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Hell's Heart

Synopsis

Bold, queer and utterly thrilling, Hell's Heart is a speculative retelling of Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick. From bestselling author of Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall.

They are monsters. They are legends.
And they are our prey.


Earth is dead. Which leaves us stuck living in atmospheric domes on planets that will kill us if we blink wrong, or run out of fuel. And by ‘fuel’ I mean cerebrospinal fluid, harvested at great risk from gargantuan space monsters.

I joined the hunt hoping to get paid and maybe laid, but mostly paid. And I followed a charismatic captain eager to face these beasts and to howl her defiance across the skies of Jupiter. On her crew, I met Q, a woman from the wreck of old Earth, who might have kept me grounded. Or then again, perhaps not.

We were ordered to hunt the greatest leviathan of all, and we fought beasts and ships and one another. Then we finally met our nemesis, there above the red heart of that world. Spoiler: it didn’t end well.

Moby Dick meets Treasure Planet by way of Fleabag – an unbelievable accomplishment from a tremendous author’
– Sarah Gailey, author of Spread Me and Just Like Home

‘Hall’s best, weirdest, and most snarkily delightful book yet . . . intricate perfection’
– Ruthanna Emrys, author of A Half-Built Garden

'Charli Anne Delores manifests a nameless narrator with a self-destructive streak in this SF reimagining of Moby-Dick... A queer fever dream made real by committed narration' – Kirkus Review

‘Wow’
– John Scalzi, author of Starter Villain

Details

12 March 2026
858 pages
Charli Anne Delores
9781035060542
Imprint: Tor

Reviews

Hell's Heart is a startling, ferocious love letter to all the rawest emotions the human body can produce. Hall is a master of voice and scale, and this relentlessly gripping ode to the splendours and miseries of existence is no exception. I can't think of anyone else who could successfully pull off Moby Dick meets Treasure Planet by way of Fleabag an unbelievable accomplishment from a tremendous authorSarah Gailey, USA Today bestselling author of Spread Me and Just Like Home
WowJohn Scalzi, author of When the Moon Hits Your Eye
Fey, funny, and extremely metalMalka Older, author of The Mimicking of Known Successes
Hall’s best, weirdest, and most snarkily delightful book yetRuthanna Emrys, author of A Half-Built Garden