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South of Heaven
Erin Louis's South of Heaven is a cutting critique of the very idea of Heaven and the paradoxes of paradise, wrapped in a delightfully irreverent tale.
Godless cat-lovers will find it as relatable as those who ponder moral questions instead of taking their dictates from people claiming to speak for deities.
- Andrew L. Seidel author of American How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom
Kat, a lapsed Catholic and promiscuous stripper, never thought she would get into Heaven.
Even as she stands there at the Pearly Gates, she naturally expects to be sent directly to Hell. She picks a fight with St. Peter just for fun, but rules are rules, and Kat makes it into Heaven on a minor technicality.
Once there, Kat discovers, much to her dismay, the angels are jerks, the only music is God-awful Christian rock, and her brand-new halo comes with some most troubling conditions.
As if things weren’t dismaying enough, Kat reunites with her father, who found eternal peace in a bottomless bottle of scotch, and her pot-smoking aunt, whose demon dealer resides in Hell. When she tracks down the demon, he tells Kat about his home in the desolate, fiery pit - where it rains blood but possesses all the earthly pleasures she misses so much in her disappointing afterlife.
Heaven isn’t the paradise Kat was promised in Sunday school, and she wants out.
But will they let her go?
Godless cat-lovers will find it as relatable as those who ponder moral questions instead of taking their dictates from people claiming to speak for deities.
- Andrew L. Seidel author of American How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom
Kat, a lapsed Catholic and promiscuous stripper, never thought she would get into Heaven.
Even as she stands there at the Pearly Gates, she naturally expects to be sent directly to Hell. She picks a fight with St. Peter just for fun, but rules are rules, and Kat makes it into Heaven on a minor technicality.
Once there, Kat discovers, much to her dismay, the angels are jerks, the only music is God-awful Christian rock, and her brand-new halo comes with some most troubling conditions.
As if things weren’t dismaying enough, Kat reunites with her father, who found eternal peace in a bottomless bottle of scotch, and her pot-smoking aunt, whose demon dealer resides in Hell. When she tracks down the demon, he tells Kat about his home in the desolate, fiery pit - where it rains blood but possesses all the earthly pleasures she misses so much in her disappointing afterlife.
Heaven isn’t the paradise Kat was promised in Sunday school, and she wants out.
But will they let her go?
- GenresHorror
215 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 18, 2023
3 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Erin Louis
17 books103 followersI am a former adult entertainer, with a love of books, writing and humor. My job has given me a unique perspective on life. I spent twenty years as a stripper on and off and started writing as a way to shed light on a misunderstood industry and profession. Frustrated with the stereotypes often presented on talk shows, movies, and articles, my goal is to help paint a broader and more accurate picture of the profession. But also, to destigmatize and humanize those who choose to work in the adult entertainment industry.
I am active in the secular community and write and advocate for secular issues. My focus is on the separation of church and state, secular humanism and critical thinking.
My passion for writing began with nonfiction, but I have always loved horror fiction. Stephen King, Lois Duncan, and Clive Barker got me through some tough years growing up. I found an escape through those books along with countless others. My own fiction reflects those influences as well as my love for all things dark and maybe just a bit scary.
I am active in the secular community and write and advocate for secular issues. My focus is on the separation of church and state, secular humanism and critical thinking.
My passion for writing began with nonfiction, but I have always loved horror fiction. Stephen King, Lois Duncan, and Clive Barker got me through some tough years growing up. I found an escape through those books along with countless others. My own fiction reflects those influences as well as my love for all things dark and maybe just a bit scary.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 10, 2025
This was a really interesting reading experience. The depiction of heaven was fun as could be. Also, as a longtime cat owner, I truly believe that they don’t go to heaven like dogs here. They go somewhere else. Because they don’t give a crap about anything, including God…or my clothes…or my house. You get the point. And I bawled like a baby when I was little and watched All Dogs Go to Heaven, so let’s not forget that irrelevant point, either. But, it’s always fun to read different interpretations of the afterlife and I loved the author’s creativity here. Lots of great detail and vivid imagery as we followed alongside our lead, Kathy. Sorry, she preferred Kat. Not sure I like the idea of no private parts up there, but oh well. Imagine a What Dreams May Come type of premise, but instead of searching for my wife, I journey through heaven and hell to find my penis. Not a bad movie idea. Now there were a few inconsistencies with the heaven concept here, but none that hurt the overarching plight of Kat. She disrupted heaven and combated all the preachy, judgmental angels, putting herself into quite the pickle. I enjoyed this entire story quite a bit. Good pacing, playful writing, a solid idea, but I struggled a bit with what the ultimate ambition was for Kat. I wanted some more callbacks to her unpleasant time of earth, as opposed to almost sole focus on the afterlife, to round her character out a bit more. And the conclusion was good, but, again, I was left unsure of how to feel about her character. I don’t want to spoil anything, and it was a positive ending, but I just needed some more definitive conclusions to certain aspects of her story. Still a very unique and enjoyable read for those who enjoy dark humor and satire fiction.
June 23, 2023
*Review copy provided by Hellbound Books*
South of Heaven is a creative spin on: what if heaven and hell are not exactly what we think? I really enjoyed and had fun with this one.
South of Heaven is a creative spin on: what if heaven and hell are not exactly what we think? I really enjoyed and had fun with this one.
May 29, 2023
The average person has some kind of idea what Heaven and Hell might be like, but what if those ideas were way off base? That is the gist of the story in South of Heaven by Erin Louis.
The main character, Kat, is a stripper and a bit of a flawed human being. It is her imperfections that make her feel like someone we can all relate to, which makes her death all the more jarring.
After a brutal car crash, she makes it into Heaven on a technicality, and after finding that it's not all it's cracked up to be, she spends her time there rebelling and trying to find a way to Hell, where she feels her life will be a whole lot better.
South of Heaven is a fun ride that will have you laughing on a regular basis, specially at the antics of Lucifer, Kat's feline buddy in Heaven. It's a quick read that is fun and really well written.
The main character, Kat, is a stripper and a bit of a flawed human being. It is her imperfections that make her feel like someone we can all relate to, which makes her death all the more jarring.
After a brutal car crash, she makes it into Heaven on a technicality, and after finding that it's not all it's cracked up to be, she spends her time there rebelling and trying to find a way to Hell, where she feels her life will be a whole lot better.
South of Heaven is a fun ride that will have you laughing on a regular basis, specially at the antics of Lucifer, Kat's feline buddy in Heaven. It's a quick read that is fun and really well written.
June 25, 2023
I really loved this!! It sure made you question heaven and hell in a humorous way.
Kat was the best! Her character really spoke to me.
I want more!! I can totally see a second book where Kat and Satan work together to mess with Heaven and god. Please make this happen!
Kat was the best! Her character really spoke to me.
I want more!! I can totally see a second book where Kat and Satan work together to mess with Heaven and god. Please make this happen!
May 17, 2024
Review originally posted here:
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/01/1...
This book was a fun and twisted ride into a familiar concept. Heaven and Hell. I wouldn't define this as horror, rather dark, speculative fiction. The main character Kat was instantly relatable and not afraid to say the things most of us only think. She is brash and confident, using the world as she sees fit. An unexpected accident ends all that and she finds herself in a place called Heaven. Just not like the Heaven from church stories. Jesus is clueless, the angels are mean, the other inhabitants seem like they don't belong (tyrants, serial killers, etc). Kat comes to find getting into Heaven is as simple as asking for forgiveness no matter what kind of life a person lived. However, she also finds Heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be and her curiosity about what Hell is really like grows. If Heaven is a lie, what is Hell? She sets off on a path to find out the truth, and her missing cat that died in the accident, Buster.
While I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced and humorous tale, it merely scratched the surface of what was possible on Kat's journey. The author is great at developing characters, even making the reader sort of like ones that initially they despised. The plot was a little thin, leaving some unanswered questions. All in all this was a great read and had me chuckling at the many quirky aspects of the afterlife.
- Juliet, Happy Goat Horror
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/01/1...
This book was a fun and twisted ride into a familiar concept. Heaven and Hell. I wouldn't define this as horror, rather dark, speculative fiction. The main character Kat was instantly relatable and not afraid to say the things most of us only think. She is brash and confident, using the world as she sees fit. An unexpected accident ends all that and she finds herself in a place called Heaven. Just not like the Heaven from church stories. Jesus is clueless, the angels are mean, the other inhabitants seem like they don't belong (tyrants, serial killers, etc). Kat comes to find getting into Heaven is as simple as asking for forgiveness no matter what kind of life a person lived. However, she also finds Heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be and her curiosity about what Hell is really like grows. If Heaven is a lie, what is Hell? She sets off on a path to find out the truth, and her missing cat that died in the accident, Buster.
While I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced and humorous tale, it merely scratched the surface of what was possible on Kat's journey. The author is great at developing characters, even making the reader sort of like ones that initially they despised. The plot was a little thin, leaving some unanswered questions. All in all this was a great read and had me chuckling at the many quirky aspects of the afterlife.
- Juliet, Happy Goat Horror
August 13, 2023
Louis is a writer local to me. Here she makes a lighthearted, often tongue very much in cheek riff on the idea of a perfect Heaven. Her cenceptual Heaven is populated in part by people who make death bed pleas for redemption and isn't perfect at all. And the angels are hyper judgmental and holier than thou types. Go figure. If you've read Twain's Letters from the Earth, you know one of the seeds from which this sprang.
May 31, 2023
“𝒲𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓃𝓉, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈. ℐ𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓅 𝒶 1000-𝓅𝒾𝑒𝒸𝑒 𝓅𝓊𝓏𝓏𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓅𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇.”
What would you do if Heaven wasn’t the place that you imagined?
Our main character, Kat is a lapsed Catholic and promiscuous stripper. She enjoyed her life to the fullest and never would imagined that she would get into Heaven if there was such a place. Even when she stands there at the Pearly Gates she naturally expects to be sent directly to Hell.
She picks a fight with St. Peter just for fun but for her surprise, Kat makes it into Heaven.
This was such a unique book! Amazing characters and cats, with a brilliant storyline that I couldn’t stop reading!
It was fun, I laughed so much but also were a bit emotional some times.
I highly recommend reading this spectacular book, I really enjoyed it!
Thank you so much @hellboundbooks for reaching out and sending an e-book of this title for my honest review!
What would you do if Heaven wasn’t the place that you imagined?
Our main character, Kat is a lapsed Catholic and promiscuous stripper. She enjoyed her life to the fullest and never would imagined that she would get into Heaven if there was such a place. Even when she stands there at the Pearly Gates she naturally expects to be sent directly to Hell.
She picks a fight with St. Peter just for fun but for her surprise, Kat makes it into Heaven.
This was such a unique book! Amazing characters and cats, with a brilliant storyline that I couldn’t stop reading!
It was fun, I laughed so much but also were a bit emotional some times.
I highly recommend reading this spectacular book, I really enjoyed it!
Thank you so much @hellboundbooks for reaching out and sending an e-book of this title for my honest review!
June 8, 2023
Fun book. Short and sweet. I hope you read
Here is my full review: https://bugschaoticstacks.blogspot.co...
Here is my full review: https://bugschaoticstacks.blogspot.co...
October 30, 2023
What a fun, heart warming read this was. I enjoyed every bit of it. A refreshing take on the cliches of Heaven and Hell and a surprisingly clear look at Divinity and what most have suspected is actually behind the image of benevolent Angels.
August 22, 2023
How did this get 4 stars?
One is either funny or one is not. Trying to be funny, usually means one is not.
One is either funny or one is not. Trying to be funny, usually means one is not.
August 26, 2023
Oddly, this review is not showing up on my devices, so I'm resending it from my Reading Challenge list: bottom line: a fun, dark, good book!
Thank you to HellBound Books Publishing for providing a review copy of this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially as it got going. It is dark fiction, my friends, so if you are easily offended, keep in mind that this is humor. I really think you will enjoy it, though. I read it straight through in all its irreverent, sexy, dark, entirety.
I was immediately sympathetic to the MC. There are so many people just like her: young and broke and trying to enjoy life the only ways they can, though others may judge her. The author does a good job of presenting the unintended counter-effects of a strict religious upbringing: rebellion. To quote the wise words of Erma Bombeck: "Kids are like bars of soap: hold them too loose, and they fall; hold them too tight, and they shoot away from your hand." The right way to bring up a kid is with a softer, more gentle direction.
Still, defiant and free as she is, our MC, Kat, has many soul-searching chats with herself. She still struggles with the age-old philosophical question of the nature of good and evil, as great minds have done throughout human history. We more readily accept the exploits of the MC, because Louis injects all shenanigans with wry humor. This balance glides the narrative forward, like sliding down a banister.
Of course, the thing about banisters is that they usually end in a knob, which comes up seemingly unnaturally fast, to smack you before you can react. And is there anything funnier than watching someone hit the bottom of the banister, even if it's you? This is the moment we realize that Kat has always used humor as a coping mechanism, a way to balance the scales against all the threats of dire consequences. The more trouble she seems to be in, the funnier she gets.
Thankfully, it seems that sarcasm lives on, even in the afterlife. Beyond Kat's saucy demeanor and antics, when she is not being a smart ass, she presents us with serious theological questions: What do we make of a loving God in a world of hurt, pain, and cruelty? Should we really patiently bear our burdens and hope for perfection in the next life, as a kind of reward? And, in the process of being made perfect, must one must surrender their identity? Are you still "you" if you lose the evidence and memory of your life experiences? Could perfection cause a dissociation of self? What is it that makes you "you?"
These ruminations precipitate a crisis point. If Kat's irreverent, funny self is meant to be diluted into a kind of sanctified version of The Stepford Wives, then is that not a little creepy? If everything is so palatable, does it lose its taste? Kat begins to realize that "perfection" might be a little superficial, and a whole lot of stifling suffocation. Cliques form wherever you go, in this case demonstrating a head-spinning combination of acceptance and rejection, both accentuated with aggressive tone and pretentious piety. Kat also learns that distraction can be more effectively manipulative than overt direction. She senses that something is off in the afterlife, some truth she isn't supposed to know about, but about which she is determined to find out.
I loved these characters and the imaginative worlds the author built for them. I am all for building a moral foundation of society (religious or otherwise) which is not based on guilt and/or the avoidance of punishment. There's a definite tendency to judge exactly the wrong people, and few brave enough to point that out.
Thank you to HellBound Books Publishing for providing a review copy of this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially as it got going. It is dark fiction, my friends, so if you are easily offended, keep in mind that this is humor. I really think you will enjoy it, though. I read it straight through in all its irreverent, sexy, dark, entirety.
I was immediately sympathetic to the MC. There are so many people just like her: young and broke and trying to enjoy life the only ways they can, though others may judge her. The author does a good job of presenting the unintended counter-effects of a strict religious upbringing: rebellion. To quote the wise words of Erma Bombeck: "Kids are like bars of soap: hold them too loose, and they fall; hold them too tight, and they shoot away from your hand." The right way to bring up a kid is with a softer, more gentle direction.
Still, defiant and free as she is, our MC, Kat, has many soul-searching chats with herself. She still struggles with the age-old philosophical question of the nature of good and evil, as great minds have done throughout human history. We more readily accept the exploits of the MC, because Louis injects all shenanigans with wry humor. This balance glides the narrative forward, like sliding down a banister.
Of course, the thing about banisters is that they usually end in a knob, which comes up seemingly unnaturally fast, to smack you before you can react. And is there anything funnier than watching someone hit the bottom of the banister, even if it's you? This is the moment we realize that Kat has always used humor as a coping mechanism, a way to balance the scales against all the threats of dire consequences. The more trouble she seems to be in, the funnier she gets.
Thankfully, it seems that sarcasm lives on, even in the afterlife. Beyond Kat's saucy demeanor and antics, when she is not being a smart ass, she presents us with serious theological questions: What do we make of a loving God in a world of hurt, pain, and cruelty? Should we really patiently bear our burdens and hope for perfection in the next life, as a kind of reward? And, in the process of being made perfect, must one must surrender their identity? Are you still "you" if you lose the evidence and memory of your life experiences? Could perfection cause a dissociation of self? What is it that makes you "you?"
These ruminations precipitate a crisis point. If Kat's irreverent, funny self is meant to be diluted into a kind of sanctified version of The Stepford Wives, then is that not a little creepy? If everything is so palatable, does it lose its taste? Kat begins to realize that "perfection" might be a little superficial, and a whole lot of stifling suffocation. Cliques form wherever you go, in this case demonstrating a head-spinning combination of acceptance and rejection, both accentuated with aggressive tone and pretentious piety. Kat also learns that distraction can be more effectively manipulative than overt direction. She senses that something is off in the afterlife, some truth she isn't supposed to know about, but about which she is determined to find out.
I loved these characters and the imaginative worlds the author built for them. I am all for building a moral foundation of society (religious or otherwise) which is not based on guilt and/or the avoidance of punishment. There's a definite tendency to judge exactly the wrong people, and few brave enough to point that out.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews