"Everything is bigger in Texas - including the horror!"
Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers is an anthology series centered around... well Texas horror, written by writers who hail from Texas. While most often centering around tales of horror that just so happen to be set in a part of Texas, there are plenty of stories that delve into the dark depths of the Lone Star State, from its dark history, to the mythology that gave the state its identity.
Having started in 2016 under the editorial duo of E. R. Bills and Bret A. McCormick, the series has released one volume per year, with no signs of stopping. Frequent contributors include Carmen Grey, Patrick C. Harrison III, James H. Longmore, Jacklyn Baker, Madison Estes, and most famously, Joe R. Lansdale.
This series features examples of:
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Bigfoot's made several appearances in a few stories, usually not as a good guy.
- Downer Ending: As expected of horror, many stories tend to end with the protagonists in worst shape than before, often dead or having lost someone or something close to them.
- Everything is Big in Texas: The central premise of the series. Topics range from slavery, racism, border patrol, rodeos, and even cowboys.
- Gainax Ending: "Serial Killers Anonymous" ends with Bruce having killed everybody in the hosting spot except for "Bloody Bethany", who suddenly turns out to be a vampire who forces Bruce to become her pet after he refuses to be with her.
- Hillbilly Horrors: Vol. 8's "Baby Doll" presents a more realistic depiction of this trope, with the main villain, the title character's "Daddy" representing the worst of the type of people residing in the swamplands of East Texas.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: In most supernatural stories, it's the humans who often tend to be the biggest threats.
- Mind Screw: Some of the stories tend to lean more into the surreal aspect, with "The Visitor" from Vol. 7 being one of the best examples.
- Mystical Pregnancy: The protagonist in Vol. 7's "Blue Moon" is the subject of this, thanks to looking at the Blue Moon and forced to birth its baby.
- No Ending: Many stories stop before their mysteries can be revealed in order to enhance the horror.
- Rural Gangsters: "The Consequence of Thought" features Clifford Brennan, a vicious, psychopathic dim-witted Neo-Nazi who leads a gang involved with Meth production off a farm on the outskirts of rural Texas. Also involved in a variety of criminal enterprises, including Human Trafficking (namely virgins abducted from Mexico for forced prostitution) and contract killing, Clifford turns to dealing Meth solely cause he considers it more economically viable, taking over production within the region by having all his rivals gang-raped and then hanged by there own intestines as a warning to all who dare cross him. Amongst his rackets he also creates and sells snuff films, including him selling three to a crooked Japanese businessman to get his hands on Adolf Hitler's DNA, all part of his grand plan to resurrect Hitler by cloning (thanks to his pet geneticist Richard) and lead forth the Fourth Reich, intending to create a "a world where there is one true pure race to rule over all others... and we have exterminated every last fucking mongrel."
- Serial Killer: Plenty to go around.
- Villain Protagonist: Sometimes the main characters are far more unscrupulous than expected, which makes their deaths all the better. Examples include the neo-Nazi Clifford from "The Consequence of Thought" and the serial killer Bruce Hatchet from "Serial Killers Anonymous".
