With October being spooky season (for me), I knew exactly which book I was going to review. Then, one turned into two, and two turned into three. Haha! My good friend and fellow horror author Steven Farkas has three short horror novellas that were recently released and I had the honor to read each for blurbs. Now, I'm reviewing them here for you.
Enjoy!
We Wish You a Scary Christmas and a Bloody New Year
If you’re looking for a scary good book to read around the holidays, look no further than We Wish You a Scary Christmas and a Bloody New Year by my good friend and fellow horror author, Steven Farkas.
Two years ago (2023), Steven contacted me, asking if I wouldn’t mind reading his book and writing a blurb for it. I answered, saying I would be honored but how long was the book and when would he need the blurb by since I consider myself a slow reader–meaning I take my time reading a book and taking in the story than just going through it. He responded, telling me it wasn’t even 100 pages. To be honest, I was a little skeptical of telling an entire story in less than a hundred pages, but I was happily surprised by the outcome.
Farkas wrote such an amazing story that I couldn’t stop reading it. I didn’t want to put the book down because I wanted to know what was going to happen next in the unfortunate town of Harkers Mill. I love how the first chapter reminds me of How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey, where you have the narrator (Anthony Hopkins) describing the town of Whoville. However, instead of being happy and joyous, this is frightening and foreboding.
It starts out with, “You probably won’t find it on a map or your satellite directional system. Not necessarily because it can’t be found, but because it shouldn’t be found.” It just makes you want to continue reading and learning more about this town and why someone shouldn’t visit it, especially around the holiday season. This is when you learn that something bad always happens around the holidays: a death; some sort of misfortune; an unknown creature making an appearance.
But then there was that one year.
“At the turn of a new millennium, it would seem as though all hell was breaking loose. That year Harkers Mill seemed to be over-run by every evil event they had endured over the last century all in one season. No one could believe what was going on but had to acknowledge it none the less.”
Everything from multiple deaths, a beloved Christmas elf coming to life (and not in a good way), a living Christmas tree, and even Krampus making an appearance. It was just not a good Christmas for Harkers Mill.
What I also loved about this story was how it also reminded me of the movie Trick ‘R Treat where the stories all mingled together, especially at the end. We start to see that with the one chapter “Who’s That Burning in the Fireplace”, which is both horrifying and rewarding, and it continues from there. Farkas really shows it when he states, “The night it [a town meeting] was scheduled for, chaos was occurring throughout the town.”
I also really enjoyed Farkas’s writing. There were times when I was reading, and I felt a literal chill go up and down my spine because of how he wrote a scene. For example, “When he stepped to the center of the room, everyone went silent. The only thing that could be heard were the sirens and yelling coming from outside all around the town.”
I love that line! My breath left my body when I read that because you can literally hear it as you read it. It was so chilling.
But I think my favorite chapter in the entire book is Chapter 8 because it gives the book–the town of Harkers Mill–a glimmer of hope. I don’t want to give too much away, but the chapter talks about the current owner of the town, Joshua Harker, destroying a generational curse with the help of the townspeople that were completely against him in one of the previous chapters. It is such a feel-good moment in the book before all hell breaks loose.
In the end, I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone looking for a quick, but good read for the holidays.
By the way, here’s the blurb I wrote, which is featured in the book: “I could not (and did not want to) put this book down; it was such a scary good read. If you enjoyed watching TRICK 'R TREAT, then you will absolutely love reading WE WISH YOU A SCARY CHRISTMAS AND A BLOODY NEW YEAR. It had the same premise of different stories happening around each other with a bloody good ending. I highly recommend it for the holiday season.”
Something Evil This Way Comes
Just a few short months later, Steven Farkas contacted me again, asking if I wouldn’t mind writing up blurb for his next book. “Sure!” I shouted, so excited to read his forthcoming novella, especially when I saw the title and heard what the book was about.
I was first introduced to this book as Something Wicked This Way Comes, but it was changed to Something Evil This Way Comes, and it’s about an evil bookstore coming into a town out of nowhere and taking over the townspeople. Yeah, you had me at “Hello.”
Farkas did a fantastic job telling a full story in a small number of words. I truly love it because, as an author, you feel you have to write a 50,000 or 100,000 book in order to get a story across. But Farkas proves you don’t.
From the beginning, you have this creepy feeling, especially about bookstore owner Allister Pim. It literally felt like my skin was crawling a few times. Pim is such a creepy, but interesting character to learn about. Every time he was either mentioned or he spoke in the book, I could see and hear him, somehow. He reminded me of an older gentleman you may see at an antique store or rare bookstore, but instead of being kind and welcoming, Pim is just pure evil.
One of my favorite lines, which just shows you how dark the story is and how dark Allister Pim is, is when he says, “… the darkness doesn’t mean there is nothing going on inside.” It is just such a chilling line. Even as I typed it, my hair stood up on end. I mean, this is just one of many lines throughout the book that showcases Farkas’s incredible storytelling.
What’s funny, though, is as I was reading the story, I kind of knew what was going to happen next, but instead of putting the book down and saying, “This is predictable. I know exactly what’s going to happen,” I continued to read it, and guess what? There were times I was right, but there were times I was so wrong. A lot of the times, certain things just came out of nowhere that you weren’t expecting at all, especially the ending. In other words, don’t stop reading this book just cause you think you know what’s going to happen next because guess what, you don’t!
In the end, I highly recommend this book, especially for anyone looking for a quick, creepy read. Just next time you go to a bookstore, keep your eye on the owner.
By the way, here’s my blurb, which was featured in the book: "Steven Farkas has done it again! SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is a page turner where each chapter ends in such a way that you want to read what happens next. And just when you thought you knew exactly what would happen and how it would end, Farkas throws you for a loop. You also get so involved with the characters, whether you like them or not, that you are cheering them on and willing them to just keep on running because they're almost where they need to be. Now, I just have one question to ask you...'What's your story?'"
Blood Rose
Steven Farkas’s latest novel, Blood Rose, is a gruesome tale about death and revenge. I mean, it opens with a young woman being murdered down a dark alley. It’s utterly horrifying. But… things do get better–and worse–from there.
Rose Matterhouse was a young woman performing in her first play on February 29th. After a successful night, she is murdered. However, her story does not end there. Every four years, on February 29th (Leap Year), she returns to seek revenge for herself and for those who suffer from abuse. She becomes this urban legend that people celebrate every four years.
I have to say, one thing I loved about this book was when Rose returned the one leap year and noticed people were dressing like her. She actually asked, “Why,” which I thought was cute. She was confused and dumbfounded that people were celebrating her and what she did. To be honest, I would. Why not celebrate a ghost that comes back and attacks abusers? She became “a voice for the voiceless,” if you will.
But the one thing, though, that just frightened me to my core with this book, though, were some the references Farkas made throughout the book that hit a little too close to home with our society nowadays. If this upsets you, I truly do apologize. You do not have to agree with my views, but this is honestly how I see the world right now.
At one point, an officer is questioning why Rose was murdered. “Was she killed by some INCEL who was too extreme to get a date and decided to take out his hate on a young woman? Or maybe it was some rich entitled man who couldn’t handle a woman declining his advances?” And those two questions sent a literal chill up and down my spine and even scared me because, again, I feel like that is our society now. “Have my same beliefs or die. Like me or die.” That tiny, little paragraph was very impactful.
And then, when Officer Gonzales goes to Carlone Matterhouse, Rose’s father’s, house, he has the audacity to say, “She’s been determined to deny my protection, it was only a matter of time before someone recognized her…. She probably declined him, and he saw his chance to get rich quick go up in smoke.” And when Gonzales asked him who this he is, Matterhouse responded with, “Just him, anyone looking for a quick step up in life.”
Again, to me, that just hit far too close to home with this society where people would do anything to get rich quick. It’s so scary and so sad.
However, there was one point where my blood boiled over in rage because of Matterhouse. Farkas did a fantastic job of creating Carlone Matterhouse, making him the most hated character in this book. There were seriously times I wanted to punch through the book to Matterhouse’s face because the things he said were just absolutely disgusting. For instance, “Poor should stay poor and know their station in life.” And “Once a loser, always a loser. Those poors are ultimate losers. They are of no substance, barely part of the human race.”
Yeah! Absolutely deplorable!
But here’s the good news. In the end, Rose gets her revenge! I won’t give away too much more, but this book does have a happy ending.
In the end, if you enjoy a good revenge story, then you need to grab Blood Rose by Steven Farkas. It’s a quick read that may get your blood boiling, but it will then get your heart soaring.
By the way, here’s my blurb that Farkas featured on his Facebook and Instagram: “Steven Farkas is a master at writing short story horror. BLOOD ROSE, like his other stories, draws you in and makes you invest in its characters. There were times I was yelling at the book from anger, but there were also times my skin crawled, and my hair stood up on end from being scared. However, what I love about this particular book is how Farkas also incorporated this sense of sadness with the excitement of revenge. I can’t wait to see what Steven does next.”
Please note I am not getting paid to review this book or feature this author. I am just a fellow author trying to support others by showcasing their work.
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