Run Like Hell

Run Like Hell
Author	Elliott Kay
Illustrator	Lee Moyer
Published	September 2, 2018
Media type	Ebook, paperback
Wandering Monsters
Books in series	Run Like Hell Nowhere to Run

Run Like Hell is the first book in the Wandering Monsters series by Elliott Kay. It was published on September 2 2018.

Publisher’s summary

Bloody, broke, and face down on the floor is no way to end a job… even for a “monster.”

Life hasn’t been easy for Scars of No-Clan. The king has a bounty out on all monstrous folk, leaving half-orc warriors like Scars no choice but to work for the local evil wizard. Now adventurers have hit the wizard’s dungeon, wiping out years of hard work along with most of his co-workers. He’s left with a handful of survivors: an outcast goblin scout, a heretical gnoll, the wizard’s bizarre apprentice, a bandit cut loose from the stockade, and a murderous knife-fighting lady bugbear. They have to escape before the adventurers find them—and the only way out is through the darkest reaches of the dungeon.

Scars wanted to walk off this job the day he was hired, but going out like this is going to look terrible on his résumé.

Publisher’s warning

Run Like Hell contains explicit violence, profanity, heresy, necromancy, sexualized pyromancy, failure to give two weeks’ notice of resignation, workplace violence, lies, theft, looting, bickering, bullying, literal backstabbing, disrespect, oppression, desecration of the dead, negligent safety practices, toxic workplace culture, abuse of prisoners, starvation, endless curses, treason, harassment, unsanitary medical practices, misrepresention of identity, flagrant abuse of authority, exploited workers, stabbing, slashing, clawing, bludgeoning, biting, stereotyping, immolations, drowning, betrayal, spontaneous unionization, destruction of a historical landmark, vast hordes of the undead, labor disputes, sacrilege, revenge, blunt discussions of cannibalism, unfulfilled dental benefits, and a full embrace of subjects targeted by the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

Appearances

Roughly in order of appearance in the book.

Characters

• Scars of No-Clan
• War Cloud
• Yargol
• DigDig
• Shady Tooth
• Gutspike, a bugbear
• King Dostin (mentioned only)
• Sergeant Koril, a hobgoblin guard
• Sergeant Venko, a hobgoblin and Mierrek’s bodyguard
• Barklip and Ears, goblins
• Chatter, a troll’s troll
• Teryn
• Angus Keenan Stonefrost, an undead dwarf
• Olen Zuck, a wizard of ill repute
• King Mierrek, a hobgoblin
• Lawrence, a human paladin and adventurer
• Rothgar, a dwarven warrior and adventurer
• Kiana, an elf rogue
• Mishael, a wizard and adventurer
• Geoffrey, cleric and adventurer
• Prince Leonden (mentioned only)

Locations & organizations

• Zuck’s dungeon
  • also known as the lost holy city of Thrandor
  • The Crew (Wandering Monsters)
• Bak’Nor (mentioned only)
• Theralda (mentioned only)
• Velic (mentioned only)
• Nivoen (mentioned only)
• Eastford (mentioned only)
• Crystalbrook river (mentioned only)
• White Rock (mentioned only)

Items

• A magic shovel

Trivia

The cover for the book was created during four days at Worldcon 76 in San Jose, largely in front of an audience.⁠⁠

An interview with Lee Moyer about making a book cover at Worldcon:

Interview with Lee Moyer

There are strange rumors that Run Like Hell is the novelization of a D&D game that Molly Murray ran for Alex Carlisle, Drew Jones, Jason Cohen, Onyx, Taylor, and Wade Reinhardt, with Alex playing DigDig.⁠

Olen Zuck probably was more than a bit inspired by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Publication history

Run Like Hell was first published as an ebook on September 2, 2018. A paperback was published on March 8, 2019.