In this first-ever full-length Heroes in Hell novel by
Janet and Chris Morris,
Homer, the famous poet of ancient Greece who wrote
The Iliad receives a travel pass to tour Hell on a
special assignment from Satan.
The Little Helliad
A Heroes in Hell Novel
by Janet & Chris Morris
Genre
Dark Fantasy
In the ninth installment of the acclaimed Heroes in Hell series, The Little Helliad takes readers on a journey through the underworld like never before. Homer, the legendary ancient Greek poet, finds himself in Hell, tasked by the Devil himself to chronicle the epic tales of the damned. Drawing inspiration from the lesser-known vignettes of the Iliad, this novel weaves a tapestry of myth, history, and fantasy.
As Homer navigates the treacherous landscapes of Hell, he encounters a host of unforgettable characters, each with their own stories of heroism, betrayal, and redemption. With the unique perspective of the Morris duo, this book offers a fresh and compelling take on the classic tales of the Iliad, reimagined in the fiery depths of the afterlife.
The Little Helliad is a must-read for fans of epic fantasy and mythological retellings, blending rich storytelling with the dark allure of the underworld. Join Homer on his odyssey through Hell and discover the timeless tales that continue to captivate readers across the ages.
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[excerpt from The Little Helliad]
This is a tale of the horrors of love and how it brought low the Lord of Hell. In my cell here alone, I can tell it only to you, the clay tablet a guard has smuggled me, and hope you will retain the story until the time is right for its retelling.
What is love, and where does it abide but in the sinews of man and the passions of conflict? This I dared to write and no one would heed me—not here, not in Hell. In Hell, as in life, truth is judged not by men’s minds but by their glands, and must pass the test of convenience.
Is it convenient to know that I was called Homer, that I wrote in a weak and piteous age of a better one, and from my work men drew the truths of their convenience and inspiration for every kind of sin? Is it helpful to observe that from my tales of mighty souls and mighty passions skewed by love into mighty errors, men learned nothing of caution, nothing of wisdom—learned only to pit themselves against one another more fiercely?
I’m here in Hell, so I am told, because I am responsible for the ‘Homeric’ tradition, for the heroic model that spurred so many fools to murder and death. I’m here because my work was perceived as a treatise on the art of fighting with spear and bow, of chariotry and covert tactics—because I made war beautiful and glorious.
My stamp is on the corpse of every warrior to come here, the Welcome Woman said to me. As if they all wouldn’t have made the Trip by other means, as if all the Alexanders and Pattons and worse of history wouldn’t have come to their fates some other way.
I met a man, while I was with the Dissidents sworn to bring the Devil low, who had fought in a war so terrible its weapons razed whole countries, boiled seas, and made the very air rain char. I met another sure that truth was the single most potent weapon of destruction in a world powered by lies.
And there too I met Alexander of Macedon, who looked upon me with teary eyes and said that it was my work that had guided him to his greatest moments, my influence that made of him what he was.
My influence. As if there had been no Troy, no black ships on the beach, no Odysseus and Diomedes, no Helen who raised her skirts to tumble men into war.
But I digress. I mean to tell you a simple tale, a tale of afterlife and what it holds. I have paid a great price to be witness for the damned. I have met an angel, a single emissary of Olympian grace, who has agreed to smuggle out the story.
It is a tale of truth. It is a tale of sorrow. It is a tale that cannot be told here in my cell nor in the whole of Hell itself, where only the damned abide. This tale must be told on the living land, where the sweet wind blows and the winey sea rolls dark and bold. It must be told in my homeland and in all the homelands of men who live and breathe, so that they will cease hastening here in all their numbers.
It must be told so that I, who meant one thing and accomplished another, can make peace with every soul here on my account.
This time, I add a preface so I cannot be misunderstood. I say to you, clay tablet and custodian of my endeavor, that if all the men of the world can learn what I have learned since last I wrote, then they will know better things than how to strike a killing blow up through a man’s bladder. They will learn that the price of passion is to be its everlasting slave. They will learn that what is done in life is forever, and what is given there will be received, manifold times over, in afterlife.
And if this tale does not teach the lesson, then I cannot teach it. And if we do not learn it, then death and destruction eternally is our lot. And so, since I cannot find an ear here, among those who have nothing left to save, I have struck my bargain with the angel.
It is for you, soft clay of infinite memory and infinite strength, to take this tale of self-made folly to those who may hear it, whose ears are not closed with the wax of arrogance and whose eyes are not sewn shut with the thread of sins. For on Earth, not in Hell, there is a chance to change the future. In Hell, there is no future, only the results of chances untaken and opportunities lost.
Everything that I tell you here is true, tablet, as everything I told before was true. It is up to the angel and fate and your faithful self to make sure that this time there is no misunderstanding.
Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 30 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. Most of her fiction work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national security topics.
Christopher Crosby Morris (born 1946) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a lyricist, musical composer, and singer-songwriter. He is married to author Janet Morris. He is a defense policy and strategy analyst and a principal in M2 Technologies, Inc. He writes primarily as Chris Morris, but occasionally uses pseudonyms.
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