Eric and the Anti-Tankers 

By Joe Taylor 

Nat 1 Publishing, 2024 

Paperback: $7.99 

Genre: Dystopian Fiction, Satire 

Reviewed by Suzanne Hudson  

Cover of ERIC AND THE ANTI-TANKERS by Joe Taylor. Full disclosure: Joe Taylor is one of my favorite publishers—and people—on the planet. 

That said, I believe the synapses in Joe’s brain fire in dances of offbeat associations—one neuron to another—in a way unlike most human creatures. His imagination is otherworldly, “out there,” that whole “different drummer” vibe. This is not to convey madness, but maybe “mad scientist” (as he rubs his hands together to the Bwaaahahahahah laugh). He’s already written a comic novel in verse, a fabled “book of days,” a collection of connected stories, and a book of ghostly tales and horror, just to name a few. With Eric and the Anti-Tankers, he gives us a humorous and unlikely love story, set during what promises to be the End of Days. 

Eric, a hapless loser, a college graduate and resident of his childhood room at his parents’ house, an aimless wanderer looking for “a moral,” finally finds employment with the police (oh, the irony), who are tasked with enforcing what passes as law in a future iteration of America. He is also apolitical in the face of a fiercely authoritarian government, led by The Pink Man, American dictator, and the advisors who parrot his pronouncements. Hyperbole rules the day. Routine declarations are made. “Come celebrate Sacred Splinter Day” (the splinter is from “the actual, honest, real, true manger of Christ Jesus”), a day which will feature “the biggest and bestest execution yet!” 

Eric has to confront politics when he falls hard for Teresa, a radical resister, an “anti-tanker” hoping to “restore the world to its natural state, The Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Perplexed but love-bug-bitten, Eric begins to dip his toes into all the fuss. The result is a dystopian comedy, complete with the latest technology in killing (lasers), dog-oids and cat-oids, arrests and get-out-of-jail-free cards, humans lifting legs to urinate on fire hydrants, and plenty of risk and uncertainty. And absurdity. 

The fawning Fourth Estate—familiar mainstream news outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times—even chimes in with arse-kissing headlines, making once-trusted journalists complicit in the madness. Well, all but the Tuscaloosa News, which tunes out the noise and reports only all things Crimson Tide, all the time. 

Questioning reality, wondering if life as androids would be preferable, always in search of “a moral,” Eric and Teresa find their way through Sacred Splinter Day and into acquiescence. Their surrender makes the android question irrelevant, of course. 

And that “moral”? Well, there is one posited, but…no spoilers here. 

Even though it should feel dark and depressing—and on one level it is dark and depressing—the humor is lively, the abbreviated chapters crisp, making for a quick and delightful read. It’s comedy with a serious subtext—a dystopian frolic. I can almost hear the notes of the old musical standard, renamed, of course: “Apocalyptic Journey.” Yet it’s a short, strange trip—and an enjoyable jaunt. 

Not sentimental. 

Suzanne Hudson is the author of  Deep Water, Dark Horizons and 2025 Alabama Truman Capote Prize winner.