Love Is Hell

Posted on by scott

No, this isn’t my review of Twilight, it’s a post about a new anthology (out this week!) that includes a short story by me.

Actually, at 60 pages it’s really a long story. There are only five stories in the anthology, so everyone got to stretch out a bit and write mini-novels. As you can probably tell from the title, the subject is love and romance of a supernatural kind.

Here’s what it looks like:

And here are the stories:

“Stupid Perfect World” by me
Set in a future in which the ancient scourges of humanity—war, sickness, hunger, teen hormones—have been eliminated. In fact, the only place you ever experience them is in a special history class called Scarcity. Extra credit proposals are due today, and Kieran’s and Maria’s class projects are going to bring them together in unexpected ways.

“Thinner Than Water” by Justine
This tale of culture clash is set in a town that follows the old ways: no TVs or cell phones, no factory-made clothes or food, and marriages way too young. This sucks for Jeannie, who’s sixteen and supposed to be “hand-fasted” soon. But when she chooses Robbie, who has a touch of faerie blood, the clash of cultures takes on a new dimension. Click here for an excerpt.

“Love Struck” by Melissa Marr
A love affair with a selkie has its complications. Melissa can explain this better than I can.

“Fan Fictions” by Gabrielle Zevin
Paige falls for a mysterious new boy at school. As Gabriel puts it: “Say, have you heard of that book where the ordinary, clumsy girl falls for the sparkly, vaguely obsessive vampire dude? (I think it’s just starting to catch on.) My story is a bit inspired by that whole thing.”

“Sleeping with the Spirit” by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Loving a ghost ain’t easy, but it’s totally worth it.

Love is Hell is available now at fine bookstores everywhere, and online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Booksense.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit College Summit, a nonprofit that helps more kids get into college.

302 thoughts on “Love Is Hell”

  5. mine were like last month& it was lucky 4 me because my parets never go 2 those things unless i m failing(which i m not) i finally have a B in math now!!!!!

  6. i had a 89% average and my parents are finding it necessary to go. it sucks. and their going to see my band teacher (93%) and my science teacher (91%)….i don’t see the point.

  7. unfortunatly, those are the teachers that know i’m kinda weird, and my parents don’t know that i’m weird, so yeah…if my mom finds out, she’ll be so mad….she wishes i was a happy little girl who liked to go shopping with her friends…HA…i like to talk about books, scream about metaphorical lemon shoes, and write down random things….my parents don’t get that.

  8. me either!!! i actually started this quarter w/ an F in math!!!! my math teacher is no good @teaching!!

  10. i talk about books all the time, like yesterdey when my dad asked me if i had plans this weekend…my exact responce was “Yes, i have plans!!!, i m going about 300 years into the future w/ my friends Tally&Shay(i m re-reading Uglies)…we r going 2 go 2 Uglyville, New Pretty Town,(Tally just entered Garbo Mansion)and maybe the Smoke”he just laughed @me!!!

  16. surf my blog, you’ll find out about metaphorical lemon shoes.
    I scream ’bout them cuz they rock.
    My math teacher set something on fire during class.

  22. my math teacher isn’t a magician….he was probably just trying to do something interesting…..
    look harder, there is probably something there, but check from a couple months ago.

  29. well…..G2G, my dad says i have been on 2 long&have 2 go take a shower!!!UGH!!! TTYT(talk 2 u 2morrow)=D laytah!

  32. wow, the lemon thing was reely koolz!!! im so gonna use that… “metaphorical lemon shoes”…. yes! that is definately my new frase!!! thank u 4 sharing it with me andrea- la!!!

  33. I wish my math teacher would light things on fire…(I’m going to check out lemon shoes, I’m sure it will be enlightening…and very interesting)

    246 Irene-laon 05 Dec 2008 at 8:53 am
    amira-la:
    I read Twilight before Scott’s work, but I soon realized just how much better at everything Scott is. His characters are developed, interesting and ORIGINAL, his plots are continous and unexpected, he isn’t afraid of dealing with hard questions and killing main characters and he is nice and thankfull to his fans instead of being the raving b*tch Stephenie turned into.

    ((I know, it’s kind of sad…at least her kids will go to a good college.))

  34. Whoa. Lemon shoes. And the lemon rotting out the teeth makes sense because you said that when you lose you’re metaphorical teeth it’s like loosing a hobby, and lemons are bad things that happen to you, SO THEREFORE by eating lemons(bad things) you loose a tooth (a hobby or something important.). Andrea-la I love you’re insanity.

  35. lol…it’s my insanity which made me get a good grade in science class…lol…apparently my science teacher loves my out of the box thinking and how i make connections to everyday life (i just found this out yesterday due to the fact that my mom went to parent teacher last night). And my mom and dad went to see my band teacher and they were so afriad cuz they thought he might ask them to play something (and they both aren’t exactly musical….) but the teacher just told them that i have a gift for music and he can tell that i enjoy every second of it. which is good. the only “negative” comment from either teacher is from my science teacher who wants me to ask more questions in class for his own sake cuz he thinks they could start some interesting discussions. yeps. looks like now i should be asking my questions outloud rather than contemplating them while he talks about something that i already understand. so yeah. parent teacher interviews went well.

  37. I just bought this last night and read “stupid perfect world”..I wish it had been even longer, but great story 😀

  38. I want to buy it but my mom wold be upset abot the hell thing…
    Mabe i can sneek it out of the library…
    She wouldn’t knotice checking out book…
    Or tell her it’s on of those stupid love story novels she likes to read(its soooo not)..

    Oh by the way what does anthrology mean

  39. you know Andrea-la I think i have your same science teacher but mines a woman.Maybe it’s just a gene all science teachers have…
    Just a couple weeks ago she tried to get david kim (name says it all) to sing to the lions sleep tonight in Lion King(don’t ask)
    Last week when we made paper dolls she danced with her’s.
    Now i have to endure her for the rest of the school year or go back to regular(i heard teachers were even meaner there(I’m in probe/gifted/smart classes)) Also she has a bit of a mean streak that can be prominent.

  47. It’s kind of ironic. I thought Fan Fictions had sounded kind of cool, and it was one that I was most looking forward to, besides Stupid Perfect World, with Love Struck being the one I was least excited about. However, I found Fan Fictions kind of boring and confusion-inducing (although I did realise A LOT of the Twilight similarities. There must have been some MAJOR copywrite-infringing going on there), and it was my least favorite, with Love Struck, Sleeping With the Spirit, and (of course) Stupid Perfect World being my favorites (with Thinner than Water being somewhere in between. Although I must say, it was one of those stories where you had NO idea whatsoever where the title came from).
    The thing is, reading them, every page or so I’d be like “NOOOOO! ELABORATE MORE, DARN IT!” Some were so good, I wish they’d been written as actual novels rather than mini stories.
    And I have to say, Scott did it again. I thought his had sounded a bit boring and uncreative (I mean, a class project brining two people together? Big whoop, they work on it together, and while spending time with eachother, fall in love.), but it was so far from what I’d expected!
    But seriously, does ANY ONE have any idea what really happened in Fan Fictions?!

  48. My goshhhhh.
    I ended up buying it the second I walked into the bookstore that week and was reading it in the car afterwards.
    I love it sooooooooooooo much.
    I’ll have to agree with the Thinner than Water title. Is it suppose to go with the whole blood is thicker than water phrase??
    Which I just got if it is by the way.
    But the story was adorable.
    Sleeping with the Spirit was good too, but I always did like ghost stories.
    Stupid Perfect World was by far my favorite and I was sooo in love when they had that argument and the drama teacher was all….. Take notes! That’s what real drama looks like! <3
    And With Love Struck, nearly squealed when I figured out he was a selkie.
    Basically, I was in love with the whole thing.
    And want to reread it for the 28th time right now hahah

  49. ya I have only read the first one so far and I loved it.
    I skipped ahead to the fanfiction one to see if it was making fun of something(sadly it wasn’t). So now I don’t really feel like finishing it, but Zevin is one of my favourite authors(and her storie is coming out much better than Meyers crap)

  50. Okay, I was finally able to get Love is Hell. I loved it. My favorite story just happened to be Stupid Perfect World. Not even joking. I loved the others, but, Scott, you’re like a God.

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