Startup Hell

Coming May 2026

Morgan Blackwater-McKey is a junior salesperson for a tech startup that can’t even decide what its product is. Sure, her mom might be a kickass, world-saving, demon-slaying Shadow Council wizard. But with magic dyslexia and a disinclination to kick ass, Morgan’s life is more about sales leads than case leads.

That is, until her boss summons a demon to try to trade his soul to make his quarterly target. And dies without sending the demon home.

Now Morgan is stuck with an inconveniently attractive junior salesdemon sleeping on her couch. Other than that whole souls thing, turns out the infernal realm is not so different from startup culture. If all corporations are hell and their bosses are ruthless monsters anyway, why not team up?

Morgan just has to stay ahead of her demon-hunting mother, her amoral tech bro CEO, and her growing attraction to a certain demon. And a quarterly target that threatens to damn them both...

With Caitlin Rozakis’s signature wit, Startup Hell is a contemporary fantasy that exposes the demonic nature of the corporate world.

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  • "Caitlin Rozakis has the rare ability to simultaneously skewer and celebrate human nature. Hilarious, clever, and insightful, Startup Hell is everything you want it to be! Highly recommended!"

    —Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

  • "Clever, charming, and as earnest as it can be with demons heavily involved, Startup Hell confirms what we've known all along: corporate culture is evil, and the only antidote is love—and the judicious application of cookies and puppies."

    —Delilah S. Dawson, author of Bloom, House of Idyll and many more

  • "I absolutely loved the book. Startup Hell explores the hellish nature of the corporate world, quite literally, through slapstick humour and entertaining absurdity while illuminating moral ambiguity and the way desire might result in detrimental consequences but also wholesome, and sometimes chaotic, connections. Rozakis brings us on a journey of navigating a first job and finding faith in ourselves, especially when facing conflicts we aren't well-equipped to handle."

    —Ai Jiang, author of A River From the Sky

  • "This book was SO much fun, interlacing hilarious situations with deeper questions about work, capitalism, and what it means to sell your soul literally vs. selling it metaphorically was spot on. Terry Pratchett is the go-to example when people want to say "this humorous fantasy is really great!" but this was genuinely Pratchett-esque in the way it wove together hilarity and seriousness. I really loved it!"

    —Naomi Kritzer, Locus and Hugo award-winning author of Obstetrix

  • "Startup Hell is fun, fast-paced, and full of heart. Once again, Rozakis deftly explores the absurdity of humanity through a speculative lens, while never losing sight of kindness and hope."

    —A. C. Wise, Nebula-nominated author of Ballad of the Bone Road

  • "Startup Hell is diabolically delicious! Caitlin Rozakis crafts a magical combination of darkly humorous office culture, a charming romance that unfolds through the book, complicated but relatable family dynamics, and a whole lot of laughs. Simply brilliant!"

    —Jendia Gammon, Nebula and BSFA Award Finalist author of Dungeon Crawl at the Haunted Mall, Doomflower, and Godfestation

  • "Startup Hell is a damn good time! Rozakis has a talent for finding delight in the darkness, and crafting characters you'll root for, even as they stumble. An exploration of the modern marketing labyrinth and the infernal bureaucracy of hellish planes, nothing binds people and demons so much as desire, and hating your job. Invest in this wonderful story today!"

    —Martin Cahill, USA Today Bestselling Author of Audition For The Fox

  • “Infernally funny and hellishly heart-warming, Start Up Hell is a corporate satire for our times. It contractually obliges you to weigh the worth of your soul and wonder what you’d sell it for. The stakes couldn’t be higher with multiple dimensions on the line, but the hellhounds are cute and the baked goods are tasty. Caitlin Rozakis is a modern-day Voltaire.”

    —C. S. E. Cooney, author of Saint Death’s Daughter

  • "Delightful and devilish, witty and wicked, Rozakis spins a story of magic in the most unusual of places: the startup marketing grind. I enjoyed every step along the way, whether on this plane or the smokier one."

    —Natania Barron, Author of the Queens of Fate and Love in Netherford series

  • “Rozakis lured me in with a complete cinnamon roll of a demon love interest, and I stayed seated for the urban fantasy adventure proving MBA Tech Bros give real demons a run for their money. Startup Hell is funny, clever, at times surprising deep, and especially satisfying if you’ve ever been trapped in the hell that is corporate marketing.”

    —Gabriella Buba, author of Saints of Storm and Sorrow

  • “Packed with Rozakis’s customary wit and charm, Startup Hell is heartfelt and entertaining in perfect measure.“

    —H. M. Long, author of The Winter Sea series and The Four Pillars series

  • “Give this book a promotion and the corner office! At turns seductive, shocking, and laugh-out-loud funny, Startup Hell makes a compelling case for selling your soul if it means landing the handsome demon who really gets you. Only Caitlin Rozakis could make a modern fable about desire, fulfillment, and surviving America’s corporate hellscape so much fun!”

    —Venessa Vida Kelley, USA Today-bestselling author/illustrator of When the Tides Held the Moon

  • "A demonically good time—a vicious satire of startup culture and urban fantasy alike, leavened with romance."

    —Max Gladstone, New York Times-bestselling author of Dead Hand Rule and co-author of This is How You Lose the Time War