What a fantastic title, am I right folks? A Natural History of Hell is the first I've read of many works by authors I found out about at 2016's Readercon. Almost immediately, from the first story, I have found that this collection is what I'm looking for from horror, and more characteristics that I didn't even know I wanted in a story! It is at times humorous (subtle and obvious) but can also incite feelings of dread and at times even awe and wonderment.

A natural history is defined, according to Merriam-Webster, as " the study of natural objects especially in the field from an amateur or popular point of view". The characters that populate the multifaceted "Hell" are as varied as the stories themselves. Amongst the damned, and deitrus of humanity, we come across witches, sorcerers, faeries, Death, demons, Satan, ghosts and a donkey named, naturally, Hermes!

Another nice touch is that there are thirteen stories in this collection.

Spanning several genres, perhaps only unified by the ideas conjured by the evocative title, the stories in A Natural History of Hell succeed in being provocative, engaging and highly entertaining. This is a solid collection of short stories, and I'm glad I still have plenty of works by Jeffrey Ford to experience.