HellBound Highway: Anthology of Traveling Terror

by Jane Nightshade, Ann O’Mara Heyward, James H. Longmore

We invite you, fellow horror aficionados, to take a ride on HellBound Highway – a terrifying trip into the darkest recesses of the human mind you’d care to discover, your ticket to ride provided by a bunch of the very best authors writing on the independent horror scene today.

Of course, it’s not your ordinary ticket, it’s a boarding pass to twenty-eight sinister tales about terror excursions you most definitely wouldn’t want to experience first-hand.

We present to you, for your ghoulish delectation…

— A family’s pleasant, end of summer road trip to a waterpark turns into a nightmare when they happen upon a car that bears an uncanny resemblance to theirs, its occupants uncomfortably familiar…

— A fleeing highway convoy of ragtag vehicles keeps just fifty-seven miles per hour ahead of a constantly mutating mega-monster that devours everything in its path. If the speed drops below 57 mph, it’s certain death. Meanwhile, gas and food are running perilously low…

— A woman with a guilty secret, desperate to leave town, steals a train ticket from a ragged elderly passenger. . .and encounters a sentient train cabin that inexplicably adjusts itself to her crimes…

— A hitchhiking waif finds herself in a truck stop diner where the management posts a sign telling customers, “ Gators Ahead.” She’s thumbing her way through bone-dry Wyoming. . .where alligators don’t exist. Or do they?

— A desperate ,unemployed dad really, really needs to catch a plane to Florida. But his wife chooses to use the terminal’s ladies’ room only a few minutes before boarding time. When she doesn’t come out, his two-year-old son runs after her…

So, please do immerse yourself in HellBound’s bone-chilling anthology of traveling terror, curated by indie horror superstars Jane Nightshade and Ann O’Mara Heyward, and featuring stories

James H. Longmore, Ann O'Mara Heyward, Jane Nightshade, Todd Mitternacht, Damon Nomad, D.W. Milton, Michael Penncavage, John Wolf, Andrew Adams, Ross Baxter, D. Winchester, Ricardo Rebelo, S.J. Townend, David Bartlett, Nicola Lombardi, Blake Kourik, R. D. Davidson, Harley Carnell, Kevin Hollaway, Eliza Hyde, Mason Gallaway, D. C. Kugtima, Patrick Wright, Sean Seebach, Eldon Litchfield, Meg Belviso, Jay T. Levy, and Randall Drum.

Genres: Horror, Collections

429 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 11, 2025

About the author

I write non-fiction and fiction. Check out my non-fiction articles on Horrornews.net and Horrified. My fiction includes The Drowning Game: A Story of the Supernatural, A Scream Full of Ghosts, and the just-released Jane Nightshade's Serial Encounters. I've also been published/dramatized in more than 20 anthologies and/or podcasts.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a massive tome of 28 (!) short stories inside. The quality was okay but except for Jane's Godfather Poker and the one on Salvation I would have loved to read more highlights. Okay, it was about horror on the road, uncanny encounters, mysterious happenings but somehow I had expected more. Maybe I'm too spoiled with all the books I already read or the ideas I have in my mind. Overall a solid with road horror as a general topic. Recommended rather to starters in this field.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what an amazing anthology this proved to be! The theme is traveling, or, as the editors put it, "stories of road trips, train trips, plane trips, boat trips, and head trips gone terribly, horribly wrong". This is 100% accurate, in respect of both range and content. There are hitchhiker tales, serial killer stories, even an alien invasion one! Most of the stories are supernatural horror (which I love) and extremely bleak in tone (which I also like). The theme itself is very close to my heart as well, since I move around a lot, and some of the tales really hit home! But what impressed me most was the quality of the writing: almost all the stories show incredible craftmanship and skill, several by authors I'd never heard of before! The book turned out to be such a pleasant surprise, I'll check out the other HellBound anthologies, too!

Picking favorites out of the 28 stories within was quite hard, they're all gems. More than half I hugely enjoyed, so I'll mention the ones I enjoyed most:

"Brutal" by Eldon Litchfield (bleak, disturbing, paranormal revenge tale, kids on the warpath)
"Not Much Left" by D.C. Kugtima (bleak, dystopian, bio-horror, people on a bus trying to survive)
"Telaraña" by D. Winchester (immersive, supernatural, young guys searching for a ghost town)
"The Long Row" by Ross Baxter (suspenseful, immersive, two women on a transatlantic rowing race)
"Godfather Poker" by Jane Nightshade (creepy, atmospheric, a man on a Greyhound bus)
"Yellow Car" by SJ Townend (the weirdest tale of the volume!)
"End of the Road" by Andrew Adams (unsettling, apocalyptic, family on a road trip)
"What Waits" by R.D. Davidson (creepy, a driver stops to help a stranger on the road)
"A Cottage on the Interstate" by Patrick Wright (creepy, family on a trip, kids meeting a strange creature)
"Passengers" by Meg Belviso (creepy, supernatural, dad and kid daughter traveling)
"Comanche Country" by Todd Mitternacht (western horror, twisty, men hunting down a thief)
"The Last Migration" by Ann O’Mara Heyward (apocalyptic, heartbreaking, a couple on a trip to a bird sanctuary)
"Watch Me Go" by Randall Drum (creepy, emotional, two friends on a cross-country ride on bikes)

I could easily go on, but I've already mentioned 13 stories out of the 28- not bad! I highly recommend the anthology to everyone, especially to those who hate traveling LOL! Every story pulls you in and stays with you long after the lights go out!

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know those anthologies where you try to pick a favourite story… and just can’t? Yeah. This is one of those.

HellBound Highway delivers 28 deliciously creepy tales of travel gone horribly, horribly wrong. Road trips, trains, truck stops, planes ... basically every form of travel you can think of gets a sinister twist.

And honestly? Every time I finished a story I thought “okay THIS one might be my favourite.” Then the next one came along and proved me wrong.

Each story brings something different... eerie, unsettling, weird, or full-on nightmare fuel.

I’ve read a few anthologies from HellBound Books now and they never miss for me.

They’re always packed with talented indie horror authors and stories that stick with you long after you stop reading.

Thank you so much to HellBound Books & all of the Authors for the #gifted copy

All opinions are my own 🖤

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A road trip that turns into something far scarier than a breakdown. What happens when your trip takes a frightening turn. These stories give you a peak at what happens.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short fiction can be hit or miss for me. While there were some 5 star reads for me, there were also a couple I absolutely hated. I did enjoy Brutal, Telerana, Road Trip Bingo and Gator. Overall this was enjoyable and there were some really thought provoking stories in the bunch. If you enjoy short horror fiction, I would give this a try. There's bound to be some that really click with you.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really well written anthology, I enjoyed the idea of the theme being about traveling horror. It was engaging and enjoyed how different each story was and enjoyed the way each author took the topic and created something unique in this collection. It worked well in the horror genre and hope to read more anthologies from this company.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Churd · Rating 4 out of 5]

*DISCLAIMER: RECEIVED BOOK BY AUTHOR/CURATOR FOR FREE AND TO GIVE HONEST REVIEW*

Overall, another good eerie and creepy anthology! As a new fan of Jane Nightshade, I felt honored to get a book in advance and soak up her new work, but was surprised to find that Jane curated it and included/introduced to me new story tellers!

I liked that Jane Nightshade tried to stick to a theme of “horrors of traveling.” Some of the stories were really interesting with a great build and great ending. Some of the endings had me thinking to myself “oof, that was dark,” at the end and some stories even had me so deep, I was unbothered.

However, some of the other stories were, to me, shy from hitting the mark. I feel like maybe if the stories were a little longer allowing the stories to build, then it would have clicked for me. And a *very few* of the stories felt a little underwhelming.

Either way, just because some stories weren’t super spectacular like others, I still would recommend this to any horror story fan. I do also want to include that during the time period I was required to read this book, I’ve had multiple family emergencies and tried my best to read the book/stories as I could with motivation. However, I am wondering that during the times of high stress and trying to read the stories I felt fell short may have influenced my perspective on the book.

[The Literary Chimera · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Clean
Trigger Warnings:
Death
Murder
Dismemberment
Alcoholism
Kidnapping
Past trauma
Blood/gore
Mental health
Drugs
Abuse
Child abuse
Arson
Mentions of rape
Suicide
Theft
Divorce
War
Explicit language
Bullying

"Hellbound Highway: Anthology of Traveling Terror" hosts 28 different short stories centered around traveling. The stories vary in horror levels which leaves something for every kind of horror enthusiast. If you want some new camp fire tales to creep out your friends, this anthology will certainly do the trick. If you are easily spooked, you might not want to read it while traveling, though.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really solid horror anthology that’s all about travel going very, very wrong.

Every story takes something normal—road trips, trains, roadside stops—and twists it into something dark and creepy. I liked how different each story felt. Some are slow and eerie, others are full-on chaos.

Like any anthology, not every story hits the same, but there’s more good than bad and it definitely kept me turning the pages.

Easy to pick up and read in chunks, but I ended up reading more than I planned because I wanted to see what came next.

If you like horror with a mix of ideas and a bit of unpredictability, this one’s worth a read.

[A.M. Symes · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a frequent road-tripper, this was a great book to read. We probably all envision the multiple ways a trip can go bad, which is exactly what these authors did. The horror twists were unique to fun to read. Some were very creepy, some were almost comical (in a dark way). While I enjoyed almost every story, my two favorites were The Long Row by Ross Baxter and Godfather Poker by Jane Nightshade. It's a must read for your next trip!

[Jane Nightshade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased because I'm the co-editor and a contributing author of this book (my story is called Godfather Poker), but this is a fabulous anthology full of 28 massive stories--whose authors gave their all for this book. There are plenty of chills, thrills and dread within these pages!

[Terry Adams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Below average compendium of short stories.

This is a substandard selection of stories that are not worth the 5 stars that free advanced reviewers have given this collection. Perhaps a couple of ok stories but hard to pick them out from the rest.