Abode of the Damned

by Matthew Dean Cole

The last thing Cole Sunger remembers is the trap door creaking open beneath his feet on the gallows of Arkwood Penitentiary. Now, Cole is awake – aware - in a frighteningly dark realm populated by demonic creatures. Utterly bewildered by his dark supernatural locale, Cole allies himself with two other damned souls, Clancy and Lucy and soon learns he has arrived in Hell amidst a demon uprising.

Cole’s only chance of escape is to reach a portal hidden within a cave in the Black Mountains - a portal that will lead him and his companions into the safety of another dimension.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

16 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 26, 2012

About the author

Matt Cole was born in a Vancouver, British Columbia in 1967. He earned an undergraduate degree in kinesiology at the University of British Columbia and a graduate degree in exercise physiology the University of Victoria. He has worked as a kinesiologist since 2000.

During his college and university years, Matt scratched his creative itch in screenplay and short fiction workshops along with speculative fiction studies.  In his free time, he enjoys red wine (or the nectar of the Gods as he believes it to be), reading fantasy fiction and graphic novels, and devouring dark chocolate. He can be found wondering bookstores and comic book shops, attending film festivals, drinking craft beer at the local pub, as well as competing in local IPSC competitions. You may also find him at the gym if he ever gets his ass in gear and gets back at it.

Matt currently lives Coquitlam British Columbia. He was married in 2002 and divorced in 2009 and was in a relationship with another crazy woman between 2016 to 2017.  He survived them both these ordeals, albeit not entirely unscathed.  He currently has neither a partner nor a pet but is on the lookout for a captivating individual and worthy creature to fill these roles.

His author site and blog is http://mattcoleonline.com/

Reviews

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man wakes up in hell after being executed. He meets two other damned ones and they end up in the middle of the fight between two factions of hell.
The ending is too open-ended. Nothing against such endings but this one needed at least one more scene.
The story is good. I'd read about Cole more if there's more.

[BookMojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abode of the Damned is a short story so my review is going to be brief. I don’t want to blow the story and there isn’t a whole lot of wiggle room to not blow plot points.

Abode of the Damned is gripping from the first paragraph. You get pulled into the psyche of a man who is being hanged for his crimes. The door trap door opens and fade to black… When he wakes up, he can’t understand what has happened or where he is. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

I have to say, for a short story, Abode of the Damned is packed with action. It pulls you along though the story, burning through its pages, dying to know what is going to happen next.

I would love to see this story reworked and turned into a full length novel. Although it is good as it stands, if it were to be expanded on, it could be one hell of a novel. Due to the short length, there are a LOT of questions that go unanswered. The mystery is good but the adventure of getting those answer could make for a fantastic full-length story.

I am going to give Abode of the Damned a solid 4 stars. It’s a good read, short and fast paced from the first paragraph.

[Simon Jenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to Hell

Cole Sunger awakens from his hanging and finds his soul in the barren wastelands of Hell. This colourfully told tale follows his attempt to escape with his new found acquaintances via a portal high in the mountains. But before they can escape they find themselves deep in the middle of a war for the control of Hell and are confronted by all kinds of wonderfully described demonic creatures. The protagonist is not a nice guy, but in Hell, who is?

Firstly, I would like to congratulate the author on his rich and well described settings. I found the scenes easy to imagine and they weren’t pretty. The story itself moves along at a brisk pace and keeps the tension mounting as you wonder what could possibly happen next. This is a well told story with a fantastically vivid turn of phrase.

I highly recommend it.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was interesting enough to keep my attention, especially as it was so short, but it certainly was not memorable. Also, as with most self-published works, there are too many grammatical errors These include mixups of their, there, they're and using nose instead of noise, among others. All of the mistakes are valid words, so spellcheck was used but it was not very well proofread. I find these kinds of errors very distracting and they make me disinclined to read anything further by the author.

I also so no point to the (minor) sex scene between the 2 demons other than to put sex in the book. It did not add to the story.

[Rabid Readers Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know that story you read and then it just doesn't leave you for hours or even days after. You think of the setting and the desolation and the desperation to escape - that was this story.

Cole Sunger finds himself in hell and with two other spirits, looks for an escape. The three characters are extremely well written and the setting belivable in a disturbing way that was entertaining to read. This is a very short story but will stay with you for a while. Highly recommend if you like gritty tales.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, easy short story. The characters were interesting and easy to understand, given the small amount of description and back-story they got. I loved the dark, dangerous setting, which from the very beginning sets the tone for the next eleven pages. A great little read, highly recommended for anyone with a spare ten minutes.

[Ken B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cole Sunger is executed, hanged, dead! But, he wakes up! And he is in the unfamiliar and yet unmistakable environs of Hell. He finds himself teamed with two other unfortunate souls with only one thing on their minds...escape.

I am a fan of open-ended stories. This one though was a bit too open-ended for my taste.

3 STARS

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read this story today and found it to be interesting from the first paragraph. I would have liked to learn more about Lucy. That is really the only bad thing I found about this short story as I really liked the dark desolate setting. I hope we read about it in future stories.

[David Donaghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story, but it was short. If you like stories about what happens after death, you'll like this book.