First published back in December of 2011, British author Gary Fry’s novel ‘Fearful Festivities’ offered up a dark cosmic horror set over the Christmas period and therefore drenched in festive dark horror.
The novel was released by Screaming Dreams Publications in hardback format without a dustjacket.
It was the 22nd December and across the semi-rural village of Hitherton the local community had woken to find a strange letter, personally addressed to each individual in beguiling green handwriting. Each letter was adorned with a stamp displaying a strange, mythical dragon-like beast. Inside the envelope the single-sided letter simply stated:
To end all woes: Tell us what you want. Christmas is a time for miracles.
It was an invitation few could resist. In fact, across the entire village, families had decided to get in the spirit of the season, and fill in the letter with their individual wants, hopes and dreams, before posting the letters back into the nearest postbox.
Even Tom Young decided he’d join his young family with filling out a wish. His ask was simple; he just needed their bookshop to make a little money before Christmas, so they could afford a few gifts and treats. Not much, just a few sales, so they could buy a turkey and some gifts for their two kids.
Twenty-six-year-old Sally Jenkins on the other hand desperately wanted to lose weight. She’d spent all of her life as an outcast. Undesirable and avoided. All because of her size and weight. She’d tried every diet going. Every exercise video and weight loss fad. None of it stuck. So, the wish for Sally was easy. She wanted to lose weight. Finally be thin.
Then there was Martin Pickup. A man whose home was his pride and joy. The interior design had to be perfect. It had to be fresh, in fashion, a reflection of how he saw himself. His interior décor meant everything to him. Yet now as he looked around each room, he realised how outdated it’d become. It was time for a change. A complete refurbishment. But how? How could he afford it? How could he manage to get what he so desperately needed done. The wish!
For Billy Freeman the letter came in the form of an email. Just like the letters, it was addressed to him personally. Although the email appeared to be from an entity called IM Financial Agency. A speculative email, enquiring if he wanted to invest in a sure-fire way to treble, if not quadruple, his investment overnight. As a nineteen-year-old entrepreneur the opportunity sounded too good to be true. But then, it was the season where miracles can happen.
So, they’d all sent back their completed letters. Made their wishes. Hoped that maybe for once in their lives something like this actually came true. Everyone other than Tom’s brother Graham. For him the run-up to Christmas had been a strange time. Randomly beaten up by a mob of thugs, only to wake up with an attractive sister from the gang looking after him. An unexpected turn in events indeed.
However, that wasn’t to be the only strange change to occur within Hitherton. Whilst the rest of the country was undergoing the usual cold, wintery weather, the climate within the village was mild if not decidedly warm. A strange microclimate which no one could account for.
Furthermore, the people of Hiltherton were displaying increasingly odd characteristics. Their eyes had turned green, plumes of steam seemingly rising from their mouths, and they were all acting oddly. Worryingly different.
Something deeply concerning was taking place within the small town of Hitherton. Something that started when those letters arrived. Something fearfully festive…
DLS Review:
Who doesn’t enjoy getting into the festive spirit with a good Christmas horror?! British author Gary Fry has fully embraced such an offering, with this dark, cosmic horror that brings the gradually escalating weirdness to us with a run up to a creepy Christmas.
Fry utilises a quintessentially British semi-rural town setting for his localised horror story. The story is principally set around the Young family. Husband and wife with two young kids, who are sadly financially struggling due to declining sales in the bookshop they own. A situation yearning for a way out of their difficulties. Fertile ground for a premise built on the granting and perverting of wishes.
The story also brings in the lives of a handful of other residents. Almost miniature vignettes in their own right. Locals within Hitherton who are subjected to the same twisting of their wishes by this strange waking force.
Although the story has many turning parts to the plot of its machine, it’s nevertheless somewhat of a slowburner. Building upon the characterisation is carefully embedded into much of the first half of the book. All of this spread over just a couple of days in the run-up to Christmas.
Throughout this there’s a sort of brooding horror, which we sense is just waiting to rise to the surface. A setting that feels inherently off. Like something tainting the town. Of course, this is more than just a feeling. There’s something lurking behind all this oddness. Something sinister, which started with the arrival of the letters.
However, the actual construct of the book doesn’t necessarily work to the story’s favour. Chapters are lengthy and without break. The roving storyline, jumping from one character to another, without cleanly leaving off from where we were previously.
Although there’s no noticeable sag in the story, at times it does feel like we’re trudging towards something that we just want to start happening. The build up is perhaps too gradual. Too plotted without enough snippets of horror geared towards bringing us any pockets cheap thrill.
Although, when the shit hits the proverbial fan, Fry digs in deep and goes for an all-out Lovecraftian meets ‘Village Of The Damned’ (1960) vibe. The varying oddities and Fry’s jigsaw pieces of ideas, all start to come together into one bigger picture. Although this unfortunately still feels like its not fully resolved, even as we reach the end of the book.
The end result of this suggests a collection of ideas which inspired the author, but were never fully brought together into a succinct and fully established plot. A sort of patchwork of ideas sewn together to form a Frankenstein’s monster of a Christmas horror story.
That’s not to say it’s not an entertaining read. It captures the imagination with all its intriguing elements, even if they never fully blend into a fully established picture. Nevertheless, its approach begins to feel almost dream-like in how the horror has gradually infiltrated an otherwise mundane reality. A nightmare edging its way into ordinary familiarity. Which works to its favour.
All in all, it’s a horror novel befitting of a pre-Christmas read. A fun, imaginative, but decidedly strange offering full of fearful festive cheer.
The novel runs for a total of 243 pages.
© DLS Reviews
