Convoy of ChaosEdited by
Rick Cartwright & Shari Robb
(Three Ravens Publishing, October 2025, 346 pp.)
“Easy Pickings” by Quinn
“Over the Hill” by Jesse M. Slater
“Not My First Rodeo” by T. M. Gray
“Cruze Control” by David Bock
“Radioactive Run” by Richard Cartwright
“Milk Run” by Sam Robb
“Cargo” by Bee M Kay
“Tough Cookies” by Douglas Goodall
“Asphalt Bandwidth” by A. Kristina Casasent
“The Wheels on the Death Bus Go Round and Round” by Seth Taylor
“SNAFU on Snake River” by William Joseph Robert
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
The stories in this anthology are set in the universe created for the popular game Car Wars, first published in 1980 by Steve Jackson Games. In brief, the setting is a post-apocalyptic United States in the near future full of vehicles enhanced with heavy armor and weaponry. This book is the sixth from the publisher sharing this background. As its title implies, it focuses on vehicles transporting cargo and those who attack them.
The narrator of “Easy Pickings” by Quinn enters a bar frequented by outlaw bikers and tells them how his own gang was wiped out by a truck that seemed defenseless but that actually had overwhelming firepower. His hidden motive for relating the incident leads to a confrontation with an unexpected result.
This brief synopsis is deliberately vague because the story depends on a major plot twist, which readers may or may not be able to predict. Some may find the conclusion anticlimactic.
“Over the Hill” by Jesse M. Slater sets the pattern for most of the stories in the book, with convoys of trucks, accompanied by armed escorts, attacked by raiders. In this case, the defenders face a huge enemy vehicle with immense armor and powerful weapons.
This story, like many others in the anthology, is full of action-packed scenes of battle. There is not much to distinguish it, other than the main character’s struggle to find a weakness in the giant vehicle.
In “Not My First Rodeo” by T. M. Gray, the convoy is transporting cattle. In addition to attacks by outlaws, they face bad weather and a landslide.
The characters are a bit more fully developed than those in many other stories in the book. In particular, the emotional trauma suffered by someone who has to kill in self defense is effectively portrayed. On the other hand, frequent changes in point of view and the addition of major characters late in the text lessen the story’s impact.
“Cruze Control” by David Bock features a famous auto duelist; that is, someone who participates in legal combat between vehicles in an arena. He fails to check in on time for his latest event because he aids a convoy in its battle with raiders. He also has to deal with damage to his car and an attack on his manager.
As this synopsis may suggest, this story is episodic, with multiple subplots. The one dealing with his manager is the most involving, although the resolution is overly sudden.
In “Radioactive Run” by co-editor Richard Cartwright, the protagonists receive major improvements in their vehicle and extremely high payment for what seems to be a simple job of transporting a container for nuclear materials from one facility to another. Of course, there is more going on than meets the eye, leading to an attack by those trying to get their hands on the container.
The nature of the secret cargo is revealed fairly early in the story, so the only suspense in the plot is whether the heroes will prevail or not. (As a personal note, the setting is my own neck of the woods, and the text mentions several roads on which I have driven.)
The main character in “Milk Run” by Sam Robb is a former auto duelist, now operating a diner with her husband. She has to make use of her skills when a gang of hoods threatens her husband, who is on his way to pick up supplies.
Unlike other stories in the book, which usually involve multiple protagonists working together, this is primarily an account of one person’s battle. The fact that she is a seasoned professional and the thugs are dimwitted amateurs lessens the suspense. One unusual aspect of the plot is that the main character is accompanied by her dog, who has control over drones. Although this may strain credibility, the fact that some sections of text are told from the animal’s point of view adds a bit of novelty.
In “Cargo” by Bee M Kay, a man whose wife is about to give birth suffers serious injuries in an attack on his convoy. A mysterious man rescues him, but not everything is as it seems.
Once again, I have to supply a very vague synopsis, as this story features important plot twists. Suffice to say that some events seem supernatural, and that a very familiar science fiction premise is involved. (The same concept is mentioned in other stories in the anthology, but does not play an important role.) The combination of genres is original, but may confuse some readers.
The convoy in “Tough Cookies” by Douglas Goodall carries vital biological material. The journey is more perilous than expected, and it seems that someone has betrayed them.
Readers are likely to predict the identity of the traitor as soon as the character shows up. The story alternates points of view in a way that I found difficult to follow. That may be lack of attention on my part, or it may be that the narrative voices are not sufficiently distinguishable.
Software is the cargo in “Asphalt Bandwidth” by A. Kristina Casasent. Those transporting it face much greater danger than expected, as well as help from an unusual source.
The true nature of what is being transported provides the story’s major speculative content. Although this is intriguing, it plays out in a way that is difficult to believe. The two main characters spend a lot of time discussing whether they should have children as soon as they are married, even in the middle of battle. Although this relates to the theme in a way, such behavior is even less credible than the science fiction premise.
Instead of inanimate objects, the convoy in “The Wheels on the Death Bus Go Round and Round” by Seth Taylor is transporting the young children of the elite back home from a ski trip. It faces the usual attack, this time from those attempting to collect illegal tolls.
The presence of children is the main difference between this story and others of its kind. Otherwise, this is another tale of violent battle on the road.
“SNAFU on Snake River” by William Joseph Roberts begins with a corporation withdrawing its support from a losing team of auto duelists. The board members in charge of the team are killed by the organization’s hit man. He then sets up an attack on a rival team.
As the opening scene makes clear, this is a particularly cynical and violent tale, even in a book full of deadly competitions as a form of entertainment and routine assaults on transportation. The ending is particularly disturbing, and may strike readers as nihilistic.
Any anthology with a narrow theme runs the risk of repetition, and Convoy of Chaos is no exception. Read in one sitting, the multiple scenes of battle on the road are likely to seem very much the same. The authors attempt to add their own bits of originality, but these often seem like little more than window dressing. The book will best be appreciated by passionate fans of the game that inspired it. Others may find it a road trip to nowhere.
Victoria Silverwolf has never played Car Wars.