Crypt of the Moon Spider (Lunar Gothic Trilogy, #1)

by Nathan Ballingrud

“You have nothing to fear. We don’t do things the way they do on the Earth. We don’t lock the mentally sick behind iron doors and corral them like livestock. We’re a bit more refined in Barrowfield Home. You might think of us as surgeons of the mind.”

We treat people here in Barrowfield Home, Mrs. Brinkley, and we will treat you, whether you want it or not.”

That sounds threatening

“How does it work?” “To put it simply: we reach into your brain and scoop out what’s rotten. We then stitch something better into its place.”

“I know it wasn’t my fault. I just didn’t want to live. You can’t make somebody want to live.”

What an unmusical thing, to be a human being.

“I wanted to live. Isn’t that stupid? It turns out, after all, I wanted to live.”