crossroads: a novella
The Book
Against a stark backdrop of territorial Arizona, a young veteran flees from his past and tries to outrun his destiny. Struggling with his nightmares of Civil War battles and with visions of the future, Royal Healey is hired by a small town as the new marshal. Raising horses and a family offer Royal happiness he can’t seem to accept. When the town is afflicted by tragic events, a newcomer accuses Royal. As he pursues the truth, Royal learns a dark and sinister tale so horrible it threatens the very survival of this strong and battle-hardened man. Sparse but lyrical in style, Crossroads retells a classic tale of opposing forces. Individual choices collide with fate; the past and future commingle with the present; chaos evolves into a grim sense of order. Themes of divisiveness and connectedness; fratricide and parricide; and unnatural love give this small novel a vast and compelling scope. More than a gripping western saga, this is a story of profound and devastating consequence. You’ll savor every word of this sparse but lyrical masterpiece.
What Readers and Reviewers Have Written about Crossroads
"Crossroads is a story full of symbolism, violence, and passion. Miller expertly blends each with the relationship of fate and free will to create a memorable novel. But above everything else is the fortitude and strength, the cause and effect, of Royal Healey, the superlative character Miller has created," -- J. J. LaBarber, in Scottsdale Airpark News.
"You tell the whole thing in such a poetic style, it is really soothing to read. Although I like the novel's slow pace, this book, with its quick-cutting, disjointed telling strikes me as similar to a Terrance Malick movie ... It really was a very fresh style, and I enjoyed it immensely. Some of the imagery you used was especially poetic, and still stick with me."
"It's pretty brutal stuff and ... Cormac McCarthy would feel right at home here ... flinty, bloody, horse-smart, and violence prone atmosphere ... a hell of a read."
"Readers are easily coerced to keep reading just another section, then another, as Miller weaves together a wonderfully tragic story. By using short sentences and barebones descriptions of people, scenery, and plotlines, Miller allows readers to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps. Unusual succinct writing style ... an innovative way to tell a provocative story," -- Writer's Digest Book Awards judges
Excerpt
Look, then, she said. They’d driven to town for some dry goods. Her hand pushed his eyes to the man tossing his carpetbag from the wagon, the man with the familiar features. He had hollow eyes and a leg wrapped up with greasy black cloths just above the knee. Wrapped up because there was nothing beneath it, just cloth, a part of a leg. A false promise of a leg. One wooden crutch beneath his arm.
There’s your war, she said. There’s your returned hero. Is that what you want?
Yeah, well, Roy said. They don’t all have my luck, do they. I won’t end up like that.
He rode out on his mother’s driving horse, a big copper-colored gelding, huge swollen joints on him, built for pulling. Never had a lame day in his life, just always looked lame, or at least like he should be. Knots and windpuffs marred his legs. Roy saddled him carefully, smoothing the wool blanket gently. A horse with good legs is no better than his back lets him be. Roy adjusted the bit in the animal’s mouth and patted the horse’s soft neck and mounted up to go. With his mother standing at the doorway crying and his father inside eating at the table, Roy rode off to fight.
I’m running away from the fighting, too, he thought. Running into a fight to get away from a fight.
But he was free of it all, he reminded himself. In charge of his own fate. Independent. He kept reminding himself of it, because it wouldn’t stick in his head. Somehow he kept feeling as if he was but an actor, that things had been scripted for him.
