Hellfire & Damnation II by Connie (Corcoran) Wilson

HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II by Connie (Corcoran) Wilson is the sequel to 2011’s award-winning short story collection HELLFIRE & DAMNATION(www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com). The common framing device is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell and the crimes punished at each in Dante’s INFERNO. The first book won Pinnacle, NABE, E-Lit and Silver Feather awards and was called “blazingly original” by reviewers. [There is no need to have read the first collection to enjoy the second.]

JON LAND, author of the New York Times Best-selling Caitlin Strong series, said: “Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II is a remarkable collection of somber, norish, flat-out scary and altogether satisfying stories that seek to find hope in a dark world that defies it. Her subtle irony and penchant for finding terror in the least expected places will generate comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, with just a hint of Philip K. Dick thrown in. But don’t be fooled. Wilson has a wondrous voice in her own right and her tight, twisty tales establish her as a force to be reckoned with.”

NATE KENYON, award-winning author of DIABLO: THE ORDER and DAY ONE said:
“Take a twisted ride through Hell and back with Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s Hellfire & Damnation II…..Frozen corpses, homicidal authors and sociopathic presidential candidates just scratch the surface of this inspired collection. Don’t miss it!”

Five-time Bram Stoker (R) winner GARY BRAUNBECK said, “I really don’t know how she managed to do it, but Wilson surpasses her previous HELLFIRE & DAMNATION collection with its sequel. Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe. This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better. Seriously, Connie: can’t you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?”

TERRIE LEIGH RELF, author of THE WATERS OF NYR and co-author, with Henry Lewis Sanders, of BLOOD JOURNEY and THE ANCIENT ONE said, “Whether Connie (Corcoran) Wilson has been visited by Dante’s spirit or eavesdropping by Hell’s confessionals, HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II definitely delivers on its title. There is a fine line between good and evil within these pages. A very fine line. Be careful that you don’t teeter into the abyss.”

BRIAN PINKERTON, author of ROUGH CUT: “Connie Wilson’s new short story collection HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II sends the reader spiraling down Dante’s 9 Circles of Hell with devilish twists and turns of time and place, across eleven superb short stories.”

If you enjoy thought-provoking, frightening short stories that will linger in your imagination long after you’ve finished reading them, this is the book for you.

HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II is available as an E-book exclusively from Amazon for 90 days for $2.99 and will be FREE October 27, 29, 29, 30 and 31, leading up to Halloween. It is available in paperback ($10.95) on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble and from the publisher, The Merry Blacksmith of Warwick, Rhode Island ($10.95). Autographed copies can be secured from the book’s website, www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com, which features trailers and reviews for both the first and second books in the award-winning series.

*****

Dr. Sharon Mitchell, author of “School Daze” said : “Upfront, I’ll say that I usually don’t enjoy short story collections. I find that many short stories leave me unsatisfied; the stories in some collections just don’t hang together or have a forced relationship.

But, with this book, I make an exception. Ms. Corcoran Wilson’s stories DO hang together.

Perhaps this book works so well because of the stories’ structure. The book follows the format of Dante’s nine circles of hell (limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery). Each story is unique (from contemporary to historical to western and paranormal), and depicts one of these nine circles of hell. You want to read on to see what the next circle might bring. Each story feels complete within itself and says something about the human condition. Rather than leaving the reader reeling from the horror, Wilson is at the same time able to show hope.

Most remarkable are the illustrations. We’ve become used to ebooks possessing only one picture – the cover shot. But this book has relevant drawings throughout. The paperback version is enhanced even further with more pictures. The From the Author section at the end lets us know what inspired each story.

I was skeptical that I’d enjoy noirish stories. I began reading this book dubiously and was won over, needing to finish “just one more” each time I tried to stop reading. Nice going Ms. Wilson!

Five-time Bram Stoker (R) winner GARY BRAUNBECK said: “I really don’t know how she managed to do it, but Wilson surpasses her previous HELLFIRE & DAMNATION collection with its sequel. Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe. This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better. Seriously, Connie, can’t you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?”

New York Times best-selling author JON LAND, the author of the Caitlin Strong series says: “Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II is a remarkable collection of somber, noirish, flat-out scary and altogether satisfying stories that seek to find hope in a dark world that defies it. Her subtle irony and penchant for finding terror in the least expected places will generate comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, with just a hint of Philip K. Dick thrown in. But don’t be fooled: Wilson has a wondrous voice in her own right and her tight, twisty tales establish her as a force to be reckoned with.”

NATE KENYON, award-winning author of Diablo: The Order and Day One said:
“Take a twisted ride through Hell and back with Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION II…..Frozen corpses, homicidal authors and sociopathic presidential candidates just scratch the surface of this inspired collection. Don’t miss it!”

The book will be on a Premier Author Virtual tour of 13 blogs beginning in October. Check that website or www.WeeklyWilson.com for dates when they become available.

*****

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a Master’s degree and 30 hours beyond. (She has also studied at Berkeley, the University of Chicago, Western Illinois University and Northern Illinois University.) Wilson taught writing for 33 years at 6 IA/IL colleges and at the junior high school level, founded 3 successful businesses. She has 2 children born 20 years apart and has been married to husband, Craig, for 45 years. She lives in Chicago and in the Illinois Quad Cities, where she founded the second Sylvan Learning Center and Prometric Testing Center in the state of Iowa. She was named Content Producer of the Year in politics by the 400,000 member Associated Content (which is now the 600,000 member Yahoo) in 2008 for her coverage of the 2008 campaign, covered politics, movies and TV for Yahoo, and is a featured contributer to Yahoo as well as 9 other blogs, including her own, www.WeeklyWilson.com. She was awarded the Silver Feather award by the Chicago chapter of Illinois Women’s Press Association on June 5, 2012, and named Midwest Writing Center Writer of the Year. (March 20, 2010). She was film and book critic for the Quad City Times for 15 years and is the author of 2 novels, 1 book on teaching, 2 books of humorous essays, 1 illustrated children’s book, 1 Writer’s Digest award-winning screenplay and 5 short story collections. The second novel in “The Color of Evil” trilogy, “Red Is for Rage,” will be released in January, 2013.(www.ConnieCWilson.com)