office hahaha. The reader gets small descriptions here and there about details that make being in Hell In her debut novel, Sign Here, author Claudia Lux presents a modern vision of hell as a capitalist bureaucracy of the most inane, obnoxious variety. For months, I was looking forward to Sign Here, the debut novel by Claudia Lux. Apart from its eye-catching cover, the synopsis sounded wholly original: A guy working in Hell? That could be both fun and horrifying! I was thrilled to get an advance copy of this novel, even if it turned out to be a very different book than I’d expected.

I enjoyed the chapters, characters, and storylines focused on Hell more than the one on Earth (what does that say about me?). Lux did a great job weaving suspense, mystery, and red herrings throughout. Although most of the final reveals were predictable, they were still satisfying. There was a lot of "will he, won't he, oh he better not" going on with a certain character. You already have a lot of ideas about Hell. It’s amazing what Dante and thousands of years of folklore can do to a place’s reputation… On the top floors… it’s not the fire and brimstone thing you think it might be. It’s music that’s too loud, food that’s too rubbery, and kissing with too much tongue. Doesn’t sound that bad, right? But don’t forget, it’s forever. I mean, for-all-time forever… You can’t possibly fathom eternity; your little mortal brain will explode.” This is absurd, smart, morbid, entertaining, dark comedy meets murder mystery and dysfunctional family drama! Do you enjoy Christopher Moore and Grady Hendrix novels? If your answer is yes, you don’t wanna miss this one! Despite being an agent of Hell, Peyote tries to treat both his “clients” and his co-workers with dignity and honor, especially when it comes to helping his new co-worker, Calamity, adjust to the myriad annoyances of life on the fifth floor. Peyote and his peers bring five pens everywhere, because the first four will never work. If a soul hates country music, it will be the only station available on their radio and it cannot be turned off. No food is truly hot or cold, and neither is any living space. Lux’s Hell is the epitome of absolute discomfort, like an itchy wool sweater on a humid day.What about the mighty, dysfunctional, estranged Harrisons? The family is all set to take a family vacation at their New Hampshire house!

Calamity while she was alive. Cal’s story could be a short story of its own. I’m still very interested in One of my favorite memories from writing this book was one night, when I was wrapping up, I decided to write the first sentence of the next chapter, just so I could have something to start off with when I returned. So there I was, a little loopy from sitting alone in my study for hours on end late into the night, and I got this kind of cheeky, mischievous feeling, like right before you challenge someone to eat a pepper you know is super-hot, and I typed: ‘Calamity Gannon, humandifferent path right until everything unfolded. Having the younger kids gives the story a coming of age

J]ust like on Earth, nothing in this hilarious and surprisingly sweet journey through Hell goes as planned.”During practice several kids start making fun of her until, unexpectedly, fierce girl Ruth comes to her This is one of the rare moments where a book is completely original. I can't relate it to anything and that deserves high praise. In Peyote and Calamity's chaotic, petty Hell, the byzantine power plays can be a little hard to follow, but usually with funny results whenever a scheme comes to a head. Primarily a dark comedy, gore and sexual content are over-the-top when they come up. A light entry in the collection for the reader who misses when Christopher Moore wrote about vampires." - Library Journal I love writing for so much more than telling a story — and I really love telling stories! I love the way certain words feel in my mouth, I love how they can string together to imitate the increased pounding of a heartbeat or the deep breaths of a languid summer afternoon. I love onomatopoeia (a word my dad used to make me spell before he’d buy me whatever sugary thing I was begging for — very effective) and double entendres and saying just enough to make the reader experience my point, instead of reading it. So a lot of my writing starts there: with the words themselves.

A darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul. The Harrisons seem like any other family: husband, wife, two kids. Except they all have secrets. As they head to their lake house for the summer, Peyote and his coworker, Calamity, are in pursuit. But nothing goes as planned for either party. A clever, fun, and uniquely original story about a guy, Peyote, who works in hell. His job is to collect souls from desperate people on earth. He's been working on the troubled, wealthy Harrison family for decades. He only needs one more Harrison soul to complete the coveted set of 5.Conceptually, Sign Here has potential. But the execution makes it feel like several disjointed stories instead of one cohesive whole.