Some years I try to read some horror fiction during October for Halloween, and other years I just ignore it. This year I’m kind of in the mood for some spooky stuff, so when I came across this new novella from L.D. Whitney, I didn’t hesitate to give it a try. I enjoyed the prehistoric adventure novella I read by him a few weeks ago, so I had high hopes for A CROOKED MILE.
Set in the early years of the Twentieth Century, this yarn is narrated by the editor of the weekly newspaper in Wilmarth, Nebraska, a small farming and ranching community. It seems there’s a long-running boundary dispute between the owners of two adjoining homesteads, and one of them has hired a surveyor to try to settle the matter. Now that surveyor has disappeared while out on the plains mapping the boundary, and the local sheriff’s deputy sets out to investigate and try to find the missing man. That investigation leads to some strange happenings, several violent deaths, and an explanation—if you can call it that—that’s downright otherworldly.
This is a really good story. Whitney’s prose has a deliberately Lovecraftian tone to it without being a slavish imitation, and he does a fine job of capturing the feeling of the setting and time period. A CROOKED MILE proves that the windswept plains of Nebraska can be just as creepy as New England. I’d love to see more like this from Whitney, who demonstrates that he’s just as adept at horror as he is at adventure fiction. This story is available in an e-book edition on Amazon, and I give it a high recommendation. It’s a very good start to my horror reading this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment