The Hellion — Joel Anderson

The Hellion is a dark humor portrayal of backwoods Minnesota and Hell. Despised and mistreated by his religious bipolar mother and sadistic five year older half-brother, George spends much of his time wandering the forest and nearby village and getting into fights and mischief. By age six, his half-brother forces him along on ill-conceived adventures. Accustomed to pain and violence and quick with his tongue and fists, eventually, he defeats his brother. At thirteen, George's mother commits suicide, and he leaves home to live and work with a tough but kind old lumberjack. A bit of an outcast, George relies on violence in and out of school. In the second half of the book, George wakes in a strange crater and fights to survive and soon discovers he's the son of Satan. Satan pushes a thorn into the back of George's hand, transforming him into a devil with the ability to create demons and blessed slaves. He creates and army and defeats the cannibals that enslave most of the damned. After ruling for six hundred years, he ascends to Heaven.