If Hell is What You Want

by H.G. Gravy

If Hell is What You Want - H.G Gravy's first collection of stories- pushes on mental pressure points and doesn't let go. These stories are invitations into nerve-fraying worlds of dark fantasy, horror (or Creepypasta, if that's your thing), and science fiction. In these ten tales, we see demons invade the classroom ("A Personal Treachery Against God"); a family joins a cult whose god lives in the sewers ("Hegemonic); a married couple experiences the terror of nuclear annihilation ("The Nuclear Incident on Bumblebee Lane"); a rookie police officer solves a decades-old mystery ("There is No Rest for the Innocent"); and many more stories to chill the blood and quicken the pulse.

Genres: Horror, Short Story Collection

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2022

About the author

Hailing from a dark crevice on the Jersey Shore, Rafael Marmol is author to over a hundred twisted stories found across Reddit’s NoSleep, ShortScaryStories, and DarkTales subreddits, under the username, /u/Human_Gravy. Several of his stories have been adapted into audio dramas by The NoSleep Podcast and narrators across many YouTube channels in various languages. Rafael loves to craft stories about the strange, macabre, and uncanny. He also dips his toes into the world of science fiction and fantasy on occasion.

His main inspirations are Stephen King, Brian Keene, Anne Rice, Joe R. Lansdale, Clive Barker, George R.R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, and Rod Serling.

When he is not writing, he is punishing himself for not doing so. He enjoys narrating stories for his YouTube channel, watching television shows, sampling craft beers, listening to podcasts and audio books, walking his dog, or cuddling his cat.

Reviews

[C.B. Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

H.G. Gravy has been an active participant in the NoSleep and Short Scary Story subreddits for the past eight years. He was also the guy behind the Horror d'Oeuvres series, an anthology of flash-horror fiction of which the profits were donated to the Scares that Care charity. His work has appeared on The No Sleep Podcast and Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. Now he arrives with his debut publication, a collection of his short horror fiction.

There's a wide variety of tales in here, but rest assured they all check the boxes for the dark and sinister. From a missing persons case that spans decades with a shocking revelation to an insane and monstrous cult that worships a deity from the sewers, in here are stories that push to the very edge and then keep pushing.

If you ever watched the The Jersey Shore TV show and thought that it could be a little more Lovecraftian, then look no further than "Marina".

There are even stories in here that bring to mind the excellent anthology shows Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone . "The Nuclear Incident on Bumblebee Lane" is perhaps the best story of the lot and one can easily imagine it taking place in another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind.

"A Personal Treachery Against God" might be the scariest story here as a classroom is held captive by a seemingly omnipotent being. We can only sit back amongst the desks of the classroom and read on in terror at what is about to unfold amongst the students, wondering if we are next.

The prose is professional and clear. It manages to ratchet up the dread and fill your mind with unsettling images. Another interesting point is that almost all of the stories are told in the first person and Mr. Gravy does an excellent job in inhabiting all of these different voices.

I was glad I read this for the Halloween season and look forward to seeing more of H.G. Gravy's work for the years to come.

[Chris Kester · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stories by H. G. Gravy, so I was super excited to check out this collection of some of his finest. The two that stand out the most to me are A Personal Treachery Against God and Marina. Every story was top notch, though, and you will definitely be pleased with what you get if you are a fan of horror short stories. Personal Treachery is the epic tale of a demon who takes over a class in the middle of presentations and begins revealing everyone's deepest and darkest secrets. Marina starts out as what would appear to be a cut and dry story of a dude-bro who has finally found the one and can give up his tail-chasing ways. At the end, things turn out a bit different than they might have seemed. Good God, so different. All in all I highly recommend that you get this book, I have a digital copy but love it so much that I plan to get a paperback on release day as well!

[Reshma Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cult story had me terrified because of how true horror are actually human beings who don’t think for themselves.