Editor’s Note: Joseph Aisenberg, the noted author of Brian de Palma’s Carrie: Studies In the Horror Film, has taken a look at Freeline Media’s holiday novel A Christmas Eve Story by Michael Freeman, and is sharing his thoughts with our readers.
ORLANDO — Michael Freeman’s slim novel A Christmas Story is a holiday treat. In the old school sense of being a horror story — because after childhood, nothing’s more terrifying or depressing than Christmas. And nothing makes the holidays go down better than a good dose of darkness with a soft snowy landing; author Freeman goes all out.
What to Expect From A Christmas Eve Story?
The first chapter prologue: Last year, the night before Christmas, Tadeusze or Tad for short, takes a leap from his apartment window while an angry young man mocks him nastily and tries to break in. Just as this happens, Tad leaps not to his death but, following the bad good luck of movie comedies, onto the canopy sheltering the apartment’s entrance, which breaks his fall and plops him more or less safely onto the sidewalk.
Meanwhile upstairs, the cops have arrived and, ironically, shoot and kill the screaming door-buster. Moving ahead to New Years Eve, we’re shown a woman who lives in the same building as Tad, in a strange repeat, throwing herself out her own window and succeeding where Tad failed.
After that we zoom forward a year. It’s the holidays again. Tad still exists but he’s not really alive. For most of the past year he’s been sitting alone watching things out the window he tried to jump from, and getting harassed by his sad guilty conscience seemingly in the form of a continued vision of the guy who broke into his place that horrible night, and was put down by the police.
Presently Tad rejects this wallowing depression and, with the help of friends, tries to pull himself out of his rut. It’s complicated though because no one knows his fall from the window was a failed suicide attempt. The police assumed the guy who broke into Tad’s apartment pushed him out the window in attempted murder. That dude, the one who did die, was a hunky drug addicted sociopath named Denny who’d been riding Tad’s couch for a few months, getting into trouble, borrowing money from Tad or stealing what wasn’t given to him. He had figured his muscular hotness or intimidating temper tantrums would keep a roof over his handsome head and was not happy this didn’t work out for him.
Poor Tad, in his lonely fifties, is a totally isolated gay man (he has no gay friends or social life), and feels terrible because his attempted suicide more or less got the dangerous hunk killed, since Denny wouldn’t have had to break in if Tad had answered the door. Denny did more damage than Tad knows though, but I don’t want to spoil that: all this is just the setup.
Are There Holiday Ghosts in the Apartment?
The real meat of the book is about how Tad comes back to life by burying his dead past. What seems at first prime TV therapeutic begins to suggest not merely mental problems but possible supernatural goings on of an exciting sort. Written in a sharp conversational tone it goes like a shot, building to a fun satisfying climax.
But make sure to pay attention because the story’s answers aren’t all underlined. A lot of the book’s pleasure is in keeping a sharp eye out for facts as the author drops them, before they pay off.
There are several lively side characters and situations. Though there’s a strong plot it never feels formulaic or locked in; there’s enough good characterization to give the events plausible life, unlike a lot of horror books.
My favorite scene is the Christmas party Tad goes to, where the guests are supposed to tell ghost stories, real or imagined a la Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, which of course works as an entertaining reflection on the book we’re reading. With scares and uplift, I definitely recommend.
Who Published the book A Christmas Eve Story?
Published by Freeline Productions, the book is available by visiting Amazon.com, or through the Freeline online bookstore.
Joseph Aisenberg is an Oklahoma-based writer, film critic and historian. His noted works include the critical film analysis Brian De Palma’s Carrie: Studies in The Horror Film, which was nominated for The Bram Stoker Award, horror’s premier literary award. Aisenberg is also a regular contributor to film magazine Bright Lights Film Journal, has provided commentary tracks for Shout Factory’s 4K/BluRay steelbook special edition of Carrie, and is also the author of numerous other stories and novels. Freeline Media happily welcomes his contributions here.
Check out Joseph Aisenberg’s contributions to Freeline Media:
- Bloody Rabbit Review: A Wily Comic Nightmare
- A Christmas Eve Story Review: A Holiday of Darkness
- Short Fiction: “Motherhood’s End”
- Short Fiction: “Folk Art”
- Short Fiction: “An Old Friend”
- Sontag’s Song Of Herself: Thoughts on Cinema
What is the novel A Christmas Eve Story?
Freeline Productions has released the holiday fiction novel A Christmas Eve Story by Michael W. Freeman, right in time for the upcoming holiday season. The book is available in a paperback edition on Amazon and as a Kindle eBook.
Since it seems like Christmas sneaks up on us faster and faster as each year goes by, there’s nothing more enjoyable than a Christmas book to help you begin enjoying the many pleasures of the holiday season. While there are lots of classic holiday stories available for kids to enjoy, this is really a Christmas novel for adults. So, grab some hot chocolate, relax on the couch next to your Christmas tree, and enjoy the spooky and uplifting world of A Christmas Eve Story.
Published by Freeline Productions, author Freeman notes, “Surprisingly, it was a hot July day when I got the inspiration to write my first Christmas novel. Based loosely on actual events that happened in my life, that became the basis for the story of Tadeusz Lipman and his harrowing, deeply despairing Christmas Eve. How his life changes a year later is the focus of the book, which I hope you enjoy.”
Freeman added, “It will be up to each reader to decide if the mix between ghostly forebodings and sentimental nostalgic emotions work. So, Season’s Screamings!”
Contact Freeline Media at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
