Tales from the Gas Station: Volume 1

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What keeps this one from failing is the humor and the MC, who stumbles through the story without ever actually DOING very much. Normally, this would pull me out of the story a bit, but here, it works very well, leading to many laugh out loud moments throughout. Occasionally, the humor falls flat, but it's so rare--and even when it does happen, it's always immediately followed by a nugget of gold--it doesn't detract from the overall experience. I'm not sure exactly what kind of book I just read with this one. What I can say for sure is that the author is definitely a creative guy. Anyway, the reason a went into this whole unwanted explanation, is to make you understand that this book takes place, almost entirely, in OFF. Things may seem normal at the gas station, but there is just a little something, well, off. This book is not to be taken seriously or… I guess you could and just not have a good time, up to you.

When you walk into the bar, and this beautiful girl gives you this big, welcoming smile, and you think to yourself ‘This girl digs me!’, right before her huge boyfriend who entered after you passes you. After deciding to start an online blog about his experiences, it opens a door to a whole new round of trouble he never saw coming. This was a unique novel. In many ways, the writing style reminded me of Jeff Strand with the injection of humor throughout. Like with Strand's work, it flows very well here. The year is 2018 and "Tales from the Gas Station" are published. There aren't many people who know about this book, but the vibe is similar. Small town. Random gas station. A protagonist who is either too stupid or too smart for paranormal shit that happens around. There is dark god, a group of radioactive racoons, excellent humor and great writing.

There is an air of absurdity to this book that plays well into the mystery of what's happening and why, and the MC's interactions with all the absurd goings-on and strange characters he encounters adds levity to what might otherwise be a rather ho-hum tale. Most of the events and strange occupancies didn't seem to fit together very well. Many things were also not properly explained or tied in which left me feeling more confused than anything else when finishing the book. But, once I tell you, you will never forget it. And you’ll be surprised by the number of times it happens to you. It doesn’t matter what you call that place, the name will probably differ from person to person. What can I say? This book really surprised me. I liked the title and read the synopsis and thought “what the hell, I’ll give it a shot”.

The dialogue is mostly good, thanks in part to the humorous approach, and while character development only really occurs with our MC, it's done well and the whole story is focused on him, not the other players, who mostly have small parts to play here and there. Going in I was expecting more of a strange and creepy read. It turned out to be more of a humorous story that got downright silly and unbelievable at times. With an unreliable narrator, cosmic horror and the perfect adhd induced plot, I think the term suspending disbelief might be be too shallow of a phrase, maybe catapult or torpedo sane rational thought out the window instead? Honestly, it wasn’t quite a book I’ve read. It was several days I’ve lived through on this nowhere gas station.

It’s weird, and I like weird. But there are moments of hilarity and what I think is just flat out brilliant writing. After all, he’s just a gas station clerk. It’s not like he’s getting paid enough to wage battle against the nightmarish aberrations plaguing his community. Besides, he already has his hands full attempting to manage all those mysterious lawn gnomes, the mutant raccoons, and the charming phantom cowboy who lives in the bathroom. This adventure was so crazy, so interesting, so quaint, so creepy, so funny, and soooo… cozy. Well, it’s closer to witty jokes, nevertheless, I was openly laughing quite often.

The year is 2012 and the first episode of "Welcome to the Night Vale" airs. People start to gather around this strange phenomena and small town vibes. I was not disappointed at all. Fast read, very interesting, prose is very different from anything I’ve read in a while and just an allIt’s a well-build story, all those events connected and logical (crazy, yeah). Every part of the story isn’t forgotten and not for nothing. I worried, The Tales could be alike Welcome to Night Vale, where it seems, the book is a set of random crazy events. But The Tales are logical in their craziness and I had a great time with it. I determinate to read his next books but want to wait a cooler season – I think it’s more proper vibes for reading The Tales. This was exactly what I expected from a Tales from the Gas Station story, was definitely not disappointed. Lots of unexpected twists that you wouldn't guess from the regular stories on Reddit. Finding out the missing pieces of the free stories (the Halloween incident, whatever happend to certain characters, deeper character motivations) just tied things together. Mrcreepypasta as narrator of the Audible version did great, as always. I can't wait for Volume 2. Another thing you should remember is that you can’t knowingly go there. No matter what you do, how drastic, it is not possible.