Damnation for Beginners
A novella. Dust jacket by Ian McQue. Interior Illustrations by Bob Eggleton.
In his 2006 novel, Scar Night, Alan Campbell introduced readers to an intricate, richly imagined fantasy world, the world of the Deepgate Codex. In subsequent novels and novellas (Iron Angel, Lye Street), Campbell broadened and deepened his ongoing portrait of that astonishing milieu. With Damnation for Beginners, he gives us the most compelling — and surprising — installment to date.
The story begins in the beleaguered city of Cog. The protagonist, Jack Aviso, is himself a cog, a functionary in the soulless, profit-obsessed enterprise known as the Henry Sill Banking Corporation. When a routinely corrupt business transaction shatters both his marriage and his well-ordered life, Jack finds himself — quite literally — in Hell, where he embarks on a perilous, unprecedented journey of revenge.
Moving from the urban desolation of Cog City to the surreal landscape of a marvelously described Hell – a region unlike anything ever encountered in contemporary fiction – Damnation for Beginners is an utterly unique creation, one that combines the baroque pleasures of a powerful imagination with a cogent critique of an all too familiar society dominated by rampant, runaway greed. The result is a strange, wonderful, and terrifying tale, the work of a master storyteller with a wholly original point of view.
Alan Campbell
Alan Campbell, born in Falkirk and educated in Edinburgh, now lives in rural South Lanarkshire. Before picking up his novelist’s pen, he worked as a designer/coder on the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto video games.
The Deepgate Codex
The Deepgate Codex consists of three primary works, and includes two additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Book Reviews
A short but epic cautionary tale of corruption, greed and redemption, beautifully written with gorgeous artwork. This is the tale of man who is taken to the end of his metaphorical tether and decides to exact revenge on the untouchable banker who takes his wife and his life from him. Hell had better expect changes!