Have Yourself a Bloody (and Sexy, and Fun) Little Christmas

North Pole

by Justin Farmer

2025

The holiday season can be about a lot of things, but one thing just about everyone seems to agree on: it`s a good time to snuggle up at home, fix something warm to drink, and catch up on watching movies.

Now some folks prefer to re-watch those perennial classics--It`s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Elf; while others prefer to continue the debate over Die Hard and Eyes Wide Shut being Christmas movies--or at the very least, not just a popcorn action movie or a dream-like erotic drama, respectively.

But what about people whose tastes lean towards slasher films and horror? The folks who enjoy a little terror mixed in with their mistletoe, and wouldn´t mind if some terrifying creatures nipped at their noses rather than good ol´ Saint Nick? What would you recommend for them?

North Pole just might be your ticket. The first book by photographer and video artist Justin Farmer, this novella reads like a movie. In fact, the book began as a screenplay, before the author transformed it into a book, but without losing any of its quick, action-packed prose.

Soon after introducing us to Santa´s Village--in North Pole, a seamless blend of magic and modern conveniences, reindeer and snow-mobiles--an unknown creature is attacking the elves, one by one. Initially, the community thinks it´s just a polar bear, while Mr. Claus thinks it might be a yeti. But no one believes him and first; such creatures are just fairy-tales, right? Besides, Santa isn´t the most reliable source of information these days. Ever since he and Mrs. Claus have been separated, he´s been spending more and more time boozing it up and/or fraternizing with one of the female elves (or two, or three).

The sex scenes in the novella´s opening chapters reminded me of John Carpenter´s Halloween or the first couple of Friday the 13th movies: the unsuspecting characters just begin getting it on when the unseen creature bursts onto the scene and mauls them to shreds. Farmer strikes an entertaining tone with his fun yarn, providing titillation, humor, and genuine mystery as we try to guess what is endangering everyone up north (I´m not going to spoil it by telling you). He also provides a pretty clever and refreshing backstory to Mr. & Mrs. Claus, one which justifies their ability to have a fighting chance during the book´s final chapters.

North Pole is some sweet candy. If this premise sounds appealing, get a (digital) copy and put it under the tree (and maybe, just to be safe, keep all of the lights on in your house while reading it). Farmer clearly had a lot of fun writing this one, and hopefully this will not be the last adventure he pens in-between taking pictures.