So where, I ask you, are the other 302 pages then? Yet, this is a minor complaint. For all its brevity, there is so much packed into the pages of this book. Love, loss, violence, horror, insanity, cattle mentality, sorrow, hope, hopelessness, infinity are just a few of the themes. I'm sure I will be picking this up again sooner rather than later.(less)

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Apr 05, 2013 Zev Steinhardt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Soren Johansson is a man with a task. He's been cast into Hell for belonging to the wrong religion and he has to earn his way out. How does he earn his way out? It's actually very simple -- all he has to do is search through a library for a book containing the story of his life. Find the book, and he's off to heaven. Seems simple enough, right?

Well, this library contains not only every book ever written, but every book that could possibly ever be written. Every book has 410 pages and every page...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Themistokeles rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dieses Buch war einfach nur verrückt. Insbesondere dann, wenn man den Titel mit dem Inhalt vergleicht, denn dass einzige was vielleicht an diesem Aufenthalt in der Hölle kurz ist, ist der den der Leser dort verbringt, da das Buch mit ca. 100 Seiten nicht gerade besonders dick ist.

Ansonsten wird einem aber eine sehr poetische Betrachtung der Hölle in diesem Buch nähergebracht, bei der die Hölle ein sehr interessantes Aussehen hat, denn sie entspricht einer riesengroßen, nicht zu bemessenden Bibli...more Dieses Buch war einfach nur verrückt. Insbesondere dann, wenn man den Titel mit dem Inhalt vergleicht, denn dass einzige was vielleicht an diesem Aufenthalt in der Hölle kurz ist, ist der den der Leser dort verbringt, da das Buch mit ca. 100 Seiten nicht gerade besonders dick ist.

Ansonsten wird einem aber eine sehr poetische Betrachtung der Hölle in diesem Buch nähergebracht, bei der die Hölle ein sehr interessantes Aussehen hat, denn sie entspricht einer riesengroßen, nicht zu bemessenden Bibliothek und um aus der Hölle in den Himmel zu kommen, muss jeder das Buch seiner Lebensgeschichte finde. Das Problem hierbei und wohl die Strafe für alle, in dieser Bibliothek existiert jedes mögliche Buch. Von einem Buch, dass nur As enthält über alles was sonst noch so möglich ist. Es ist auf jeden Fall extrem interessant dargestellt, wie die Menschen, die in die Hölle kommen, mit ihrem Leben dort umgehen, sich langsam sogar Strukturen, wie auf der Erde herausbilden, da sie anders dieser Monotonie des Buchsuchens nicht entgehen können.

Und irgendwie schafft es das Buch, auf wenigen Seiten und mit dieser skurrilen Darstellung der Hölle trotzdem irgendwie, einem deutliche Probleme der Menschen, vor allen Dingen untereinander näher zu bringen. Es ist einfach interessant gemacht, zu sehen, wie sich aus dem Nichts manche Strukturen entwickeln oder wie die Menschen auch mit manchen Problemen umgehen. Vor allen Dingen aber auch mit dieser Tortur, die ganze Zeit und der Aufenthalt für den Protagonisten ist nie im Leben kurz mit mehreren Hundert Jahren, in einer solchen Monotonie zu verbringen, denn eigentlich ist jeder Tag dort gleich.

Es ist zwar zum einen vollkommen verrückt dieses Buch zu verfolgen, zum anderen aber auch irgendwie interessant und was es eindeutig erreicht, man denkt darüber nach, einfach weil alles so skurril wirkt. Ein interessantes Buch, das aber ganz bestimmt nicht jedem gefallen wird, da es einfach von seiner Aussage her sehr poetisch ist, aber in seiner Erzählweise einfach nur vollkommen gaga wirkt.(less)

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Aug 04, 2012 Lon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Turns out Zoroastrianism was the way to go. Now the main character gets to endure a not-so-short stay in Hell. This novella uses Borge's story "Library of Babel" as its starting point and presents the agony--maybe futility--of searching for meaning in a world of chance. Get enough monkeys typing, for long enough, and you WILL end up with the script of Hamlet, they say. And your personal Hell ends when you find that script--in this case, you're finding a book somewhere in the seemingly infinite l...more

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May 10, 2012 Paul Genesse rated it 5 of 5 stars

Most Fascinating Trip to Hell . . . Ever

I’ve been to Hell a few times, but this was my most fascinating trip ever. Sure, my trips were through the eyes of characters in books that went there, but I have felt like I was in Hell on numerous occasions. Don’t even think about comparing the Hell of junior high, or any experience anyone on Earth has ever had to Steven L. Peck’s novella, A Short Stay in Hell. This is like no other journey you or I have ever had. Why? Because our existence here on Earth...more Most Fascinating Trip to Hell . . . Ever

I’ve been to Hell a few times, but this was my most fascinating trip ever. Sure, my trips were through the eyes of characters in books that went there, but I have felt like I was in Hell on numerous occasions. Don’t even think about comparing the Hell of junior high, or any experience anyone on Earth has ever had to Steven L. Peck’s novella, A Short Stay in Hell. This is like no other journey you or I have ever had. Why? Because our existence here on Earth is just the blink of an eye when compared to the span of time that approaches eternity.

The sheer creativity of this novella (29,000 words) boggles the mind in its breadth and scope, and the writing was so thought provoking and gripping both for atheists and believers alike. It’s great fiction and I read this book in about two hours, and literally did not want to put it down. The 104 pages flew by as I read about Soren Johansson, a forty something year old man who died of brain cancer and ended up in a very different place than he was counting on.

He learns rather quickly from the demon he meets at the start that the only true religion is Zoroastrianism, and only those practitioners go to Heaven. Or perhaps that is a lie. Regardless, poor Soren is condemned along with the others that he meets. Each person goes to their own personal Hell, and Soren ends up in The Library, which is based on George Luis Borges story, “The Library of Babel.” You don’t need to have read the story to understand this book, and I shall not spoil some of the surprises here, but suffice it to say that Soren must accomplish a task that seems utterly impossible if he wishes to ever leave this terrible place where he has been condemned.

This book is so profound that it had me compulsively mulling over the terrifying implications for the past two days. The opening of A Short Stay in Hell is intriguing, but slightly confusing. It’s a frame story, but the rest of the book was very easy to understand and once I finished the last page all told from poor Soren’s point of view, I instantly turned to the first pages and read the whole first chapter again. It was one of those “wow” moments to go back and read them again.

I read a quote about this work from an author I greatly admire and I think it captures the essence of Peck’s novella flawlessly:

“Profound and disturbing, A Short Stay In Hell is a perfect blend of science fiction, theology, and horror. A terrifying meditation on faith, human nature, and the relentless scope of eternity. It will haunt you, fittingly, for a very, very long time.” —Dan Wells, author of I Am Not a Serial Killer

I loved reading A Short Stay in Hell and it has given me an understanding of the human condition that I never had before. It’s hard for me to fathom how Steven L. Peck packed so much into this slim volume, or how difficult it was to whittle down this story to the razor sharp book that it is. This is no effete literary or philosophical book that distances the reader from the text. It pulls you in, tugs at your heart, makes you question the meaning of life and love, while being utterly captivating, gripping, exciting, mysterious, hopeful, and above all illuminating on the concept of forever.

A Short Stay in Hell is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED —Paul Genesse, Editor of The Crimson Pact anthology series(less)

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Jul 16, 2009 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There is nothing like a short (or rather really really really long) stay in Hell(as depicted by Peck)to help you appreciate life on earth with all it's variety and possibility for meaningful relationships; relationships that can be fueled by the anticipation of a future that is unknown.
I will never think about eternity in the same way. We often use the word loosely without any real contemplation of what it really means.
A great read that will really take your mind for a spin!

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Jan 29, 2013 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of a man who goes to hell, which luckily isn't eternal, but only a few eons long. His hell is a library full of all possible books (all 480 pages, with a fixed number of characters per line, thanks Borges). To exit, he must find the book that describes his life story.

If it were just this man looking through a bunch of gibberish, it probably wouldn't be very interesting, but there are other people in hell too, and naturally strange societal practices rise and fall. It's very ex...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

To say this was a haunting read would be a gross understatement. It gave me several nights of tossing and turning as I tried to wrap my head around his vision of eternity that includes eons in an enormously vast library full of unreadable books. The monotony, the boredom, the impossibility of the quest to find one's life story shelved somewhere in the vast stacks, combined to create a real horror story.

It also made me ponder the questions raised in the book, "what would it be like to love the s...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Matt Dalton rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the great things about joining a book club is that you are given books to read that you would normally either never hear of or avoid anyway. When I saw this was the book that had been chosen for March’s meet up, I was initially unimpressed. I decided not to let my first judgement be my last, however, so headed over to goodreads.com and Amazon to find out a little more about the book before dismissing it completely.

Upon realising just how short the book is, and being intrigued by the premi...more One of the great things about joining a book club is that you are given books to read that you would normally either never hear of or avoid anyway. When I saw this was the book that had been chosen for March’s meet up, I was initially unimpressed. I decided not to let my first judgement be my last, however, so headed over to goodreads.com and Amazon to find out a little more about the book before dismissing it completely.

Upon realising just how short the book is, and being intrigued by the premise, I wondered what I had to lose. To be fair, £1.97 is not going to make much of a dent in my bank balance and, considering the bargains I have had lately for 20 pence, it would have only evened things up if it had been a complete waste of time.

In fact, I am actually really glad that I bought the book. You could be forgiven for thinking, with me being an atheist, that I give little thought to matters such as what happens when we die. After all, I do not believe in a creator, so surely I do not believe in an afterlife either. Well, no, I don’t, but that is a little irrelevant. I do, however, find it interesting to learn what other people perceive and, in the case of religious people, I wonder, if my beliefs are correct, whether there is a moment of realisation before everything just goes blank.

A Short Stay in Hell is a cruel, but very humourous, look at one person’s slant on what hell could be. Heavily influenced by The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges, Peck has given us an insight into what one man’s, Mormon Soren Johansson in this case, potential hell could be. In life, Soren loved books. In death, however, he will be tormented by the very things he loved so much.

The book is one of complete despair and the full horror of the situation is conveyed very well. In short, the library Soren is sent to – with many other people, all white, died in the last 60 years, American, etc, etc, etc… – is packed full of books with 410 pages. Each page has 80 lines and each line has 40 characters. Simple enough? Now imagine that every single potential combination of characters has been put down into print. The numbers are simply mind-boggling.

When one thinks of hell, the automatic assumption is of the traditional image of the Devil, fire and brimstone, burn in eternal damnation, blah, blah, blah… What Peck has put together is far worse than that. Can you imagine just how crazy you would go in a place with billions and billions of books full of gibberish. It would take you thousands, if not millions of years, just to find one that you could read. I cannot imagine anything more frustrating. The hell that Peck has created is a hell I would not even wish on the worst of worst enemies.

Despite being so short, the content in the book is so deep that it will keep you thinking about it for a long time afterwards. You will remember all of the events and the despair of each situation will stay with you. If you are religious, this book might well scare the hell out of you. If you are an atheist, it may well make you laugh.

No matter what you are, one thing is guaranteed. This book will make you think. Long and hard.(less)

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Mar 10, 2012 Drew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

A terrifically thought-provoking novella about a Hell based off Borges' "Library of Babel". It's a philosophical examination of infinity and eternity, of the human capacity to adapt, and of religion and tolerance. Smart, funny, and surprisingly good at shrinking mind-boggling concepts into a comprehensible framework. Still, a library that goes on for lightyears in every direction that's mostly full of gibberish... a truly terrifying thought if ever there was one.

Definitely worth your time - I s...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Tris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I received this book in a giveaway and I was a bit embarassed, when arrived, because I wondered "What if I don't like it?!". Well, at the end of the book I was very happy, because the book is beautiful and it was very much worth reading!
In this book there is everything and everything in 100 slender pages. It is difficult to talk about it so soon (I finished the book yesterday), because it is so full that leaves you somewhat "drunk".
It starts with words of despair, but after a few pages there is...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Alan Marchant rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, mormonania, sci-fi

Steven Peck's theosophical novela is an interesting read, but ultimately unsatisfying. It's a highly derivative work based primarily on Borges' short story "The Library of Babel" with scifi elements borrowed from Farmer's classic Riverworld series.

The newly dead Mormon narrator encounters an unexpected afterlife where a Zoroastrian judge consigns him to purgatory in the library, where he is expected to search for the story of his life. The book is subtly consistent with Mormonism in that the lib...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Jeff Raymond rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, arcs-manuscripts, all-time-favorites, read-general-fiction

It's books like this that make me absolutely love Goodreads. I received this as an advance copy after finding the book's premise to be really fascinating. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did, and there's no way I would have ever even known the book existed without Goodreads, so yeah.

The premise is very simple - Hell is different for different people, there's only one true religion (and you probably don't subscribe to it), and the hero of our story, Soren, is in Hell and has been sent to...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Isaac Bourgeois rated it 5 of 5 stars

Highly recommend. Read it in a day. Fascinating approach to the concept. I should write more but it's late. I'll just include a quote here to whet your appetite: “There is a despair that goes deeper than existence; it runs to the marrow of consciousness, to the seat of the soul. Could I keep living like this forever? How could I continue existing in this Hell? And yet there was no choice. Existence goes on and on here. Finite does not mean much if you can’t tell any practical difference between...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Stephanie by: Nikki

Disturbing. Horrifying. Disturbing. (Did I say that before?) I read it just before bed, and it kept me up for a long time thinking about it. I think I'm going to have to check out Zoroastrianism...you know, just in case.

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Jun 27, 2012 Kent rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mormon

Re-read this book for our bookclub. It led to a great discussion about the nature of not only the afterlife, but this life, and perhaps even life before this one.

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Apr 30, 2012 Christine K rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-reads-first-reads, favorites

I won a Short Stay in Hell through First reads. This is why I love Good Reads and honestly books like this one are why I love to read.

What a great trip. My BF got his hands on this before I did and read it all in one sitting. That night, as he struggled for sleep, he told me I'd better read it soon bc he needed someone to discuss it with.

This book tells of being cast into a Zoroastrian hell so foreign from the character's perceptions that the very idea of it is punishment enough. This hell is m...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Elaine Curry rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't know whether to give this a two or a four. On the one hand, I felt like I was suffocating while reading this book - I put it down a couple of times and come back to it when I was prepared for a cardiovascular workout - and other other hand, the story was so compelling I couldn't walk away permanently. A Mormon dies and goes to an unexpected hell. All of his deeply held beliefs go up in smoke and he is grappling with his new reality while searching for the (impossible) way out of hell. T...more

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I Did The Math To See How Long He's Been In Hell and How Long He Has To Go.	12	10	Apr 23, 2013 11:28am

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Quotes from A Short Stay in Hell

“The days passed in a dream. I pictured our reunion again and again, played it out in my mind over and over until I’d almost worn a groove in my thoughts, so deep that it seemed the only thing I could think of was our reunion. Anticipation is a gift. Perhaps there is none greater. Anticipation is born of hope. Indeed it is hope’s finest expression. In hope’s loss, however, is the greatest despair.” — 24 people liked it

“It seemed funny that one day I would go to bed in her arms and the next not feel anything, like a switch had gone off. But no, that wasn’t honest either. This had been building for a long time. Our silences were getting longer. Our arguments more frequent. How do you stay with someone when there are no dreams to build? No purpose to accomplish? No meaning? No meaning —that was the monster that drove us away from one another in the end. Always.” — 23 people liked it

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