Raising Hell

Overview

Taking aim at both Christian fundamentalists and corporate CEOs, Raising Hell is a rousing account of the fight to improve working conditions in Hell, a cause taken up by the likes of Jimmy Hoffa, John L. Lewis, and César Chávez. This volume also features “The Abnormal New Normal,” an essay that casts a cold and critical eye on current trends in popular culture, showing how they reflect the domination of the one percent and suggesting a radical fix. The book closes with an Outspoken Interview, a mix of intimate revelation, celebrity gossip, insight, opinion, and outright lies.

Reviews

"Norman Spinrad, like his characters, takes great risks; the rewards for readers willing to meet him halfway are commensurate."  —New York Times Book Review

"Spinrad is without a doubt one of the best contemporary American novelists. Endowed with an acuity as terrifying as it is pertinent."  —Rolling Stone

"Norman Spinrad has a rich and passionate imagination. At once subtle and humane, he's a very fine writer indeed, working at the peak of his gifts."  —Greg Bear, author, Blood Music, Darwin's Radio, and The Forge of God

"Norman Spinrad, one of the sacred heroes of my coming-of-age as a writer, has never quit redefining his role as dissident and sage, inviting the bullies of the present moment outside for a throwdown, and somehow also conjuring possible futures despite all the odds against those—he's that most miraculous of creatures, a Utopianist's Dystopianist."  —Jonathan Lethem, author, Gun, with Occasional Music

"When DiAngelo works with other union leaders to establish a new bargaining agreement between Heaven and Hell, he opens up a rebellion on a celestial scale and provides a opening for corporate monsters to exploit people in the afterlife." —Publishers Weekly

"Jimmy DiAngelo is in Hell, but he's faced worse situations as a disreputable union organizer. . . .  When DiAngelo works with other union leaders to establish a new bargaining agreement between Heaven and Hell, he opens up a rebellion on a celestial scale." —Publishers Weekly

"Norman Spinrad delivers the best of both worlds: engaging tales populated with flesh and blood people that leave seeds of doubt and speculation buried deep in our minds." —Paul Di Filippo, locusmag.com

Author Biography

Norman Spinrad is a science fiction writer, an essayist, and a critic. A winner of a Hugo Award and two Nebula Awards, Spinrad twice served as the president of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He is the author of more than 20 novels, including Bug Jack Barron, The Druid King, The Iron Dream, and Mexica. He lives in New York City.