The Phantom Circuit

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Pub Date 01 Jan 2022 | Archive Date 30 Apr 2022

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Description

After twenty-eight-year-old Lyft driver Erica Westfield learns her popstar sister is dead, the last thing she wants to deal with is a stupid hacker threatening to delete her sister’s Facebook profile. Let alone a hacker who brings up Bloody Mary.

 

Since childhood, when Erica and her sister played the classic game of Bloody Mary one night, she has been haunted by the shadows Mary sent after her through the mirror. They’re always nearby, waiting for the right moment to pull her through to a void somewhere far beyond the cosmos. Erica has tried to ignore them, but this hacker seems to know about them too. It turns out she’s not talking to a hacker at all, but the lost spirit of a girl named Macy Abigayle, a lone wanderer who perished long ago on the Oregon Trail. Macy has been trapped within those same shadows Erica has been running from, within Bloody Mary’s realm on the other side of every mirror, including Erica’s computer screen. Bloody Mary sentenced Macy to relive the most traumatic moments of her life for eternity. Only Erica can help her escape.

 

To do so, Erica must race to the other side of Bloody Mary’s mirror by facing the memories of her dead sister, including the ones she wishes she could forget. If she fails, all her remembrances of her sister will be lost—and she and Macy will be trapped within the mirror forever.


Read the indie horror epistolary novel that Publisher Weekly's Booklife calls an "inventive paranormal debut."

After twenty-eight-year-old Lyft driver Erica Westfield learns her popstar sister is dead, the last thing she wants to deal with is a stupid hacker threatening to delete her sister’s Facebook...


A Note From the Publisher

Please note--formatting typos on page 70 has since been changed, thanks for reading!

Please note--formatting typos on page 70 has since been changed, thanks for reading!


Advance Praise

“Like a cyberspace Candyman or a digital Freddy Kreuger, Farmer’s ‘Bloody Mary’ shreds nightmares and reality alike.”

– Scott Sigler, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author (Infected, Alive)

"Austin Farmer’s contemporary and poignant ghost story focuses on the longing for connection, specifically from sister to sister. Erica gets a strange message on Facebook: it’s from her newly deceased sister, Dianne, a singer who had skyrocketed to fame and spiraled downwards into substance abuse. The mystery starts here, who is pretending to be Dianne? Or is it, truly, an otherworldly communication? Farmer treats the reader with fascinating slides from realism to fantasy, from ghosts to demons to an incredible Realm of Mirrors. The Phantom Circuit is an imaginative, modern horror story with strong, believable emotional sensibilities. The images in this fascinating tale will take the reader into marvelous, haunting spaces."

- Jule Selbo, Author and Screenwriter (10 Days, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles)

“Like a cyberspace Candyman or a digital Freddy Kreuger, Farmer’s ‘Bloody Mary’ shreds nightmares and reality alike.”

– Scott Sigler, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author (Infected, Alive)

"Austin...


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ISBN 9780578257198
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Featured Reviews

This was honestly really really great. The concepts within the book were super interesting and of course this is now an author I’ll definitely keep an eye out for!

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As someone who has gone through similar situations with my sister, being the best of friends then having falling outs and not speaking for months at a time, this book was so relatable as well as so insanely heartbreaking to read. The story is so original and I do not know the last time I enjoyed reading a book this much.

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I always enjoy a modern spin on an old story. So I loved how Phantom Circuit takes on the Bloody Mary legend using computers as a medium. This happens within a stream of consciousness narrative that deals with the questions of what happens when a loved one with a social media presence dies.

The main characters internal dialogue reads as a beautiful meditation on the nature of issues and grief. There are not a lot of stories that deal with the nature of losing someone who still has an internet footprint so it is refreshing that this book ventures into this direction.

The story maintains a good balance between being reflective and using supernatural horror to entertain. I would definitely recommend it to fans of horror and dark fantasy!

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader's copy.

I am also posting my review on Goodreads.

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"It’s just a game, Erica. Everyone knows that."

Austin Farmer’s debut novel is a richly atmospheric exploration of grief, adulthood, and sisterhood. It is set during the pandemic and kicks off with Erica, a young woman who lives from gig to gig driving for Lyft and Uber and any similar apps that will approve her. She is caught up in the middle of trying to figure out where the next paycheck is coming from in a world where everyone looks like they’ve got everything figured out, at least on social media. That’s when she learns she’s lost her sister, Dianne, who used to be her best friend. They haven’t talked properly in a long time, so how can Erica be getting messages from her now, seemingly from beyond the grave? And if the messages are being sent by a cruel hacker, how does the hacker know the name the sisters called three times in front of a mirror when they were children?

The urban legend of Bloody Mary is recognizable across many cultures, and in this novel it gets a clever technological twist. Two very recognizable things are efficiently welded together, and the supernatural element allows Farmer to explore the relationship between the sisters by showing us flashes and scenes from their past.

"What if all we had was this moment? What if the only thing that mattered was right now, before it goes away?"

Whether it’s a friend or a sibling, we can all relate to the experience of drifting apart from someone. But the memories we share with them are undeniable, and they can become a powerful currency that can make or break us.

The themes of isolation and feeling disconnected in an age of technology and social media are tackled really powerfully in the first part of the novel, which is particularly strong. Another great strength of the novel are the passages that detail moments from Erica’s and Dianne’s past, as well as the descriptions of Macy’s journey along the trail. There are moments in the book that read somewhat like a creepypasta or a reddit/nosleep story, but definitely like the better and more literary ones that end up as published short stories or novels. There are definitely places that recall recognizable elements from urban and folk horror alike.

One possible downside of the novel is that the descriptions may come across as a little repetitive, and so lose the more impatient readers or those who expect relentless, non-stop action. The rules of the world the characters inhabit could also be made just a little bit clearer. There are also very few sentences that could use another round of editing (which probably happened before the final version was released).

What could have worked really well in this kind of novel would have been bits visually designed as Facebook posts or Messenger messages, or at least graphically more separated from the rest of the text (maybe this has already been done in the final version, or the author simply didn’t want to go that way, which is also understandable). However, Farmer already manages to give the three first-person narrators three distinct voices, which is a huge success, especially with such an ambitious novel. The bond between the three women is strengthened by the subtle and not so subtle parallels and keywords that are skillfully planted across their narratives and very fun to spot. There is a delicate balance between keeping the three voices distinct and pointing out how they are connected, which is another strength to consider.

All in all, “The Phantom Circuit” is a praiseworthy effort and an enjoyable read that reflects (pun intended) many relatable themes and represents a satisfying whole.

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<b>3.5 Stars</b>
I love horror that incorporates technology so I was very excited for this novel. I really enjoyed how the story took the idea of the Bloody Mary urban myth into a modern world. Likewise, I enjoy stories that incorporate grief, so that aspect also really appealed to me.

In terms of execution, I liked but did not love this one. Despite the intimate perspective we got of a woman mourning her sister, I just failed to become emotionally attached to the narrative which made it hard to be invested in the overall story.

Depsite my reservations, I would recommend this one to readers look for a unique modern take on the tale of Bloody Mary.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

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Firstly, thank you to both Netgalley and Austin Farmer for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review!

Erica has just received the sudden news that her famous sister Dianne has died via social media, an unknown hacker contacting Erica via her sister's Facebook profile promises to fulfill Erica's final wish in seeing her sister one last time.

Growing up Erica and Dianne did what most curious kids in the 90's and 00's did, they innocently played the infamous mirror game "Bloody Mary", unbeknownst to them they accidentally summoned the spirit of Bloody Mary who lurks on the other side of the mirror throughout Erica and Dianne's life. As the two sisters grow up, they slowly drift apart due to mental health issues and Dianne's struggle with drug addiction and popstar fame, causing tension between the two.

After another night of Lyft and Uber driving to try and make ends meet, Erica receives the sudden news of her the death of Dianne. Erica wishes into the void that she could see her sister one more time, only to have her wish granted by a hacker contacting her via Dianne's Facebook account... However, the hacker is not a normal person, it claims to be the spirit of a young girl who died on the Oregon Trail many years before hand named Macy Abigayle and she needs Erica's help to escape from Bloody Mary's shadow void behind the mirrors...

I won't lie, at first I was very sceptical of this book based off of the other reviews on Goodreads but I was intrigued by the storyline and wanted to give it a go, I can definitely see why a few people have found the book to be confusing and hard to read, the storyline itself is easy to follow and the author's writing style is very descriptive but repetitive in some parts which can easily leave a reader confused, however if you're a fan of an emotional read that is in depth and really sets an atmospheric scene as Erica flashes between her shared memories with her sister Dianne, desperately trying to save her from the clutches of drug addiction.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed "The Phantom Circuit" and I'm eager to read more from Austin Farmer in the future.

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The Phantom circuit by Austin Farmer.
After twenty-eight-year-old Lyft driver Erica Westfield learns her popstar sister is dead, the last thing she wants to deal with is a stupid hacker threatening to delete her sister’s Facebook profile. Let alone a hacker who brings up Bloody Mary.
A good read. Likeable story and characters. I did like the cover. It was different. 4*.

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I've been looking for more modern horror stories and this one was so fun! Combining a classic horror story with modern technology made this a great read for me. The psychological aspect really grabbed me and I was hooked from chapter 2.

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