“Uncle Tuggs” was first published in 1986 in F&SF Magazine. Since then, it has been anthologized over and again. In this collection, Uncle Tuggs makes his most recent appearance in Hingston and Olsen’s collection, The Ghost Box.
The Ghost Box is just that: a diminutive box full of individually bound scary stories including not only Shea’s work, but also that of Robert Hugh Benson, Stephen King, and Harlan Ellison. Chosen by the editor, Patton Oswalt, “Uncle Tuggs” settles nicely in the box as Shea effortlessly melds horror and humor in this story of a land possessed by a vengeful demon.

Set in the Sonoma County California hills of the 80’s when marijuana was still illegal, “Uncle Tuggs” is a horrific frolic in which the tools come alive to wreak bodily destruction. Shea’s narrative uses his own familiarity with the time, the place, and the life of an honest man working hard labor. At the story’s center is a red-neck hero, the tongue in cheek witness to the destruction of some no-good good ole boys. Laird Barron once graced the humor of the story with it’s own name: Tuggsian. This blend of supernatural revenge and pure backwoods bumbling definitely lives up to that name.