The Hellelujah Trail

by Phillip T Stephens

Overview

When the Lord Almighty demands that Lucifer return Pilgrim, a clueless optimist sent to hell by accident, Lucifer devises a scheme to lock his soul away forever. His plan? An anti-faith theme park called Hellelujahland with life-threatening roller coasters and soul-sucking water rides.

Lucifer assigns Pilgrim the task of building the park, believing his complicity will stain his soul. Author Phillip T. Stephens adds this short story, The Hellelujah Trail, to celebrate the paperback release of the parent novel Raising Hell and introduce readers to the Smashwords editions of Raising Hell and it's partner novella, The Worst Noel.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940152386547
Publisher:	Phillip T Stephens
Publication date:	09/18/2015
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

During my freshman year in high school, the principal called me into his office and said, "I hear you're hanging out with left-leaning radicals looking to undermine my authority and the authority of the teachers and the school." Now anyone who knew me, also knew I was the Baptist preacher's kid and I may have been a smart-ass but this was San Marcos, Texas in 1968. Shit kicker country. A town where we woke up to the sound of roosters and aroma of the stockyards. I wouldn't know a leftist from a hash pipe. I said, "Not really, but if you'll point me to them, I'll be glad to join." Principals have no since of humor and so he took me at my word. He failed to point me toward any leftist companions, but he did assume I wished their association. Nor would I dissuade him of his delusion, for I discovered in that moment the safety of hiding behind false assumptions rather than emerging into the light. You see, my parents, staunch fundamentalists (my father a Baptist minister and my mother a Presbyterian who married a Baptist minister) believed aliens were the devil's deception, like fossils and evolution. What a wonderfully cruel joke the aliens played on them when they left me on their doorstep on Christmas Eve. Alien babies can't be distinguished from humans. My parents had difficulties adjusting to alien adolescence, but they preferred it to demon possession. Nonetheless, the many hours I spent writing human dialogue in an attempt to master human role playing evolved into fiction and made me the writer I am today. I'm still an embarrassment to my parents, but an adopted alien fiction writer is no less an embarrassment than any other fiction writer who can't get a real job. (Phillip and his wife Carol rescue and foster Alien-Siamese hybrids in Austin, Texas hoping to rehome them, implant free, before the invasion. You can find many warm loving hybrids, indistinguishable from earhling kitties at austinsiameserescue.org.)