At the edge of our town, there’s a shitty gas station that’s open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If you were to go inside, you’d see row after row of off-brand chips, cookies, potted meats, and pickled curiosities. Expiration dates suspiciously missing from the canned goods like they were filed off years ago in some misguided attempt to control inventory turnover. A faded “wet floor” sign from way back covers a large crack in the foundation by the cooler where layers of sticky spill-off have formed a miniature tar pit, preserving countless insect corpses and the occasional small rodent.
Tales From the Gas Station is a creepypasta and book series by author Jack Townsend, who happens to be the main character of the series. Throughout the course of his night shifts, Jack must deal with various supernatural occurances ranging from mysterious lawn gnomes to that weird scratching in the ceiling to the Bathroom Cowboy, who will show up and play you the violin and might give you some good (or meaningless) life advice. It is a self-aware and satirical take on the horror genre, with Jack being an unwilling actor in the events that take place.
Do note that the original blog is not wholly accurate to events that take place in the story. A somewhat up-to-date order in which to read things can be found here. As of the time of writing (September 3rd, 2024), there is no entry for Tales From The Road on this list; Jack is chronically busy and likely completely forgot to update this, or the order is still getting worked out in the new book, as it seems that The Tale of the Spider Folk will be a part of that book as well. Do note also that if the books ever conflict with the blog, the books are most likely the correct option.
I would count this as legitimately one of the best book series I have ever read, including The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Go read it for yourself. I have a good feeling that you will not be disappointed. And if you are, feel free to downvote this writeup.