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
āThe
Wreckersā is a continuation of DeChancieās highly popular
āSkywaysā 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
āSpeed Trap,ā a chicken haulerās 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
āThin Ice,ā 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 daughterās lives, but
threatens humanity itself.
Q-BITS
by LUCIO RODRIGUEZ
A
truckerās reality fractures in āQ-Bitsā 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
āI,
Truckā 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 āOver Flat Mountain,ā 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
āWheels of Wrath,ā 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
worldāif it doesnāt get them killed first.
SHOTGUN
SEAT by PAUL CARLSON
In
āShotgun Seat,ā a trucker and his new trainee learn to cope with
the robot drivers that threaten to take over human jobsāand who
also yearn for freedom.
JOB
NO. 34264 by LISA MORTON
āJob
#34264ā 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
āEssential Oils,ā 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 āBig Rig, Big Ripā
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
āA
Flicker of Bright Light,ā 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
āHit/Run,ā 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 āEverything Looks so Smallā gets a new
lease on life thanks to the fantastic things he sees while looking at
the stars.
SILENT
PASSENGER by KATE JONEZ
In
āSilent Passenger,ā 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
āIndica Asterion & The Wizard of Ozymandias,ā 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
āHuman,
Traffickingā is about a trucker who signs his lifeāand body-āaway
when he goes to work for a high-tech autonomous trucking company.
DRIVE
by ERIC MILLER
āDriveā
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.
18
WHEELS OF SCIENCE FICTION
A Long Haul into the Fantastic
Edited by Eric Miller
Story Excerpts for Silver Dagger
Blog Tours
All copyright by
Eric Miller dba Big Time Books or their respective authors
Excerpt from āSpeed Trapā By Jeff Seeman
...The g-force slams us back in our seats
as the truck shoots out of the parking lot like a rocket sled on rails. Tires
squealing. Sparks flying out from under the hood. Burning rubber in the air. We
blast down I-20 at 90 miles an hour. 100. 110. Other drivers blaring their
horns. Slamming on screeching brakes. Police sirens Dopplering behind us.
Donnie whooping and hollering like a drunken lunatic on a mechanical bull. Me
gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles and raw terror.
āOh
shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit.ā
120. 130. 140. I donāt know how fast
weāre going nowāthe speedometerās run out of numbers. Iām pumping the brake but
it aināt doing shit. Fighting with the wheel just to keep us on the road. Like trying to steer
while strapped to the front bumper of a rollercoaster.
Going even faster now. Faster. Faster. Weāre
barreling past cities and towns that shoot by in a blur. Iām struggling like
hell to control the wheel, but my reflexesāany humanās reflexesāarenāt
that fast. Crashing through guard rails, toll booths, billboards. Objects smash
off our bumper and windshieldātraffic signs, mailboxes, God knows what else. I
feel like a human pinball in an arcade machine gone berserk...
Excerpt from āEverything Looks so Smallā By Carla Robinson
...Within a minute, the first strike hit
the ground several miles from Hughās position, but he felt the rumble and saw
the red and orange fires rise from the ground. Another strike hit somewhere far
up north, and a third strike hit close enough to sever Interstate-94 and send
huge slabs of pavement into the air. Hugh tried to get back into his truck when
the cab lurched upward, like a bucking bronco. The trailer was hit next, and
the concrete sewer pipes broke their steel chains and flew high in every
direction. One pipe hit the pavement and began to cartwheel directly toward Hugh,
but he managed to duck just before it decapitated him. He watched the pipe
continue its downward roll, until it came to rest in a ditch that bordered the
highway...
Excerpt from āWheels of Wrathā By Janet Joyce Holden
...Back at the escape hatch, others were
emerging, and her current perspective allowed her to see not just one girder,
but three. They formed a tripod with the disk- shaped object balanced on top.
She wasnāt the only one staring at it, either. Others stood, transfixed.
With a shudder, the giant tripod began to
move. Everyone scattered. Missy, Ed and Luis hid in the shadow of the tunnel
wall, while others ran in all directions. She pressed her back against concrete
and watched one of the articulated girders lift high in the air. It came down again
with a thud and the ground shook.
āItās
War of the god-damned Worlds,ā Ed said...
Excerpt
from āDriveā By Eric Miller
...Parked off by itself, as no one was
brave or stupid enough to park near it, Jimmyās rig was a monster. The massive
triple-axle tractor seemed to melt into the sixty-foot long tanker trailer,
swooping slabs of Kevlar and titanium fairings protecting both front and rear
units from the fuel-robbing forces of aerodynamic drag as well as
more aggressive threats such as bullets and bombs. A flexible
section of molding stretched between tractor and trailer, hiding the serpentine
mix of thick cables and hoses and hydraulic lines that joined the two together
in an almost holy mechanical matrimony.
The rig towered high in the air, every
section covered with sinister bulges, access panels, remote control doors,
insulated pipes, and strange-looking antennae. What was visible of the eighteen
tires revealed great chunks of Kevlar-reinforced rubber with treads that looked
as if they would be as comfortable climbing a mountain made of broken glass and
barb wire as they were chewing on the baby soft asphalt of a newly- paved
freeway.
The basic color of the truck was black,
but bright yellow warning labels covered the skin front to back; the familiar
icons for Biohazard and Nuclear Waste and High Explosive were enough to make
normal people keep their distance, but the distinctive sign for the Hi-Test
usually cleared the area quicker than a pin-free hand grenade...
Excerpt
from āQ-Bitsā By Lucio Rodriguez
...There was a horrible shriek, like the
first grinding whine of a dial-up modem, the doctorās last word drawn out. Phil
grasped frantically at his headset, muted it.
A strange blur in his eyes and
consciousness, an alternate-truck pulling through and veering right. This time
he felt the elation at the doctorās joke split in half along with the quantum
division.
This wasnāt right.
Phil slowed, watched the other truck in
his side-view mirrorāno, not the other truck, he corrected himself. That wasnāt
the terminology Q-bits wanted their drivers using. Theyād explained it to him,
he did the reading. It was the same truck, the exact same truck he was in, just
not the one he was in. Inside, alternate-him was working the steering
wheel. The alternate-truck slowed to less than five miles an hour, veered
deliberately across the road and over the grassy median, and worked its way
onto the opposite road, heading west...
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through the slideshow to find out more about the authors!!**
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