God's Demon

This was originally meant to be incorporated into the previous post, but I forgot. I fell out with Christianity a long time ago, but I have always been fascinated by its mythology. The Judeo-Christian concept of the War in Heaven is gripping stuff. I first heard of it in horror movies, but information in the Bible was scarce. When I was a junior in high school, we read Milton's Paradise Lost. For all that it was Renaissance poetry, written in imitation of classics like The Iliad, it read like a steampunk science fantasy novel. The first book, dealing with Lucifer and the Fall was riveting. The second book, dealing with Adam, Eve and the Fall of Man, was less so. I haven't read it in years, nor thought of it overmuch.

Last week while I was off, I trekked over to Churchland, to visit the Book Owl used book store. I had a pile of books taking up space, and I was looking for something new (to me at least) to read. I sort of tripped over God's Demon. The book was written and published in 2007 by the artist Wayne Barlowe. Some of you might be familiar with his earlier works, Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, or his alien travelogue Expedition. A more recent work was Barlowe's Inferno, which illustrated various places and personages of Hell. God's Demon grew out of that work. Sargatanas is a Demon Major, one of the angels who sided with Lucifer against Heaven. He is cruel and terrible, all of the things a Lord of Hell is meant to be, yet secretly he yearns for redemption, to return to the Above. Eventually he foments a rebellion in Hell, promising to lead any demon or human soul back to Heaven.

This isn't a review, as such, because I haven't finished the book. I just wanted to share. A word of warning, though. It is NOT for the faint of heart. There are scenes of stomach-churning intensity. There are some illustrations on the author's website, and extrapolating from those has given me fodder for many nightmares.

I suppose a link is in order.

http://www.godsdemon.com