Devil Said Bang

Devil Said Bang

A Sandman Slim Novel

Richard Kadrey

Dedication

To Ginger and Diana for making this happen.

And to Holly, Sarah, and Dave for the gravy.

Epigraph

To descend into Hell is easy; Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; But to climb back again, to retrace one’s steps to the upper air—There’s the rub, the task.

—Aeneid, BOOK 6

In this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

—CLINT EASTWOOD, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Contents

Dedication

Epigraph

Devil Said Bang

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Richard Kadrey

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

“Me and the Devil Blues”

“Devil’s Stompin’ Ground”

“Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell”

“Don’t Shake Me, Lucifer”

“Hell Is Around the Corner”

“Hellnation”

“Up Jumped the Devil”

I punch the tunes into the jukebox and make sure it’s turned up loud. I’ve loaded up the juke with a hundred or so devil tunes. The Hellion Council can’t stand it when I come to a meeting with a pocketful of change. Wild Bill, the bartender, hates it too, but he’s a damned soul I recruited for the job, so he gets why I do it. I head back to the table and nod to him. He shakes his head and goes back to cleaning glasses.

Les Baxter winds down a spooky “Devil Cult” as I sit down with the rest of Hell’s ruling council. We’ve been here in the Bamboo House of Dolls for a couple of hours. My head hurts from reports, revised timetables, and learned opinions. If I didn’t have the music to annoy everyone with, I would probably have killed them all by now.

Buer slides a set of blueprints in my direction.