Hell is Under New Management
06/20/09By S.A. Alenthony
Dante Alighieri’s magnificent Inferno has ruled for centuries as literature’s most imaginative depiction of the fates of the damned. As a masterwork of allegorical fantasy, it stands unequaled. As a survey of the true causes of human misery, it fails utterly, built as it was upon a medieval religious worldview divorced from reality. S.A. Alenthony’s The Infernova is the new book that rectifies this error by turning the classic vision of the Christian hell upside-down. Retelling the poem from an atheist’s perspective, the story parallels Dante’s descent through nine infamous circles where increasingly pernicious sinners endure their symbolic punishments. The upper circles house the minor offenders: those who lacked clarity or promoted fallacious arguments. The middle levels inc! arcerate those who preyed upon-and profited from-irrationality: paranormalists, conspiracy theorists, astrologers, and their ilk. Lower and yet darker realms are reserved for religion’s criminals, such as televangelist-frauds, pedophile-priests, and terrorists, while at the pit’s nadir reside the legions of the world’s prophets and a virtual menagerie of the countless gods born of their fevered imaginations. Dante was famously accompanied on his journey by his revered hero, the Roman poet Virgil. In The Infernova, it is the satirical and irreligious gadfly Mark Twain who takes the role of guide and companion. As their odyssey continues, the dangers of irrational and mystical thinking grow more clear, and their dialogues and encounters with hell’s residents provide a unique tableau on which to set out the arguments against supernaturalism. Mythological traditions have long used narratives and parables as vehicles to get! their messages across. While secular writers have produced a steady s tream of quality non-fiction recently, works of fiction and poetry are more rare. The Infernova addresses the paucity of atheist imaginative writing, and will be of interest to all manner of freethinkers, humanists, and skeptical persons looking for a different kind of deconstruction of the world’s superstitions. S.A. Alenthony was slated to be a Christian by accident of birth, became a doubter instead by choice, and is a physicist by education. He and his wife Claire are raising their two freethinking kids in the relatively moderate state of Minnesota. The Infernova is available for $14.95 beginning June 19, 2009. Distribution is through the Lightning Source (Ingram) channel, and the book will be available at all popular online bookstores.
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