Vertical line

The book opens in a frozen chamber, where a huge and beautiful figure is held so rigid by cold that only its delicate head can move at all. Its half-closed eyes stare into the dark, and its lids are weighed down by tears that have frozen in place.

Vertical Line is presented as both a book-length prose poem and a modern novel, and also as a cosmology. At its center, where life might begin, stand enormous, frightening rock lords and a suffering figure, while light spreads outward and touches the inner surfaces of this world.

A loosely defined group of characters makes its way through a cavern beneath the surface, witnessing torment and death while watching for the rise of an unknown sun. The work is by Peter Preston and was published by Xlibris.