Dark Day, Bright Hour
Julie Frost
ISBN 9798884370630
ASIN B0D62VZ2M7
I was intrigued by this volume from when I first heard about it. But I could not find the physical or eBook anywhere. I added it to a ‘wishlist’ and kept checking from time to time. Then about a year before I read it, it appeared on Kindle again, I grabbed it, but life being busy and with my every growing ‘to be read’ pile it got lost in the shuffle. It was not until a read an anthology, Hairballs, Hiccups and Hope, that Frost had contributed to that I went to look and saw I bought it a year earlier. It was the next fiction book I started! It did not disappoint, I could hardly put it down, in fact I stayed up way to late reading one night and when I woke early the next morning started right back in.
The description of this volume for the 2024 released version states:
“A choir girl cast into the Pit through an egregious clerical error
Her strapping Guardian Angel
A condemned hitman
... and Derek
--a crossroads demon who's been secretly storing up power for millennia.
He wants revenge on everyone on his extensive list, from Lucifer all the way up to Daddy and every devil and angel between. It's a frankly impossible goal for a low-level guy like him, but "dream big" is his motto and sheer spite keeps him going.
Now he’s stuck escorting three idiots through Hell—and Derek has a history with the angel, thanks very much.
An infernal rebellion looms along with a premature Armageddon, and the black and withered thing Derek used to call a conscience rears its stupid, stupid head. He's faced with a choice.
Rescue friends he never thought he'd make from a boss he never really thought he'd defy, at the possible cost of his life, such as it is...
Or let it all burn and dance in the ashes.”
The description listed for the 2020 edition states:
“Derek's been secretly storing up power for millennia, because he wants revenge on everyone on his list—and it’s a very long list. But as a low-level crossroads demon, his chances of success are pretty much zero. Now he’s stuck escorting three idiots through Hell: a condemned hitman, a choir girl cast into the Pit by a clerical error, and her guardian angel—with whom Derek has a history, thanks very much. With an infernal rebellion looming, along with a premature Armageddon, the black and withered thing Derek used to call a conscience rears its stupid head. Now he has a choice...Rescue friends he never thought he'd have from a boss he never thought he'd defy. Or let it all burn and dance in the ashes.”
About the author we are informed:
“Julie Frost grew up an Army brat, traveling the globe. She thought she might settle down after she finished school, but then married a pilot and moved six times in seven years. She's finally put down roots in Utah with her family—a herd of guinea pigs, her husband, and a "kitten" who thinks she's a warrior princess—and a collection of anteaters and Oaxacan carvings, some of which intersect. She enjoys birding and nature photography, which also intersect, and managed to photograph 500 bird species in 2023. Utilizing her degree in biology, she writes werewolf fiction while completely ignoring the physics of a protagonist who triples in mass. Her novels are available on Amazon.”
In the afterward Julie states:
“This novel began with a simple premise from an anthology call: your character dies in the first scene and spends the rest of the story in their version of the Underworld. Me being me (I try to put the “fun” in “fundamentalism”), that was right up my alley, so I started scribbling away.
Back then, I didn’t outline. I’m typing merrily along, it’s going great, five thousand, eight thousand, ten thousand—
Record scratch.
I was ten thousand words into a story with an eighteen-thousand word limit when I realized that this was not a novelette. It was a full-blown novel. A full-blown novel, moreover, that I didn’t have the chops to write. I sighed and closed the document. For several years.
I honed my craft. I learned how to outline. Every once in a while, I’d open the doc, re-read what I’d written, enjoy it thoroughly, and close it again.
The day came when I girded my loins and kept it open. Along with a Save the Cat outline spreadsheet, the seven-point plot arc, and the three-act structure. Yep, all three. I was going to by-golly figure out where this thing was going. And I was tooling right along until I had one of those oh-shit moments.”
She also states:
“By that point, I’d finished the outline and knew three things about this story.
1. It was going to be short. 47,000 words, give or take, is about half the length of a regular novel.
2. It was way too Christian for the secular market. I am not one for writing beat-you-over-the-head message fic, but... I sorta-kinda did here. In between all the damnation, swordplay, and screaming.
3. It was too gritty for the Christian market. My co-religionists would have my head over the language, violence, nudity, and overall awfulness on just about every page. Not to mention that ending. Redeeming a demon? That sort of thing doesn’t generally fly with my people.
Bottom line, I was going to have to self-publish this thing. And therefore I could throw caution to the winds and write it the way I wanted to.”
While reading this I thought a lot about 2 books I read about 30 years ago. The first was For Love of Evil book 6 in the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony and the second was To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust with an introduction by Roger Zelazny.
This story was so hard to put down! Yes it is told in alternating first person narratives, featuring 4 characters. And those 4 characters are masterfully written. You will instantly find yourself rooting for them. First as they journey to encounter the Morningstar himself; and then as they journey to the river and possible freedom. A feat never previously achieved. The pace is excellent. The action at times is very intense. And the plot masterful!
Frost herself states that will be issues with the book, too Christian for mainstream, and too edgy for lots of Christians. And I would agree. As much as I loved this volume, there are a lot of people I would not recommend it to. A lot of Catholic parents read my blog for reviews of books for their kids. I would not recommend this for any tweens, and to be honest most teens. It would however be a good option for the Young Adult and adult audience. It is Dantesque and the depictions of activities in hell are intense. They might turn your stomach. Reminds me of a review of Dante I wrote in secondary school stating it could not have been divine revelation because the punishments were not severe enough, and I outlined what I thought were more appropriate punishments. A lot has changed in the last 40 years and Some of Frost’s punishments are very intense.
Even with the above I really appreciated this story. I am thankful to have finally read it, and to be honest I home at some point we get further adventures of some of the characters. Wow, what a moving read.
Books by Julie Frost:
Bear Essentials
Cry Havoc
Daddy's Little Girl
Full Ride
Goldie Dreams In Colors: Humans Cannot See
Largely Deceased
Pack Dynamics
Pack Dynamics: A Price to Pay
Pack Dynamics: Bite-Sized
Pack Dynamics: Phases
Servile Spirits to Invent
That Which is Hidden: Digital Fantasy Fiction Short Story
To Be Men: Stories Celebrating Masculinity
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
Wild Souls: A Werewolf Collection
…
Contributed to:
1st and Starlight
2nd and Starlight
A Year of the Monkeys
Alluring Dread
Astounding Frontiers #4
Astounding Frontiers Issue #5
Astounding Frontiers, Issue #6
Chronology
Crazy Town: A Dark Anthology
Creepy Campfire Quarterly #5
Curiosities #3 Summer 2018
Far Orbit Apogee
Far Orbit: Speculative Space Adventures
Infinity Cluster
Jouth #2
Jouth Anthology Vol. 1
Largely Deceased
Literal Illusion
Neo-opsis Issue 28
Planetary Anthology: Jupiter
Planetary Anthology: Mars
Planetary Anthology: Saturn
Planetary Anthology: Uranus
Planetary Anthology: Venus
PulpRev Sampler Anthology 2017
Ravenwood Halloween Special
Roll the Bones: Fantastic Tales from Fight On!
Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three
StoryHack Action & Adventure, #0
StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue 1
StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Four
StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Two
Stupefying Stories 19
Stupefying Stories 23
Supernatural Streets
Tales of Ruma
Talons and Talismans I
The Death God's Chosen
The Horror at Pooh Corner
The Monster Hunter Files
The Ways of Magic
Writers of the Future Vol. 32
You're Not Alone
…
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