All Hell Breaking Loose

At first glance, this looked like a cranked-out low grade paperback and I expected as much. Boy, was I wrong!! The very first story is about (spoiler here) a gay man who takes his life, but can't leave his old love alone until the Devil comes along to help him out. Each story is that far-reaching and they were all refreshingly different from the same-old-same-old. I didn't find a dud here at all, and kept being pleasantly surprised. How knew that Hell and it's minions could be so entertaining??? I highly recommend it.

Somewhat uneven, but all in all, All Hell Breaking Loose makes for a good read. Mr. Greenberg has done it again, combining fun with funny to produce a book that is light and humorous w/o the fire and brimstone one would expect in such a collection.

All Hell Breaking Loose is an anthology of 16 short stories about hell, and the creatures and souls contained therein. A few of the stories take a serious tone, most are delivered with humor. As with most Greenberg anthologies the vast majority of the stories are great examples of the short story form with a few real klinkers thrown in. A complete list of the short stories and authors are: ** The Name of the Game by P.N. Elrod ** Facing Down Your Demons by Alexander B. Potter ** Hell to Pay by Donald J. Bingle ** Your World, and Welcome to it by Ed Gorman ** The Devil May Care by ElizaBeth Gilligan ** The Curse of Beazoel by David D. Levine ** Poker Boy vs. a Denizen of Gambling Hell by Dean Wesley Smith ** Water Goethe Before the Fall by Alan L. Lickiss ** With Eyes Averted by Tom Piccirlli ** Burning Bridges by David Niall Wilson ** " That's what they all say" by Bradley H. Sinor ** Something Worse Hereafter by Sarah A. Hoyt ** A Fly Came By by Barbara Nickless ** Burning Down the House by Adam Stemple ** Devil in the Details by Daniel M. Hoyt ** Enter all Abandon, Ye Who Hope Here by David Bischoff What was odd about this anthology is it seemed most of the really great stories were clustered toward the back of the book. Burning Down the House is the stand out tale of the entire book, and most of the ones that made be take note were in the back half, so my advice is if you think you're hitting lots of klinkers in the beginning, stick with it. It gets better. Also this is best read with an open mind. If you have very strong religious tendencies, keep in mind that this book has some `different' views of heaven and hell upon occasion, so if you're not cool with that you might want to choose another anthology. Over all, highly recommended to anthology fans everywhere!

This sixteen tale anthology centers on either the denizens of hell picking on a human or two or a trip to hell rarely for that heavenly cause. Many are tongue in cheek (tail in cheek sounds so cheeky) while others are philosophical depending on who owns the media to distribute the message (is hell filled with free will freedom fighters or cruel insurgents) as expected from a collection that includes a net site dubbed InfernoCon. Each contribution is fun to read as Dante and Milton are turned upside down and summed up nicely by John Helfers in the introduction: "they're `mad as hell, and there are not going to take it anymore'. Fans of Twilight Zone like short stories will want a visit to hell and back courtesy of Martin H. Greenberg and sixteen fine authors contributing all new tales in a hand basket. Harriet Klausner