Freak Show of the Gods: And Other Stories of the Bizarre

Take a trip into the unknown with this collection of mind-expanding science fiction stories in the spirit of Ray Bradbury and The Twilight Zone. “Freak Show of the Gods” presents 33 encounters with the bizarre that uncover unsettling strangeness in the midst of everyday life, including: “Van Helsing’s Last Stand”: The vampire hunter and his great enemy have one last battle … over book royalties, movie rights, and merchandising. “Early Retirement”: An aging superhero discovers he cannot qualify for Social Security … with tragic results for him and the city. “Tax Time”: A genius inventor’s plan to build a time machine can be stopped by only one force in the universe … an IRS audit. “The Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln XL-3000”: The Abraham Lincoln automaton at Disney World begs his creators to set him free. And 29 more strange, offbeat and bizarre tales.

California Bookwatch

"A range of stories that adopt satisfyingly diverse approaches, from the urban fantasy of a vampire hunter's final battlefield as he faces the ravages of profiting from his trade to what happens when a professional superhero can't get social security in his old age. Delightful in tone and scope, Freak Show of the Gods excels in a sense of the odd, the unexpected, presenting a series of tantalizingly diverse scenarios."

Midwest Book Review

"Blends science fiction with a touch of horror and the strange ... offering a series of short stories that will delight fans of Bradbury and similar writers. From what happens when retired super-heroes can't get their benefits to a time machine invention that is halted not by the constraints physics but by an IRS audit process, each story offers satisfying twists of theme and is an outstandingly sharp presentation. Outstanding stories that are hard to put down."

About the Author

Robert W. Bly, a full-time freelance writer since 1982, is the author of over 85 books, including “The Ultimate Unauthorized Star Trek Quiz Book” and “The Science in Science Fiction.” Bly holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester and has published more than one hundred articles in numerous periodicals, including Cosmopolitan and Writer’s Digest.

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