Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One

Sort of just a truckload of weird stories dumped in a pile, but done with such style that I thoroughly enjoyed it. This didn't have much of a throughline plot, but what there was intrigued me - I would like to know more since it wasn't remotely wrapped up in this volume.This is very reminiscent of David Wong/Jason Pargin's [b:John Dies at the End 1857440 John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, #1) David Wong https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1189289716s/1857440.jpg 1858059] novels, and evidently it has a similar origin story - online tales connected and published as a book. I found Jack's stories less compelling than Dave & John's weird, gross, hilarious, and oddly philosophical romps, but they scratch the same itch. I'll definitely be tuning in to the YouTube stories to see what additional fun is in store!

This review is only going to be a stream of me gushing about how much I loved this book for a couple of paragraphs.
Townsend brought together some of my favorite world building elements, horror themes treated as par for the course and no big deal (think a WTNV kind of approach), a how are you still alive main characters who isn't even all that sure he wants to be there (something that will speak to any millennial's soul) and a grimy setting. There's a great sense of humor that ties it all together in an amazing and non-stop moving package.
Jack is amazing and he's probably my second favorite character of all times at this point (having lodged himself between Tommy Wildclown from The Apocalypse Series by G. Wells Taylor and John Taylor from The Nightside Series by Simon R. Green, I have a type and, apparently, they don't always have to be private investigators they can also be gas station attendants).
Now I'm going to try to pace myself and wait maybe a week before I start volume 2, wish me luck!

Edited to add (November 2, 2023), it's been a little over a year since I initally read this book and I still find myself making references to it fairly regularly and I've read literally hundreds of books since, it was just that good.

Jack is going to die. As the book goes on, in more than one possible way, but alas, he has this illness that is definitely got good for him. He has a fatal insomnia condition, so it seems logical to do the kind of job where he needs to stay overnight; non-stop gas station attendant. It must be boring, yeah?
Except his workplace is outside a small town in the middle of nowhere, and things are not how they should normally be. Mutated raccoons steal cigarettes if you don't pay attention. Plants looking and moving exactly like human hands are growing outside that you have to burn sometimes or else they rip apart animals (and they scream while they burn). A death cult regularly comes in and buys up all the snacks.
At one point he just decided that hey, writing a blog about his experiences could work. What could go wrong?

Normally I am not super much into horror. I love the mystery parts, where you have the ominous feeling and you don't know what the hell is wrong. But the actual, being chased by the psycho with an axe? Nah. Not for me. Luckily, this was heavily based on the fact this person is telling you his story in first person. To him a bunch of the odd things are perfectly normal to him. He tells you like you would tell someone about a weird guy at work or the leaky coffee machine in the break room.
There is something cool about the almost bored tone. You know. It is what it is, the naked cowboy is in the bathroom again.

The issue with writing a review is, though, that I have no idea what to say that would sell you on this, but wouldn't say too much that is a spoiler OR that just makes me sound deranged.