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Hell on Earth #4.7
A Chance in Hell
The former succubus Jezebel has to prepare herself to battle the King of Hell…tomorrow. Tonight, she’s taking a break. With her friend Ceci Baker (a.k.a the one-time stripper Candy), she visits a traveling carnival on the outskirts of a small town in upstate New York, only to discover that the barker is a demon of Greed, and getting marked means way more than playing a rigged game. That’s okay; Jezebel’s been known to gamble before—and there’s nothing like blood, sweat, and leers to bring out the demon in her. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Car...
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 24, 2014
60 people want to read
About the author
Jackie Kessler
27 books335 followersSome kids want to grow up to be doctors, or movie stars, or political assassins. Me, I wanted to draw comic books. Not Archie comics, either—superhero comic books. Maybe it was all the heavily muscled guys in spandex…
Around the time I was 15, I realized that as much as I enjoyed drawing (note that I’m saying nothing about the quality of those pics), it was a lot of fun putting words in the characters’ mouths. I didn’t know the term “fanfic” back then, but I started writing stories about the X-Men, Alpha Flight, and the Teen Titans. Didn’t do anything with those stories, other than horrify my mother. She asked why I couldn’t write nice stories, you know, about bunnies. Nope—me, I wanted to write about power. About magic. About hot guys in spandex. And about beating those guys bloody and senseless. (In retrospect, maybe I really did want to horrify my mother. Hey, not my fault. When I was a kid, I busted her doodling on the cover of New Teen Titans #6. Argh!)
So maybe it’s ironic that the book I wound up writing had nothing to do with overly muscled men and everything to do with scantily clad women. (Well, temporarily scantily clad.) Oh, right, and demons.
Previously, I was the fantasy editor for Wild Child Publishing. Along with working with terrific authors and editors, I’d been fortunate enough to interview a number of fabulous people for WCP, including Margaret Weis (I think Raistlin was my first crush).
In case you’re wondering, I live in Upstate New York, along with my Loving Husband and two Precious Little Tax Deductions, two cats, and about 9,000 comics. (But actually, that number is now closer to 8,000, thanks to a flooded basement. Alas!)
Around the time I was 15, I realized that as much as I enjoyed drawing (note that I’m saying nothing about the quality of those pics), it was a lot of fun putting words in the characters’ mouths. I didn’t know the term “fanfic” back then, but I started writing stories about the X-Men, Alpha Flight, and the Teen Titans. Didn’t do anything with those stories, other than horrify my mother. She asked why I couldn’t write nice stories, you know, about bunnies. Nope—me, I wanted to write about power. About magic. About hot guys in spandex. And about beating those guys bloody and senseless. (In retrospect, maybe I really did want to horrify my mother. Hey, not my fault. When I was a kid, I busted her doodling on the cover of New Teen Titans #6. Argh!)
So maybe it’s ironic that the book I wound up writing had nothing to do with overly muscled men and everything to do with scantily clad women. (Well, temporarily scantily clad.) Oh, right, and demons.
Previously, I was the fantasy editor for Wild Child Publishing. Along with working with terrific authors and editors, I’d been fortunate enough to interview a number of fabulous people for WCP, including Margaret Weis (I think Raistlin was my first crush).
In case you’re wondering, I live in Upstate New York, along with my Loving Husband and two Precious Little Tax Deductions, two cats, and about 9,000 comics. (But actually, that number is now closer to 8,000, thanks to a flooded basement. Alas!)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 7, 2016
I like this short story. I've never read anything by this author before and plan on reading more. Hope the rest of the series is as good.
December 21, 2021
Despite the explicit and highly memorable beginning, the rest of this story is rather forgettable. It's not bad by any means, but I just felt like there wasn't any oomph to it. Jezebel talks so much about her time in Hell and the different types of demons based on which sin they're responsible for, and I thought that part of her life would have been much more interesting to read about than the story of her life as a boring human, so I wanted to read about Jezebel's previous life working as a demon in Hell OR her future, when she's supposedly going to challenge the demon king for his throne in the Underworld... But the story is set in this "in-between" part, which is pretty disappointing. I'm assuming Kessler's Hell on Earth main series delves more into Jezebel's past & future, but based off of this short story, I'm not interested enough to check it out, haha.
August 4, 2025
Well, this was another great story! I haven't read the Hell on Earth series, but I enjoyed the hell (pardon the pun) out of this one.
Jezebel used to be a succubus but she's just a human now. Well, a human who has access to a very powerful sword. But when her friend Ceci insists on going to a travelling carnival, demonic trouble finds her...
Wow. This is a very cool and very fun story featuring an awesome heroine who knows everything about Hell because she used to live there. I loved her voice and how the worldbuilding felt very natural and interesting.
I'm a sucker for a good demonic tale and this one didn't disappoint. Also, I enjoyed the playful, raunchy side of the story. And I have to admit that I would love to know more about the incubus, Daunuan. 😈
Jezebel used to be a succubus but she's just a human now. Well, a human who has access to a very powerful sword. But when her friend Ceci insists on going to a travelling carnival, demonic trouble finds her...
Wow. This is a very cool and very fun story featuring an awesome heroine who knows everything about Hell because she used to live there. I loved her voice and how the worldbuilding felt very natural and interesting.
I'm a sucker for a good demonic tale and this one didn't disappoint. Also, I enjoyed the playful, raunchy side of the story. And I have to admit that I would love to know more about the incubus, Daunuan. 😈
October 21, 2020
Funny, but still not much of a short story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews