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End of the Road
ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
Each step leads you closer to your destination, but who, or what, can you expect to meet along the way?
Here are stories of misfits, spectral hitch-hikers, nightmare travel tales and the rogues, freaks and monsters to be found on the road. The critically acclaimed editor of Magic, The End of The Line and House of Fear has brought together the contemporary masters and mistresses of the weird from around the globe in an anthology of travel tales like no other. Strap on your seatbelt, or shoulder your backpack, and wait for that next ride... into darkness.
An incredible anthology of original short stories from an exciting list of writers including the best-selling Philip Reeve, the World Fantasy Award-winning Lavie Tidhar and the incredible talents of S.L. Grey, Ian Whates, Jay Caselberg, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Zen Cho, Sophia McDougall, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Anil Menon, Rio Youers, Vandana Singh, Paul Meloy, Adam Nevill and Helen Marshall.
Each step leads you closer to your destination, but who, or what, can you expect to meet along the way?
Here are stories of misfits, spectral hitch-hikers, nightmare travel tales and the rogues, freaks and monsters to be found on the road. The critically acclaimed editor of Magic, The End of The Line and House of Fear has brought together the contemporary masters and mistresses of the weird from around the globe in an anthology of travel tales like no other. Strap on your seatbelt, or shoulder your backpack, and wait for that next ride... into darkness.
An incredible anthology of original short stories from an exciting list of writers including the best-selling Philip Reeve, the World Fantasy Award-winning Lavie Tidhar and the incredible talents of S.L. Grey, Ian Whates, Jay Caselberg, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Zen Cho, Sophia McDougall, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Anil Menon, Rio Youers, Vandana Singh, Paul Meloy, Adam Nevill and Helen Marshall.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 24, 2013
7 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Oliver
42 books34 followersJonathan Oliver is the British Fantasy Award winning editor of Magic, House of Fear, End of the Line, End of the Road, World War Cthulhu, Five Stories High and Dangerous Games. He is the author of the collection The Language of Beasts, out now from Black Shuck Books.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 13, 2015
This is one of those books I picked up after seeing it on the shelf in a book shop because I thought it looked good. A common event for many but very rare (these days) for myself.
A striking cover and an enticing theme drew me in and I'm glad I read it. There's something engaging about a road story. The title of the book suggests some kind of unpleasant termination and this theme was grasped and interpreted very differently by the many contributing authors. Some of my favourites were: "Without a Hitch" by Ian Whates started out as a typical story about why you shouldn't pick up hitch hikers but there was an unexpected supernatural twist at the end. "Driver Error" by Paul Meloy - A horrifying tale of a man's journey to pick up his daughter from a party that goes from bad to worse that weaves in several super natural themes. "The Track" by Jay Caselberg - Two friends drive over a dangerous, arid stretch of desert road just because it's "the thing to do" but they soon begin to regret it. "The Widow" by Rio Youers was my favourite. A superbly unique and original interpretation of the road story theme that explored the extremes of madness that one might be driven to by grief.
One or two of the stories just didn't fit into the theme in my opinion but they were all at least fairly goods stories making this book an easy and enjoyable read. I can't wait to go back and read the previous anthology by Jonathan Oliver: The End Of The Line.
A striking cover and an enticing theme drew me in and I'm glad I read it. There's something engaging about a road story. The title of the book suggests some kind of unpleasant termination and this theme was grasped and interpreted very differently by the many contributing authors. Some of my favourites were: "Without a Hitch" by Ian Whates started out as a typical story about why you shouldn't pick up hitch hikers but there was an unexpected supernatural twist at the end. "Driver Error" by Paul Meloy - A horrifying tale of a man's journey to pick up his daughter from a party that goes from bad to worse that weaves in several super natural themes. "The Track" by Jay Caselberg - Two friends drive over a dangerous, arid stretch of desert road just because it's "the thing to do" but they soon begin to regret it. "The Widow" by Rio Youers was my favourite. A superbly unique and original interpretation of the road story theme that explored the extremes of madness that one might be driven to by grief.
One or two of the stories just didn't fit into the theme in my opinion but they were all at least fairly goods stories making this book an easy and enjoyable read. I can't wait to go back and read the previous anthology by Jonathan Oliver: The End Of The Line.
February 14, 2015
This collection of short stories all have the general themes of roads, travelling or journeys. They are mostly by authors I am unfamiliar with. Whilst all of the individual tales are good, entertaining stories, none of them really stood out for me. There wasn't one story where I would go looking for more works by that author.
December 17, 2013
Scary stories are still tricky reads for me. The balance between deliciously scary and nightmare-inducing is a thin line. As opposed to End of the Line which was straight-up horror, End of the Road takes road stories on with a slant to the weird, but still there are some pretty scary stories here. However, they stayed firmly on the side of deliciously scary, even if some of them pushed the line quite closely.
I enjoyed this anthology quite a bit, though some of the stories didn't really resonate with me, most notably the stories by Reeve and Nevill. Coincidentally, these were the opening and closing stories of the anthology. Technically, they were good stories and the craft that went into them was great, but they both made me feel impatient to get to the ending and not because I needed to know how the tale ended. The thing that put me off We Know Where We're Goin, the Philip Reeve story, was also its major strength: the rhythm and, for want of a better word, dialect the story is told in. I usually don't mind dialects in my fiction, but in this case even though it was really well done, it grated more than it worked for me. In the case of Adam Nevill's story, Always in Our Hearts, while I appreciated the structure and plot, I just couldn't connect to the characters and their emotions. However, even if these two didn't work for me, there were plenty of others that did. The following ones were the ones I connected to the most.
Benjanun Sriduangkaew - Fade to Gold
Fade to Gold features an interesting protagonist, a soldier who is quickly revealed to be female by the woman she meets on the road, who in turn has her own secret to keep. They decide to travel together and what follows is a poignant story about societal expectations, impossible love, and destroying something you treasure before you've discovered its worth.
Dagiti Timayap Garda (of the Flying Guardians) - Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
As with Fade to Gold, Dagiti Timayap Garda features a mythical being. I loved Arbo, the Flying Guardian protagonist and his journey towards the future. To say more of his story and of the young human man, Kagawan, who accompanies him would quickly lead to spoilers; suffice it to say, the twist ending was unexpectedly hopeful.
Bingo - S.L. Grey
In this story S.L. Grey take the question "What would you do to spare someone extended suffering?" and combine it with what seems to be a burning case of road rage. It creates a rather effective blend of horror and fascination. The story, which is only about ten pages long, is also packed with social commentary: on peer pressure, on the lengths people will go to in order to get ahead, on old boy's networks, and on the objectification of women.
Peripateia - Vandana Singh
Singh's story would definitely qualify as weird. I found it fascinating as there was so much to unpack. There's the question of what happened to the main character and her partner, for the latter to walk out giving no explanation for the why of her departure. The mystery of what exactly this road that appears to Sujata exactly is. And perhaps in the end, how much of it was real? Peripateia, the Greek word for turning point gives clues to the answers to all of those questions. I found this a clever story, with fascinating ideas – even though following some of the schemas and scientific hypotheses made my brain hurt – and a beautiful, moving ending.
Through Wylmere Woods - Sophia McDougall
A companion piece to Mailer Daemon, from Oliver's last anthology Magic, the novelette Through Wylmere Woods gives us the origin story for Morgane and her daemon Levanter-Sleet. Sophia McDougall goes into the genesis of the story on her blog. Through Wylmere Woods is my absolute favourite story of the anthology, because as usual McDougall weaves a fantastic tale. What makes this story so wonderful is that it not only looks closely at what it is like to be abused by your family for being different, McDougall also approaches how Morgane's perception of herself differs from the way others perceive her with wonderful sensitivity and care. I loved Morgane's emotional connection to Mr Levanter-Sleet. He was the embodiment of the notion that darkness doesn't necessarily equal evil. Theirs is a wonderful bond and the resolution of Morgane horrific home life was quite dark, but satisfying nonetheless. I'd love to read more about these two in the future. Let's hope they pester McDougall until she writes about them!
Overall, The End of the Road is another solid anthology edited by Jonathan Oliver. What I especially enjoyed about this collection of stories was its diversity. Oliver included authors from all over the world and stories set all over the world, which results in a rich tapestry of mythology and landscape to the stories. If you like weird stories or stories about change and discovery, then I'd definitely recommend picking up The End of the Road.
I enjoyed this anthology quite a bit, though some of the stories didn't really resonate with me, most notably the stories by Reeve and Nevill. Coincidentally, these were the opening and closing stories of the anthology. Technically, they were good stories and the craft that went into them was great, but they both made me feel impatient to get to the ending and not because I needed to know how the tale ended. The thing that put me off We Know Where We're Goin, the Philip Reeve story, was also its major strength: the rhythm and, for want of a better word, dialect the story is told in. I usually don't mind dialects in my fiction, but in this case even though it was really well done, it grated more than it worked for me. In the case of Adam Nevill's story, Always in Our Hearts, while I appreciated the structure and plot, I just couldn't connect to the characters and their emotions. However, even if these two didn't work for me, there were plenty of others that did. The following ones were the ones I connected to the most.
Benjanun Sriduangkaew - Fade to Gold
Fade to Gold features an interesting protagonist, a soldier who is quickly revealed to be female by the woman she meets on the road, who in turn has her own secret to keep. They decide to travel together and what follows is a poignant story about societal expectations, impossible love, and destroying something you treasure before you've discovered its worth.
Dagiti Timayap Garda (of the Flying Guardians) - Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
As with Fade to Gold, Dagiti Timayap Garda features a mythical being. I loved Arbo, the Flying Guardian protagonist and his journey towards the future. To say more of his story and of the young human man, Kagawan, who accompanies him would quickly lead to spoilers; suffice it to say, the twist ending was unexpectedly hopeful.
Bingo - S.L. Grey
In this story S.L. Grey take the question "What would you do to spare someone extended suffering?" and combine it with what seems to be a burning case of road rage. It creates a rather effective blend of horror and fascination. The story, which is only about ten pages long, is also packed with social commentary: on peer pressure, on the lengths people will go to in order to get ahead, on old boy's networks, and on the objectification of women.
Peripateia - Vandana Singh
Singh's story would definitely qualify as weird. I found it fascinating as there was so much to unpack. There's the question of what happened to the main character and her partner, for the latter to walk out giving no explanation for the why of her departure. The mystery of what exactly this road that appears to Sujata exactly is. And perhaps in the end, how much of it was real? Peripateia, the Greek word for turning point gives clues to the answers to all of those questions. I found this a clever story, with fascinating ideas – even though following some of the schemas and scientific hypotheses made my brain hurt – and a beautiful, moving ending.
Through Wylmere Woods - Sophia McDougall
A companion piece to Mailer Daemon, from Oliver's last anthology Magic, the novelette Through Wylmere Woods gives us the origin story for Morgane and her daemon Levanter-Sleet. Sophia McDougall goes into the genesis of the story on her blog. Through Wylmere Woods is my absolute favourite story of the anthology, because as usual McDougall weaves a fantastic tale. What makes this story so wonderful is that it not only looks closely at what it is like to be abused by your family for being different, McDougall also approaches how Morgane's perception of herself differs from the way others perceive her with wonderful sensitivity and care. I loved Morgane's emotional connection to Mr Levanter-Sleet. He was the embodiment of the notion that darkness doesn't necessarily equal evil. Theirs is a wonderful bond and the resolution of Morgane horrific home life was quite dark, but satisfying nonetheless. I'd love to read more about these two in the future. Let's hope they pester McDougall until she writes about them!
Overall, The End of the Road is another solid anthology edited by Jonathan Oliver. What I especially enjoyed about this collection of stories was its diversity. Oliver included authors from all over the world and stories set all over the world, which results in a rich tapestry of mythology and landscape to the stories. If you like weird stories or stories about change and discovery, then I'd definitely recommend picking up The End of the Road.
December 27, 2013
This is another excellent anthology from Jonathan Oliver, paralleling his The End of the Line.
Again the stories revolve (loosely) around travel: what we might meet out there, where we go, what may come out of the darkness. Rather than the claustrophobia of the Underground, in this book, Oliver draws together stories of the open road - whether it's an empty urban motorway at 2am, a country lane, or the backstreets of Birmingham. We meet accidents. There are travellers who know where they're going - or think they do. Some whose journeys are cut short. There are also stories of roads as metaphors for understanding the universe, and there are roads that are hostile, in various different ways.
In "We Know Where We're Goin" (Philip Reeve) generations of itinerant roadbuilders work towards Where We're Goin across a bleak (post apocalyptic) landscape.
"Fade to Gold" (Benjanun Sriduangkaew) describes the return of a soldier in ancient Thailand, and the difficulty of leaving the war behind.
"Without a Hitch" (Ian Whates) is the only hitch-hiker story in the book - and has a twist on what you'd normally expect.
"Balik Kampung" (Zen Cho) is the story of a returned "hungry ghost" in a story that looks at the Malaysian equivalent of Hallowe'en - but from the perspective of the departed, and with a modern, slangy sense of verve.
"Driver Error" (Paul Meloy) describes what a moment's inattention can lead to, but with a creepy difference.
In "Locusts" by Lavie Tidhar, we get a tour of early 20th century Palestine, on the verge of great change, and a prophetic view of coming horrors. Less supernatural/ horror than simply weird, it's still compelling.
"The Track" by Jay Casselberg pits two incautious travellers against the Australian wilderness.
Dagiti Timayap Garda (Rochita Loenen-Ruiz) is a story of transformation, describing what happens when a modern road disturbs the ancient wildlife of a previously remote valley - as, in a different way, is "Through Wylmere Woods" by Sophia McDougall - which has a bonus in being a prequel to one of the stories in Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric & Arcane, describing where two of the characters came from.
"I'm the Lady of Good Times, She Said" (Helen Marshall) is a ghost story, and a story of revenge, laden with the heat and dust of the open road somewhere in the USA of the early 70s - just as Vietnam falls apart - but also the claustrophobia and jeolousies of the small town.
"The Widow" (Rio Youers) is also a story or revenge, featuring the frightening competent Faye who has lost her husband to The Road.
"The Cure" (Anil Menon) is a strange story of a journey to a temple in India, in which a group of travellers with different motives are forced to share a cramped car.
"Bingo" (SL Grey) is another nasty tale of a road accident and the horror that may follow.
"Peripateia" (Vandana Singh) describes a more metaphysical type of rod and the discoveries - about herself, and the world - that it leads a young scientist to.
All of the stories are excellent in their various ways, and taken together, they cover a wide range of time and a great diversity of culture - taking place in the US, the UK, Palestine, Thailand, Malaysia, India, South Africa and other places - including some less well defined, metaphysical territories you won't find on any map. I liked some more than others - it would be unfair to single any out, though I will say that having recently read Adam Nevill's House of Small Shadows I was particularly set up for another dollop of his particularly nasty, brooding horror, and his "Always in our Hearts" which closes the book demonstrates the same talent for evoking an atmosphere of wrongness from everyday detritus as does that story of puppets, glue and sawdust.
I'd rate none of these as less than 3 stars individually, many 4, and some 5 - hence a 4 star rating overall.
Again the stories revolve (loosely) around travel: what we might meet out there, where we go, what may come out of the darkness. Rather than the claustrophobia of the Underground, in this book, Oliver draws together stories of the open road - whether it's an empty urban motorway at 2am, a country lane, or the backstreets of Birmingham. We meet accidents. There are travellers who know where they're going - or think they do. Some whose journeys are cut short. There are also stories of roads as metaphors for understanding the universe, and there are roads that are hostile, in various different ways.
In "We Know Where We're Goin" (Philip Reeve) generations of itinerant roadbuilders work towards Where We're Goin across a bleak (post apocalyptic) landscape.
"Fade to Gold" (Benjanun Sriduangkaew) describes the return of a soldier in ancient Thailand, and the difficulty of leaving the war behind.
"Without a Hitch" (Ian Whates) is the only hitch-hiker story in the book - and has a twist on what you'd normally expect.
"Balik Kampung" (Zen Cho) is the story of a returned "hungry ghost" in a story that looks at the Malaysian equivalent of Hallowe'en - but from the perspective of the departed, and with a modern, slangy sense of verve.
"Driver Error" (Paul Meloy) describes what a moment's inattention can lead to, but with a creepy difference.
In "Locusts" by Lavie Tidhar, we get a tour of early 20th century Palestine, on the verge of great change, and a prophetic view of coming horrors. Less supernatural/ horror than simply weird, it's still compelling.
"The Track" by Jay Casselberg pits two incautious travellers against the Australian wilderness.
Dagiti Timayap Garda (Rochita Loenen-Ruiz) is a story of transformation, describing what happens when a modern road disturbs the ancient wildlife of a previously remote valley - as, in a different way, is "Through Wylmere Woods" by Sophia McDougall - which has a bonus in being a prequel to one of the stories in Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric & Arcane, describing where two of the characters came from.
"I'm the Lady of Good Times, She Said" (Helen Marshall) is a ghost story, and a story of revenge, laden with the heat and dust of the open road somewhere in the USA of the early 70s - just as Vietnam falls apart - but also the claustrophobia and jeolousies of the small town.
"The Widow" (Rio Youers) is also a story or revenge, featuring the frightening competent Faye who has lost her husband to The Road.
"The Cure" (Anil Menon) is a strange story of a journey to a temple in India, in which a group of travellers with different motives are forced to share a cramped car.
"Bingo" (SL Grey) is another nasty tale of a road accident and the horror that may follow.
"Peripateia" (Vandana Singh) describes a more metaphysical type of rod and the discoveries - about herself, and the world - that it leads a young scientist to.
All of the stories are excellent in their various ways, and taken together, they cover a wide range of time and a great diversity of culture - taking place in the US, the UK, Palestine, Thailand, Malaysia, India, South Africa and other places - including some less well defined, metaphysical territories you won't find on any map. I liked some more than others - it would be unfair to single any out, though I will say that having recently read Adam Nevill's House of Small Shadows I was particularly set up for another dollop of his particularly nasty, brooding horror, and his "Always in our Hearts" which closes the book demonstrates the same talent for evoking an atmosphere of wrongness from everyday detritus as does that story of puppets, glue and sawdust.
I'd rate none of these as less than 3 stars individually, many 4, and some 5 - hence a 4 star rating overall.
January 22, 2014
Many short story collections search for connections, loose ties, to justify the odds-and-sods group they've managed to assemble, often more at the mercy of publishing contracts and budgets as by creativity. This anthology from Solaris and edited by Jonathan Oliver, however, has made the excellent move to commission original stories around a single-worded brief - 'Road'. In this, much like the similarly themed and excellent Granta Books collections, Oliver and co have created a compilation that is free to roam as far and wide down various routes, whilst still having a unifying spirit of the task at hand. It's a bit like when at school your English teacher would get everyone to write a story all with the same title, and everyone would try to come up with unusual and wild interpretations.
The collection also has the superb factor of being from authors from across the globe. The variety and complexity is great, and I highly recommend this to anyone who has never got into the idea of short stories, as it would make an engrossing introduction...
Read the full review at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
The collection also has the superb factor of being from authors from across the globe. The variety and complexity is great, and I highly recommend this to anyone who has never got into the idea of short stories, as it would make an engrossing introduction...
Read the full review at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
November 17, 2013
A mixed bag. Some of it is the dark fiction that reminds me why I don't read dark/horror fiction: I'm not scared or even unsettled by it, but the casual and outright misogyny (and ableism! variety!) pisses me off. However, this anthology is redeemed - and, indeed, made valuable - by the editor having invited a diverse selection of authors. Not steeped in the tropes that make so much dark/horror fiction tiresome for me, they offer quite different takes on the 'road' theme. My favourite stories were Zen Cho's humorous and sad "Balik Kampung (Going Back)" (I loved the dead debating what they'll do with their time back in the living world: possess the living? visit family?), Benjanun Sriduangkaew's historical "Fade to Gold", Vandana Singh's weird physics "Peripateia" and Lavie Tidhar's also-historical "Locusts". I also enjoyed Rochita Loenen-Ruiz's "Dagiti Timayap Garda (Of The Flying Guardians)" and Sophia McDougall's "Through Wylmere Woods". I'm glad I read this anthology, though I wish I'd known in advance to skip some of the stories.
December 20, 2013
Now, you may have noticed I have a liking for multi-author short story compilations....
This is a rather good example. "The End of the Road" is a collection of horror/urban fantasy tales, all about- well, roads & journeys, funnily enough.
As ever, I won't critique each individual story, but will say they were of a uniformly high standard: Jonathan Oliver is very good at selecting stories. What was also nice was that this included many authors I'd not come across before, including several from non UK/US backgrounds.
Definitely worth a look.
This is a rather good example. "The End of the Road" is a collection of horror/urban fantasy tales, all about- well, roads & journeys, funnily enough.
As ever, I won't critique each individual story, but will say they were of a uniformly high standard: Jonathan Oliver is very good at selecting stories. What was also nice was that this included many authors I'd not come across before, including several from non UK/US backgrounds.
Definitely worth a look.
March 1, 2015
I originally borrowed this book to read the story by Adam Nevill which I really enjoyed, but found all the other stories were awesome too. The stories are all short and written about various journeys. Every different author has a different style, and enjoyed some more than others, but collectively this book is brilliant and thoroughly recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror / fantasy / sci-fi / myths and legends / short stories. I will definitely need to look up stories by all the other authors in this book some time.
August 12, 2014
Road trip stories with a difference, be it a spin of horror, mystery, folklore or ghost stories, collected from authors from all over the world. I enjoyed the Benjanun Sriduangkaew story more than the other two in the Hugo pack. However, there are other stories in this collection that are just as good, if not better.
June 7, 2025
The two stars is a polite way of saying that the book was ok but honestly didn't impress me.
September 3, 2022
Given how much I enjoyed last year's Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane, I was definitely eager to sample another batch of tales, as selected by Jonathan Oliver, when this one crossed my desk.
While I didn't enjoy it quite as much, The End of the Road: An Anthology of Original Fiction is a very strong collection, and one that's exceptionally diverse in the range of both roads traveled, and authors included. In fact, readers looking for something new and original will find a lot to like in this collection. The authors selected by Oliver here literally take us around the world, and though a wide variety of mythologies along the way.
For me, the collection stumbled a bit getting on the road. 'We Know Where We’re Goin' by Philip Reeve may very well be a fascinating story, but I found myself turned off by the fragmented pidgin sort of English in its narration, and just didn't have the patience to continue with it.
Fortunately, if we misfired on that first tale, Fade to Gold by Benjanun Sriduangkaew got the literary engine running just fine. It's a tale of Thai history and mythology, and one that plays a bit with gender expectations along the road. Some of the language and the imagery here was quite exquisite, especially in the final, sun-tinged scene.
Without a Hitch by Ian Whates was another solid, unsettling sort of tale, the kind of story that reminds you of just why it's such a bad idea to pick up hitchhikers. Of course, there's a slight paranormal twist here, but it's one that doesn't hit you until the end.
The next tale didn't make much of an impression on me, leaving me with a bit of highway hypnosis, but Driver Error by Paul Meloy definitely pulled my eyes back to the road. It starts out so simply, with a father going to pick up his daughter from a party gone wrong, only to witness a horrific hit-and-run along the way. Meloy does a great job of painting the scene and putting us inside the father's head, but then refuses to take the story where we expect it to go. In fact, it turns out to be a time-jumbled pretzel of a tale that still gets better and better the more I think about it.
After another soft entry, during which I fiddled with the radio and adjusted the mirrors, The Track by Jay Caselberg put my hands firmly back on the wheel once again. It's a rather simple story of a vehicular walkabout through the barren deserts of Australia. It's almost as full of foreboding as it is heat and dust storms, but the grinning dingo at the end makes it all worth it.
This time, it was two tales in a row that drove me to distraction, but I found the edges of the highway again with The Widow by Rio Youers. To say much about this is to spoil the surreal sort of way in which it unfolds - punctuated by some of the simplest, most graphic scenes of torture imaginable - but it's a fantastic tale of loss, grief, madness, and revenge.
Once again, it seems I took my eyes from the road for a pair of stories, but Bingo by S. L. Grey jolted me back into alertness. In a story that's reminiscent of Driver Error, it starts out rather simply with a close call and a little road rage that turns out to be somewhat delayed. It's an interesting twist on the tale of the Good Samaritan, and one with a really creepy final scene of children at the highway fence.
After one final story forgotten on the side of the road, Adam Nevillblah brings us to the end of our journey with Always in Our Hearts. Just as Bingo hearkened back to Driver Error, this one has echoes of The Widow, except here we're on the other side of that madness and sorrow. In a story that has a very sort of Twilight Zone feel to it, we know we're being taken for a ride, but we cannot begin to imagine what sort of darkness awaits us at the end.
Detours and distractions aside, the stories that worked for me here worked very well indeed. It's those two pairs of complimentary stories - Bingo & Driver Error and The Widow & Always in Our Hearts - that I think encapsulate the anthology the best. They're the stories that remind us that sometimes roads come to resemble one another, and sometimes one journey may evoke memories of another, but they rarely take us to exactly the same place twice, and never in exactly the same way.
The road indeed "goes on forever" as Meloy reminds us in his tale, which is fine, because sometimes it's the remarkable journey that make the The End of the Road worthwhile.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
While I didn't enjoy it quite as much, The End of the Road: An Anthology of Original Fiction is a very strong collection, and one that's exceptionally diverse in the range of both roads traveled, and authors included. In fact, readers looking for something new and original will find a lot to like in this collection. The authors selected by Oliver here literally take us around the world, and though a wide variety of mythologies along the way.
For me, the collection stumbled a bit getting on the road. 'We Know Where We’re Goin' by Philip Reeve may very well be a fascinating story, but I found myself turned off by the fragmented pidgin sort of English in its narration, and just didn't have the patience to continue with it.
Fortunately, if we misfired on that first tale, Fade to Gold by Benjanun Sriduangkaew got the literary engine running just fine. It's a tale of Thai history and mythology, and one that plays a bit with gender expectations along the road. Some of the language and the imagery here was quite exquisite, especially in the final, sun-tinged scene.
Without a Hitch by Ian Whates was another solid, unsettling sort of tale, the kind of story that reminds you of just why it's such a bad idea to pick up hitchhikers. Of course, there's a slight paranormal twist here, but it's one that doesn't hit you until the end.
The next tale didn't make much of an impression on me, leaving me with a bit of highway hypnosis, but Driver Error by Paul Meloy definitely pulled my eyes back to the road. It starts out so simply, with a father going to pick up his daughter from a party gone wrong, only to witness a horrific hit-and-run along the way. Meloy does a great job of painting the scene and putting us inside the father's head, but then refuses to take the story where we expect it to go. In fact, it turns out to be a time-jumbled pretzel of a tale that still gets better and better the more I think about it.
After another soft entry, during which I fiddled with the radio and adjusted the mirrors, The Track by Jay Caselberg put my hands firmly back on the wheel once again. It's a rather simple story of a vehicular walkabout through the barren deserts of Australia. It's almost as full of foreboding as it is heat and dust storms, but the grinning dingo at the end makes it all worth it.
This time, it was two tales in a row that drove me to distraction, but I found the edges of the highway again with The Widow by Rio Youers. To say much about this is to spoil the surreal sort of way in which it unfolds - punctuated by some of the simplest, most graphic scenes of torture imaginable - but it's a fantastic tale of loss, grief, madness, and revenge.
Once again, it seems I took my eyes from the road for a pair of stories, but Bingo by S. L. Grey jolted me back into alertness. In a story that's reminiscent of Driver Error, it starts out rather simply with a close call and a little road rage that turns out to be somewhat delayed. It's an interesting twist on the tale of the Good Samaritan, and one with a really creepy final scene of children at the highway fence.
After one final story forgotten on the side of the road, Adam Nevillblah brings us to the end of our journey with Always in Our Hearts. Just as Bingo hearkened back to Driver Error, this one has echoes of The Widow, except here we're on the other side of that madness and sorrow. In a story that has a very sort of Twilight Zone feel to it, we know we're being taken for a ride, but we cannot begin to imagine what sort of darkness awaits us at the end.
Detours and distractions aside, the stories that worked for me here worked very well indeed. It's those two pairs of complimentary stories - Bingo & Driver Error and The Widow & Always in Our Hearts - that I think encapsulate the anthology the best. They're the stories that remind us that sometimes roads come to resemble one another, and sometimes one journey may evoke memories of another, but they rarely take us to exactly the same place twice, and never in exactly the same way.
The road indeed "goes on forever" as Meloy reminds us in his tale, which is fine, because sometimes it's the remarkable journey that make the The End of the Road worthwhile.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
September 5, 2024
I am a big fan of dimly lit lonely roads and unforseen hitchhikers who await their next journey to a destination to nowhere so I was intrigued by this title which sports a very mysterious and somewhat alluring cover to suggest that many of these short tales await within. Unfortunately editor Jonathon Oliver had other ideas and tried a different approach much to my dislike and it's a personal dislike as I had expected what I was hoping for which wasn't the case. Many of the selected shorts within the book are by up and coming authors respectively and I admire that Jonathon Oliver compiled this collection to give these little known about authors a chance to shine so kudos to you Mr Oliver it's just that only 4 out of the 15 struck a chord with me and the other 11 were just painstaking to trudge through, while all of the stories hold the common theme of a road I just felt as though the 11 I didn't personally like were a mishmash of poor writing and loose plotlines accompanied by unrelatable and weak characters. I will list the 4 I did like but ultimately I had to give this one a 2 out of 5, the unconventional style and approach to the road story just didn't work here and it's most certainly the end of the road for (End of the road).
1) (The Track) by Jay Castelberg- The 7th story in the book and finally a breath of fresh air, the track by Castelberg is a very welcome entry after the previous 6 sleepers. Set in the outback of the Australian wilderness, Castelberg delivers a solid entry which visually illustrates the danger of a lonely road and eventual isolation where the small things we take for granted are the things we ultimately desire when the tables turn.
2) (The widow) by Rio Youers- Is without question the strongest entry within the book and certainly the most well written in terms of visualization, characterisation and plot pull. This emotionally charged and haunting tale of loss and grieving is worth picking up the book alone because Rio Youers delivers and delivers well here showing why he's a cut above the rest in this book. The story focuses on a widow as the title reads where Faye Peel loses her one true love Timothy on a lonely stretch of road that has claimed many victims in the past. Faye becomes obsessed with finding out why and loses herself in the process, truly a masterful tale of mystery, suspense, grief and loss with a somewhat supernatural twist.
3) (Peripateia) by Vandana Singh- Vandana Singh has a very bright writing future ahead of her because (Peripateia) is a visceral telling of a scientist trying to understand the nature and laws of the universe while experiencing emotional loss. A story which will more than likely resonate with many in trying to fathom why we exist and why we hold so dear to us things which really have no meaning.
4) (Always in our hearts) by Adam Neville- The last story of the collection and a welcome conclusion it was because Adam excells with (Always in our hearts) showing the reader that he is undoubtedly a profound writer with a gift of keeping you hooked right up until the very last word. The story focuses on Ray Larch a taxi driver in Birmingham who on a job accidentally hits a 13 year old off his bike, not stopping Ray convinces himself that it was only a slight knock and all will sort itself out. What awaits Ray he could never have imagined and neither could you until you read this superb chilling tale of Karma. Fantastic work Adam and may you keep on churning out solid writing such as this one.
In closing I feel a little harsh towards the other 11 writers from all over the world and their respective contributions but the cream of the crop were in these 4. If you are looking for the conventional supernatural highway, or mysterious hitchhiker tales of terror then leave this one on the shelf because you will be disappointed, although in saying that the 4 I've listed are worth the price of the book alone, I guess it just depends on what you are looking for.
1) (The Track) by Jay Castelberg- The 7th story in the book and finally a breath of fresh air, the track by Castelberg is a very welcome entry after the previous 6 sleepers. Set in the outback of the Australian wilderness, Castelberg delivers a solid entry which visually illustrates the danger of a lonely road and eventual isolation where the small things we take for granted are the things we ultimately desire when the tables turn.
2) (The widow) by Rio Youers- Is without question the strongest entry within the book and certainly the most well written in terms of visualization, characterisation and plot pull. This emotionally charged and haunting tale of loss and grieving is worth picking up the book alone because Rio Youers delivers and delivers well here showing why he's a cut above the rest in this book. The story focuses on a widow as the title reads where Faye Peel loses her one true love Timothy on a lonely stretch of road that has claimed many victims in the past. Faye becomes obsessed with finding out why and loses herself in the process, truly a masterful tale of mystery, suspense, grief and loss with a somewhat supernatural twist.
3) (Peripateia) by Vandana Singh- Vandana Singh has a very bright writing future ahead of her because (Peripateia) is a visceral telling of a scientist trying to understand the nature and laws of the universe while experiencing emotional loss. A story which will more than likely resonate with many in trying to fathom why we exist and why we hold so dear to us things which really have no meaning.
4) (Always in our hearts) by Adam Neville- The last story of the collection and a welcome conclusion it was because Adam excells with (Always in our hearts) showing the reader that he is undoubtedly a profound writer with a gift of keeping you hooked right up until the very last word. The story focuses on Ray Larch a taxi driver in Birmingham who on a job accidentally hits a 13 year old off his bike, not stopping Ray convinces himself that it was only a slight knock and all will sort itself out. What awaits Ray he could never have imagined and neither could you until you read this superb chilling tale of Karma. Fantastic work Adam and may you keep on churning out solid writing such as this one.
In closing I feel a little harsh towards the other 11 writers from all over the world and their respective contributions but the cream of the crop were in these 4. If you are looking for the conventional supernatural highway, or mysterious hitchhiker tales of terror then leave this one on the shelf because you will be disappointed, although in saying that the 4 I've listed are worth the price of the book alone, I guess it just depends on what you are looking for.
February 10, 2025
I am a big fan of dimly lit lonely roads and unforseen hitchhikers who await their next journey to a destination to nowhere so I was intrigued by this title which sports a very mysterious and somewhat alluring cover to suggest that many of these short tales await within. Unfortunately editor Jonathon Oliver had other ideas and tried a different approach much to my dislike and it's a personal dislike as I had expected what I was hoping for which wasn't the case. Many of the selected shorts within the book are by up and coming authors respectively and I admire that Jonathon Oliver compiled this collection to give these little known about authors a chance to shine so kudos to you Mr Oliver it's just that only 4 out of the 15 struck a chord with me and the other 11 were just painstaking to trudge through, while all of the stories hold the common theme of a road I just felt as though the 11 I didn't personally like were a mishmash of poor writing and loose plotlines accompanied by unrelatable and weak characters. I will list the 4 I did like but ultimately I had to give this one a 2 out of 5, the unconventional style and approach to the road story just didn't work here and it's most certainly the end of the road for (End of the road).
1) (The Track) by Jay Castelberg- The 7th story in the book and finally a breath of fresh air, the track by Castelberg is a very welcome entry after the previous 6 sleepers. Set in the outback of the Australian wilderness, Castelberg delivers a solid entry which visually illustrates the danger of a lonely road and eventual isolation where the small things we take for granted are the things we ultimately desire when the tables turn.
2) (The widow) by Rio Youers- Is without question the strongest entry within the book and certainly the most well written in terms of visualization, characterisation and plot pull. This emotionally charged and haunting tale of loss and grieving is worth picking up the book alone because Rio Youers delivers and delivers well here showing why he's a cut above the rest in this book. The story focuses on a widow as the title reads where Faye Peel loses her one true love Timothy on a lonely stretch of road that has claimed many victims in the past. Faye becomes obsessed with finding out why and loses herself in the process, truly a masterful tale of mystery, suspense, grief and loss with a somewhat supernatural twist.
3) (Peripateia) by Vandana Singh- Vandana Singh has a very bright writing future ahead of her because (Peripateia) is a visceral telling of a scientist trying to understand the nature and laws of the universe while experiencing emotional loss. A story which will more than likely resonate with many in trying to fathom why we exist and why we hold so dear to us things which really have no meaning.
4) (Always in our hearts) by Adam Neville- The last story of the collection and a welcome conclusion it was because Adam excells with (Always in our hearts) showing the reader that he is undoubtedly a profound writer with a gift of keeping you hooked right up until the very last word. The story focuses on Ray Larch a taxi driver in Birmingham who on a job accidentally hits a 13 year old off his bike, not stopping Ray convinces himself that it was only a slight knock and all will sort itself out. What awaits Ray he could never have imagined and neither could you until you read this superb chilling tale of Karma. Fantastic work Adam and may you keep on churning out solid writing such as this one.
In closing I feel a little harsh towards the other 11 writers from all over the world and their respective contributions but the cream of the crop were in these 4. If you are looking for the conventional supernatural highway, or mysterious hitchhiker tales of terror then leave this one on the shelf because you will be disappointed, although in saying that the 4 I've listed are worth the price of the book alone, I guess it just depends on what you are looking for.
1) (The Track) by Jay Castelberg- The 7th story in the book and finally a breath of fresh air, the track by Castelberg is a very welcome entry after the previous 6 sleepers. Set in the outback of the Australian wilderness, Castelberg delivers a solid entry which visually illustrates the danger of a lonely road and eventual isolation where the small things we take for granted are the things we ultimately desire when the tables turn.
2) (The widow) by Rio Youers- Is without question the strongest entry within the book and certainly the most well written in terms of visualization, characterisation and plot pull. This emotionally charged and haunting tale of loss and grieving is worth picking up the book alone because Rio Youers delivers and delivers well here showing why he's a cut above the rest in this book. The story focuses on a widow as the title reads where Faye Peel loses her one true love Timothy on a lonely stretch of road that has claimed many victims in the past. Faye becomes obsessed with finding out why and loses herself in the process, truly a masterful tale of mystery, suspense, grief and loss with a somewhat supernatural twist.
3) (Peripateia) by Vandana Singh- Vandana Singh has a very bright writing future ahead of her because (Peripateia) is a visceral telling of a scientist trying to understand the nature and laws of the universe while experiencing emotional loss. A story which will more than likely resonate with many in trying to fathom why we exist and why we hold so dear to us things which really have no meaning.
4) (Always in our hearts) by Adam Neville- The last story of the collection and a welcome conclusion it was because Adam excells with (Always in our hearts) showing the reader that he is undoubtedly a profound writer with a gift of keeping you hooked right up until the very last word. The story focuses on Ray Larch a taxi driver in Birmingham who on a job accidentally hits a 13 year old off his bike, not stopping Ray convinces himself that it was only a slight knock and all will sort itself out. What awaits Ray he could never have imagined and neither could you until you read this superb chilling tale of Karma. Fantastic work Adam and may you keep on churning out solid writing such as this one.
In closing I feel a little harsh towards the other 11 writers from all over the world and their respective contributions but the cream of the crop were in these 4. If you are looking for the conventional supernatural highway, or mysterious hitchhiker tales of terror then leave this one on the shelf because you will be disappointed, although in saying that the 4 I've listed are worth the price of the book alone, I guess it just depends on what you are looking for.
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February 9, 2014I was not prepared for how much this anthology would break my heart so utterly.
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