Heroes in Hell

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Heroes in Hell (1986), the first book in the series

Heroes in Hell is a series of shared world fantasy books by Janet Morris, C. J. Cherryh, and others set in a fictional afterlife. The 12 books in the series were published by Baen Books between 1986 and 1989.

1 Background
2 Books in the series
3 Contributing authors
4 Gallery of book covers

[edit] Background

Despite the title, the fictional world of the setting bears little resemblance to the traditional Western concept of Hell. As depicted in these works, Hell is actually quite like the land of the living, but with a significantly more chaotic political environment.

Partly this is due to the underworld being populated by many great military leaders and statesmen from history such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Sargon of Akkad. These leaders vie for power, sometimes relying on diplomacy but often resorting to subterfuge and military action to achieve their goals. When war does break out, the faction leaders employ military technology from throughout history. Caesar, for example, may address his sword-bearing Roman legions from the back of a World War II era Jeep equipped with a machine gun.

The power structure in the Hell of these books is fairly decentralized, although the "Father of Lies" (Satan) can exert his will when he chooses to do so. For example, rather than allowing Marilyn Monroe to reside with any of the individual factions in his underworld, he has installed her as his executive assistant.

Additional color is provided by the presence of historical legends of literature and philosophy such as Ernest Hemingway, Niccolò Machiavelli, and (of course) Dante Alighieri. Some of these characters serve as advisors to the various faction leaders and live in their households.

Because of the interactions between historical figures of similar eras in some of these stories -- Augustus (Octavian), Mark Antony, and Cleopatra for example -- the works borrow elements from the subgenre of Historical Fantasy. But because they are set in the afterlife, they are more properly classified as Bangsian Fantasy.