Shoebox Train Wreck

by John Mantooth

"The living haunt the dead . . ."

These sixteen genre-bending stories are set against a backdrop of sudden violence and profound regret, populated by characters whose circumstances and longings drive them to the point of no return . . . and sometimes even further. A young girl takes a journey to see what is really hidden within the belly of an ancient water tower. A high school senior learns about defiance on a school bus and witnesses a tragedy that he won't soon forget. Six survivors in an underground bunker discuss the possibility of Armageddon being an elaborate hoax. Two brothers take a walk on the dark side of the wheat field and discover that some bonds are stronger than death. And in the title story, a former train conductor must confront the ghosts of his past while learning that it's not the dead who haunt the living, but the other way around.

Traversing the back roads of the south and beyond, these stories probe the boundaries of imagination, taking the reader to the fringes of a society where the world looks different, and once you visit, you won't ever be the same.

Reviews - What's Being Said About John Mantooth & Shoebox Train Wreck

Just good, spare, bleak storytelling, and some haunting images that will stick with readers like the kid at the end of the road.
–Publishers Weekly

John Mantooth explores the grittier nuances of the human psyche in this collection of deranged short stories. Both imaginatively realistic and believably supernatural, the included selections hone in on the more psychological aspects of horror. The title tale features a train conductor haunted both by his past, and the ghosts of the children that he was responsible for killing. A heady and unsettling read.
–Rue Morgue Magazine

Mantooth tests his characters, through temptation and disaster; it is a grim joy to watch them fall, or claw their way through the storm to glimpse a clear sky. Immoral or righteous, they are human and beautiful in all their darkness . . . . Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is the variety and Mantooth’s ability to leave no doubt these stories belong in the same collection. This display of humanity is beautifully written and thought-provoking, and yet remains devoid of the saccharin to which such works can fall victim.
–The Crow's Caw

The best thing about this collection is despite it's shadowed nature . . . . it's not needlessly grim. Often, collections like these boast stories ending in despair and pointlessness, offering no resolution of any kind. That doesn't happen here. These stories feature broken, confused, wandering souls. But many of them find a kind of resolution or peace, or, at the very least, discover the hope of such peace. And that lifts this collection above many others.
–Shroud Book Blog

Following the styles and themes of Barry Gifford and Cormac McCarthy, these stories would find a home on the big screen under the directorial hand of Tarantino, Wenders, or (early) Van Sant. The prose is precise, detached and clips along at a compelling pace.
–Broken Pencil