"THE CROSSROADS AT MIDNIGHT" TAKES SOME INTERESTING DIRECTIONS

If you are a fan of Japanese-style horror, short-story anthologies, offbeat ideas, and evocation black-and-white artwork, you should probably pick this one up straight away.

The Crossroads at Midnight, by Abby Howard, is an eerie and easily digestible (haven’t decided if that’s a pun) anthology of five short horror stories. They are moderately clever and definitely entertaining, and actually a rather good mix of various narrative devices. While one of the stories might be completely unexplained, another focuses on being a metaphorical social commentary, and yet another will be a kind of simple moral tale.

While to the seasoned horror reader, each tale will have its own predictability, each one is still distinctly different. It isn’t the same beat and chords each time. Each story has a different pace, rhythm, and intensity. Which helps the reader keep a sense of not really knowing what they’re in for with each change of scene.

Abby Howard, who’s mostly known for her episodic horror comic work, does a good job on focusing here on more self-contained stories. She manages to establish her characters succinctly, matching with the particular pace of each story, and thankfully none of them feel particular flat or too stereotypical. She is also clearly a fan of Junji Ito, since everything from the style of art, themes, atmosphere, even the social themes and morals, are all reminiscent of his work. This is by no means a bad thing, as she pulls it off well while incorporating her American background into it, making it hauntingly familiar and refreshingly different.

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