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Highway 181
D. S. Ullery, author of Beyond Where the Sky Ends, returns with his second horror collection, leading readers down the road to hell. An army of garden gnomes comes to life, seeking human flesh. A sugarcane field holds an evil that avenges years of racial violence.A creepy transient targets the children of an unsuspecting town with black magic form the bowels of the earth itself. A man wakes up in an alien ocean and finds himself unable to move. A lone driver comes face to face with the embodiment of death itself.A serial killer and rapist faces a fittingly brutal form of justice.These are just some of the tales unfolding along the cursed miles of Highway 181. As a drifter makes his way home along the tainted road, author D. S. Ullery takes readers on a journey into the depths of terror, demonstrating how the evil of the highway brings death everywhere it touches.. The road is open and the highway awaits. Buckle up.Praise for D. S Ullery's previous collection, Beyond Where the Sky Ends: "Beyond Where the Sky Ends had me giddy, from page one, to be reading stories from an author that understands completely the first rule of Horror. Horror is a mood before it's anything else. An underlying nerve to be tapped before the dressings are applied. And every story here is oozing with atmosphere first and foremost, then it delivers on the substance. A lot of today's writers hit one or the other consistently, or perhaps jump back and fourth. But few are tapping both at the same time. These are cinematic quality reads, or more appropriately anthology series reads. Less Tales From the Crypt, more Twilight Zone/ Night Gallery/ Tales from the Darkside." - Zakk Madness, book reviewer"Ullery's stories, in my experience, are like a unwrapping a rare gift; what's inside is better than what you expected, better than you could ever imagine." - Tim Meyer, author of Dead Daughters, Kill Hill Carnage and Sunfall."My account of this collection in its entirety: it is a formidable beast that cannot be stopped. It is deadly, blood-thirsty and is coming for you. If you stay at home when you read this, you better be armed. If you leave, you better be armed to the teeth." -E. R. Robin Dover, author of the Shadows of Obsession series."Beyond Where the Sky Ends is an astounding collection of horror stories, ranging from the unnerving to the grotesque to the purely terrifying."- Jonathan Woodrow, author of Wasteland Gods.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 14, 2024
All Roads Lead to Highway 181...
HIGHWAY 181 by D.S. Ullery
No spoilers. 5 stars. I passed this fantastic collection of short stories over when it came out in 2020...
Then, I discovered it!...
This collection of 18 shorts is connected by one thread: Highway 181... and it read like a one-story novel...
It started with the building of Highway 181 and the road crew that was hired to build it... some of them losing their lives in freak accidents along the way...
... then the various accounts begin of the many people traveling the highway and the dirt roads branching off of it...
... in addition to the road crew, the featured stories include burglars, animals, transients, a bully in a graveyard, a sinister tape player...
Also...
A serial killer, ETs, drunks, vampires, racists and a bestselling book...
A drifter sleeping rough in the woods next to the highway tells his frightening account, which is inserted in three different parts of the book, keeping the threads strong that implicate Highway 181 in the mayhem...
All roads lead to Highway 181...
As a side note: I appreciated that some of the stories took place at the crossroads of Highway 181 and other roads giving that extra sinister reference regarding the dead and crossroads...
I should have read this book when it first came out, but better late than never. If you like this kind of mosaic tale, you might also like THE GULP by Alan Baxter and DARK VOODOO: A COLLECTION by Dan Alatorre.
HIGHWAY 181 by D.S. Ullery
No spoilers. 5 stars. I passed this fantastic collection of short stories over when it came out in 2020...
Then, I discovered it!...
This collection of 18 shorts is connected by one thread: Highway 181... and it read like a one-story novel...
It started with the building of Highway 181 and the road crew that was hired to build it... some of them losing their lives in freak accidents along the way...
... then the various accounts begin of the many people traveling the highway and the dirt roads branching off of it...
... in addition to the road crew, the featured stories include burglars, animals, transients, a bully in a graveyard, a sinister tape player...
Also...
A serial killer, ETs, drunks, vampires, racists and a bestselling book...
A drifter sleeping rough in the woods next to the highway tells his frightening account, which is inserted in three different parts of the book, keeping the threads strong that implicate Highway 181 in the mayhem...
All roads lead to Highway 181...
As a side note: I appreciated that some of the stories took place at the crossroads of Highway 181 and other roads giving that extra sinister reference regarding the dead and crossroads...
I should have read this book when it first came out, but better late than never. If you like this kind of mosaic tale, you might also like THE GULP by Alan Baxter and DARK VOODOO: A COLLECTION by Dan Alatorre.
January 20, 2021
3.5 rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.
So a bit of a story to set this collection up. A few years ago my family took the long arduous 17 or so hour drive down to Florida for vacation. At one point the GPS guided us onto Florida’s Turnpike, a toll road. Driving along that desolate strip of blacktop in the pitch dark hours after midnight with no sign of civilization in sight, no other traffic, no road signs, no lights of a house off in the distance, felt as if we had been transported to another time and place. Only the alien-like monolithic transmission towers looming forth from out the darkness along the side of the highway broke up the monotony of the otherwise empty landscape for miles and miles. It is this conjured memory that bubbled to the surface of my consciousness while reading HIGHWAY 181 by D.S. Ullery.
Occasionally you might read a short story collection where all the stories contained within are loosely tied together by a central theme. Here in HIGHWAY 181 we get a collection of short stories all connected together in some way by the cursed highway from whence the book earns its name. A puckering asphalt scar slashed across the flesh of the state of Florida. Highway 181 acts as a conduit, a ley line of festering evil that corrupts those who dare travel along its hellish miles.
Though the stories here are all linked like the threads of a spider web spiraling back to Highway 181 there is still a great deal of variety and uniqueness on display here, no two stories felt alike. From aliens to serial killers, black magic to blood thirsty plants, D.S. Ullery taps into all facets of horror to satiate the readers appetite for the creepy, the macabre, and the unexplainable. Ullery’s natural ease of storytelling and sharp prose pull the reader along and into these weird, bizarre, and horrifying tales.
Now, the version I read of this book was an ARC but I did notice a few typos along the way but nothing that distracted me or pulled me out of a story. Another thing I wanted to mention, and this didn’t affect my overall rating of the book but did make my bookish OCD twitch just a tad bit. There are no page numbers. To some that may not matter. For me I am weird and find myself wanting to know how many pages I have left in a story or until the next chapter when I am reading. Again, this might be something that has changed from the ARC to the final version of the book.
Back in the positive lane let’s talk about some of the standouts from this collection for me.
Prologue: August 1978 - Right from the get go we see that this road has been cursed even while it was still under construction.
The Tape - This one was probably the trippiest out of all the stories. The moral of the story is don’t venture into abandoned houses, and definitely don’t pick up old camcorders.
Delivery - A serial killer gets a heaping dose of cosmic horror style retribution.
Pests - Two exterminators encounter more than they bargained for while killing...what are those anyway...roaches?
It Brings Out the Worst in You - A bit of black magic, maybe a little voodoo, and a sugar cane field that, like the title says, brings out the worst emotions in people.
Passages - The power of the written word can change reality.
Trashtown - Leave something broken, take something new. Just be careful what broken thing you decide to offer up.
D.S. Ullery has paved a sharp, twisty, and sinister collection of horrific short stories with his collection, HIGHWAY 181. Containing nearly twenty stories there is a bit of horror here for everyone to enjoy. Gas up using the high octane nightmare fuel, buckle up, and push the pedal to the metal as you speed off down Highway 181 into the dark unknowns.
I received an ARC of this book from the author for review consideration.
Video review: https://youtu.be/zkjYYO4HJVQ
So a bit of a story to set this collection up. A few years ago my family took the long arduous 17 or so hour drive down to Florida for vacation. At one point the GPS guided us onto Florida’s Turnpike, a toll road. Driving along that desolate strip of blacktop in the pitch dark hours after midnight with no sign of civilization in sight, no other traffic, no road signs, no lights of a house off in the distance, felt as if we had been transported to another time and place. Only the alien-like monolithic transmission towers looming forth from out the darkness along the side of the highway broke up the monotony of the otherwise empty landscape for miles and miles. It is this conjured memory that bubbled to the surface of my consciousness while reading HIGHWAY 181 by D.S. Ullery.
Occasionally you might read a short story collection where all the stories contained within are loosely tied together by a central theme. Here in HIGHWAY 181 we get a collection of short stories all connected together in some way by the cursed highway from whence the book earns its name. A puckering asphalt scar slashed across the flesh of the state of Florida. Highway 181 acts as a conduit, a ley line of festering evil that corrupts those who dare travel along its hellish miles.
Though the stories here are all linked like the threads of a spider web spiraling back to Highway 181 there is still a great deal of variety and uniqueness on display here, no two stories felt alike. From aliens to serial killers, black magic to blood thirsty plants, D.S. Ullery taps into all facets of horror to satiate the readers appetite for the creepy, the macabre, and the unexplainable. Ullery’s natural ease of storytelling and sharp prose pull the reader along and into these weird, bizarre, and horrifying tales.
Now, the version I read of this book was an ARC but I did notice a few typos along the way but nothing that distracted me or pulled me out of a story. Another thing I wanted to mention, and this didn’t affect my overall rating of the book but did make my bookish OCD twitch just a tad bit. There are no page numbers. To some that may not matter. For me I am weird and find myself wanting to know how many pages I have left in a story or until the next chapter when I am reading. Again, this might be something that has changed from the ARC to the final version of the book.
Back in the positive lane let’s talk about some of the standouts from this collection for me.
Prologue: August 1978 - Right from the get go we see that this road has been cursed even while it was still under construction.
The Tape - This one was probably the trippiest out of all the stories. The moral of the story is don’t venture into abandoned houses, and definitely don’t pick up old camcorders.
Delivery - A serial killer gets a heaping dose of cosmic horror style retribution.
Pests - Two exterminators encounter more than they bargained for while killing...what are those anyway...roaches?
It Brings Out the Worst in You - A bit of black magic, maybe a little voodoo, and a sugar cane field that, like the title says, brings out the worst emotions in people.
Passages - The power of the written word can change reality.
Trashtown - Leave something broken, take something new. Just be careful what broken thing you decide to offer up.
D.S. Ullery has paved a sharp, twisty, and sinister collection of horrific short stories with his collection, HIGHWAY 181. Containing nearly twenty stories there is a bit of horror here for everyone to enjoy. Gas up using the high octane nightmare fuel, buckle up, and push the pedal to the metal as you speed off down Highway 181 into the dark unknowns.
I received an ARC of this book from the author for review consideration.
Video review: https://youtu.be/zkjYYO4HJVQ
November 25, 2020
This was a fantastic collection of short stories! Each tale packs a wicked punch. Can't recommend this and Ullery's other collection enough.
November 14, 2020
Taking the dark and twisted ride down HIGHWAY 181, written by D.S. Ullery filled my horror infested heart with joy. Hands down one the best horror collections I have read this year—Highly Recommends.
Everyone one these dark tales within hit the mark; I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. He are my favorites:
’Drifter’ – My Heart!
’A Strange Taste in Ornamentation’ – Love It!
’Scruffy Dog’
’Song of the Earth, So Dark So Deep’ – Love It!
’The Open Grave’
’The Tape’
’Delivery’
’Passages’ – Love It!
’Afloat’ Love It!
’Body Image’
’Trashtown’ – HaHaHa, Love It!
’Highway 181’ My Heart!
Thank you, D.S. Ullery for kindly mailing me an ARC of HIGHWAY 181 in exchange for an honest review.
Everyone one these dark tales within hit the mark; I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. He are my favorites:
’Drifter’ – My Heart!
’A Strange Taste in Ornamentation’ – Love It!
’Scruffy Dog’
’Song of the Earth, So Dark So Deep’ – Love It!
’The Open Grave’
’The Tape’
’Delivery’
’Passages’ – Love It!
’Afloat’ Love It!
’Body Image’
’Trashtown’ – HaHaHa, Love It!
’Highway 181’ My Heart!
Thank you, D.S. Ullery for kindly mailing me an ARC of HIGHWAY 181 in exchange for an honest review.
September 20, 2020
Buckle up for a journey down Florida’s most terrifying highway into the darkest heart of the Sunshine State. Be warned: It is much more fun to read about than to drive that route.
Let me start off by saying, this is not the genre I typically read. While my novels delve into horror and sometimes drift near this genre, Highway 181 is far from the road I usually travel.
That being said, this alternate route thoroughly entertained me the entire way. This collection of horrifying short stories is a great, wholly entertaining read. The variety of imaginative tales grab your attention and never lets go, ranging from the familiar to the fantastical. Several took form in my imagination in glorious black and white, for they might have been episodes from the Twilight Zone, yet completely modern. Themes of judgment, revenge and pure evil run through the stories. DS Ullery uses evocative imagery and engaging, accessible language to keep this trip entertaining and somehow light, despite the pervasive darkness.
If Highway 181 shows up on your Google Maps directions, choose an alternate route. Keep it on your Kindle or on your bookshelf, where it certainly deserves a spot. You will be glad you did.
Let me start off by saying, this is not the genre I typically read. While my novels delve into horror and sometimes drift near this genre, Highway 181 is far from the road I usually travel.
That being said, this alternate route thoroughly entertained me the entire way. This collection of horrifying short stories is a great, wholly entertaining read. The variety of imaginative tales grab your attention and never lets go, ranging from the familiar to the fantastical. Several took form in my imagination in glorious black and white, for they might have been episodes from the Twilight Zone, yet completely modern. Themes of judgment, revenge and pure evil run through the stories. DS Ullery uses evocative imagery and engaging, accessible language to keep this trip entertaining and somehow light, despite the pervasive darkness.
If Highway 181 shows up on your Google Maps directions, choose an alternate route. Keep it on your Kindle or on your bookshelf, where it certainly deserves a spot. You will be glad you did.
August 14, 2020
I loved this collection. Ullery’s stories are always gripping and this is his best yet. I particularly enjoyed the running theme of the highway, featured in each story. Long highways connote a sense of endless journey, often into unknown, mysterious and filled with possibility—good and bad. It made me think of that horror anthology flick Southbound.
The standouts for me were Scruffy Dog, Pests, Passages, and of course Trashtown, which I had the pleasure of reading some time ago. My favorite of the collection would have to be Body Image. I loved the idea behind this one, and the sense of strange romance that it evoked.
An excellent collection! Highly recommended.
The standouts for me were Scruffy Dog, Pests, Passages, and of course Trashtown, which I had the pleasure of reading some time ago. My favorite of the collection would have to be Body Image. I loved the idea behind this one, and the sense of strange romance that it evoked.
An excellent collection! Highly recommended.
August 30, 2020
This collection is a excellent and very creepy read. Every story kept me turning pages, until I was on to the next story. I’ve never read anything from D.S. Ullery before, but I’m a definite fan now. His words weave the perfect picture and kept me captivated.
I loved the way the highway itself appears throughout the stories. Just giving little connections and revealing its sinister nature.
The stories in Highway 181 are all good in their own right. There’s so many different types of stories. If I had to choose 3 stand outs it would be: Body Image, Passages, and The Tape.
When you get the chance give this collection a try. You’ll never want to stop traveling on Highway 181.
I loved the way the highway itself appears throughout the stories. Just giving little connections and revealing its sinister nature.
The stories in Highway 181 are all good in their own right. There’s so many different types of stories. If I had to choose 3 stand outs it would be: Body Image, Passages, and The Tape.
When you get the chance give this collection a try. You’ll never want to stop traveling on Highway 181.
August 13, 2020
This book is some serious FUN! I have a few favorites; for me “Delivery” is at the top. D.S. paints an excellent picture in my mind:). Take a read!!
January 5, 2022
Highway 181
Centered around a haunted stretch of highway, this collection of short stories is given to us by horror maestro extraordinaire D. S. Ullery.
The highway itself is the connecting point to each story and each story brings its own tale of terror.
The horror in this book is, in and of itself a character. It's everywhere. It permeates the air when this book is open. It makes itself at home in your lap and reminds you why the dark is scary.
There are characters that are genuinely unlikeable and there are others that just found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, the power of Highway 181 takes control of their fates and it offers no mercy.
If you love horror - not just being scared, but pure unadulterated horror - grab yourself a copy of this.
5/5
Centered around a haunted stretch of highway, this collection of short stories is given to us by horror maestro extraordinaire D. S. Ullery.
The highway itself is the connecting point to each story and each story brings its own tale of terror.
The horror in this book is, in and of itself a character. It's everywhere. It permeates the air when this book is open. It makes itself at home in your lap and reminds you why the dark is scary.
There are characters that are genuinely unlikeable and there are others that just found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, the power of Highway 181 takes control of their fates and it offers no mercy.
If you love horror - not just being scared, but pure unadulterated horror - grab yourself a copy of this.
5/5
February 16, 2021
This is an amazing book for lovers of horror. D. S. Ullery can paint a picture with words that would make even masters like Stephen King take notice. (If he hasn't already, he certainly should.)
If you're a fan of short stories by King, Koontz, Bentley Little, et al, then I'm confident you will love this book.
If you're a fan of short stories by King, Koontz, Bentley Little, et al, then I'm confident you will love this book.
January 28, 2021
Horrors await you on Highway 181! A collection of stories featuring residents and travelers along a cursed highway facing ghosts, monsters, and more. Definitely worth checking out!
September 23, 2020
Another reviewer described Highway 181 as connected episodes of The Twilight Zone, which is perfect. I loved this wild horror ride for its gore and terror, as well as the vivid writing style—descriptive, yet not difficult or tedious to read. The author offers a variety of tales, all thematically woven together with skill, so if you’re looking for solid horror—look no further. I recommend you give Stephen King a break and pick up some DS Ullery.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews