Do-Overs and Detours

By: Steve Vernon

Narrated by: Richard Peterson

Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

Detours are amazing creatures. A detour can cut your existence short or it can lead you down a long road that will linger far into the distant reaches of eternity. These unexpected tangents, which people stumble across nearly every day, will haunt you in a frighteningly familiar fashion.

Wander into a laundromat and find a kind of a time machine. Indulge yourself in a particularly nasty game of baseball. Hitch a ride on a freight train with the piggyback man, entomb yourself in a trailer walled with books, take a ride on a bus that is going nowhere fast, or just lean over an empty ocean and wait for the first mermaid you see. Detour around an overturned trailer of chickens and find a chance to do it all over again. Take a taxi ride with a very hungry passenger, or just walk in the park and watch a juggler balancing severed heads.

Reality will take you only so far. After that, there is nothing to rely on but faith and fear. I offer you 18 eerie tales of fantasy, horror, science fiction, and all around strangeness that will take you to the edge of the map and then nudge you just a little bit further.

©2016 Steve Vernon (P)2017 Stark Raven Press

Critic Reviews

"If Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch had a three-way sex romp [and] scientists…mixed the leftover DNA…the resulting genetic experiment would most likely grow up into Steve Vernon." (Bookgasm)

An Anthology of Awesome Angsty Accounts

Steve Vernon has earned his way into my bibliophilic heart. He writes killer tales, and is a real master of the short story. I think shorts are harder to write because you only have limited space to get in characters, plot, and a major impact that is necessary for relevence. He does this in spades. He has a lot of fantastic tales in this book, one of which I knew from his sea story collection, I Know Why the Sea Tastes of Salt; so good and I listened to it again without hesitation. That's how good he is, you can listen to the shorts over and over. There are 18 stories in this book, and considering the street sign on the cover I tend to think of this book like a runaway 18 wheeler.

I think, and this is a hard pick, that my favorite of the bunch was about the Piggyback Man. It had a real Fallen vibe, and worked really well. It just resonated with me, although there are others that I could see some people preferring. That's the great thing about this book, it has something for all tastes, like a gormet book of different amuse-bouche. Each story stands alone, is super flavorful, and has no connection to the one preceeding it other than the chef making them is a master.

Peterson power levels this book. His narration is intense and emotion fueled. I could listen to him all day, too bad this book is less than 6 hours long. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.


If this review helped, please press YES. Thank you immensely!!!

3 people found this helpful

Great road trip stories!

My only complaint about these great scary road trip stories is they make me too scared to stop at the next rest stop! Steve Vernon can write so many different genres. He’s an amazing writer!!

1 person found this helpful

Phenomenal stories

This is one of the best short story collections I've listened to. The writing is exceptional, the subject matter is interesting, and the stories are all craftworthy and entertaining. Hats off. Highly recommended.

1 person found this helpful

Very Good, Sometimes Gross

These stories range from good to great. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this anthology, though a few of the stories were a little gross for my preferences. Some of the stories were so good that I’ ll have to listen to more of Steve Vernon’s work. Richard Peterson did the voices well and with enthusiasm.

Enjoyable

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, even though the stories were not really in my genre.

If you’ve listened to books by Steve Vernon before, how does this one compare?

I have not.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Nothing

Do you think Do-Overs and Detours needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No only because this really wasn't for me.

A no holds barred collection of terror and gore

I requested a promo code from the author for this book as part of my October Halloween reads, and boy was that a good decision!

This collection of 18 tales is one of the best I've read. Not one of theses stories disappointed me, they weren't all great but they were at least all good which is not a common thing among this kind of collections.

My only gripe with it is that in a couple stories Vernon seems to use crude and vulgar language only for the sake of using it. Now I'm not prissy, this did not disgust me, disturb me or in any way offend me. My problem with it is that, to me, it just serves to cheapen the story. I think it was in the story with the Red Nun that the character made a simile involving a baby that just felt too out there and took me out of a story that otherwise engrossed me. It could have been in another story, I don't really remember, it was a small thing but the only negative criticism I can give this collection.

Now I want more of the Piggyback Man and The Red Nun! Hopefully they'll appear in other stories by Vernon that I'll definitely be reading in the near future.

Richard Peterson did a top notch job narrating this, he did a good job bringing each character to life and in the stories with several characters did a good job separating each of them with unique and believably voices.