The Feast of Saint Anne is actually four supernatural tales that take place at the same event – the yearly summer carnival – at this historic Hudson River town known as Wyvern Falls. On the surface the themes may seem somewhat familiar…until they twist off into all sorts of new horrific directions.

Horrific? What genre is this?
Horror, with historic themes.

Historic themes? Maybe it’ll help if you tell us about one of the four stories.
In “The Red Baron’s Daughter” a bunch of boys find themselves caught in the web of a hideous monster that has its origins in the dark skies of the Western Front, circa 1918, their fate intertwined with the one man who can unravel the truth of it’s Achilles heel; Detective John Easton.

Who’s he?
He’s a CID Detective Superintendent from Royal Turks & Caicos Police Force who wound up stranded in Wyvern Falls after the first novel (At Van Eyckmann’s Request) but he’s not your average British Detective. For starters he has a certain latent psychic ability which he’s at odds with due to a traumatic childhood accident, and a sharp sense of humor.

There’s an earlier novel?
At Van Eyckmann’s Request: it delves into the history of the main character along with the darker side of the Dutch East Indies spice trade…with a dose of Arabian Nights thrown in for good measure. Also there are currently three short stories available in Kindle on Amazon that also take place in Wyvern Falls and a fourth that was featured in issue #17 of Sanitarium Magazine.

Totally off topic I also wrote and designed a non-fiction hardcover titled “Combat Recon”, which details the history of my great uncle as a combat photographer/gunner in the SW pacific during WWII.

We have strayed a bit from the subject. Tell us about the other stories in this collection.
The second tale, “The Lonely Dancers” introduces us to local drop-out and rock star wannabe Nick Carr witnessing a an incredible British band that shows up for their gig at the music tent…thirty years after they were killed in a tragic accident. The murder-mystery he gets entangled with will unveil some of the uglier truths of the music industry along with the realization that he may be the key to settling some unfinished business…

“Lorenzo King and the Dunderberg Imp” is a 21st century look at an old Washington Irving tale. In this version a failing investigative reporter finds himself in the worst – and deadliest – assignment of his life when he meets up with the Hudson Rivers’ legendary goblin and winds up in a fateful boat race with his rivals, the cast of the “Ghost Seeker’s International” reality show.

Last comes local art director Jim Franks and his girlfriend Karen Evershaw in “Hey Dummy!”, a dementedly twisted take on the classic ventriloquist dummy story. In this version they discover neither ventriloquist nor dummy are what they should be and the answer to their terrible secret lies in the jungles of WWII New Guinea and an aerial gunner who will stop at nothing to cheat death.

Who is this novel aimed at?
Fans of classic horror, history and dark humor. I do a lot of historic research in my stories and if you enjoy unusual characters, creatures drawn from old legends and folklore and the spooky nature of the Hudson Valley, this is right up your alley.

Tell us your story.
I’m an ex Mad man who got into 3d design and worked for an international company many years. I was also the lead singer and guitarist in an original alt rock band on the NYC scene throughout most the 90s. And for the past eleven years I’ve studied Karate at Seido, where so far I’ve achieved the rank of 2nd Dan (black belt) and had my ass handed to me more than a few times. Keeps you humble. But I’ve done all sorts of odd jobs from washing dishes to roofing houses to trail guide, and all that stuff gets into my tales.

Do you own a website?
www.wyvernfalls.com.

And social media?
@robertstava & www.facebook.com/WyvernFalls.

What’s next?
The third and fourth novels in the series are written and I’m concurrently working on the fifth and sixth. Plus there’s a bunch of Wyvern Falls short stories completed, thirteen which are being selected for the first collection called ‘Haunted Sketchbook’. I also have concepts for two more series as well.

Wow, you sound extraordinarily busy. We’ll let you get back to work – unless there’s something else we need to ask you?
I’ll probably think up a really clever one two minutes after this gets published…