Description
Trains were a major way in which civilization developed and continents were settled. Though no longer the enormous force they were, they still occupy an important part of history and m many of our memories.
Off the Rails is our homage to them. It is a collection of 19 strange and fantastic train tales.
It contains four different types of story. There are two types we call “strange.” Rationalized Fantasies (4 inclusions) initially appear fantastic, but end up rationalized. Janus (or 2 faced)Â Stories (3 inclusions) are ambiguous. They may or may not be fantastic. You must decide. Then there are two types we call “fantastic.” Science Fictional stories (2 inclusions) present possible oddities. On the other hand, Supernatural stories (10 inclusions) present impossible oddities.
As usual, we have looked for stories that were well written, easy to read, offered novel ideas, and, in the vast majority of cases, weren’t likely to be familiar to casual readers. Of our 19 selections, 16 appear in none of the 12 competing anthologies. That’s more than 84%. And that is because unlike most commercial writers, our books are just a hobby. We can do deep subject dives because we have no need to earn our bread from books, and are, therefore, not time constrained. In this anthology, for example, our selections come from 13 different magazines and 2 different collections, were written by 18 different authors, and were published over a span of 6 decades (1861 till 1921). So please enjoy!
