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  • The Asylum: A Frightful Christmas Tale

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Barbara Avon
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The Asylum: A Frightful Christmas Tale Kindle Edition

by Barbara Avon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
It's Christmas Eve in 1985 and Bradley Combs just lost the woman he wanted to marry. Despondent, he travels to a neighbouring township to drink his sorrow away in a seedy motel that's situated across from a bar called The Asylum. Combs decides to have a few drinks at the bar and it's between its walls that he discovers he can't seek asylum from his pain.
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  1. Print length
    40 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Accessibility
    Learn more
  4. Publication date
    December 19, 2022
  5. File size
    1.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BQNY5SPX
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 19, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.2 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 out of 5 stars (5)

About the author

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Barbara Avon

Barbara Avon

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I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. - Pablo Neruda.

Barbara Avon grew up Italian in the Niagara Falls Region and attended Notre Dame High School, and then Brock University. In 1999, she moved to Ottawa to pursue work and has worked for two major Ottawa area magazines. Being a shy kid in school, she created stories in her head, and when her Grade 9 English teacher awarded one of her short stories an A +, she knew that she would one day write a novel.

Avon is a multi-genre author. She’s written Romance, Romantic Thrillers, Time Travel, Mystery, Horror, and Paranormal Romance. Her work appears in various anthologies including Steering 23 Publications, and Beyond the Levee, and her stories have been regularly featured on the Spillwords Press website. In October of 2022, “Revived” was chosen as “Horror Book of the Year” by the “Feed My Reads” community, and in February of 2025, "Sultry Is the Night", received the Literary Titan Gold Medal Award for Fiction. In April of 2025, Avon won the Editor's Choice Award for Literary Excellence from Reader's House Magazine. Her work has also appeared in Publisher's Weekly Magazine.

When she’s not writing, she’s experimenting in the kitchen with her husband, spends her time reading, and watching 1980s movies, and always lives with her characters in her head while working on her current novel. Avon has quoted: I believe in magic. Books are magic. Love is the most remarkable magic.

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Kathleen Stone
    5.0 out of 5 stars Let's travel back to 1985...
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I didn't know what to expect with this story, but I knew it was going to blow my mind, and I was not disappointed. I was excited to see that Avon published a new Christmas story and had to read it before Christmas was over... which I did Christmas night, just in time. I spent all of December reading books that take place during the Christmas holiday, but none of them were like this one. This one kept me on my toes throughout and at only 40 pages it was a quick read, but every single page was full of wonderful prose that increased my angst about what was actually happening in the story. I always try to prepare myself for the end of a Barbara Avon novel, but she manages to surprise me every single time. The Asylum is no exception! No pretty, lovey-dovey Christmasy tale here... so prepare yourself. Avon takes her readers to the dark place we rarely want to go, but we dive in head first to experience the story that only she can tell.

    Some of my favorite lines from the book:

    "A Merry X-Mas." "X" like something sinister, or pornographic. God was disappearing."

    "He pictured bits of his brain scattered on the carpet and clinging to the walls like leeches."

    "Without words, we are merely plastic versions of ourselves."
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  • CamReads
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Dark Read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2023
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    "The Asylum" is a short piece of fiction by author Barbara Avon that's not for the faint of heart. Main character Brad is knocked for a loop on Christmas Eve when his marriage proposal goes awry. What follows is his night-long spiral into anger and depression, most of which takes place in a cheesy bar that houses many odd occupants, most of whom also seem upset in some way. Although this story is a quick read, there are layers to it that will grab your attention and not let go until the last page. Definitely recommended for lovers of dark fiction.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Jerry
    5.0 out of 5 stars A surreal descent into a nightmare
    Reviewed in Canada on February 3, 2026
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This is the kind of story that quietly sneaks up on you—in the best possible way. It’s a love story seen through a Rod Serling lens, rich with atmosphere and psychological depth. The sensory detail is vivid and immersive, pulling you into every moment. Its central character feels strikingly real and deeply relatable; we’ve all faced the kind of betrayal that leaves a lasting scar. Avon takes that familiar pain and twists it toward a conclusion that is both shocking and inevitable. Highly recommended.
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  • Matt M
    5.0 out of 5 stars A short shocking read for the festive season
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Stunned silence.

    That was my reaction to the final chapter of this tense, atmospheric Christmas horror short.

    Well worth reading in one sitting as the drama and the intensity goes up another notch with each new chapter.
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  • FeedMyReads
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, grimy and atmospheric
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    When the love of your life turns down a marriage proposal is it the end of your world? For Bradley it is the start of the end of his world. Turned down by the woman he loves, Bradley decides to head away from the home they've shared and drink away his sorrows but at the bar, The Asylum, he finds it isn't quite so easy to escape his troubles.

    Another dark piece written beautifully by Barbara Avon that delivers on that dark, grimy and atmospheric feeling that mark her books as being so highly regarded within this genre. A short story but one that delivers for the reader.
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