18
Wheels of Science Fiction:
A
Long Haul into the Fantastic
Genre:
Science Fiction Anthology
with
Stories by
Eric
Miller, editor, John DeChancie, Del Howison, Bond Elam, Lisa Morton,
Paul Carlson,
Janet Joyce Holden,
Michael Bailey, Carla Robinson,
Jeff Seeman, Kate Jonez, Gary Phillips,
Lucio
Rodriguez, Terry
Bisson, Eric Miller, Edward M. Erdelac, Michael Paul Gonzalez,
Alvaro
Zinos-Amaro, Sean Patrick Traver
"...Definitely
fun." --Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Take
a trip through the imaginations of 18 visionary writers as they
explore the future of trucking in this new science fiction anthology!
There's something for every genre fiction fan in this follow-up to
the hit "18 wheels of Horror - a Trailer Full of Trucking
Terrors."
From the back
cover: An alien fuel additive shows just how fast a big rig can go...
A disembodied driver wages war on self-driving trucks... A haul
through time takes an unexpected turn... Reality shatters for a
trucker using an experimental delivery device... Stargazing gives an
overweight driver a new lease on life... A young girl risks her life
to hitch a ride out of an apocalyptic wasteland...
The
highways of the universe will never be the same!
THE
WRECKERS by JOHN DECHANCIE
“The
Wreckers” is a continuation of DeChancie’s highly popular
“Skyways” trucking Science Fiction novel series, in which
legendary driver Jake McGraw (now an AI) and his son Sammy find new
adventures on the mysterious skyway between worlds.
SPEED
TRAP by JEFF SEEMAN
In
“Speed Trap,” a chicken hauler’s misfit co-driver buys an
exotic alien fuel additive at a truck stop, and the two find out just
how fast their Big Rig will go.
THIN
ICE by BOND ELAM
In
“Thin Ice,” A trucker running mineral ore on an ice planet gets
caught in a rebellion, and learns a terrible secret about her past
that affects not only hers and her beloved daughter’s lives, but
threatens humanity itself.
Q-BITS
by LUCIO RODRIGUEZ
A
trucker’s reality fractures in “Q-Bits” due to an experimental
quantum delivery device, and has to make a choice that could re-unite
him with his son, or take him to a unknown future.
I,
TRUCK by GARY PHILLIPS
“I,
Truck” features an unemployed trucker who signs up for an
experimental driving program, but a cyber-attack by hackers turns him
into an revenge-fueled ghost in the machine.
OVER
FLAT MOUNTAIN by TERRY BISSON
In
the classic SF story “Over Flat Mountain,” which appeared in OMNI
Magazine, a trucker helps out a young hitchhiker as they travel over
the miles-high mountain that an apocalyptic seismic event has thrust
through the heart of America.
WHEELS
OF WRATH by JANET JOYCE HOLDEN
In
“Wheels of Wrath,” a breakdown stops the massive train carrying
hundreds of trucks through the blasted wasteland of middle America,
and a group of drivers discover a secret that could change the
world—if it doesn’t get them killed first.
SHOTGUN
SEAT by PAUL CARLSON
In
“Shotgun Seat,” a trucker and his new trainee learn to cope with
the robot drivers that threaten to take over human jobs—and who
also yearn for freedom.
JOB
NO. 34264 by LISA MORTON
“Job
#34264” features two truckers who travel back through time to find
water for a droughtriddled future, but encounter a time paradox
threatens to destroy everything they know.
ESSENTIAL
OILS by MICHAEL BAILEY
In
“Essential Oils,” a trucker hauling tankers full of essential
oils deep into the Arctic tries to find out what the Canadian
government is doing with the odd cargo.
BIG
RIG, BIG RIP by ALVARO ZINOS-AMARO
The
pilot of a long-haul space cargo carrier in “Big Rig, Big Rip”
flies through a hidden wormhole and winds up thousands of light years
from home. Scared and lost, he struggles to find a way back to his
family.
A
FLICKER OF BRIGHT LIGHT by DEL HOWISON
“A
Flicker of Bright Light,” is about a young girl living in an
apocalyptic wasteland, who risks her life to stow away on a truck
that could carry her to freedom.
HIT/RUN
by EDWARD M. ERDELAC
In
“Hit/Run,” a trucker runs from two mysterious men who are chasing
him years after he committed a hit and run accident. But things are
far from what they seem...
EVERYTHING
LOOKS SO SMALL by CARLA ROBINSON
An
overweight trucker in “Everything Looks so Small” gets a new
lease on life thanks to the fantastic things he sees while looking at
the stars.
SILENT
PASSENGER by KATE JONEZ
In
“Silent Passenger,” a driver on her last run finds the
experimental technology propelling her truck has somehow brought back
a ghost from her past.
INDICA
ASTERION & THE WIZARD OF OZYMANIDAS by SEAN PATRICK TRAVER
In
“Indica Asterion & The Wizard of Ozymandias,” a trucker falls
afoul of a government agent when he tries to smuggle contraband alien
technology, and his fugitive sister in-law works to save him with a
seemingly magical interdimensional artifact.
HUMAN,
TRAFFICKING by MICHAEL PAUL GONZALES
“Human,
Trafficking” is about a trucker who signs his life—and body-—away
when he goes to work for a high-tech autonomous trucking company.
DRIVE
by ERIC MILLER
“Drive”
follows the Greatest Driver Alive as he takes a tanker full of
volatile rocket fuel through gang-war torn Los Angeles, and nothing,
not bullets, bombs, or bad luck, will stop him from delivering his
incendiary cargo.
**scroll
through the slideshow to find out more about the authors!!**
GUEST POST
What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
Fiction:
Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Tim Powers, Neil
Stephenson, Terry Pratchet, David Weber, Peter F. Hamilton, Robert A.
Heinlein, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Roger Zelazny, and Robert E. Howard.
That’s 11, but who cares? And there are so many more writers who
inspire me every day. like Bill Bryson and Carl Sagan and Shirley
Jackson. .
As for books,
people are tired of me talking about how great “Snow Crash” is,
but I don’t care. I just love that book. And I am in awe of “The
Dreaming Void” trilogy and all of the books in the Commonwealth
Saga. I also love R.A. Meluch’s “Tour of the Merrimack” SF
series that started with “The Myriad.” It’s just damn fun and
though provoking SF with terrific characters, kind of a cross between
Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica but much more. So many more, I
could go on for hours.
What book do you think everyone should
read?
A Brief
History of Nearly Everything by Bill
Bryson. It is a brilliant and hilarious look at the science behind
our world and everything we think we know about it, filled with
portraits of the often eccentric geniuses who discovered the
knowledge that is so critical to the who we are. It proves the adage
that the more we find out, the less we know, and shows that the
pursuit of facts and truth is not always a noble cause, but sometimes
absurd as well. The book is entertaining and educational too, what
more could you want?
How long have you been writing?
Since I was five
or six I think. And I’m still learning how to do it right.
What kind of research do you do before
you begin writing a book?
I had to do a
lot or research for 18 wheels of
Science Fiction to make sure the
trucking, AI, and self-driving vehicle tech was plausible. That’s a
whole new world that’s coming down the highway far faster than
people realize. There are going to be big upheavals in technology and
society due to it, and no one is quite sure what it will look like.
For the regular old science stuff I relied on my old friend James
Heath, who unlike me, actually has science degrees and teaches and
researches on the university level in addition to being a huge
Science Fiction fan. He caught a few things we corrected, but even
though a few things might have slipped through that aren’t exactly
true, I erred on the Fiction side of SF and let them go.
Do you see writing as a career?
I wish, but it’s
hard to make a living unless you are a top name. Sadly, lots of
best-selling writers still have day jobs. But I’ll keep writing and
editing no matter what, like every writer. We do it to tell stories
and inspire others, and hopefully make some money along the way.
What do you think about the current
publishing market?
Fractured,
chaotic, marvelous, scary, all at once. Anyone can put out a book
now, hell, I did, but not everyone should. It is awesome that people
can make a living with nothing more than a dream, but you also have
to put out quality, edited, readable books too, with good cover art.
You can’t always tell if your own stuff is good, so in that
respect, traditional publishers and editors are a big help. I think
most writers want to be published by a big New York publishing house,
for the professional gratification if nothing else, but there’s
nothing wrong at all with going by yourself and using Amazon and Nook
and Kobo and all the other platforms to get your book out there via
self- publishing. I love that technology makes that viable for anyone
to get access to readers.
Do you read yourself and if so what is
your favorite genre?
I am a massive
genre reader, Science Fiction and Horror of course, but I love
historical fiction and literary fiction as well, and also
non-fiction. A good book is a good book, and I am amused by people
who sneer at a genre or category they think they don’t like. Just
read, damnit.
Do you write one book at a time or do
you have several going at a time?
Several.
Advice they would give new authors?
Take classes,
learn grammar, relentlessly edit and get better every draft, but in
the end, just write what YOU want to write. Tell the story you want
to tell. Take advice from friends and editors and agents etc., but
follow your heart.
Describe your writing style.
Entertaining
with flashes of brilliance.
What makes a good story?
Many answers to
this, but I think great characters that the reader can relate to
anchors every good story.
What are common traps for aspiring
writers?
Saying you are a
writer but not writing. Put in the pages, whether they sell or not.
You get better with every story.
Do you try more to be original or to
deliver to readers what they want?
I write for
myself, and hope other people want to read it.
If you could tell your younger writing
self anything, what would it be?
Ignore all the
people will try to tell you what you should be writing. No on l knows
what is good or what can sell. So tell you own tales and be true to
yourself.
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