No Such Thing as a Free Ride?: A Collection of Hitchhiking Tales, North American Edition

In this entertaining volume, you'll find Governor General Award-winner Margaret Avison and American sci-fi novelist Piers Anthony rubbing shoulders with Blag Dahlia and Ben Bachelder. You'll read of Jello Biafra's encounter with shoe-eating cows, Alan Dean Foster's ride on a whale shark, and Kage Baker's hilarious account of actors broken down on Interstate 5. Filmmakers, politicians, stand-up comedians, poets, journalists, and carpenters all come together through the shared experience of hitching a ride.

Throughout the '60s and '70s — the heyday of hitchhiking — this form of travel was a key means of transportation. Today, people continue to hitchhike all over the world. Money never changes hands, but all manner of social transactions take place. Hilarious, sad, nostalgic, sometimes scary, and always entertaining, these travelers' tales will open your eyes and take you back — or forward. Just when you think you've heard it all, turn the page. You'll discover you haven't!

Simon Sykes is an author, translator, musician, and designer.