History Literature / SandmanSlim

* NotThatKindOfMage: Stark is a magician, if called a wizard, he'll say wizards are ''Franchise /HarryPotter''.

* CloningBlues:[[spoiler:God. He was once one being, but over the years he split into five separate beings Muinn, Neshamah, Ruach, Nefesh, and Chaya.]]

* AChatWithSatan: literally.

** [[spoiler:To Dr. Kinski/Uriel or any one in Tartarus]]

%%* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: When [[spoiler:Carlos meets Kasabian]].%%Quotes aren't context.
%%-->'''[[spoiler:Carlos]]:''' Stark's told me about you, too.\\
%%'''Kasabian:''' Yeah? What's he said?\\
%%'''[[spoiler:Carlos]]:''' Well, I thought you'd be taller.

%%* GenocideBackfire: [[spoiler:Averted with Josef, in ''Aloha from Hell'']]

* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:James Stark is revealed to be a nephilim (half-angel). This explains why he is such a badass]]
* InsistentTerminology: Stark is a magician, not a wizard. [[ThisIsReality Wizards are Harry Potter]].

* {{Nephilim}}: What Stark is and it's the reason why he's able to thrive in Hell. Humans are basically snacks in Hell.

* OneManArmy: Averted in Kill City Blues, Stark fights a couple of magic-using knife nuts in the mall and they utterly curbstomp him and his crew. It was so bad, that Stark was helpless to avoid getting tortured to the point where his rapid healing could barely keep him from falling on his face. In other books, he averts it too by usually fighting alongside one of his friends and rarely taking on more than 2 or 3-to-1 odds.

** A psychic drug called Manga/{{Akira}}
** Also, a warrior angel named Aelita
** "Stark", "Parker", and "Mason" are all references to the works of Donald E. Westlake
* ShootTheDog: What [[spoiler:Parker and Mason]] do to [[spoiler:Alice]] and pretend to do to [[spoiler:Vidocq and Allegra. Later Alice reveals that she shot herself in order to prevent Mason from sending her to Hell like Stark]].

* SpinOffspring: Stark is apparently a descendant of Wild Bill Hickok.

* TheStoner: The three other employees of Max Overdrive Video, so faceless to Stark that he just calls them Dude (insert adjective here).

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Vidocq characterizes the experiment that made him immortal as "an accident."

%%* ZombieApocalypse: Averted... except for LA, where it was quasi-apocalyptic.

* EyeOfNewt: The basis of alchemy, [[spoiler:particularly the Drifer bite cure]].

* AssholeVictim

* In the later volumes, there's a video library where you can hire films from alternate timelines. Not much detail is provided, but it's mentioned that their two most popular titles are a version of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' with Creator/HarveyKeitel in the Willard role (in our world, Keitel was fired after a week of shooting and replaced with Creator/MartinSheen) and ''Buckaroo Banzai Versus the World Crime League'', the never-made sequel to ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEighthDimension''.

* FlamingSword: All angels have this. In ''Kill The Dead'', [[spoiler:after Stark becomes a Drifter/Nephilim, he gains this in a fight with Aelita. Then lights a cigarette with it]]. In ''Aloha From Hell'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:certain Hellion generals (such as Mammon) have secretly retained their angelic ability to generate one of these]]. It turns out to be an AwkwardAbility when [[spoiler:Stark has to use one to win a death match in a Hellion arena]].

* WhipSword: The ''na'at'' is the Hellion version of this and Stark's WeaponOfChoice.

* MageSpecies: The Sub Rosa are humans who are genetically predisposed towards magic. Magic only works for a human being if they are Sub Rosa. The one exception to this rule is alchemy. This type of magic is less about natural talent and more about EyeOfNewt dailed UpToEleven.

* ThatManIsDead: Literally. Stark was in hell 11 years and declared dead legally after 7. However, he also dislikes all the nicknames he was called by before he was sent to hell. Also [[spoiler:In :'Kill the Dead'', this is what Angel!Stark says about human!Stark after getting bitten by a Drifter]].

* OurLichesAreDifferent: The [[spoiler: Giestwalds]] bite there children at birth to become Death Born.

* ActionGirl: Candy, Brigitte Bardo

* AffablyEvil: Mason, Josef and Lucifer.
* AllFirstPersonNarratorsWriteLikeNovelists:
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Kissi.
* AntiHero: Stark of course

* CuteMonsterGirl: Hi, Candy.
* CrapsackWorld

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Aelita in ''Kill City Blues''.]]
* EldritchAbomination: The Angra.

* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: When [[spoiler:Carlos meets Kasabian]].
--> [[spoiler:Carlos]]: Stark's told me about you, too.
--> Kasabian: Yeah? What's he said?
--> [[spoiler:Carlos]]: Well, I thought you'd be taller.

* FantasticCatholicism
* FantasticRacism:
-->Aelita: Abomination!

* FirstPersonSmartass

* GenocideBackfire: [[spoiler:Averted with Josef, in ''Aloha from Hell'']]
* GodhoodSeeker: What Mason essentially wants. [[spoiler:Aelita, too.]]
* GodIsInept: The reason why the Kissi and Nephilim exist.

* [[AliensStealCable Hellions Steal Cable]]: And watch old Kung Fu movies like ''Bamboo House of Dolls''.

* [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper]]: Stark meets [[spoiler: James Kelly]] when [[spoiler: he goes back to Hell]] in ''Aloha From Hell''.

* KnightTemplar[=/=]TautologicalTemplar: Aelita, since she is an angel she also has an OmniscientMoralityLicense.
* LosingYourHead: Kasabian

* NayTheist: In ''Kill The Dead''-
-->'''Stark (Narrating):''' ''If I was a religious man (and no, knowing there's a Heaven and Hell, God and devil and angels doesn't help being religious one little bit), I might take what I see as a sign.''

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Most of them are assholes.

--> '''Stark:''' You want to rule this world, a not particularly great place, so you can take over an even worse place? Is that basically it? That why you ruined me, killed Alice, and fucked over everyone who ever trusted you?
--> '''Mason:''' Firstly, fuck all those people who trusted me. Except for Parker, every one of them was greedy and then turned jellyfish the moment you stuck your nose out of the grave. I gave all of them their heart's desire and they folded the moment things got a little weird.
--> '''Stark:''' You didn't exactly give Kasabian his heart's desire.
--> '''Mason:''' Yeah, I did sort of screw him, didn't I? But admit it. There's the opposite of love at first sight. There are people walking the earth that the moment you meet them, you want to punch them and keep punching them.

* {{Revenge}}: The reason Stark escaped hell.
* RunningGag: Stark is really hard on his clothes. Really, really hard on them.
* SassyBlackWoman: Allegra.

* [[spoiler:SuicideByCop: The reason why Hell wants to invade Heaven. They know the loyalist forces in Heaven will curbstomp them into oblivion in a matter of seconds, but staying in Hell is so depressing that the fallen angels look forward to this.]]

* TrainingFromHell: in Stark's case it's training in hell.
* TrenchcoatBrigade: James Stark.
* UnscrupulousHero: Stark

* ZombieApocalypse: Averted...except for LA, where it was quasi-apocalyptic.

* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: Where Sandman Slim's stomping grounds were, and are again.

* WitchSpecies: The Sub Rosa are humans who are genetically predisposed towards magic. Magic only works for a human being if they are Sub Rosa. The one exception to this rule is alchemy. This type of magic is less about natural talent and more about EyeOfNewt dailed UpToEleven.

* ArchangelUriel: He shows up in the first book, but is going under the name [[spoiler: Doc Kinski]]. And also [[spoiler:is Stark's father]].

* BatmanGambit: Mason Faim's ''modus operandi''. Mason ordered Parker to kill Alice [[spoiler: so that Stark would tear a hole in the universe that would open the gates of Hell]]. Of course, the real plan was [[spoiler: to trick Stark into sending him to Hell so he could turn Lucifer's generals against him]].
* BecomingTheMask: It is revealed that [[spoiler: Alice]] was a MuggleBornOfMages hired to spy on Stark [[spoiler: before actually falling in love with him]].

* BlackAndGreyMorality

* BrickJoke: Functioning as BookEnds for the first trilogy. When Stark returned to Earth, the first he did was [[spoiler:attack Kasabian with the black bone blade, allowing him to decapitate the guy without killing him]]. In the last chapter of the third book, Stark realizes that the design specs of a hell-hound (basically, a four-legged [[spoiler: BrainInAJar]]) would be the perfect solution for [[spoiler: Kasabian's lack of a body or a proper body prosthesis]].

* CloningBlues:[[spoiler: God. He was once one being, but over the years he split into five separate beings Muinn, Neshamah, Ruach, Nefesh, and Chaya.]]

** Doubly so for [[spoiler: those fed into the cosmic furnace in Tartarus]].

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Aelita in 'Kill City Blues']]

* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler: Stark's inner angel sometimes screams inside his head, he often ignores it. ]]
* EnemyWithout: [[spoiler: Stark's inner angel leaves Stark,(now called "Saint James") at the end of ''Aloha from Hell'' and screws things up in ''Devil Said Bang'']]

--> [[spoiler:Carlos]]: Stark's told me about you, too."

* GenocideBackfire: [[spoiler:Averted with Josef. In ''Aloha from Hell'']]

* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler: James Stark is revealed to be a nephilim (half-angel) this explains why he is such a badass]]

* KnightTemplar / TautologicalTemplar: Aelita, since she is an angel she also has an OmniscientMoralityLicense.
* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: Where Sandman Slim's stomping grounds were and are again.

* TheLostLenore: his girl is dead. Begin the revenge plot.

* NayTheist: In ''Kill The Dead''

* NoManOfWomanBorn: It is said that [[spoiler: the leader of the Gobah]] cannot be killed by any human, angel, Lurker, demon or Hellion. [[spoiler: Stark notices that Nephilim isn't on that list]] and wisely deduces that [[spoiler: his status as "an abomination" makes him the exception]]. It turns out [[spoiler: he was right]].

* OmnicidalManiac: Stark seriously considers destroying all of creation before ultimately deciding against it. [[spoiler: Mason would've gone through with it.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Zeds/Zots/High Plains Drifters/Zombies are the old fashioned mindless eating machines that shamble along, Laccuna are slightly more intelligent running zombies, Savants/Sapiens are intelligent and still retain a soul, and [[spoiler: the Geistwalds are kinda like vampire-zombie-liches]].

* ShootTheDog: What [[spoiler: Parker and Mason]] do to [[spoiler: Alice]] and pretend to do to [[spoiler: Vidocq and Allegra. Later Alice reveals that she shot herself in order to prevent Mason from sending her to Hell like Stark.]]

* StalkerShrine: When Stark goes back to hell and takes on the job of [[spoiler: Lucifer]], he finds a room Mason left that's filled with pictures of him, as well as the bodies of mutilated hellions. Stark realizes that Mason must have spent hours down there, torturing and slicing up Hellions while staring at pictures of him.
* [[spoiler: SuicideByCop: The reason why Hell wants to invade Heaven. They know the loyalist forces in Heaven will curbstomp them into oblivion in a matter of seconds, but staying in Hell is so depressing that the fallen angels look forward to this.]]

* ThatManIsDead: Literally. Stark was in hell 11 years and declared dead legally after 7. However, he also dislikes all the nicknames he was called by before he was sent to hell. Also [[spoiler: In kill the dead, this is what Angel!Stark says about human!Stark after getting bitten by a Drifter]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Mason's revealed to have a pretty damn good FreudianExcuse in the third book. If Stark were to have followed through with his killswitch plan, he would've been one too.]]

* EldritchAbomination: the Angra.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Francois Eugene Vidocq

* BrickJoke: Functioning as BookEnds for the first trilogy. When Stark returned to Earth, the first he did was [[spoiler: attack Kasabian with the black bone blade, allowing him to decapitate the guy without killing him]]. In the last chapter of the third book, Stark realizes that the design specs of a hell-hound (basically, a four-legged [[spoiler: BrainInAJar]]) would be the perfect solution for [[spoiler: Kasabian's lack of a body or a proper body prosthesis]].

* EyeOfNewt: The basis of alchemy, [[spoiler: particularly the Drifer bite cure]].
* ExtraStrengthMasquerade: So a ZombieApocalypse was averted. Half of Los Angeles was in flames. Fast forward six weeks and not a single {{Muggle}} has gone public with any solid evidence of what really happened. I guess it helps that [[spoiler: all the Drifters turned to ashes]].
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: When [[spoiler: Carlos meets Kasabian]].
--> [[spoiler: Carlos]]: Stark's told me about you, too."

--> [[spoiler:Carlos]]:Well, I thought you'd be taller.

* FlamingSword: All angels have this. In ''Kill The Dead'', [[spoiler: after Stark becomes a Drifter/Nephilim, he gains this in a fight with Aelita. Then lights a cigarette with it]]. In ''Aloha From Hell'', it is revealed that [[spoiler: certain Hellion generals (such as Mammon) have secretly retained their angelic ability to generate one of these]]. It turns out to be an AwkwardAbility when [[spoiler: Stark has to use one to win a death match in a Hellion arena]].

* GenocideBackfire: [[spoiler: Averted with Josef. In ''Aloha from Hell'']]
* GodhoodSeeker: What Mason essentially wants. [[spoiler: Aelita, too.]]

* AGodAmI: What Mason essentially wants. [[spoiler: Aelita, too.]]

* DrinkOrder: Aqua Regia. Neat.

''Kill The Dead'': Taking place six months after the first book, James kills some vampires, has to find a woman's son, and becomes Lucifer's bodyguard during a filming of his life story. To top that off, he accidentally begins and consequently has to stop a ZombieApocalypse.

''Aloha from Hell:'' Taking place two months after the previous events in the last book. After a successful break-in with Vidocq, Stark gets a job to find a possessed nineteen year-old named Hunter, who is addicted to a psychic drug called Akira. As he later finds out, he was the younger brother of T.J., one of the old members of Stark's old circle. When he finally finds Hunter, it turns out to he's not possessed by a demon but by Mason himself. Mason tells Stark that he kidnapped Alice, his dead ex-girlfriend, from heaven [[spoiler:(thanks to Aelita). He then proceeds to tell Stark that if he wants to save her, he literally has to go back to Hell. After informing the Kissi, Josef, and his fellows about the situation, Stark then crashes his car to get to Hell.(Not before burning down the garden of Eden.) There he breaks into Eleusis to get Alice and a demon general out of Tartarus to fight against Mason. Then he kills Mason in a game of Russian roulette (Stark cheats, of course). This makes Stark the new Lucifer in hell (much to his displeasure.) ]]

''Devil Said Bang'': Taking place three months after the events in the last book. Stark is not enjoying his time ruling Hell the new Lucifer. When three Hellion assassins attack Stark, and are defeated by him. This leads to Stark investigating who is plotting to kill him. He find an 8-ball that is in actuality the [[ArtifactOfDoom Qomrama Om Ya.]] He then kills one of the main conspirators, then returns to, Los Angeles, to see how his friends are doing. Only to find himself not being warmly welcomed back. As it turns out Stark's angel-half now called, "Saint James", is accused of killing the mayor's son and, a ghost is going around killing members of the sub rosa. [[spoiler: he later meets Cherry Moon as a Jabber (a ghost that haunts its own corpse.) Stark learns that the ghost is killing sub rosa members called dreamers that hold reality together by well... dreaming. While being controlled by Teddy that became a ghoul because of a pact his grandfather made with Lucifer and Lula a skinhead and was a member Josef's group. (and was in love with him.) Aelita was the reason behind everything and when Stark used the "8-ball" on her she captured it and escaped with it. At the end Mr. Munnin becomes the new Lucifer and reintegrates "Saint James" back into Stark along with the key of thirteen doors.]]

''Kill City Blues:'' Taking place one month after the events in the last book. After surviving an attempt on his life, Stark, chases down the assassin only for him to walk into an oncoming bus. During his investigation he finds out where Aelita hid the [[ArtifactOfDoom Qomrama Om Ya.]] (the "8-ball"). An abandoned run down shopping mall known as, Kill City, that infested by bottom-feeding Sub Rosa families, tribes of Lurkers, and the ghosts of former employees and construction workers that died the day Kill City collapsed. [[spoiler: When Stark and crew get there they find the mad ghost that was said to be guarding the "8-ball" in the roman baths. The mad ghost turns out to be one of the parts that split from god, Nefesh. After he tells Stark where the "8-ball" is, It is taken by Medea Bava of the Inquisition. She then calls Aelita who is [[DroppedABridgeOnHim then unceremoniously killed off by her with the "8-ball"]]. Medea Bava then reveals her true goal to use the Qomrama Om Ya to summon the Angra. But then Father Traven the sin-eater, hits her in the back of the head with a piece of concrete then dumps all of the sin he stored up into her. however he died during the process. Then Stark and crew have to escape a now collapsing Kill City as it slides into the Pacific Ocean.]]

* DeaderThanDead: [[spoiler:To Dr. Kinski/Uriel or any one in Tartarus]]

* NotUsingTheZedWord: Stark and his people all refer to the walking dead as "Film/{{High Plains Drifter}}s", or just Drifters.
** Or Zeds.
*** Or Zots.

* ShoutOut: A psychic drug called Manga/{{Akira}}

* ZombieApocalypse: Averted...except for LA, where it was quasi-apocalyptic.