Crossroads - Unbridled Grief in a Horror Landscape
I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book, signed by Laurel Hightower. After only hearing glowing praise for this story, I was excited to finally experience it for myself. Now, here we are, and it is done. I am ecstatic that I get to keep this amongst my most prized (and signed) collection of noteworthy reads. I am also debilitated with melancholy.
I don't think that anyone could finish this novella and not be left surrounded by inescapable grief and horror. Too much in this story is real, visceral. Hightower's writing style seems so gentle, though. Like a soft whisper that specializes in tantalizing you with some smatterings of limited happiness, then bleakness and solitude. Yet you can't stop listening to that whisper. It always feels like it must become uplifting at some point; there's such a promise hidden within the words. In a way, it does uplift, but in a horrible way that leaves you saying 'I didn't mean like that!' like a poor soul holding a monkey's paw.
The quiet feeling I was left with at the end of the story was really something. I almost feel guilty at how much I liked the story due to it being so focused on grief. It's kind of strange to know that I'd happily read it again. In fact, I'd recommend the hell out of this book to just about anyone.
