Description
“I don’t want to hang out with the puke-faces I work with. Who would? The meth-mouths, the crackheads, the criminals. Cab drivers are scum. I’m sorry.”
Taxi drivers are part of the lifeblood of every city. They’re responsible for taking everyone where they need to go, from rich yuppies hopped up on coke to senile old people on government vouchers. They know the best routes to take, where you can have a good time, and where the bodies are buried. On a long enough timeline, taxi drivers will see the best and worst that the world has to offer.
6 to 6 is Mather Schneider’s memoir of his years as a taxi driver and the panoply of mental asylum escapees, Hispanic gangsters, drunk businessmen, and other colorful figures who’ve ridden in his cab. With clean prose and dry wit, 6 to 6 is an uncompromising look at humanity filtered through the eyes of a working man.
Originally serialized on Terror House Magazine from 2019 to 2020, Terror House Press is proud to bring this modern classic into print.
“On par with Denis Johnson, John Fante and even Hemingway, it’s sad this masterful writer isn’t getting the attention he deserves. His characterization of the Southwest is austere, blinding, and directly beneath the sun.” — Jon Bennett
“Schneider is the master of the oddball. He takes us along for the ride with the drunks, the infirmed, and the gangsters that have piled into the back of his cab, many of whom don’t even know their own destination. Hernia trusses are the order of the day as you bust a gut laughing at the twisted humor and ingenuity that is Mather Schneider’s storytelling. 6 to 6 is a diabolical memoir that raises the bar on writing today. The road to hell is paved with dark, cynical humor, and I want to be riding shotgun in Schneider’s cab on the way down.” — Hugh Blanton
“Mather Schneider is a polarizing figure: some love him, some hate him, but few could hate his writing, which regularly digs deep, past all the bullshit, to the hidden souls of the flawed characters he writes about, showing unexpected beauty behind their endless life dilemmas. He is an authentic writer of the low life that has spent most of his working life as a cab driver developing his writing skills, gathering endless material along the way. 6 to 6 by Mather Schneider is a veteran writer at the height of his powers.” — Brenton Booth, author of Bash the Keys Until They Scream
“Mr. Mather has composed a gritty collection that hits harder than a tube sock full of ball bearings. Read at your own risk.” — Brian Fugett, Zygote in My Coffee
Excerpts
Reviews
- Arthur Hoyle, Terror House Magazine
- Nikolai Vladivostok, Soviet Men
6 to 6 is also available in paperback format. To purchase the paperback edition, click here.
COMBO DEAL: Purchase the e-book editions of 6 to 6 and Mather Schneider’s poetry chapbook Rhythm & Mucous together and save 10 percent. Use coupon code “SCHNEIDER” at checkout to get the discount.
