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Gregory Bastianelli: ‘Snowball’—motorists stranded during a blizzard must fight a twisted toymaker

Chris Well

“The author took a big risk ending it the way he did…”

“Readers will be riveted by this genuinely scary holiday phantasmagoria.”—Publishers Weekly

A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays.

“Once I brought my stranded travelers together in the storm,” Bastianelli told The Nerd Daily, “I needed a way to bring up their past haunts and settled on the idea of swapping stories while awaiting rescue. It’s a time-honored tradition of swapping ghastly tales in a horror story and felt right. The fact that all the travelers had a connection and weren’t where they thought they were was not part of the original plan, but developed as I started writing the story. I don’t outline when I write, so a lot of what happens comes about as I’m going along. I take a lot of notes and jot things down, and then pick my starting point and forge ahead. Sometimes I’m amazed at what occurs without any real thought or planning. That’s the magic of writing, I guess.”

Snowball (Fiction Without Frontiers)
by Gregory Bastianelli
Flame Tree Press
Categories: Ghost Suspense, Horror Suspense, Paranormal Suspense

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Reviews

Bastianelli explores the themes of family (what would you do to avenge a perceived wrong against a member of your family) and consequences (even the smallest of actions can have far-reaching consequences that can take decades to catch up with you—the titular snowball features heavily here). All in all, an enjoyable read from an author to watch in the horror genre. (The British Fantasy Society)

I love how this novel ends. The author took a big risk ending it the way he did, and I applaud him for it. (FanFiAddict)

About the author

Gregory Bastianelli is the author of the novels Loonies and Jokers Club. His stories have appeared in the magazines Black Ink Horror, Sinister Tales, and Beyond Centauri; the anthologies Night Terrors II, Cover of Darkness and Encounters; and the online magazines Absent Willow Review and Down in the Cellar. His novella The Lair of the Mole People appeared in the pulp anthology Men & Women of Mystery Vol. II.

He worked for nearly two decades at a small daily newspaper where the highlights of his career were interviewing shock rocker Alice Cooper and movie icon Bruce Campbell.

He became enchanted with the stories of Ray Bradbury as a young child, and his love of horror grew with the likes of Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, and Ramsey Campbell.

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