Hell Followed with Us

Informationen zum Autor Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He earned his MFA in creative writing from George Mason University's Creative Writing program in 2022 and has a habit of cuddling random street cats. Andrew writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back. Find Andrew on Twitter and Instagram @AJWhiteAuthor. Klappentext "Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him--the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji's darkest secret: the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms... until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own"--Provided by publisher. Leseprobe BENJAMIN Chapter 1 You will return to the earth for out of it you were taken; for from dust you were made and to dust you will return. Angel prayer Here's the thing about being raised an Angel: You don't process grief. Grief is a sin. Loss is God's design, and to mourn the dead is to insult His vision. To despair at His will is sacrilege. How dare you betray His plan by grieving what was always His to take? Unfaithful, disgusting heretic, you should be hung from the wall so the nonbelievers will know what's coming for them. Romans 6:23 for the wages of sin is death. So the image of Dad's body burns into the folds of my brain, writes itself between the grooves of my fingerprints, and I swallow it down until I choke. Angels cut out the parts of us that remember how to cry until we can't. We learn to mask the grief, to pack it away for later, later, later, until eventually we just die. The way I see it, I don't have to worry. If the Angels get their way, all this grief will be His problem soon enough. And if they don't God, please don't I'm running. Dad's blood is in my mouth. Brother Hutch shot him once in the chest to stop him and once in the head to kill him. Brother Hutch calls for me, We can do this the easy way, we really can! The other Angels sweep the riverfront, shining white in the blazing February sun, moving slow and sure through the streets. They don't have to be quick. They know they'll catch me eventually. One sixteen-year-old boy against a death squad of Angels? I'm doomed. I crash to a stop behind a stone pillar by the riverbank and double over to gasp for air. My hair sticks to my forehead in a slurry of sweat and bloodDad's blooddrying on my face and hands. My lungs burn. I can't tell if the roaring in my ears is my heartbeat or the river. Dad's gone. He's dead, he's dead, he's dead. Please, God, I whisper before I can stop myself. What makes me think He's going to answer me now? Please give me something, anything Sister Woodside! Brother Hutch cries. Your mother is worried about you! She wants her daughter to come home. The first thing Dad told mewhen Mom said I'd see the Lord's plan for my womanhoo...

Autorentext

Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He earned his MFA in creative writing from George Mason University’s Creative Writing program in 2022 and has a habit of cuddling random street cats. Andrew writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back. Find Andrew on Twitter and Instagram @AJWhiteAuthor.

Klappentext

"Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him--the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji's darkest secret: the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms... until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own"--Provided by publisher.

Zusammenfassung
*INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.

"A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus." —The New York Times

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
 
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.    
 
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A William C. Morris Award Finalist
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A YAVA Award Nominee!
A Booklist Editors' Choice Selection
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
Named to the ALA Rainbow Roundtable's Rainbow Book List