The Sojourners at the Hightower Course Correction Center (2024)
by L. Andrew Cooper
Records of the Hightower Massacre develops what I think is a surprising number of characters for a novella. Since most of the story takes place at the Hightower Course Correction Center (HC3), an isolated facility where the staff does things less and more… and then much more… insidious to help program participants get on the cisgender, heterosexual “course,” at first dividing characters into good guys and bad guys, pretty much the same as participants and staff, seems like a simple task.
I want to introduce you to some of the good guys, HC3’s volunteer participants who come to realize they’re prisoners. From a tradition started by participants from the past, they’re called “sojourners.”
The key sojourners for the story are the book’s alternating narrators, Ash and Aubrey, who volunteer for HC3 because they believe they’ll never find employment without HC3’s certification that they’re on the course. Both characters change profoundly through the narrative. Young Ash starts as shy, introverted—after a lonely childhood spent reading books banned by the tyrannical government in AMCONS City, they dream of painting and a more colorful life than society allows. Aubrey is more outgoing, at times aggressive. He grew up on a farm with three brothers on the outskirts of AMCONS, learning to shoot (surprise! this bit becomes important) but also getting an education. When the story begins, he lives in AMCONS City and takes black market testosterone, an advantage he doesn’t have once he gets to HC3.
HC3 splits the sojourners up according to their genders assigned at birth, so Ash ends up on the Men’s Ward and Aubrey ends up on the Women’s Ward. Ash quickly forges relationships with some of the men, particularly Hu’u and Bill. Hu’u is a bit imposing at first, somewhat secretive (and he does have a hidden agenda). However, he cares deeply for others. Bill has a survivalist streak. He wandered the ungoverned territories for years, but after his left leg was shattered in an attack, he made his way to HC3 hoping to qualify for regular employment. His background in art makes bonding with Ash a cinch. Another notable in the Men’s Ward is Dr. Miles Goodman, a psychiatrist who lost his practice and signed up for HC3 hoping one day to get it back. He takes a special interest in the medication HC3 feeds the sojourners, and though he has a mild demeanor, he has a dangerous combination of curiosity and bravery.
We had to invent characters we couldn’t develop a great deal, but we do know a little about Yichen, Kurt, and Robert on the Men’s Ward and Katherine, Patricia, and Leah on the Women’s Ward.
As for the Women’s Ward, Aubrey primarily makes allies out of Helen and Julia. Helen is the oldest of the sojourners and the only one to have participated in the last war, in which she fought against the forces that would establish AMCONS. She was married and played at being on the course for many years, but she finally had enough of it. She’s only at HC3 because people off the course at her age tend to disappear. Helen kicks a lot of ass. Julia, by contrast, hates violence, but she’s happy to conspire once the sojourners realize they’ve volunteered for a nightmare. She’s soft-spoken but not meek. She was also married, but her lack of interest in having children led to her downfall and succumbing to the pressure to enter HC3. She has her own ideas about getting out.
Maeva and I came to care about all these people quite a lot, and we hope readers do, too. Caring makes the horror more horrifying… heh heh heh…
About the Author
There’s enough about L. Andrew Cooper around here. Scroll down. Check the CV, Books, Short Stories, Screenplays, Links, About. You get the idea. It’s his site.