Fiction: Hellfire and Damnation II by Connie Corcoran Wilson

 

We have all had experiences that seem like Hell on Earth.

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson has released a sequel to her 2011 short story collection Hellfire & Damnation (www.HellfireandDamnationTheBook.com). Hellfire & Damnation II consists of eleven stories which take us on a fictional tour of Dante’s Inferno, just as the first book did.

However, the stories in this new 53,000 word collection (with illustrations) do not require that you have read the first book. It is a stand-alone collection with a section at the end describing the author’s inspiration for each story. Each story focuses on one of the sins punished at that Circle of Hell.

     Five-time Bram Stoker winner Gary Braunbeck said, “I really don’t know how she managed to do it, but Wilson surpasses her previous Hellfire & Damnation collection with the sequel Hellfire & Damnation II.  Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe.  This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer who I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better. Seriously, Connie, can’t you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?”

     Nate Kenyon,  award-winning author of Diablo: The Order and Day One said, “Take a twisted ride through Hell and back with Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s Hellfire & Damnation II. Frozen corpses, homicidal authors and sociopathic presidential candidates just scratch the surface of this inspired collection.  Don’t miss it!”

New York Times Best-selling author of the Caitlin Strong series, Jon Land, said:  "Connie Corcoran Wilson's Hellfire & Damnation is a remarkable collection of somber, noirish, flat-out scary and altogether satisfying stories that seek to find hope in a dark world that defies it.  Her subtle irony and penchant for finding terror in the least expected places will generate comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury with just a hint of Phillip K. Dick thrown in.  But don't be fooled:  Wilson has a wondrous voice in her own right and her tight, twisty tales establish her as a force to be reckoned with."

Brian Pinkerton, author of Rough Cut, said, “Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s new short story collection sends the reader spiraling down through Dante’s 9 Circles of Hell with devilish twists and turns of time and place, across 11 superb short stories.”

Terrie Leigh Relf, author of The Water of Nyr and co-author, with Henry Lewis Saunders, of Blood Journey and The Ancient One said: “Whether Connie (Corcoran) Wilson has been visited by Dante’s spirit or eavesdropping by Hell’s own confessionals, Hellfire & Damnation II definitely delivers on its title.  There is a fine line between good and evil within these pages.  A very fine line.  Be careful that you don’t teeter into the abyss.  From a Norwegian army deserter trapped in limbo within the Colorado ice to parents pondering the sale of their organs to fund their college-bound son’s education, these stories abound with life’s---and death’s---ironies.”

Each story displays a striking clear-cut original style.  Each suspenseful piece will  horrify, but not in a gory way. This is a collection not meant for the faint of heart, but for  lovers of old-school Hitchcockian horror.

Wilson is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a Master's and 30 hours from WIU (Western IL Univ), NIU (Northern IL Univ), Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at 6 IA/IL colleges and has written for 5 newspapers and numerous blogs, including her own (www.WeeklyWilson.com) and Yahoo. She taught junior high school students for close to 20 years and then founded a Sylvan Learning Center and a Prometric Testing Center, which she owned and operated as CEO until 2003.

She covers politics, movies and television for Yahoo (2008 Content Producer of the Year in politics for that 600,000 member blog) and has written 10 books since 2003 and published numerous short stories and articles both online and in print.  Wilson also has interviewed, among others, Kurt Vonnegut, William F. Nolan, Frederik Pohl, Anne Perry, Joe Hill and David Morrell. She has 2 children, born 20 years apart, and twin granddaughters, who are 3.

Review copies and author interviews are available upon request.
Read more at www.ConnieCWilson.com and check the book’s website: www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com.
Books available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the Merry Blacksmith Press.

Contact: Connie Wilson - einnoc10@aol.com