Inferno is a science fiction novel written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, published in 1976. It was nominated for the 1976 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938) is a US science fiction author. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Winners of the Hugo Award for best novel. ... Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel. ...

Inferno is based upon the hell described in Dante's Inferno, however it adds a modern twist to the story. The story is told in the first person by Allen Carpentier, a science fiction writer who died in a failed attempt to entertain his fans at a party. He is released from a bottle in the First Circle of Hell by a man named Benito, who offers to take him out of Hell by bringing him to the center. // Life Early history and family Dante was born in 1265 and he tells us he was born under the sign of Gemini, placing his birthday in June. ... Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, in Michelinos fresco. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ...

At first, as Allen and Benito travel through Hell, Allen tries to scientifically rationalize everything he sees, renaming his surroundings as 'Infernoland', a high-tech amusement park some thousand years in the future. It isn't until he sees a man recover from incineration and his own leg heal from a compound fracture that he actually believes he is in Hell. From this point on, as he travels through the inner circles of Hell, he sees how he is guilty of each of the sins in some fashion, commenting to himself that he is in no danger from bowge 3 of circle 8 (simony) only because he has never had any holy offices to sell. Allen views the punishments for these sins as far surpassing the crime, repeatedly thinking, "We're in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism." Simony is the ecclesiastical crime and personal sin of paying for offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:18-24. ...

Niven has stated that he is working on Purgatorio, a sequel.

External links

• Known Space: The Future Worlds of Larry Niven