The End of the Line

  ‘'Passengers are advised to board while the train is still in existence.''
If we come to think of it, we daily commuters live in a softened, less threatening (hopefully...) kind of transportation loop. I have been coveting this collection for three years and although we got off to a rocky start, I soon realised that we were simply meant to be. From the eerie feeling of being alone on the platform, closely listening for the sound of the train that will surely carry you home (or will it?) to the congestion that grows and grows like a deranged Hydra, this volume gives voice to each and every fear of the commuter.
From Prague to New York, Paris and - naturally -London, these are 19 little horrors for the daily commuter to despair upon. 
All aboard...
Bullroarer (Paul Meloy): There's nothing extraordinary in this...thing. It is a stinking pile of utter bullshit and one of the most disgusting stories I've ever read...
The Girl in the Glass (John Llewellyn Probert): A young woman finds himself haunted by a girl who hovers between life and death. Quite unique this one...
The Lure (Nicholas Royle): Sensual, tense, elegant. Like a haunting tour of Paris. A young teacher falls prey to the desires of a strange couple. This story needs to be made into a film.
23:45 Morden (Via Bank) (Rebecca Levene): I can't begin to count the number of shocks my brain was subjected to while reading this extraordinary story of a life turned upside-down in the most horrible way imaginable.
End of the Line (Jasper Bark): A story of time loops and psychogeography that could have been better developed. Interesting, nonetheless.
The Sons of the City (Simon Bestwick): An interesting premise focusing on the futile efforts to create an Underground in Manchester, drawing parallels on how technology disturbs the creatures of the Old World that quickly lost momentum. It contains a few scenes of absolute horror, though.
The Roses that Bloom Underground (Al Ewing): I don't know what is more disturbing. Things growing out of the walls or happy commuters trying to accommodate each other...
Exit Sounds (Conrad Williams): Mysterious and fascinating, this story has the old glory of the Cinema and the unnerving setting of the nightly Tube walk hand-in-hand.
‘'Where would you like to go that we've never been before?''
Funny Things (Pat Cadigan): An extraordinary piece of writing, one of the best stories I've ever read! The agonizing battle of a woman against sudden loss and unbearable grief. An elegy of eerie coping mechanisms, a real Odyssey accentuated by sorrow and loneliness. Simply mindblowing!
‘'You might be on holiday, but some of us have to get to work, dear.''
On All London Underground Lines (Adam L.G. Nevill): Accidents, incidents and malfunctions keep on happening and the narrator finds himself in a terrifying loop. As if Kafka wrote about life in the Underground, this story is the definition of life as a daily commuter. An all too familiar masterpiece and may I say that the protagonist is my spirit animal, trapped in an endless There and Back Again.
P.S. Bloody tourists...
Fallen Boys (Mark Morris): A teacher finds herself in an eerie tale while on a school field trip in an old mine. A beautiful, sad story that follows the good old tropes of a quintessential British ghost story. Furthermore, it felt oddly relatable since I am a teacher who has had her share with what others would deem as ‘'troubling students''. 
In the Colosseum (Stephen Volk): A hedonistic, hallucinatory nightmare exposing all the layers of human cruelty.
The Rounds (Ramsey Campbell): An outstanding, heart-pounding story with the epitome of the Unreliable Narrator. Is he paranoid or is he really trying to save his fellow passengers?
Missed Connection (Michael Marshall Smith): A man is trying to go shopping before Christmas but is unable to escape the claustrophobic boundaries of the Underground. All exists closed, the city is different and the nightmare is never-ending.
Siding 13 (James Lovegrove): A passenger is trapped in a train that becomes more and more and more and more congested. I got claustrophobic just by reading this masterpiece!
Diving Deep (Gary McMahon): What if Antarctica had its own underground transport system? Yes, I can't say I liked this one...
Crazy Train (Natasha Rhodes): An intriguing heroine (I ADORED HER!!) and an ode to the dark stories of Rock music, set in LA.
‘'The ground couldn't hold him.''
All Dead Years (Joel Lane): A psychologist is trying to help a woman who has experienced manipulation and abuse but the tunnel seems endless. With traces of the myth of Persephone and Hades, this story is exquisitely elegant.
‘'He once read that those who die by the hand of another are the easiest to see. At the far end of the scale are those who die natural deaths - they can never return. But what about the ones whose departures are simply accidental? What does it take to see them?''
Down (Christopher Fowler): An Underground worker helps victims of the past find their way through the labyrinth of the Tube. Whether those who perished during the Blitz or in tragic accidents, the spirits need a guide. A shuttering ending and if this story doesn't bring wailing tears in your eyes, then you are Satan!

‘'He turned the corner onto something so unexpected that he stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him were the steps which he knew led down onto the southbound platform of the Northern Line. They did not lead down into the usual shuffling malee of irritable shoppers, however. They led down into total darkness.''
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