A Short Stay in Hell

Name: A Short Stay in Hell
ISBN: 978-0983748427

by Steven L. Peck

Publisher

Strange Violin Editions

Publication

Mar 20, 2012

Format

Paperback/Softback

Illustrated

Price

$11.11

Dimensions

6 x 9 x 0.27 in

ISBN

978-0983748427

ASIN

098374842X

Pages

108

Age

Adult 18+

Rights Sold

LanguageItalianCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerBlackie Edizioni

LanguageEnglishCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerHatteras Path LLC

LanguagePolishCountryPolandAgentGRAAL Literary AgencyBuyerMUZA SA

LanguageArabicCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerDarArab

LanguageKoreanCountryWorldwideAgentLENA AgencyBuyerJaeum & Moeum Publishing Co., Ltd.

LanguageEnglishCountryUnited KingdomAgent-BuyerPenguin Random House UK

LanguageCroatianCountryWorldwideAgentPLIMA D.O.O.BuyerPresshaus

LanguageLithuanianCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerKitos Knygos

LanguagePortugueseCountryPortugalAgent-BuyerBertrand Editora, Lda.

LanguagePortugueseCountryBrazilAgent-BuyerEditora Intrínseca Ltda.

LanguageSerbianCountryWorldwideAgentPLIMA D.O.O.BuyerVulkan izdavaštvo

LanguageGermanCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerPendragon Verlag

LanguageEnglishCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerTo Be Announced.

*DropCap does not represent Thai Print, Spanish Print, Turkish Print language rights

Description

An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he'll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life.

In this haunting existential novella, author, philosopher, and ecologist Steven L. Peck explores a subversive vision of eternity, taking the reader on a journey through the afterlife of a world where everything everyone believed in turns out to be wrong.

A Short Stay in Hell has entered a phase of accelerated national discovery. Amazon review counts grew from approximately 4,000 to over 10,900 in just over one year, with review velocity increasing rather than declining over time. Notably, the most rapid growth occurs in late 2025 and early 2026, indicating a second-life expansion rather than launch-driven sales.

This growth coincides with sustained high reader ratings on Goodreads and continued uptake across formats, suggesting organic word-of-mouth rather than promotional spikes. The data are consistent with a cult literary work crossing into broader cultural visibility, driven by reader recommendation networks and cross-genre appeal.

Awards & Endorsements

The Salt Lake Tribune: For what appears to be the first time, a Latter-day Saint author numbered among the great English fiction writers

“No Mormon or Mormon-adjacent writer that I know of,” says a literature historian, “has ever been featured in this prestigious series of books.”

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/06/12/byu-professors-a-short-stay-hell/

Jeopardy host and author Ken Jennings

"An irresistible invention, Peck has somehow squeezed all of human experience, not to mention near-infinite expanses of space and time, into one miraculously slim novella. You won't be able to stop thinking about this book."

Wall Street Journal: Five Best Books on the Eternal Questions

"Religious texts going back to ancient Babylon and Egypt have tried to answer the central mystery of life and death: "What is eternity like?" But most have failed to grapple with what is potentially the most salient fact about eternity: that, by definition, it's really, really long. "A Short Stay in Hell" begins when a man dies of cancer and discovers in the afterlife that, having failed to embrace the one true religion (Zoroastrianism, it turns out), he will be thrust down to hell. But because the protagonist was a bookish sort, his soul is assigned to a near-infinite realm
inspired by Jorge Luis Borges's classic story "The Library of Babel." The mathematical reality of infinity is revealed to be a yawning existential nightmare as scary as the sewer clown or tentacled Cthulhu in any horror novel. Steven L. Peck, an evolutionary biologist, applies a scientist's rigor to the rules of this unusual afterlife and pulls off a remarkable trick: a slim novella that can be read in an hour or two, but contains a vastness that will linger in the imagination."

- Jeopardy host and author Ken Jennings for the Wall Street Journal

Screen Rant: Ten Recent Horror Books That Will Become Classics

"A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck delved into the existential horror of the afterlife as an ordinary man dies and finds himself not reunited with his family but in his own personal Hell. Set within a vast library containing every book ever written, Soren can escape by finding the story of his life, and only then will he be freed to enjoy heavenly bliss. Within his literary prison, Soren encounters others and, over more than a thousand years, discovers love and joy in an emotional journey that gets to the very heart of the human experience.

"With elements of The Good Place, Dante’s Inferno, and Sartre’s No Exit, A Short Stay in Hell was a thoughtful examination of the horrors of eternity and the essential nature of hope. Taking major influence from “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges, Soren’s endless pursuit of discovering his own story explored the idea of what immortality would be like if forced to endlessly conduct a seemingly impossible task. While not a typical horror story, the psychological dread and dark realities of Peck’s brief novella made it truly frightening to ponder."

Nightmare Magazine: The Horrors Persist but So Do We

"There are little gems that pop up sometimes with the raw energy that seems to grip everybody by the throat. Most recently Steven L. Peck’s A Short Stay in Hell has seen a monumental rise in readers ... A Short Stay in Hell is very, very good. So good, it’s reached a largely united consensus online: that shit is scary."

Author(s)

Steven L. Peck

When I was in seventh grade, I wrote a long epic poem about a weasel. It was full of pathos, adventure, heartbreak, and sorrow. It might have been the greatest poem ever written. But alas it is lost. My teacher liked it well enough she had me read it to the class. After, a kid who had tormented me endlessly, chasing me home from school nearly every day to beat me up (he never caught me, I was like a deer in those days), came up and with tears in his eyes (TEARS!), said, 'Peck. That's the best thing you've ever done.' The power of poetry! I was hooked on being a writer from that moment on. http://stevepeckniche.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_L._Peck