A MelanieM Review: Merry Christmas, Josh! (A Josh of the Damned Free Ficlet) (Josh of the Damned #4.5) by Andrea Speed

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

It’s looking like another crappy Christmas for Josh, especially when he has to share the store with a creepy Santa cutout. But the surprise arrival of a snowman gives Josh a little holiday cheer, along with his vampire boyfriend of course!  Merry Christmas, Josh, indeed!

Merry Christmas, Josh is a funny, free ficlet (say that fast) from Andrea Speed.   It’s Christmas time in the warped and wonderful world (alliteration abounds) of Josh of the Damned and he’s not a happy boy.  Seems that Christmas is full of miserable memories and malignant melodies for Josh and its enough to make him crabby and cross.But a very peculiar and cantankerous  snowman arrives and changes the way Josh will forever look at the holidays.

Only 18 pages long, Merry Christmas, Josh, contains some of the characters,weirdness, and snark that epitomizes this series while bringing in some of the poignancy and sadness also associated with the holidays for some people, in this case Josh.  Sad childhood memories and the forced gaiety (as well as one awful cardboard Santa) of the season have Josh in a crabby frame of mind, one that some share at this time of the year.  Josh is that voice of sanity and reason (sort of) in the convenience store from Hell and that juxtaposition continues to make this a wonderful story and series.

I wish we had seen more of the characters like the Yeti and a tooth fairy or two but at 18 pages you can only bring in so many characters.  This is a fun, quick read.  And for those of you new to the Josh of the Damned series, it should give you a taste of the characters and wonderfully bizarre universe(s) they inhabit.  It’s free at Riptide Publishing.   So don’t forget to run over there and pick it up today!

Happy Reading.

Cover artist did a wonderful job.  Love that cover.

Free at Riptide.  See the link above

Visit the Series page at Riptide for all the stories in the Josh of the Damned Universe

Book Details:

ebook, 18 pages
Published October 6th 2014 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626492509
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/merry-christmas-josh
seriesJosh of the Damned

Series stories in the order they were written and should be read:

• Pretty Monsters (Josh of the Damned, #1)
• Peek-a-Boo (Josh of the Damned, #2)
• Josh of the Damned Triple Feature #1 (Josh of the Damned, #3)
• Night of the Dust Bunnies (Josh of the Damned, #3.5)
• Josh of the Damned Triple Feature #2: The Final Checkout (Josh of the Damned #4)
• Merry Christmas, Josh! (A Josh of the Damned Free Ficlet) (Josh of the Damned #4.5)