The Hitchhiking Effect

Gene O’Neill – The Hitchhiking Effect ISBN: 978-88-99569-05-1 Copyright (Edition) ©2016 Independent Legions Publishing Copyright (Text) ©Gene O’Neill 1° edition epub/mobipocket: 1.0 March 2016 Proofreading by Jodi Renée Lester Digital Layout: Lukha B. Kremo - kremo@kipple.it Cover Art by Vincent Chong www.independentlegions.com Gene O’Neill The Hitchhiking Effect TABLE OF CONTENTS The Burden of Indigo (appeared in the October 1981 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine) Graffiti Sonata (appeared in the winter/spring 2011 issue of Dark Discoveries Magazine) Balance (appeared in issue 55, 2006, of Cemetery Dance Magazine) Dance of the Blue Lady (appeared in issue 53, 2005, of Cemetery Dance Magazine) The Confessions of St. Zach (published as a signed and lettered trade paperback in 2008 by Bad Moon Books) Tight Partners (published in 2013 by Written Backwards Press in Chiral Mad 3) The Hungry Skull (appeared in the spring/summer issue 2012 of Nameless Magazine) Rusting Chickens (published as a signed and lettered trade paperback in 2011 by Dark Regions Press) Riding the Dawg (published in 2014 by Thunderstorm Books in Mio Mojo) Firebug (a novelette original to this collection) On the Right Side of the Road (appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of Dark Discoveries Magazine.) Transformations at the Inn of the Golden Pheasant (published in 2014 by Cycatrix Press in A Darke Phantastique) “Graffiti Sonata,” “Balance,” “The Confessions of St. Zach,” and “Rusting Chickens” were all Bram Stoker Award® finalists.