Crossroads: Where Evil Dwells
$4.50 ppd. from Editor/Publisher Pat Nielson
478 Waters Road
Jacksonville, NC 28546-9756

This magazine is subtitled "Where Evil Dwells," and that should give you some clue to the fact that horror is the main focus here. I suppose Virginia Rubio's cover of a man's head being stuck to a fence post might be a second clue.

Crossroads is a horror magazine that presents horror of the variety that, I would think, most of us are already familiar with. It is the horror of the cemetery and of the beast within us all that breaks free and takes over. It is the horror of the act done badly and for good intentions and it is the horror of the darkness. It is the horror of opening your door one late night and finding a dead friend standing there in all his rotting corpse glory. While there are graphic elements, it is not the horror of the gross or wildly descriptive paragraph.

Crossroads is the type of magazine you won't want to read before taking the dog out for that last, late night walk--not unless you want to be jumping silly over every breeze blown branch that is. Editor Nielsen obviously takes great care in selecting the fiction that goes into the magazine as there is a flow and a feel of completeness that is sometimes lacking in small press efforts. The names of the writers do not leap off the page but the fiction often has you turning back to catch a name so you'll remember to look elsewhere for it. Additionally, Nielsen sprinkles a good amount of poetry though each issue and for those of you who like a short rhyme or two this is a great place to stop. Each issue also has a very brief review section which is done by Nielsen and is basically his own views on what he's seen. This section should either be rethought or handed off to someone else and Nielsen should stick to editing.

The issue I have in front of me is last years Halloween issue and I can't think of too many other magazines which fit this holiday so well. Imagine yourself and a bunch of friends and reading these stories aloud. I don't think you'd want to read too many of these alone and by yourself though.

Good short fiction and poetry presented in a very forthright style.

Copyright © 1996 by Steven Sawicki. All Rights Reserved.