michael skene

My name's Lucifer. The same. But, call me Lucky. (Lucky? Jeez, who am I kidding?) Anyway, this author, Michael Skene, he completed this action packed historical-fiction called Hell’s Bells, Et Al. Partly it’s a road show set variously from Hell to antebellum Illinois, with numerous stops at times and locales of historical interest.

It’s a witty look at my finagling to spring us from that sordid Miltonian deep in which we were mired, and back in good with the Old Man. The tale commences just south of the Styx where I'm getting an earful from my Number Two—that's Bells—that the entire demonagerie has had enough, they wanna go home. Home? There's a laugh. Don't they get it? They are home! And what was I suppose to do? Our damnation was eternal, wasn't it? Then it hit me. We'll appeal the Judgment that's caging us in the infernal regions. Sure, appeal it to the highest Court in the land—in the universe, even! You get the idea. Of course, this pandemonic scheme just cries out for a lawyer and we finally settle on Honest Abe. Me, Bells and Baarfisgel set off for Springfield to retain Mr. Lincoln. You're busy so I wont lay the whole itinerary on you just now. But the three of us have enough adventures to make that little bait barge ride of Huck Finn's seem like a slow spin on a warped merry-go-round at Disneyland. We tramp into Springfield and Abe takes our case for the trial of all ages, bringing together caricatures on parole from Babylon, Hollywood and Flatbush. All the big names are there, but it's no revival meeting or religious potluck. A witty repartee replaces the preaching you might expect from those do-gooders; don't worry about it. Are we saved? Well, that's the question, isn't it? 

The writing is literary, the themes universal, the tone at once blasphemous and humorous, cynical and sympathetic, intertwining contemporary and traditional images on an often raucous, sometimes somber and, in the end, tragic-heroic background, so that the emotional tug is complex. (Hold on while I catch my breath.) Then hold on tighter 'cause this one's a roller coaster ride!