"The living haunt the dead..." These fifteen genre-bending stories are set against a backdrop of sudden violence and profound regret, populated by characters whose circumstances and longings drive them to the point of no return... and sometimes even further. A young girl takes a journey to see what is really hidden within the belly of an ancient water tower. A high school senior learns about defiance on a school bus and witnesses a tragedy that he won''t soon forget. Six survivors in an underground bunker discuss the possibility of Armageddon being an elaborate hoax. Two brothers take a walk on the dark side of the wheat field and discover that some bonds are stronger than death. And in the title story, a former train conductor must confront the ghosts of his past while learning that it''s not the dead who haunt the living, but the other way around. Traversing the back roads of the south and beyond, these stories probe the boundaries of imagination, taking the reader to the fringes of a society where the world looks different, and once you visit, you won''t ever be the same.
"Mantooth's stories glitter with the brilliant, jagged menace of a fistful of busted glass. Shoebox Train Wreck emits blacklight, illuminating the grim intersection of small, fragile human lives and the encroaching wilderness of the universe."
--Laird Barron, author of Occultation and The Imago Sequence and Other Stories
"The stories in John Mantooth's powerful debut collection turn a blazing spotlight on those living at--and beyond--society's margins. In sinuous, elegant prose, Mantooth maps the journeys that have led his characters to dead-ends and disappointments. Mantooth spares his characters nothing, including sufficient self-awareness to understand their roles in their personal catastrophes. These characters grieve their griefs on universal bones, and when they stumble onto hope, it is a small, tough thing that promises no miracles, only the possibility that life tomorrow will be a little better than it was today. This is impressive, assured work, not to be missed."
--John Langan, author of Technicolor and Other Revelations
"John Mantooth's short stories crackle with intelligence and violence. He writes about desperate and simple lives gone not-so-simple, and those lives beat with a savvy and familiar broken heart. His down-and-out characters are ugly and beautiful, and most importantly, compelling. John is the real deal, and I think I hate him for it."
--Paul Tremblay, author of The Little Sleep.
"John Mantooth writes with enviable grace, vigor, ease. These stories pulsate with the inevitable pain of familial love, and loss, and the horrors of the human condition while remaining peopled with unforgettable characters who move through their lives toward moments of personal realization and doom that can only come from the Southern experience. Mantooth has here collected a group of stories that exceeds the sum of its parts. You won't regret picking up this collection and will think on these amazing and heartfelt stories long after you've closed the covers. Absolutely brilliant."
- John Hornor Jacobs, author of Southern Gods, This Dark Earth,and The Twelve Fingered Boy
"Outstanding! John Mantooth is an exciting new voice in dark fiction."
Douglas Clegg
