Holiday in Hell: - a sincerely impious novel

by F.J. Bennett

What could the Holy Spirit possibly have in common with the father of Nihilism, Friedrich Nietzsche? Way more than you think. And church-lady Irma Goodman is about to find out the “hard” way in this twenty-first century re-imagining of The Inferno. Irma Goodman is absolutely certain she will go to Heaven when she dies. She’s also pretty sure her agnostic husband, Howard, and their social media addicted and alarmingly disrespectful teenage children, Becca and Rodney, will end up in Hell. This is very alarming to Irma. How could she possibly enjoy spending eternity all alone floating on some cloud in Heaven while her entire family is being roasted on spits with the likes of Hitler and Oscar Wilde? Naturally, she turns to the only person she really trusts for an answer- the Holy Spirit. Recently, the Holy Spirit has been showing up in Irma’s kitchen around mid-afternoon, shortly before the kids are due to come home from school. She makes hot cocoa with those little marshmallows for him and they talk about their lives. His visits are a welcome distraction from all the stress Irma is feeling over her wayward family. However, as the school year nears its end and the summer holiday approaches, Irma is becoming more and more inconsolable. She dreads the annual Goodman vacation in Ocean City, a place she equates with Sodom and Gomorrah. When the Holy Spirit offhandedly suggests a “faith-based” vacation might be helpful, Irma takes the bull by the horns and “accidentally” signs them up for a holiday at “Perdition World,” a Hell-inspired resort. Unfortunately, “P-World” is not a resort- it is literally Hell, and if not for some divine intervention by the Holy Spirit (unwillingly disguised as Nietzsche) this vacation could turn out to be the worst ever!

229 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2021