Imagine being a nineteen-year-old young man in New York City in the late 1960s, revered by peers as a charismatic leader and simultaneously serving as the rock of your family. Imagine being that same young man, voluntarily enlisting in the Marines during an American era in which countless young men fear getting drafted into the armed forces and going off to war in a distant, largely unknown land. Now imagine landing in South Vietnam--roughly one year after graduating from high school--during the turbulent, bloody times of late 1967-early 1968 and being called upon to be a steadying influence amongst your brother Marines while trying like hell to survive amidst the maddening chaos of war, one second at a time. Finally, imagine serving as a leader amongst legions of young men whose mantra is LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND while you write letters to your older sister--your best friend--back home, who is counting on you to serve as the best man at her wedding in the summer of 1968. Imagine that this is all before you assume the mantle as the unquestioned leader of the next generation of your family. "A Saint's Letters from the Depths of Hell" is the compelling story of United States Marine Vincent (Vinnie) Benore "Saint" Santaniello, based on the dozens of letters that he wrote to his older sister and absolute best friend, Lilly Santaniello; accounts shared by both family friends and brother Marines in Vietnam; and the imagination of his oldest surviving nephew. It is also the touching story of a nineteen-year-old kid who loves his family tremendously and yearns to get back to the simple pleasures of life: calling his beloved sister silly names; likely marrying his high-school sweetheart, Roe; and resuming his role as the rock of the Santaniello family. This is a memoir of undying love and loyalty, as seen through the conflicting prisms of war and family. This book is an innovative love story, juxtaposed against a backdrop of typical teenaged hijinks that are repeatedly curtailed by the terrifying reality of a bloody, unforgiving war. It is a compelling story of a young leader who would lay down his life for the sake of his brother Marines while simultaneously striving to survive a merciless war and return home to his family. This touching memoir will leave you loving Vinnie, both as a brother Marine and baby brother, as you live vicariously through the love of his tender letters to Lilly. You will be taken on an unforgettable journey through the eyes of a young hero and you will experience the trepidation and anxiety of trying like hell to survive hell and make it back home, against all odds.

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In this provocative, classic metaphysical thriller, a group of suburban amateur actors plagued by personal demons and terrors explore the pathways to heaven and hell Certain inhabitants of Battle Hill, a small community on the outskirts of London, are preparing to mount a new play by the neighborhood’s most illustrious resident, the writer Peter Stanhope. Each actor struggles with self-absorption, doubt, fear, and sin. But “the Hill” is not like other places. Here the past and present intermingle, ghosts walk among the living, and reality is often clouded by dreams and the dark fantastic. For young Pauline Anstruther, who is caring for an aging grandmother and frightened by the specter of a doppelgänger who gets closer with each visitation, the prospect of heaven exists in the renowned playwright’s willingness to bear the burden of her terror. For eminent historian Lawrence Wentworth, the rejection of his desire pulls him deeper inside himself, leaving him vulnerable to the lure of the succubus and opening wide the entrance to hell. A brilliant theological thriller, Descent into Hell is an extraordinary fictional meditation on sin and personal salvation by one of the twentieth century’s most original and provocative literary artists. Charles Williams, a member of the Inklings alongside fellow Oxfordians C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield, has written a powerful work at once profoundly disturbing and gloriously uplifting, an ingenious amalgam of metaphysics, religious thought, and darkest fantasy.

The first major book to examine ancient Christian literature on hell through the lenses of gender and disability studies Throughout the Christian tradition, descriptions of hell’s fiery torments have shaped contemporary notions of the afterlife, divine justice, and physical suffering. But rarely do we consider the roots of such conceptions, which originate in a group of understudied ancient texts: the early Christian apocalypses. In this pioneering study, Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature—largely those of women, enslaved persons, and individuals with disabilities—are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity.