Satan Loves You [Kindle Edition]

Grady Hendrix (Author)

Book Description

Satan hates his job.

Managing Hell is the worst job ever invented and after several millenia of listening to the constant whining of damned souls, the Lord of Darkness is completely and totally burnt out. But there are no holidays in Hell, and now, in the face of a power grab by the officious and smarmy Heavenly Host, Satan's got to reach deep and find a way to save his home from corporate takeover.

Featuring hat-wearing chihuahuas, hyper-violent nuns with poor impulse control, and metaphysical wrestling matches, Satan Loves You is the book for everyone who hates boring books. Do you love romance? Do you adore fantasy epics about anorexic elves who sing? Is your idea of a perfect evening curling up with a cozy mystery and a nice cup of tea? Then go away! Satan Loves You is a high-octane injection of literary adrenaline that annihilates romance, kills elves, and makes hot tea explode into a massive fireball that will melt your face!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Grady Hendrix's fiction has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Strange Horizons, Pseudopod and the anthology "The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination." His nonfiction has appeared in Variety, Slate, Playboy, Time Out New York, the New York Sun and the Village Voice. You can follow every little move he makes at gradyhendrix.com.

Product Details

• File Size: 628 KB
• Print Length: 304 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0983448736
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004XQWLLI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #295,049 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Smart, biting, hilarious June 17, 2011

By Heather

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Look up the word "irreverent" in the OED, and you will find an image of this book. Think Good Omens turned up to 11, with an American twist. Not one sacred cow escapes the meat grinder, but the end result is some pretty tasty hamburger.

It's a fun, quick read - clever language and fast-moving story - and beneath the surface lies an impressively well-constructed world, with a plot and characters to match. SLY wouldn't work so well if its scaffolding were any less solid. This is extremely intelligent satire, the kind that skewers you while you're breathless from laughing.

It is not for everyone, in the same way that Armageddon Ultra Death Super Hot Hot Sauce isn't for everyone. But if satire is in fact your thing, SLY will be the funniest 99-cent book you read this year.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth every one of those ninety-nine pennies December 10, 2011

By L. P. King

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Top-of-mind: If you're easily offended or seriously religious, this book's not for you.

Grady Hendrix tries to do what Christopher Moore has done so well, and while his work's not on a par with Moore's, Satan Loves You is a fun read. The writing and editing are at times spotty (though formatting problems are generally limited to the occasional lack of white space where there should be a break for a change of scene), but Hendrix's capacity to riff in text on a descriptive passage can suck you in until you're wondering where he can possibly go with his purple prose. And then you turn the page and he suprises you by continuing for another ten or twenty lines, until you're bemused and grudgingly admiring. It's effective in the context of a book which never tries to rise above its natural state of ridiculous, to mimic the sublime. Yes, Moore succumbs to that temptation.

And you can take Hendrix's characters and idea, remix them, and tweak them any way you please -- if you care to have fun with his concept. Satan Loves You is licensed under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" license.

The basic story: Satan's in trouble. The archangels want to take over Hell. What will he do without his mission in afterlife? Every way he turns, he's trapped/entrapped. Some of his minions have deserted him -- the Grim Reaper's desertion means thousands of the undead are walking the earth but not as easily recognizable zombies -- and others are so incompetent, they're no match for the archangels. What's an underdog demon to do? Lie and cheat his way out of this pickle, of course.

But you're not reading this ebook for the story. It's more about the over-the-top irreverent portrayals of characters who are mythological but essential to the beliefs of many folks. Hendrix pokes fun at stereotypes and transforms entities about which we know next to nothing -- entities which don't exist as far as many of us are concerned -- into relatable characters with human foibles. He manages to make Satan the anti-hero for whom you cheer throughout the story.

I'd like to give this book five stars for sheer inventiveness, but the plot is far thinner than the ridiculously entertaining imagined scenes from Hell and Heaven, and the characters. (For blatant stereotypes, thinly drawn, they're tons of fun!) If you want to laugh out loud, and skim over the bad parts, this book can be an entertaining read. Hendrix has a great voice.

Apparently most indie authors regard a three-star review as negative (I would have thought it would mean the work is average, taken as a whole), so I'm forced to assign four stars to Satan Loves You. Stacked up against masterpieces of the genre -- whatever it is -- it's not deserving of five. But don't get me wrong: it's fun to read, good for a laugh, and worth your time if you like off-beat irreverent tales. (I couldn't speak for those who read this kind of thing all the time...)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars provides a chortle or two November 27, 2011

By Mrs. D. L. Powell

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I loved the premise of this book. Being able to laugh at Heaven and hell in equal measures is refreshing. And some of the issues satan faces make you laugh, especially when you kinda symapthise with him. Death being sacked - who could have guessed it would lead to such industrial action. And for those of us outside of the US, we definitely saw the funny side of satan being sued for millions for being - well, just being satan really. I am surprised nobody has tried that for real. US does have a reputation for having some areas of society sueing anything and anything.

And I loved the idea of a wrestlemania style build up to the 100 year contest between representatives of each realm. Nero as your right hand man? Classic....lol

So why only 3 stars?? Well, up to the time of the court case it was well paced, lots of irony and humour. It fairly buzzed along. Then it got a little jaded. The characters were a little over the top but the humour slipped off the rails a little bit. Hard to explain this really, but a previous reviewer I think felt the same. It did pick up again right at the end (the nun getting drunk for the first time again had some links with real life) but a huge part of the second section of the book just felt a little hit and miss. I wasn't feeling any bonding with the characters.

Having said that, it is still a good book, and better than many I have read. I guess I am just a bit tight with my star ratings :) To get a 4 star it has to zing from start to finish IMO. To get 5 stars it has to be one I would re-read in the future. (Not too many get 5 stars but I am happy giving out 4 stars).

I take my hat off to the author with this book. A great idea for a story in the style of Douglas Adams meets Terry Pratchett. When reading the first half I thought "this would make a terrific film!" I think it has promise if anyone was brave enough to give it a go :) If you enjoyed Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, this will be up your street.

More About the Author

Grady Hendrix writes badass books for badass people. He's written about the confederate flag for Playboy magazine, about terrible movie novelizations for Film Comment, and about both Jean-Claude Van Damme AND ninja death swarms for Slate. His stories about UFO cults, killer Chinese parasites, Cthulhu dating your mom, and super-genius human-hating apes have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Strange Horizons, Pseudopod, and "The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination."

He's also the co-author of YA series "The Magnolia League," and of the award-winning "Dirt Candy: A Cookbook," the world's first graphic novel cookbook.