“Nerdection Excellent Read”
Embark on a thrilling culinary journey unlike any other with Daniel Parme’s debut novel, Welcome to The Inferno. This satirical horror fiction takes readers deep into the bowels of Hell, where the infamous restaurant, The Inferno, serves the worst of humanity.
Spoiler-free Plot
A bartender’s journey through Hell. But this isn’t just any hell. This is The Inferno, the finest restaurant in the netherworlds, where Earth’s most terrible customers are doomed for eternity. Join our hero as he is guided through the various dining rooms of The Inferno by a high-ranking demon who looks suspiciously like a certain globe-trotting chef. Witness celebrity chef hell-beasts and ironic punishments for the sinners who’ve found themselves here. Gluttony, lust, wrath. Treachery, sloth, pride. Whatever your sin, there’s always room for you at the Inferno. It’s a dining experience unlike any other.
My take on Welcome to the Inferno
Drawing on his own experiences (The author worked in the service industry for a considerable part of his life) and based on his training in Creative Writing (that he studied at a university level), author Daniel Parme created this entertaining work that serves to reflect many of his experiences and perspectives on the world of food service, where he spent much of his working life.
Parme uses excellent analogies that allow us to establish a parallelism between the world of service industry and, well, hell itself. This already shows us the author’s point of view regarding this type of work that is seen as soon as the first chapter begins.
Perhaps the fact that the author has experienced this industry first-hand for a long time helps to give it a more realistic sense and a feeling that will be familiar to anyone who knows a little about working in service and food environment. We are introduced to our protagonist, an exhausted bartender, as a new worker who arrives at a workplace that is completely unknown to him and in this case, it is nothing more and nothing less than a representation of hell.
The restaurant, which name is in the book title, The Inferno, is divided into several dining rooms, each with its own characteristics and characters. The Inferno is where the worst customers come and make the experience of being there much worse (and realistic). The place has typical elements of the food world, such as famous chefs or food critics. Parme uses small details to show famous people such as chefs or television personalities as characters that—curiously, fit perfectly with the atmosphere of The Inferno.
Another fun fact is that the seven deadly sins are spread out across the dining rooms, so each experience is different and allows the author to better develop several of his ideas and experiences while continuing to draw analogies between the service industry and the more common idea of hell. The bartender gradually learns how the most unique restaurant in the underworld works and this allows him to better adapt to each situation while revealing details about the mysterious General Manager.
From the writing point of view, the author developed the story mainly through dialogues between the characters and the thoughts of the protagonist rather than using the narrative element.
The Inferno is a unique story that stands out for its originality. It takes something seemingly ordinary like a job in the service industry and blends it with elements of comedy, but with a darker humor that subtly critiques society. It offers creative and even unexpected entertainment.
For those who have worked in such places, it is a must read and for those who have not; it is also recommended because of how entertaining and unique this work is and also because it helps to understand many things that will allow you to develop greater empathy with workers in the food and service world.
About The Author Of Welcome to the Inferno
Daniel Parme is the author of “Hungry” (a novel of sex, drugs, and cannibalism), “Post” (a dystopian novella), and “Confluence” (a more literary affair). He is the fiction editor at After Happy Hour Review, and he has worked in food service for a very, very long time.
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