- Hardcover: 112 pages
- Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press (1 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1930846231
- ISBN-13: 978-1930846234
- Product Dimensions: 21.5 x 14.8 x 1.7 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 960,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
""Shepard manipulates genre elements in order to transcend genre expectations."
Product Description
This collection of fact and fiction was inspired by the time science fiction writer Lucius Shepard spent with Missoula Mike, Madcat, and other members of a controversial brotherhood known as the Freight Train Riders of America. Shepard rode the rails throughout the western half of the United States with the disenfranchised, the homeless, the punks, the gangs, and the joy riders for the magazine article 'The FTRA Story'. That original article is presented here, along with two new hobo novellas, 'Over Yonder' and 'Jailbait'. In 'Over Yonder', alcoholic Billy Long Gone finds himself on an unusual train. As Billy travels his health improves and his thinking clears, and he arrives in Yonder - an unlikely paradise where a few hundred hobos live in apparent peace and tranquillity. But every paradise has its price, and in Yonder, peace and tranquillity breed complacency and startling deaths. 'Jailbait' is a hardcore tale of deception, lust, revenge, and murder in the seedy underbelly of rail yards and train hopping. Madcat, who functions best in a whiskey-induced haze, must decide between solitude and companionship when he meets up with Grace, an underaged runaway. Grace, in turn, seeks the security of an older man and the life about which only young girls can dream.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
With realistic dialogue and following flawed characters, 3 April 2004
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Two Trains Running (Hardcover)
Author Lucius Shepard personally experienced life riding the rails when he investigated the Freight Train Riders of America for "Spin" magazine. Two Trains Running is a collection of his fictionalized stories based on the experiences he gained from personally living among a vagabond culture. Gripping, with realistic dialogue and following flawed characters struggling to make sense out of life, Two Trains Running is an unforgettable, highly recommended read that fairly pulses with the raw power of reality.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
expected more, 15 May 2005
By reader from maryland - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Two Trains Running (Hardcover)
Here's a suggestion: Consider reading the two fiction selections in this book first, then read the essay on the Freight Train Riders of America(FTRA). I read the book cover to cover and I think Lucius Shepard scoops himself by detailing too much in the essay. As a result the fiction stories had less impact. The essay is a fascinating account of his time riding freight trains across America while researching the FTRA, which is rumored to be a highly organized crime ring consisting of hobos operating out of train switch yards across the country. Shepard found little of this organization and many more lost and broken souls. He used this research to craft two stories; Jailbait and Over Yonder. Both are good reads and reminiscent of an inward turning Theodore Sturgeon story. However neither one lived up to my expectations as I had enjoyed other Lucius Shepard stories in the past. Again I think much of the characterization was blunted by the superb descriptions of real people that are found in the earlier essay.
Over Yonder is about Billy Long Gone. A loner that hops a phantom train to a land of hobo limbo where everyone is cured of their physical addictions. He soon realizes that he not much better off than before and in the end he opts for a dangerous ride into the ghoulish unknown. This story has a fantasy element so the entire collection is categorized as science fiction and Fantasy, where Mr. Shepard has produced many works, but it could easily be considered general fiction. Jailbait is about another loner, Madcat, that is on the run from the law. He hooks up with an under aged girl, and first time train rider, who has just seen murder. I liked the way the young girl is portrayed, we don't quite know her motives and Shepard weaves some elements of the divine into her scenes so that the reader is not sure if she is savior or devil. All together good but I expected more.
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