"Crossroad Blues" by Dorothy Davies. Appearing in
Oil
, edited by Martin Zeigler, published by Static Movement. Pages 54-57.
5 Bunnies out of 5.
Synopsis: A hitchhiker tells their next ride how they came to be out on the road.
Absolutely loved this tiny little tale. While the actual plot is nothing totally out of the ordinary (how very "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"), what won me over with this piece was the narrator. What Davies shines at with stories like this is having such a unique narrative voice weaving the tale. The title of the collection is "Oil" and the narrator's words are as smooth and slick as the substance itself. On first reading I didn't get how the story fit with the anthology's central theme, but this piece is one that lingers with you like the scent of petrol. The oil theme is more in Davies' telling of the tale rather than its ideas. It's a smooth and fluid story which I would happily read again and again, and its flash-fiction length allows for this. Conforming completely to a flash-like structure, the story is a compact and condensed glimpse into a character and their background - well controlled stylish. Overall, I loved this. Magic in 3 pages.
THOUGHTS FROM THE RABBIT HOLE: A glimpse into the world of a smooth talking narrator with a slippery past. Wonderfully told.
Coming soon: Review of "Tiny Grave" by Sean Monaghan in The Shadow People.
Lotsaluv, Em
