A Thousand Fiendish Angels: Stories Inspired By Dante's Inferno (6 page)

Pentecost (available free to download)

Prophecy
 

Exodus
 

One Day In Budapest

Author's Note
 

These short stories were written as part of an online contest for the launch of Dan Brown's thriller novel, Inferno, run by Kobo. The competition was called The Descent and was based on Dante's Inferno. These stories featured as the beginning of a transmedia game that linked to special websites, and used symbols and numbers from the books as clues to lead to the next step in the contest.
 

I was given a brief to write three interlinking stories, using the symbolism of Dante's Inferno, and grouped into the main categories of sin. In this collection, the stories have been re-ordered to represent the passage of time, with the book of human skin linking the generations who possess it. There are layers of symbolism in the stories as described below, and you can see many related
images here on Pinterest
.
 

Language and imagery used by Dante in Inferno:
 

As part of the preparation for writing, I read a modern translation of Inferno and made notes on the text, writing down images and specific words to use in my stories that would echo the dark, horrific depths of the rings of Hell.
 

In Flesh, the bloated dead body of the tattooed author echoes the Gluttonous who lie in a "
vile slush of ceaseless foul
". The images of the Lustful on the wall, and the stormy valley crossing, reflect the souls blown back and forth by wind with no rest. The desecrated church is of my own imagination but inspired by reading H.P. Lovecraft horror short stories.
 

In Treachery, Simon whispers "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war," spoken by Anthony after the murder of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play. The traitors who led that insurrection are in the deepest circle of Inferno, in the mouth of Satan himself. The Arctic location echoes Dante's Hell which is encased in ice and the entrance is through a 'precipice of dark-tinted water'. The tortured, distorted bodies of the men in the ice pillar reflect the terrible wounds of the treacherous and the fraudulent, some torn apart and disemboweled by demons for eternity.
 

In Violence, the city of Dis itself is portrayed, surrounding the lower parts of Hell in Dante. The title of this series comes from Canto VIII, where 'a thousand fiendish angels' sit perched on the gates of the city. The bodies on the thorn bushes are Suicides in Inferno, but I used them as a device to show the depravity of the ruler. The Minotaur and the Furies are used, as are the heretics in their burning graves within the city. This story was influenced by the post-apocalyptic genre and I enjoyed it so much, there might be a full-length work coming in the same vein at some point!
 

Symbolism:
 

Many of the symbols are from the occult, esoteric religion and myth and were used to evoke the atmosphere of Inferno and also to lead to further clues within the original game.
 

In Flesh, the door covered in occult symbols includes the medal of St Benedict, a Catholic sacramental medal used to ward off evil. The images on the walls are from Khajuraho, a real Hindu temple in Madhya Pradesh, India, which is carved with images of explicit sexual positions. William Blake's Circle of the Lustful is a real watercolor, depicting a whirling vortex of naked lovers. The symbol on the flagstone that hides the book is the Seal of Asmodeus, King of Demons from the Book of Tobit and also mentioned in the Talmud.
 

In Treachery, symbols of the planets, astrological signs and their alchemical metals are shown on the safe door, featuring the iron of Mars, the god of war, and Mercury's quicksilver, ruling planet of the twins of Gemini.

In Violence, the Mark of the Minotaur is an orb cupped in a bowl on top of an inverted cross, the symbol for Pluto, God of the Underworld.

Names of characters:
 

In Flesh, the dead author Christopher Faerwald: Inferno is the story of a traveler through the circles of Hell, and Christopher is the patron saint of travellers, while Faerwald is an old English word for traveler.
 

In Treachery, Simon Magus is punished in the Eighth circle for Fraud, and Gestas was the impenitent thief crucified alongside Jesus, greedy for more.
 

In Violence, Ariadne helped Theseus to kill the Minotaur, although I portray her as the heroine. The name of the drug Vir-Gil is a homage to Dante's guide through Inferno, the poet Virgil.
 

If you'd like more information on The Descent, here's the
Kobo press release for the contest
and
here's an article that covered it in Wired
. The contest finished in mid May 2013, but
in this article, Kobo explain all the symbolism and links through the books
.

Desecration - J.F.Penn

PROLOGUE

The body of the young woman lies on her back, blonde hair neatly arrayed in a sunburst around her head. She looks like an angel and I bend to adjust a lock of her hair, carefully disguising the deep wound in her skull. At least I can leave her face looking as beautiful as it did in life. Her lips are still painted with wine red lipstick, slightly smudged from where she drank with me. But that mouth whispered words of disturbing truth not so long ago, and I couldn't let her unleash that reality into the world. There is too much at stake and even she was not enough to make me give that up.
 

I pull on a pair of sterile gloves and breathe a sigh of relief as I slip into my second skin. They make me feel safe, a barrier against the world and yet somehow heightening the sensation in my hands. I always carry a pair, and tonight they serve a noble purpose. I brush her lips with gentle fingertips, some part of me wanting to feel a last breath. But I know she is dead, for I feel the lack of her. What made her alive is now gone and I wonder if she is already on another plane of reality, wondering how she got there, questioning why this life flew by so fast. This is but a body, just another corpse, and I know how to deal with corpses.
 

In a medical institution, it isn't hard to find a scalpel and I pull open the drawers in the training lab until I find an appropriate one. Returning to the body I use the 22 blade to cut a line through the crimson satin dress that clings to the curves near her hips. The material bunches slightly so I have to hold it down for the scalpel to slice through, but I manage to cut away a square of material, like operating drapes revealing the area for treatment. The blade is so sharp that I can sense the layer of material separate from the firmness of her skin and I feel a rush of pleasure at the sensation.

Beginning the incision, I slice across the soft lower belly. Her flesh is still warm, skin smooth and untainted, and I envy the beauty she carried so unconsciously. The scalpel slices down, a precision instrument in my hand and a line of blood rises to the surface. Even though her heart has stopped, it is as if this body still clings to life.
 

I feel something, a breath of air on my cheek and I freeze, scalpel in place on her skin. I know it must be nothing, but a shiver passes over me regardless. Perhaps it is the soul of the newly deceased taking one last look around this cabinet of curiosities, trying to understand her place amongst the many dead. For her body lies surrounded by tall glass display cases, packed full of the anatomical preparations for which the Hunterian Museum is famous. Body parts line up here in a macabre apothecary's shop, strange and bizarre with colors of pus, bone and decay. It is hard to tell what lies inside the conical jars of varying sizes until you lean closer to look inside or read the brief text that refers to each specimen. Stoppered and sealed with black tape, beads of condensation have formed on the lids as if what is inside still breathes. I can almost hear the dead cry out, drowned again each night in liquid preservation, and it makes me want to emulate the master anatomist in my own work. I stop for a moment to gaze at my inspiration.
 

Some of the organs are flower like, petals opening and fronds almost waving in the liquid, like sea creatures of delicate, strange beauty. Ruffles like tissue paper conceal a parcel of flesh that was once part of a living human. In one container sits a gigantic foot, cut off at the ankle, swollen with elephantiasis to four times life-size. Black toenails erupt from the end of grotesque toes, skin swollen to bursting, puckered and discolored. Every time I look into these cabinets I see something new, even though I have been coming here for many years, a pilgrimage to that which gives meaning to my own work. I glimpse the trunk of a baby crocodile, decapitated with its legs and tail brutally sawn off. Next to it, the trunk of a human fetus, barely as big as my hand, limbs and head removed, the tiny chest opened up to reveal the internal organs.
 

There are lizards, cut open, limbs posed as if they are running away, scuttling across this landscape of trapped souls. The body of a crayfish, tail curled under, protecting thousands of tiny eggs, and next to it, fat grubs and caterpillars, the larvae of hybrid insects. Quintuple fetuses are displayed in one case, tiny bodies with mouths open in horror, like corporeal dolls the color of ghosts. For the early anatomists were allowed to use the bodies of those that died within the mother, considering them specimen before human. Nowadays I have to work in secret, wary of judgment from those who don't understand the mysteries I can solve with flesh. This body is so precious that I cannot waste the opportunity to take what might further my research.
 

The sounds of the party filter upwards, laughter made louder by alcohol. Returning to my work, I cut into the young woman's flesh, digging down through the layers to reveal her inner organs. I use a self-retaining retractor to hold open the flap of skin and tissue to give me better access, blood slipping over my hands as I work faster now.
 

My gloved fingers probe her gently, making sure that nothing is damaged. The fetus is barely nine weeks old. Dead, like the mother, or soon will be. But its existence won't be wasted. Indeed, the knowledge it may reveal could be a greater achievement than most people could even dream of. I must get it back to the lab quickly.
 

Noises come from the hallway at the bottom of the stairs to the museum. I freeze, listening intently as my heart pounds in my chest. I can't be caught here, not like this. The work is too important and this specimen in particular must be studied. With the final cuts, I remove the uterus, placing it in her handbag that will have to do in place of an organ case

My work completed, I move to the doorway, hidden in the shadows. It sounds as if the people on the stairs are flirting and kissing, the party lubricated by enough alcohol to release the usual inhibitions. The noises grow fainter and I slip down the stairs as the unknown couple head off into a darker corner to fulfill their desires with each other. I pity them, for they can only find what they seek with living flesh. They know not of the darker pleasures of the anatomist.
 

Click here to download a sample or buy Desecration

***

Desecration - J.F.Penn

Death isn't always the end.

LONDON. When the body of a young heiress is found within the Royal College of Surgeons, Detective Sergeant Jamie Brooke is assigned to the case. An antique ivory figurine found beside the body is the only lead and she enlists Blake Daniel, a reluctant clairvoyant, to help her discover the message it holds.

When personal tragedy strikes, Jamie finds her own life entwining with the morbid fascinations of the anatomists, and she must race against time to stop them claiming another victim.

As Jamie and Blake delve into a macabre world of grave robbery, body modification, and the genetic engineering of monsters, they must fight to keep their sanity, and their lives.

***

"One of the most original mystery/thrillers that I've read in a long while. Its topic of life and death, soul and body is harrowing and poignant, shocking and profound."
~David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Murder as a Fine Art and author of over 40 novels

"A riveting exploration of the dark side of the human heart"
~ New York Times Bestselling Author CJ Lyons

"In a book which takes the reader on a journey to hell and back, J.F. Penn demonstrates her huge talent for conveying the depths of human depravity."
~ Amazon UK #1 Bestseller, Rachel Abbott

Click here to download a sample or buy Desecration

***

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to Mark Leslie Lefebvre from Kobo for thinking of me when this opportunity arose and for being a fantastic advocate for authors, as well as a
fantastic horror writer
himself. Also thanks to Kobo's marketing team, who created such a brilliant competition and for making the stories even more resonant with symbolism through the editing process. I really enjoyed working with you all.
 

Thanks as ever to my line editor, Jacqueline Penn (my Mum!) who rips my words apart so I can improve every time.
 

Thanks to my cover designer, Derek Murphy from Creativindie who did another fantastic job:
http://bookcovers.creativindie.com/
and to Liz Broomfield from
http://libroediting.com/
for proof-reading the final draft.