Do-Overs and Detours

 

Do-Overs and Detours by Steve Vernon is #5 in the New Voices of Horror series!
Detours are amazing creatures. They can shortcut your existence or lead you down a forever long road that will linger far into the distant reaches of eternity. It is these unexpected tangents that people stumble across everyday that haunt in a frightening familiar fashion.   Wander into a laundromat and find a kind of time machine. Indulge yourself in a nasty game of baseball. Hitch a ride on a freight train with the piggyback man, entomb yourself in a trailer walled with books, take a ride on a bus that is going nowhere in particular, or just lean over an empty ocean and wait.   Detour around an overturned trailer of chickens and find a chance to do it all over again. Take a taxi ride with a very hungry passenger or a walk in the park to watch a juggler balance severed heads.   Reality will take you only so far – after that there's nothing to rely on but faith and fear.   Fifteen stories. Five of them, never before published.   We've come to the edge of the map. Let's travel on a little further.  Contents:

• Introduction by Richard Chizmar
• Hyperactive Cleaning Power
• A Fine Sacrifice
• The Takashi Miike Seal of Approval
• In The Dark and The Deep
• Rolling Stock
• Last Stand of The Great Texas Pack Rat
• Gin Bottle Heaven
• Voodoo Chicken Do-Over
• A Prayer For The Clockwork Twister
• Under The Skin, Under The Bone
• Once More Round The Block
• Jugular
• A Wriggle of Maggot
• Nail Gun Glissando
• I Survived The Apocalypse... (only in Deluxe Thirteen edition!)
• The Tracks We Leave Behind (only in Deluxe Thirteen edition!)
• The End of the Road