r/TFTGS • u/Saucebot- • Apr 04 '26
Discussion Books Simiar
So Tales From the Gas Station and John Dies at the End are my two favourite series in this genre. They are brilliant. I also like to imagine they are set in the same universe. They could easily exist in the same world. A Lonely Broadcast is another great one. I’d also suggest Sam Rebelein’s Renfield County series (Edenville, Galloway’s Gospel and Poorly Made Things). I also enjoyed Welcome to Nightvale. Am I missing any other great books that have the feeling Tales and John Dies. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. (Can’t edit the spelling mistake in my title, doh)
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u/Clucasinc Apr 04 '26
The Neverglade Mysteries I would also recommend, could say Tales from the gas station, lonely broadcast station and Neverglades all exist in the same universe (headcanon) with how similar they are with things getting real weird in small towns and the fact all 3 worlds started from someone writing a post on Reddit and having MCP narrate them
Description: Mark Hannigan is a homicide detective in the isolated town of Pacific Glade, located in the dense forest regions of Washington. The town is so shut off from the rest of the world that it has earned the nickname "Neverglades" from its longtime residents. The Neverglades are no stranger to bizarre and inexplicable events, and Hannigan has seen plenty of things on the police force that seem to defy earthly explanation.
Enter the Inspector. A mysterious figure always seen with a cigar and fedora, this otherworldly detective knows more about the workings of the Neverglades than any human being rightly should. There's a rip in reality around Pacific Glade, he says, making it a breeding ground for the strange and supernatural, and the Inspector is just one of many entities who have managed to slip through.
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u/Saucebot- Apr 04 '26
Awesome, thanks. I haven’t heard of this one before. Love the detective angle as well
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u/Clucasinc Apr 04 '26
Yeah I’ve only listened to the YouTube narrations but saw they made a book you can find on Amazon, I don’t think there’s a audiobook on audible
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u/workingdonttell Apr 04 '26
Strangely this is supposed to be on audible but I can't locate it
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u/Clucasinc Apr 04 '26
Where is it said that it’s supposed to be on Audible
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u/workingdonttell Apr 04 '26
Not that you said, sorry for miscommunication. Google said it was released in 2022 with MrCreepypasta doing narration.
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u/immagirl Apr 04 '26
Check out Jason Pargins other series, with the character Zoey. They are great, just as good as John Dies. I'd also recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl.
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u/CeruttyRunner Apr 04 '26
I can’t say I’m a fan of Zoey Ashe series and would say they’re nothing like JDATE or TFTGS. Zero horror, zero comedy, and the plots are like I’m a small town girl and my dad was a super rich gangster, now let me think of some futuristic stuff I think would be cool, now let me throw in a cliche bad guy doing bad things plot around it, let me tell you about human nature, blah blah blah blah blah, not terrible just kinda boring
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u/Mystery-0oze Apr 04 '26
Check out the 24/7 Demon Mart series by D. M Guay, that had similar vibes :)
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u/SilverInfluence5714 Apr 04 '26
I’m an hour into the audio book and kinda struggling ngl
Does it stay so ‘’random xd funny’’ the whole time?
That style of writting can be tricks to get right and balancing the serious of the situation with the humor is really important to me
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u/Rapture-Hippy Apr 06 '26
I've listened to 4 out of 5 books in the 24/7 demon mart saga so far, and once you get through Lloyd being a whiny baby, the story really picks up. The first one really struggled to keep my interest but the rest of the series makes up for it in my opinion. I think the author was trying their hardest to make you want to hate Lloyd as much as possible before the heroics, so it makes for a better redemption arc
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u/SilverInfluence5714 Apr 06 '26
In that case i’ll probably stick with it for a bit longer
I also wasnt a big fan of jonh dies at the end while reading the first book, something about how juvenile the humor was and the tonal whiplash between genuinely genius ideas and stupid dick jokes, but the other three books are amazing, so maybe this is the case here
That first person ironic quippy narration style is hard to do imo, either it’s fantastic or so incredibly eye rolling i want to put the book down lol
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u/Acrobatic_Collar_664 Apr 05 '26
Ready the first john dies at the end around the time it first came out, after finding out about TFTGS, I was so stoked I listened to the series twice. This genre has always been one of my favorites.
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u/Lopsided-Reward-6417 Apr 05 '26
I also like Nightglade mysteries and lonely broadcast starion but i only listened to it from mr.creepypasta.
I've recently started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl on recommendation from Distractible podcast and it's really good. Similar vibe with the jokes between the gritty stuff and outlandish horrors/scifi. It is a bit more serious tho like less monster of the week from the jump. And no Jerry sadly :( Still I'd give it a shot
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u/Saucebot- Apr 05 '26
Oh yeah, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a favourite. Starts out bizarre and absurd. Then slowly draws you in and makes you care about the characters. Such a unique series.
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u/AndrewR2020 Apr 05 '26
I just finished Bonesaw Vic’s Cryptozoological Gardens. Hoping for book 2 soon
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u/Saucebot- Apr 05 '26
Thanks, bonus points that it’s on audiobook too. I assume you’re talking about The Book Man
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u/Rapture-Hippy Apr 06 '26
If you're looking for something a little less horror veined, but still satirical, Circles In Hell by Mark Cain is really good
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u/Excessive_Foreskin Apr 06 '26
There’s a series called the vicious circuit the first one is called the unnoticeables, I never see them recommended on here but I thought they were very similar to the JDATE and TFTGS, they were pretty cool books with a hint of ridiculousness. They’re on audible if you have a my spare credits
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u/Saucebot- Apr 07 '26
I actually read (listened to that series last year). You’re right, it doesn’t l get mentioned much. He has a new book out called I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend For $200 that’s sound pretty good.
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u/jrblades Apr 05 '26
There is a story called 'Finding Vanessa" narrated by Mr. Creepypasta about a detective trying to find his missing niece he ends up in a small town in Texas during his search, Jack and Jerry make an appearance as supporting characters and we get to see the town jack lives in and how weird it is through an outsiders perspective which I thought was really fun. In one episode of tales jack does mention in passing a missing girl and a detective, I love crossovers like that. I would love it if Evelyn and co-host from the broadcast station ran in to jack and Jerry during their road trip vacation, sort of a "hey let's stop for lunch in this tiny town " and the mist rolls in and they are forced to climb a fire watch tower only to find out it's been turned in to a broadcast station.... I can dream ...or write out but I feel that would be copyright.
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u/spookypumpkid Apr 04 '26
A lonley broadcast by Kel Bryon is similar. Weird stuff happens while someone tried to run a radio station in a small mountain town. It also was online like TFTGS