Flowers from Hell: A Satanic Reader

by Nikolas Schreck (Editor)

Unholy creations from the world's greatest authors and artists are bound together in this essential illustrated anthology of Luciferian literature. Charting the progress of the Prince of Darkness via the short stories, novels and poetry of centuries past, this Satanic sampler summons forth the Devil in a fascinating array of guises Authors and artists include: Charles Baudelaire, Aleister Crowley, Dante Alghieri, Goethe, J-K Huysmans, Matthew G Lewis, Charles Maturin, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, Felicien Rops, Francisco Goya, Jean Delville, Gustave Dore, Franz Von Stuck, Albrecht Durer

Genres: Occult, Satanism, Religion, Mythology, Literature, Poetry, Magick

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

American writer, musician, film-maker, and spiritual teacher whose work focuses on magic, mysticism, mythology and the macabre. Schreck is married to Zeena Schreck (Formerly LaVey) the daughter of the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton Lavey

Together with his wife he founded the Sethian Liberation Movement and wrote books about sex magic, portrayal of Satan in cinema and Charles Manson.

He is also the founder of the gothic-industrial band Radio Werewolf, which was active from 1984 to 1992.

Reviews

[Laurel Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I read this book was for a course I took which examined the evolution of the concept of the afterlife in Western Civilization, Hell in particular being the main focus. I enjoyed the course so much I ended up adding four of the five books that were assigned as reading material, this book being one of the four.

Mr. Schreck's compliation is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in examining the various portrayals of the character known as Satan, Lucifer, and The Devil in classical literature. The selected pieces amd excerpts range from the dawn of the Reinaissance to the turn of the 20th century. Various prints of artwork are also included throughout the book, the works of artists such as Francisco Goya and Albrecht Duerer being featured among others.

My three personal favorites within this compilation, stories which I personally recommend to anyone who is interested, include Poe's Bon-Bon, , Baudelaire's The Generous Gambler , and Twain's post-humous work, The Mysterious Stranger .

[Eric Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the best anthologies I've ever read. It is a wonderful collection of tales relating to the Prince of Darkness from many talented writers throughout history. Fascinating from a literary standpoint, you are not selling your soul by reading this! Still, probably NSFW because nosy coworkers might assume you will sprout horns any second. Schreck writes a decent intro on why he chose these particular works.

[Sarah Bolte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the literary Satan, in thorough detail. It's an unglaring look at the history of Satan in fiction, and how humanity's view of him being a subsidiary demon king of Hebrews, to the Prince of Darkness. You couldn't ask for a better sampling of historical literary masters.

[Smith White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great work by Nikolas Schreck. The various accounts of Satan it contains, however, are probably more of interest to scholars than to laypeople, as it's mainly a collection of others' work.

[Tim Fronsac · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect companion to "Satanic Screen," Shows the reader dozens of different views of Satan in various forms of literature, of which the darker, more macabre versions are of course the best.

[Ed Stimson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work- from Poe and Dante and Crowley to more modern perspectives of Satan.

Often macabre, dark, or banal, sometimes intriguing or even funny.

[H. Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of this is just interesting, not fun to read for its own sake, but it's a good collection of stuff you may not be able to find easily elsewhere. The one exception is "Enoch Soames" by Max Beerbohm, I started browsing it and got sucked in immediately. It's a good story, not just a statement, and works on several levels -- metafiction, story about art and artists, time-travel story to some extent. It's like "Bartleby the Scrivener" plus The Time Machine but with the devil. Amazing.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of versions of Satan in literature- sort of a companion to "Satanic Screen" which is similar but regards film versions of Satan. (With Demons of the Flesh it makes a trilogy on the topic of the generally dark and occult/Satanic.)

[Roger Uru · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good read overall.

[Chris Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice find.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The True Satanic Scriptures, great pieces of historical fiction.