The Devil’s Own Dear Son

The Devil’s Own Dear Son is Cabell’s final philsophical comedy, about a man who discovers that his father was a demon and goes to Hell for a disquieting family reunion. James Branch Cabell (1879-1958) wrote many of the Twentieth Century’s finest fantasies, including the controversial Jurgen, which was famously banned by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. It was only after the furor died down that readers and critics were fully able to appreciate that the author was no mere sensationalist, but a literary artist of very high calibre. Cabell was above all else, an elegant stylist, whose gently caustic, beautifully fantasic comedies struck a chord in the Jazz Age and still resonate today. He was an important influence on subsequent writers as diverse as Fritz Leiber and Neil Gaiman.

“[He] is a delightful author . . . I like the sheer audacity and the scope [of his work].” — Neil Gaiman

“One of the all-time greats of fantasy, whose cynical yet romantic view of the human comedy is simultaneously hilarious, beautiful, and melancholy. A writer you must read.” — Darrell Schweitzer