| Title | : | Tales from the Gas Station: Volume Two (Tales from the Gas Station, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 291 |
| Publication | : | Published August 9, 2019 |
In this second installment of the Gas Station saga, Jack finds himself entangled in his most harrowing adventure yet. With the newest crew of coworkers along for the ride and the resident psychopath out for his blood, our hero(?) must navigate the drama of small-town murder conspiracies, vigilante justice, and demonic summoning rituals...whether he wants to or not.
Tales from the Gas Station: Volume Two (Tales from the Gas Station, #2) Reviews
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Just as funny as the 1st volume. I listened to the audiobook for this one, and the narrator was great too!
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Another great entry in this series -- I hope the author is hard at work on more bizarre stories! I would absolutely love to see this as a television or streaming series. -
Jerry is comedy gold.
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It's been a hot minute since I read the first one, but I remember it being so batshit that it probably wouldn't matter. There was also a nice little "Previously on..." section towards the beginning. We get more questions and not many answers. Jack and the rest of the cast of characters are great and I really love spending time with them.
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3,5 stars
When this series gets the weird, eery mood right, it does get it REALLY right. You know, like... everything is inexplicable, but at the same time, it's perfectly normal for the characters. Which only makes you more uneasy.
That, I love. Now... sometimes it's just unsatisfying, though. There are many, many seemingly random story elements that often go completely ignored. At least right now. But the thing is, I don't know how they will be tied up at the end and that makes me feel like this isn't as smart as it could be. I know I am not necessarily making a lot of sense, but my point is, sometimes it feels like this series is a bit too random for no reason.
This is coming from a person who, more often than not, prefers the beginning stages of horror; when things are set up. The explanations are usually nowhere near as satisfying. But still, we have a lot going on here and they are all put on a shelf titled "bear with me now, these will come back later". Now sure how long interest can be kept up with all that.
Some ideas are hilarious and cool. Some are unoriginal in the vein of "rednecks who are racist or some shit are attacking us". Or "that one way too excited, busybee worker trying to fix us up, but he is also a racist sometimes". Like... okay, man? Very cool, yet another person we are supposed to dislike because polo shirts or something, but then it's like... oh, racist. Which you didn't know, but whatever.
I don't know, I like this book at its off-the-walls (handplants, anyone?), not at its "every fucking horror movie made in the last few years".
Does the author have the skills to bring any of these storylines to fruition, though? We still don't know shit about Spencer, the owners, Jack's illness and the doctors, his biggest fan, what the fuck is going on with Jerry (whom I love, he is hilarious), whomever is targeting the town, anything!
Now, I know this is some online writing project and as that, the quality of the writing is pretty freaking great. But at the same time, I don't think it benefits from (as far as I know) not having a definitive ending point. Maybe I am wrong, might be, but at this point it feels like this will end up being an endless project where the heart just goes after a time and I will forget about it.
We will see. -
More like 3.5 enjoyable but not as enjoyable as Vol I
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Hilarious and so well written. I laughed out loud several times.
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A little more serious than volume 1, but still very enjoyable.
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Love this series! Made me laugh several times, very clever, very entertaining.
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Okay. I guess the weird stuff is about to start back up again. The break was nice while it lasted.
Are you prepared for nudist zombie attacks, murderous stalkers or even being able to pass (finally!) the Bechdel test? How about a once in a thousand years apocalyptic blizzard, unfathomable horror, or even dead birds that may or may not have or have had herpes? Well, even if you said yes to any of these, do you think you could handle shapeshifting demons that may or may not take the form of critically-acclaimed actors and/or musicians (don't look at me, I had to Google him! Or it!)? Needless to say (but Jack did anyway), things get exponentially weirder in "Tales from the Gas Station: Volume Two".
I mean, it’s not like I was going to end up being solely responsible for a series of events that would eventually summon an all-powerful pain deity to our world to enslave and torture humanity for the rest of eternity.
Reviewer's note: that's called foreshadowing kids. Look it up!
I'm really not sure what I can add to THIS review that I didn't say in my LAST review. No, not of this same book, do pay attention, okay? I'm talking about the review I left for "Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One", which I finished scant hours ago and have since been reading this book, that is, "Tales from the Gas Station: Volume Two" like my life depended on it. Note that I'm not yet willing to rule out yet that it doesn't. And I'm definitely not willing to bet life, limb or any dangly bits either!
I wouldn’t be getting any more reading done, which—in my opinion—meant the terrorists had already won.
Kids, this is another wild one. I could see where some of you might be flinging 1- or 2-star ratings about and hey, if that's you, that's fine. This is certainly not the kind of fiction (?) that will appeal to everyone, particularly anyone that may or may not have most of their mental faculties still intact. Would I (noting I do not qualify for the previous disclaimer) recommend it to everyone? Oh definitely. Yes, it is an ungodly mess of bizarreness and weirdosity. But yes, it is all combined somehow into a neat little package that shouldn't be anything this tidy! But again, it somehow works, it somehow makes sense and it sure as hell is entertaining the bejeegers out of me along the way!
“You hallucinating or something?”
“I sure as hell hope so.”
I mean, I've never written POETRY before as I was reading a book. Yes, I started a few stanzas (hint: they really REALLY sucked) that I was somehow going to use as my review. But I couldn't really fit all these thoughts into any semblance of rhyme or reason (see what I did there). The first bit wasn't so bad, but that was about it. Please, do NOT tell me what you think:
If you go out in the woods today
And see a crazy old man putting
squirrels in a blender
Don't worry too much
You're just dying too slow
Or maybe still on a bit of a bender!
So yeah, you can imagine how the other bits turned out. I am definitely not a poet. I'm not a writer either but that doesn't stop me from releasing these novella-length reviews every few days. Still, better I delete said stanzas from the Cloud asap and just move on to Book 3, right? Right.
P.S.1: During my reading of this particular tome, I learned about Paingravy Discord. And snow diarrhea. I am considering suing for mental distress…
P.S.2: Praise Sagoth! What? The way things are going, it couldn't hurt, could it? -
And the series continues with volume two, narrating the peculiar adventures of Jack, the near emotionless insomniac gas station employee! Shall I add, one of my FAVORITE fictional characters of ALL TIME 😍🔥
In this volume, a few new characters were introduced such as Rosa, deputy Amelia O'Brien and another character that had a big impact on Jack's mental health, but I won't mention the name to avoid spoilers. This book was no less interesting than the previous one and along the way, I noticed many details that I had completely forgotten or might've missed while listening to the podcast by Mr.Creepypasta ❤
Jack's mental health and sanity keep on deteriorating and he had to go through an alarming experience that left me, as a reader, heartbroken and drained 😭💔 it's already hard trusting people when you've got all your brains! So imagine the struggle of doing so while having a terminal illness that affects not only your memory, but also your sense of judgment 😫💔 add to that a serial psychopath who HATES YOUR GUTS for no apparent reason and you've got the most poisonous combo 👌
Besides Jack and Jerry, my other favorite character is definitely deputy O'Brien 😍🔥 that woman is SO BADA$$! I love how much she cares for Jack, even at the ending after everything that happened ❤ she's pure hearted and as loyal and protective as it gets! You can tell she doesn't only insure Jack's safety because she was assigned to do the job but because she wants to do it, and that's really heartwarming 🤗❤
I really loved the ending of this book! It's reassuring to see that even though Jack is kind of a secluded and loner guy, he was still able to find HIS crew, people who care about him and accept him the way he is, no judgment 😍 I simply can't WAIT to dive into the third book of this amazing series!!! -
You know how some characters have plot armor? They can go through hell, and come out unscathed? Maybe a cut, or an attractively placed bruise?
Not. This. Book. Jack gets plenty scathed! The author isn't afraid of hurting the characters, even killing them. Not in any gratuitous way either. They live in a place where awful things happen, some of them inexplicable, or mind bending.
I was genuinely afraid for the characters, because I never knew what was going to happen next. There were so many surprises, and nothing felt forced, or contrived. I really cared about the characters, and I was entertained by how they handled the extreme oddness.
While this is a horror novel, it's also quite funny. There were a couple of lines that I'd love to have cross-stitched, and hung on the wall.
I really enjoy this series, even though I know some of my favorite character are going to bite it. Eventually. That's not going to stop me from continuing. Too much fun. -
Gas Station Jack back, better and way more sarcastic than ever. Hooray! The adventure picks up similarly to where volume one left off. Our hero is continuing to battle his fatal diagnosis of a rare insomnia that will one day consume his existence. In addition to hardly being able to sleep a wink, he's still working at the shitty gas station at the edge of town as a full-time employee. His new crisis is the day shift manager who takes his job waaaaaaaaaay too seriously. You know the kind of person I'm talking about, right? The kind of person who you know is working a shitty job at a shitty gas station at the edge of town, but somehow acts like they're curing cancer. Yeah, that kind. In addition to the new day shift manager that is driving Jack absolutely crazy, he's also training new employees (I hate that shit!) while trying to focus on the next book he's reading while also battling the demon that's taken refuge on the roof of the gas station. And in addition to alllllllllll of that, Jack is doing his best to exist in the world just like you and I. He's a regular guy with some not so regular adventures.
"As far as last words go, 'Fuck you, I need to take a piss' are probably not the ones you want carved into your tombstone."
It's no secret at all that I love this series. I was smitten with volume one the moment I devoured that story. I pre-ordered volume two the moment that Gas Station Jack announced on Instagram that he would be available. Not only would it be available for pre-order, but he was going to autograph a handful of advance copies for a few lucky recipients. Yours truly snagged a copy so be jealous. Enough about autographs and jealously, I don't know how to wrap my head around this book review. I don't go into spoilers in my reviews and therefore, telling you ANYTHING about this book is really difficult. That's not a cope out. That's the truth. I went to Goodreads and Amazon and looked at other reviews. Not only does the book have nothing but 4 and 5-star reviews, but the reviews are so cryptic! And that's basically how my review is going to be, as well. You know how some books have a very clear beginning, middle and end? TALES FROM THE GAS STATION isn't quite like that. It just sort of plunges you right into the deep end and either you're going to commit to this adventure or you need to get off this ride and try something else. I'm trying my best to explain this and maybe I'm failing miserably. My point is the book review is a challenging one for this series. That's not a bad thing at all, it just means you need to take my word for it. I would recommend you pick up volume one before tackling volume two. I think Gas Station Jack does a pretty good job in recapping things about volume one, but it would be sooooo much better if you just read volume one before you started volume two. I mean, that just makes sense, right?
I don't know if I've ever truly identified with any fictional character from a movie or book before in my entire life as I do Gas Station Jack. He's sarcastic, he's witty, he's nonchalant, he's lackadaisical, but he's intelligent. He's introverted, he wants to read his book, he doesn't want to be bothered with bullshit and training employees and he simply wants to get through the day just like the rest of us. I said something similar in volume one and the same goes for volume two. The writing is so matter-of-fact and so in your face that I wanted to plow through it in one sitting, but I didn't. I took my time. I took all of it in slowly and I enjoyed every tasty morsel of it. I laughed out loud (several times) and one time in particular I actually had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard! Maybe I was delirious from a long day at work, but there were a few parts that had me in stitches. Since I identified so well with Gas Station Jack, the highs had me laughing and smiling and the lows had me sulky and melancholy. The true sign of an awesome book as far as I'm concerned. In other news, I hope at some point in time there is a volume three released because if the story is left like this, a little piece of my soul will die.
I really don't want to keep gushing on and on about how much I adore the characters in this series. I could keep going on about the style of writing and how much it flowed so effortlessly. I could go on about the world that has been invented in this series and how it seems so gigantic and yet, so isolated at the same time. I'm going to end this review by stating one simple fact and that is any book that features a demon, a bizarre radio and a cameo appearance by Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino is an instantaneous 5-star read for me. I know what you're thinking because right now, I'm thinking about it, too. If it was so amazing, Scott - why can't you give us more? You'd have to pick up TALES FROM THE GAS STATION to see what I mean. Highly recommended!! p.s. the photo looks corny because I was tagged in the #ihugbooks challenge on Instagram and decided to use it as my book review photo. Since I adore the series so much, it only makes sense that I show a photo of me hugging this book. -
These books are crazy, but the main character is compelling enough that I plowed through these, though this is typically not my style. If you're unsure, give them a try!
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It was nice to visit with Jack and Jerry again, Jack's brand of humor didn't come through as strong as it did in the first book and the horror vibe was more prevalent. I lowkey miss the handplants.
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I love these books! Nice to start the year with a fun read. I already bought the rest of the series!
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Still enjoying this quirky series of oddball tales about a clerk and weird cast of characters connected to an out of the way gas station. Influences are drawn from all over the map of the horror universe and each of these are woven together in an interesting and entertaining way. Volume Two gets a little more out of the gas station and into the surrounding area. There are a few sequences which seem a little contrived but the main character, Jack, gets us back into the main narrative (if there is such a thing here) fairly easily. Things are so weird in the world of the gas station that its hard to tell what is real and what really happened anyway. Creepy Pasta does a good job with the VO on the Audible version. Fun book, I've already moved on to Volume 3.
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Fun series in its own right, but I hope David Wong gets royalties.
Storing these two reviews here until they're added to Goodreads:
Tales from the Gas Station Halloween
Pretty entertaining. Low, low music just loud enough to be heard was extremely annoying.
Tales from the Gas Station Christmas -
Another banger of a book.
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Still just as quirky and silly and fun. Creepy Podcast listeners will recognize the tail end of the book. Much that happens then is backstoried in the opening half, e.g., the Russian Radio. I especially love the deadpan delivery of the narrator in dire circumstances.
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These might be addictive. I listened to the whole audibook in just two days!
Funny, creative and better structured compared to vol. 1.
It was a lot of fun and I hope to see more from the writer. -
In the continuing saga of unassuming but unusual Gas Station Jack, the man who takes a licking (repeatedly) and keeps on ticking, Jack now faces, not a dark god beneath the station, but a shapeshifter, a dimensional horror, and the imminent approach of a Cosmic Entity determined to destroy the Universe [as we know it]. Meanwhile. Jack is tasked to train a new full-time employee, Rosa, while learning to cope with his newly altered physique and developing friendship with part-time Jerry and with Deputy Amelia O'Brien. Still in the background but never really absent is the "secret admirer" who terms him/her/itself Jack's "Biggest Fan," a seemingly omniscient individual who holds the secrets of Jack's absent memories: is it Live? Or is it Photoshop?
In a town--and a workplace--where Unreality is the norm, on whom-or what--can Jack rely? -
Weird but in a good way
What can I say I like weird books in this is one of them. This is the second book of the series and I Hope after Book 3 they make more. Let's just say a lot of surprises in this book and I can't wait for more. 5 gas stations out of 5 -
This is my favorite series of the year. I love this book and I am very sad that there isn’t more to read at the moment. I went into this series with incredibly low expectations. However after sticking around for a little bit I was immediately hooked. I love all of the side characters, they all grew on me. If I was to complain about one thing it would be one of the main reoccurring villains who seems immortal or invulnerable. Regardless it was more of a nitpick and I could easily look pass it. The series reminded me of the Nightside series by Simon R Green but with more humor. Fans of that series would highly enjoy that one.
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If you enjoy your horror with a healthy dose of humor (or your humor with a healthy dose of horror), you will enjoy the Tales From the Gas Station series.
Our protagonist Jack is back at the gas station, a little worse for the wear after the trials he faced in the first volume. Unfortunately for him, they were nothing compared to what he will face this time. Shapeshifters, demons, and a particularly awful new co-worker are just a night shift's worth of dread at the Gas Station. There are more than a few moments that made me cringe and even more which made me bark laugh. This is an extremely funny read. I highly recommend the audio version.
My only complaint? Not enough gnome mischief and trash pandas. -
Reviewed on
Lili Lost in a Book
I absolutely loved this book! Because I’ve listened to the free narrations you can find online (I heard them over on
MrCreepypasta’s YouTube), I sort of knew where the story was going in regards to the Russian radio. But what I love about this book is that it elaborates on those things and adds a lot more detail, so I really didn’t mind one bit! Just like the last book, this one wasn’t plot-driven like most books I read. It was definitely more on the character-driven side and I was surprisingly okay with that! It did have a lot to do with the fact that I love these characters and the wacky situations they find themselves in.
So our main character, Jack, works at a gas station at the edge of a town, in the middle of nowhere... and things happen. Weird things. Things that are funny to me but not to the characters. Lol. Speaking of which, we get a new character in this book that wasn’t in the short stories I listened to! His name is Calvin Ambrose and I hated him. Lol. I enjoyed his descent into madness, though 🤣 That was fun! And he’s even in the disclaimer at the beginning of the book. Lol.The book you are about to read is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, places, or events is entirely coincidental. (Especially Calvin Ambrose. In fact, that guy is so fictional, I heard he’s started making surprise appearances in people’s dreams. If you are unlucky enough to have this happen to you, just ignore him. He should go away on his own in a couple of hours.)
🤣 One character I do love is Jack. He is so funny and just surprisingly level-headed when it comes to all the weird stuff that goes on in the gas station. He’s almost nonchalant about everything. Although things do get to him from time to time...I know I’ve seen some weird things in my career. I’ve witnessed more than a few death fake-outs, but if I was about to see that deer head running away with nothing but its tongue, I was ready to call it and nope out of there for good.
😂 He’s also very relatable, which I appreciate.I looked at the name badge, then at him. “Are you sure?”
“Fuck you.” He flipped me the bird and stormed out of the store, leaving me all alone with nothing but my books. This was shaping up to be a pretty good day.
Oh my god, if this isn’t actually me... 😂“Look,” I said, “I think you’re nice and all, but I’m pretty sure if I get in that hearse, you’re probably going to end up killing me, and I’m really invested in this book and I’ve only got four chapters left to go, so... if you don’t mind...”
Seriously! Like, maybe kill me after? 🤣
Oh and then there’s Jerry, who I freaking love! He’s kind of an airhead, but he’s also surprisingly smart at the same time. I know it doesn’t make sense, but... look, this whole book is ridiculous, okay? 😂 At one point, he and Jack play some video games, and this entire scene was just really endearing because Jack invited him over to the gas station to hang out and Jerry came without a second thought. It was so sweet! But it was also really funny because the video games he brought were knock-offs. There were things like “Super Hit Siblings” and "Marco’s Cart" 😂 I can’t with this guy... I love him!
And another character I also liked was Deputy Amelia O’Brien. I don’t think she was in the last book much, if at all, but she was in a lot of the short stories I listened to. I’m glad to finally have her in this book, though, because she is badass, no-nonsense, and takes shit from no one. Especially not the gas station clerk she’s tasked with protecting (aka Jack).“Let me be real for a second, if you end up dying all because you were too scared to bother me, I’m going to kick your ass.”
I love her! 😂 And we also got a new part-time employee: Rosa! I love her too! She was another character that was in the short stories, so I’m glad she finally showed up here too! She’s really sweet and she just brings a nice balance to the insanity that goes on in the gas station.
The book did have an interesting subplot I wasn’t expecting regarding the disappearance of a girl named Vanessa, who had a thing going on with Jerry. Well, in this book, we find out what happened to her and it was seriously shocking! But the reason why I found it interesting is because Vanessa has her own story out there on the interwebs! I don’t actually know if there are books, but I do know there are free stories you can read and, of course, narrations. They are about Vanessa’s uncle looking for her, and the story has a very noir/detective vibe to it. So if you like that sort of stuff, definitely check it out. I heard the story myself, and while I found it interesting, that style did not really vibe with me.
But yeah, this book I really loved! It’s just really funny and I love the writing and the character interactions. Not to mention the absolute insanity that goes on around the gas station! Prophetic radios, shapeshifters, mysteries, shenanigans, and just creepy things in general. I loved it! I highly recommend this series, especially if you love dark humor!It was undeniable. Things weren’t going to go back to the way they were before. But as I sat there in the company of friends just as messed up as me, I couldn’t help but dare to wonder, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
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“DON’T TELL ME WHICH WAY TO CALM! This isn’t really Van’s body! You people have been lied to! Fruit Loops are all the same flavor! THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE COLORS! That’s not relevant, but it needed to be said and I don’t often get an audience like this!”
Jerry will always be my favorite. -
Say hello to Jack Townsend, again!
This is my second visit with Jack, at least most of him. Reading this was mostly enjoyable, definitely not great literature but fun in a way. Got a but too preposterous, even for me. Good for an escape from reality! -
Series rating so far 4.5/5 .
Eldritch horror
Humour
What's not to like . Can't wait for the next one -
This is a pointless review. Being the second part of a trilogy, most people will have already read the first book and decided that A) they're going to finish out the series no matter what or B) this series isn't for them. So you see? Pointless to write a review. Yet here we are.
It took a while before I really got into this installment. The first book was so full of tawdry quirks that it decided to open up a tawdry quirk shop. And despite an initial impression of trying too hard, I felt that it managed to bring it all together with a good amount of charm. I was invested and wanted to read more.
For Volume 2, it seems that "Jack" decided to dial things back a few notches. No hand plants, endless political clone murders, half-pigs or flaky gravity. In short, the weirdness has taken a break this time around. Which is unfortunate. I liked the weirdness. But the trade-off is a more coherent narrative where the characters are really allowed to shine.
Jerry returns and is developed into a much more distinct character, even if he kept reminding me of John (from the
John Dies at the End series). Reading volume 2, I couldn't shake the feeling that John decided to take up part time work at the Gas Station. Maybe the Gas Station is located just outside of "Undisclosed." That... would make a lot of sense, actually. Hmm.
Volume 2 starts slow and didn't really sink its claws into me until the climax of the story but that's alright. There were tons of memorable moments, the new characters were all interesting and fun, and I enjoyed the ride. I can't wait to start Volume 3.
3.5/5
