This collection of Joe R. Lansdale stories represents the best of the “Lansdale” genre—a strange mixture of dark crime, even darker humor, and adventure tales. The stories are varied in setting and theme, but they are all pure Lansdale—eerie, amusing, and occasionally horrific. In “The Pit,” modern gladiators square off against one another using Roman methods. An alternate-history tale called “Trains Not Taken” shows Buffalo Bill as an ambassador and Wild Bill Hickok as a clerk. Lansdale’s love of large lizards and humor are evident in the stories “Godzilla’s Twelve Step Program” and “Bob the Dinosaur Goes to Disneyland.” The pit Not from Detroit Booty and the beast Steppin' out, summer, '68 Incident on and off a mountain road My dead dog, Bobby Trains not taken Tight little stitches in a dead man's back Dog, cat, and baby Mister weed-eater By bizarre hands The fat man and the elephant The phone woman Letter from the South, two moons west of Nacogdoches By the hair of the head The job Godzilla's twelve step program Drive-in date Bob the dinosaur goes to Disneyland The steel Valentine Night they missed the horror show