Hell is a Goldfish

by F.A. Stone

This is the story of a man trapped in hell with a goldfish.I never thought I would write my own obituary, but here we My name is Luke Glass and in the next few minutes, I will be dead. All I can think about is, I should have never left the void—I should have never stolen those lampshades, but you can’t change that. You can always bend space and time to zap back to the past, but time travel has always been more of a prison than a solution.

What I can do with my remaining time is give a warning to those that have found this note. If you are reading this, then the goldfish knows about you. Which means that it’s too late for you, for me, and for everyone really—even those who haven’t read this book are just the living dead. No one can escape the great goldfish, but there are things you can do take your mind off of it. You can—

270 pages, Paperback

Published November 22, 2025

Reviews

[Zane · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A man trapped in hell with a goldfish.” That’s all I needed to know and somehow, this book managed to be even stranger, darker, and more thought provoking than I expected. Hell Is a Goldfish is the kind of horror that sticks with you because it isn’t just unsettling it makes you question reality itself. Blending psychological horror, existential dread, and an almost surreal sense of humor, F.A. Stone delivers a story that feels like a nightmare you can’t wake up from. Every page pulled me deeper into its bizarre world, and I never knew where it was going next. What impressed me most was the atmosphere. There’s an overwhelming sense of inevitability throughout the story, as if both the characters and the reader are trapped together in something far beyond their understanding. The writing is immersive, unsettling, and surprisingly emotional beneath all the cosmic weirdness. This isn’t your typical horror novel filled with jump scares or gore. It’s the kind of story that quietly worms its way into your thoughts long after you’ve finished reading. If you enjoy horror that’s weird, philosophical, psychologically unsettling, and completely original, this is one you’ll want to experience for yourself.

[James McGettigan · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

This is probably the hardest review I've had to make, not because I have any reservations about the book, nor do I feel it's bad in any way, it's just really hard to describe this book without feeling compelled to explain the whole thing, haha!

The story starts out as very liminal and throughout the story it's a lot like that, but it's also filled with so much absurdity that the author filled within the story to keep things unpredictable and interesting.

The best way I would describe this book is if you removed the british from the humor in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy and combined it with the imbecilic elements of Alice in Wonderland and the mystery of The King in Yellow, you have Hell is a Goldfish. And there are so many philosophical metaphors and lore within the story, in reference to future works within the universe the author is creating here.

I enjoyed the relationship between Luke Glass and Red and found several elements of it quite sad, unfortunate and relatable in some respects for that last one. It's definitely one of the less complex elements of the story, relatively, and it's also the most compelling element of the story, I would say.

And I really wish I could say more, but this is sincerely one of those stories where I feel you have to read it for yourself to fully understand it and I do recommend it for anyone who likes a well thought out nonsensical story that stands out from most others.