Crossroads is an unassuming little digest with a very little in the way of design (editor Pat Nielsen puts it together on a word processor), but a lot of fun in the way of fiction. Crossroads has had a couple of its stories noted in the "Honorable Mention" category in the past couple anthologies of The Year's Best Fantasy And Horror. The magazine's forte is short tales with classic horror themes, and this issue focuses (naturally) on Halloween horror. It opens with a story from Mark Leslie about a corpse who is allowed to rise on Halloween. The dead guy's no dummy; he sets the stage for Death to drag his friend back to the grave instead of him. There's a story from Deidra Cox about a welcomed possession, and a great creepy story about what happens to kids who try spying on a witch in Carol Weeks' "Halloween Night." Witches are a recurring theme in this issue, as are murders, monsters etc. Other contributors include Charlee Jacobs, Kurt Newton, D. Beecher Smith, John Maclay and yours truly.

-- John Everson

Copyright © 1996 by John Everson. All Rights Reserved.