Hell on Earth

Traveler #10

by D.B. Drumm

Thirty years after Doomsday, Traveler ventures to a cursed subterranean city ruled by a blood-mad tyrant named Lucifer, where his beloved Jan was among the hostages. 171 pages.

Genres: Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

171 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

Pen-name for Ed Naha
Pen-name for John Shirley

Reviews

[Karl]

Book 10 in the series. Books 7 and 9-13 were written by Ed Naha. Traveler ventures to a cursed subterranean city ruled by a blood-mad tyrant named Lucifer, where his beloved Jan was among the hostages.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I thought was going to be a bad volume in this great series turned out pretty well after all. We start out in a village with mutated children and a grey haired man called "Storyteller." That man is really Traveler. He is soon back in the thick of it, though.

A friend who supposedly died awhile back, comes back and tells of a Hell On Earth out in the desert. In that hell is Jan, the woman Traveler loves. He gears up and sets out to find her.

This starts slow. The book is only 171 pages, so I thought it won't pick up in time. Boy was I wrong. It seems Hell is similar to an 80's mall. I would have never guessed. Weird stuff goes on all throughout this. Also, there are some crazy characters. Like a guy who thinks he is The Saint Michael. A sword wielding lawyer samurai. There is also a brief cameo from Eddie Haskell.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traveler meets Lucifer in this installment. He is living a peaceful life with what remains of a native American tribe when earthquakes start to occur in the nearby desert. Then a friend of his comes to tell Traveler that Lucifer is raising hell in the desert. Traveler suspects if of being ex-President Frayling, his long term enemy, and goes in search of him. Along the way he meets a man who claims to be Saint Michael, the Archangel. They seem to find Hell, with all its layers, as detailed in Dante's Inferno. I won't give the rest away. I will say the story is somewhat anticlimactic in that the end doesn't depend on Traveler's actions. That leaves it at 3 stars, but it's a quick and easy read.

[Paperbackbooks86 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was WAY out there in left field for the Traveler series, and I loved it! The Traveler finds himself going through hell to quite literally, to save some old friends, while having some new ones. This book also clears up some missing details that have previously been left out. This book isn’t high on action, but the story is so well done, you won’t be able to put it down.

I loved this one so much, and while it didn’t moved the Traveler storyline forward, and was more like a one
Off, it was a blast to read! Easy 5 stars.

[Lewis Szymanski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ed Naha writing as D.B. Drumm.

This is a retelling of Dante's Inferno. It's not as good as Niven and Pournelle's, but it's still pretty good. My favorite reimagining was the first circle. Instead of virtuous pagans, there are materialistic suburban American families sitting around eating junk food and watching TV. All the televisions are playing the 1911 silent movie Dante's Inferno.

In this volume, Traveler teams up with the archangel Michael. Lucifer is establishing a new domain on Earth and they go there to kick him out. The whole thing is passed off as a probable hallucination at the end of the book.

[Steve]

John Shirley writing as D.B. Drumm.