New Release: Hell's Kitchen Critic
Marcel Dupont just wanted to pass his culinary finals. Summoning a demon from a Reddit thread? Probably a bad idea. Summoning the wrong demon, one who used to audit souls in Hell’s bureaucracy? Catastrophic.
But Belzagor—Infernal Auditor First Class—is unexpectedly captivated not by Marcel’s soul, but by his cheese soufflé. What follows is a whirlwind of molten purées, flaming amuse-bouches, and existentially tormented appetizers as Belzagor discovers a higher calling: becoming Paris’s most feared (and flamboyant) food critic.
Soon, haunted entrées and combusting canapés follow in Belzagor’s wake, as demon management scrambles to drag him back to the underworld. But Bel has other plans—namely, reviewing every dish in the mortal realm with infernal flair, a sharp tongue, and zero patience for blandness.
A sizzling culinary fantasy comedy for fans of Good Omens, The Bear, and Ratatouille—served with sarcasm, summoning circles, and a side of redemption.
About
Dom Merenda
Domenic Merenda is a Senior Software Development Manager at Amazon by day and a speculative fiction writer by night—when his cat isn’t sprawled across the keyboard. His work explores the quiet magic hidden in overlooked places, drawing on a lifelong fascination with technology, memory, and the uncanny. When he’s not writing or wrangling code, he’s probably deep in a book, building something strange, or dreaming up new worlds over a strong cup of coffee. We Are Made of Stories Left Behind was his debut collection in fiction.
The collection invites readers into beautifully imagined worlds where the past never stays buried and the smallest choices ripple through time. We Are Made of Stories Left Behind is perfect for fans of Ted Chiang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Ray Bradbury—those who find beauty in the uncanny and meaning in the unspoken.
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The most ambitious part of this story wasn’t the worldbuilding. It was the emotional architecture. Writing a recursive identity loop—where the
This story began with a single line: “Do you remember what you asked it to forget?” It came to me without context, without a character or a
Writing Hell’s Kitchen Critic taught me that humor alone isn’t enough. The jokes might carry a scene, but it’s the underlying emotional
Origin of the RecipeThis story began, quite simply, with the idea: What if a demon fell in love with food criticism?It’s ridiculous. It’s
Writing this story taught me how powerful it is to center ritual over plot. Nothing “happens” in the traditional sense. There’s no antagonist.
This story began, as so many of mine do, with a single image: a statue washing ashore. I didn’t know what kind of statue it was at first. I just