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Ive been following a brilliant artist named Wayne Barlowe for a couple years now. He's done concept art for movies like Hellboy and the Harry Potters series, a discovery channel show called Alien Planet was based off of a book he did about life on another planet. Sometime ago he did two art books about hell, one called Barlowes Inferno and  Brush Fire. Recently I found out he was writing a full length novel about hell in the tradition of Paradise Lost on Dante's Inferno. I had to have this book as soon as I heard about it and preordered it from Amazon. I just finished it taking me only a week to read.
The book focuses on a fallen seraph named Sargatanas. In hell he rules a city named Adamantinarx, the most unhellish of hells city's, which he has tried to make into  a represintation of heaven and all its wonders. This is not done in a attempt to mock heaven but to help releave the pain off loss he feels being separated from his former Home.
Lucifer has not been seen since the fall and hell is left to be ruled by the evil and oppressive Prince Beelzebub, who is made entirely of flys and rules from hells greatest city Dis. Sargatanas increasingly dissatisfied with his life in hell yearns to return to heaven, and begins  work on a plan to redeem himself and anyone else who will join him by overthrowing Beelzebub and earning there way back to heaven.
The story for a first time author is very well written. His depictions of demons and souls are lively and vivid and are described as stunningly in words as they are with his paintbrush. The demons them selves can appear incredibly human at times in there motives and emotions although love and remorse are absent in all of them. The souls are used for the most horrific of reasons from everything from laborers to building materials to clothes and food. Barlowe does not try to make excuses for the demons and souls punishment either, on the contrary there is a acceptance of it and there is much talk between the characters on why they deserve there punishment. This can sometimes slow the book down and might seem repetitive but I had to realise that the thing that would be on a demon or souls mind often would be there former lives and what they did to deserve there punishment.
But the best thing about this book is the battles. I've never read a book the depicts a battle or a clash between two foes so vividly . One can get a true sense of the carnage and mayhem as well as the battle tactics used.
 I love this book and I highly recommend it .

That actually sounds interesting . . .  years ago, one of my shipmates was working on a story he called A HELL OF A PROBLEM, whose main character was a demon who was . . . well, in a word, nice.  He hated tempting people to sin and enticing souls to hell, but couldn't quit the job.  He tried to change sides and had both angels and demons out to get him.  I don't know if Dave ever finished the book or not, but this one sounds like a much more serious treatment of a similar premise.  I'll watch for it.