The Happy Holidays Re-Runs

 We've got several years of holiday-themed posts in our history here at Bad Girls, Good Guys, and Two-Fisted Action, so this year we decided to create a special re-run post of some of our favorites -- just because we love you and want you to have some good times and fun seasonal memories. 

Enjoy!

What's your favorite Christmas story? Why?

Well, like in most things I can't pinpoint down to a single favorite, so I'll have to do a list of my top three.

1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess

I tell my family and friends all the time this is the second greatest redemptive story for the holidays. Everything in this story hinges on the moment when every Who down in Whoville (the tall and the small) comes out to sing the joy of Christmas in spite of their missing tinsel and presents. (Which incidentally is why I don't like the live-action movie version. It totally changes the mood Ted Geisel was aiming for.)

2. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

One of the most beautiful, most sacrificing love stories ever told. Period. The first time I read this I felt sad that the lovers would lose their cherished possession, but each reading since makes me happy for them to have found such love for each other that values the stuff so little ultimately in order to focus on the loved one instead.

3. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson

There's a tragic beauty to this incredibly sad story. If I can ever capture the pathos of tragedy in a story as well as Anderson does in this tale, I'll not have written a single word in vain.

For more fun Christmas tales, visit:

• http://osr.org/christmas/20-famous-christmas-stories/
• http://www.imom.com/10-great-christmas-stories/#.VmWwvL9EdS4
• http://americanliterature.com/christmas
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/20-childrens-christmas-books-to-read-aloud#.jgqgjVdV9

In light of holiday giving, what
are your preferred charities?

St. Jude's Childrens Hospital
http://www.stjude.org

Reading Is Fundamental - encourages literacy among people all over the U.S.
http://www.rif.org/

Keep the Arts in Schools
http://www.keepartsinschools.org/

First Book - Helps all children have books of their own.
http://www.firstbook.org

Habitat for Humanity - provides housing for low-income families
http://www.habitat.org/

Prevent Child Abuse
http://www.preventchildabuse.org/

ASPCA - prevent cruelty to animals
http://www.aspca.org

What are your favorite holiday movies?

In no particular order...

Gremlins
Die Hard
The Bishop's Wife
Batman Returns
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Trading Places
Christmas in Connecticut
White Christmas
Holiday Inn
Nightmare Before Christmas
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Muppet Christmas Carol
Santa's Slay
Silent Night, Bloody Night
The Hebrew Hammer
A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott)
Die Hard II
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Edward Scissorhands
Home Alone (only the first one)

And the ones topping the list:
Scrooged
It's A Wonderful Life

Anna and the Apocalypse

Letters to Satan Claus
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (sue me, it's TV)
The Little Drummer Boy (ditto)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (yep)
A Charlie Brown Christmas

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Seasons Greetings to all (and God bless us, everyone! -- thanks, Tiny Tim)

... "That's a noise," grinned the Grinch, "that I simply must hear!"

He paused, and the Grinch put a hand to his ear

And he did hear a sound rising over the snow

It started in low ...

... then it started to grow ...

But this--this sound wasn't sad!

Why, this sound sounded ...glad!

Every Who down in Whoville,

the tall and the small,

was singing--without any presents at all!

He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming--it came!

Somehow or other, it came just the same.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling:

"How could it be so?

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

He puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before:

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store--

Maybe Christmas--perhaps--means a little bit more."

And what happened then--well, in Whoville they say

That the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day.

And then the true meaning of Christmas came through,

And the Grinch found the strength of ten Grinches--plus two.

-- Dr. Seuss, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"

=======================================

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus. 

-- Matthew 1: 18-25 (KJV)

What are the holiday traditions that have shaped your life?

Christmas the previous Casa de Taylor, circa 2010.

Well, like most folks I know, my family travels all over the place during the holidays visiting family. We drive to the four winds to spend time with my family, my wife's family, and to various other parties, activities, and functions that come with the territory when one has three kids in middle and high school.

But for us, the real fun begins on Christmas Eve. Our tradition is to open one present that night while we listen to Christmas music and drink hot wassail (Lisa makes the best wassail!). After the presents, we'll often watch a classic Christmas special (favorites are Rudolph and How the Grinch Stole Christmas). After that, it's time for bed.

On Christmas morning, nobody is allowed to dig into their stockings or gifts until everyone is awake. Usually my teenage daughter Charis is the last human awake. Then we empty the stockings first before breakfast. One thing we've always done is to take turns rather than everyone emptying them all at once. That way the person opening the gift gets all the attention for that time, and then so one (yes, like a board game).

After stockings, we typically have a nice breakfast and clear away the dishes before we actually start opening presents. Once we've back in the living room, we read the Christmas story from Luke 2, and go around the group mentioning all the things we're particularly thankful for during the year. Only after reflecting on what we already appreciate do we dig into the wrapped gifts.

At that point, we takes turns again, opening presents one at a time, in a circle, giving each gift and recipient our full attention. (After all, why spend all the time looking for it if you're not going to enjoy watching it being opened?)

Once all the gifts are done, like everyone else, it's time to solve the puzzles that are the packaging and then a mad scramble for batteries.

Perhaps for me, the most important part of our tradition at the Casa de Taylor is that we take turns with the presents, and do that only after reflecting on the good things we're already thankful for first.

But enough about me, what are your holiday traditions?

Charles Ardai: "Being Read. It's Just That Simple."

Folks, I'm so excited to share this interview with you. Charles Ardai is kind of a dream interview for me. You have to understand how much I love Hard Case Crime. Easily my favorite publisher of my favorite kind of fiction. And not only a fantastic publisher, but Charles is also a fantastically gifted author. Seriously, if you've read the blog for any length of time at all, you know how much I love short stories, and his newest collection DEATH COMES TOO LATE is an amazing book of short crime fiction. Really, go buy it now. You'll thank me.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I split my time between writing my own books (most recently, comic books) and publishing other people’s in the pulp-revival line I created 20 years ago, Hard Case Crime.

Anyone interested in my writing can check out the various volumes of my GUN HONEY and HEAT SEEKER comics – the newest series, HEAT SEEKER: COMBUSTION is in comic book stores as we speak, and the four prior storylines can be found in collected graphic novel form from your favorite bookseller – or if they prefer only words on the page, no pictures, they might enjoy the short story collection I published back in February, DEATH COMES TOO LATE.

As for Hard Case Crime, we just published Max Allan Collins’ newest novel about the hitman known as Quarry, QUARRY’S RETURN, and in January we will be bringing out a new edition of Donald E. Westlake’s wonderful novel THE ACTOR to coincide with the release of a new feature film based on the book.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I’ve always had a particular love for so-called “noir” crime fiction – the sort of dark, bleak stories about desperate people fighting against impossible odds that you might see in an old black-and-white film noir. My comics have a bit more derring-do – they’re in the spirit of a James Bond or MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie – but my short stories and novels tend to be as noir as you can get.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I had no other marketable skills! My brother is an engineer, and as a kid he could make spending money by walking into neighborhood beauty salons and offering to repair their broken hair dryers for five bucks. I couldn’t fix a hair dryer if my life depended on it. So I sat down and thought about what I could do that someone might pay me for, and the only answer I came up with was that I could write pretty well. I pitched a bunch of magazines on letting me write for them, and a few videogame magazines agreed to give me a shot. That’s how I began – writing videogame reviews for $50 apiece at age 13.

What inspires you to write? 

I want to be hardboiled about it and say “a paycheck” – but that’s not really true anymore. These days, I write either because I have an idea for a story that I really love and can’t resist sharing it with readers I think will love it too or because someone asks me to and I’m really bad at saying no.

What of your works has meant the most to you?

The two novels I wrote under the pen name “Richard Aleas,” LITTLE GIRL LOST and SONGS OF INNOCENCE, are by far the best things I’ve written (the first was a finalist for the Edgar and Shamus Awards; the second won the Shamus). They’re the story of a young private eye in modern-day New York who means well and wants to help the people he cares about, but in spite of his best intentions, things go terribly wrong.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

That’s hard to say, not because none of my early work could be improved but because it all could! If I allowed myself to go back and fiddle with things I’ve already done, I’d never get anything new written. So I try always to look forward, not back.

That said, when I was assembling the stories for DEATH COMES TOO LATE, I had the chance to repair a bunch of truly stupid mistakes I made in a story called “Masks” that’s set in Brazil. Unfortunately, when I originally wrote the story, I didn’t realize that people in Brazil speak Portuguese, not Spanish, and that it’s hot in Februrary, not August – and improbably, my editor didn’t catch these errors. So in that one case I allowed myself to go back in and correct things.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

My favorite living crime writer is (and for many years has been) Lawrence Block, author of the phenomenal Matthew Scudder series of detective novels, about an alcoholic ex-cop, and many wonderful standalone titles as well. Any of your readers who don’t already know his work should go look him up immediately. He’s had a huge influence on my writing. Other writers who’ve influenced me include Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, Paul Auster, Kurt Vonnegut, Bernard Malamud, John Irving, Stephen King… are so many.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Writing is certainly something you can get better at through practice and observation, which suggests that even if there are no hard and fast rules for how to do it, it’s susceptible to analysis. But in spite of that I think it’s more of an art. Either you have the ear of a poet or you don’t. You can do all the finger exercises in the world and it won’t turn you into a brilliant pianist if you’ve got the soul of a mediocre one – and all the science in the world won’t make a so-so writer into a great one.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

Working to a deadline isn’t fun. I mean, in some ways it is – it’s gratifying that someone likes your work enough to assign something to you and give you a deadline, and sometimes inspiration can be prodded to life when you simply have no choice. But I always regret it when I have to force something into existence when it’s not ready – better by far when it’s just bursting to come out of you and you just try to hold on, like riding a wild stallion.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not? 

My wife is a fantastic writer (in both senses – she’s terrific and she writes fantasy), and she’s both an inspiration and a goad. When I see her sit down to work on her new book, it’s harder for me to be lazy! And of course various writer friends have involved me in projects of theirs over the years – anthologies they invite me to contribute a story to and so forth. I still find that writing is fundamentally a solitary pursuit – I really need to be alone in my own head to do it well. So no writing retreats with 5 other writers for me. But I do get inspiration from writer friends, and once in a while assignments.

What does literary success look like to you? 

Being read. It’s really that simple. If people are reading the words I’m committing to paper, that’s success. These inventions of my teeming brain, which normally would entertain no one but me, fly out into the world, and if they please or entertain or disturb or break the heart of a total stranger far away, I feel I’ve achieved something great – something practically miraculous, in fact. I like to think that even after I’m long gone, maybe some curious soul will pick up one of my books, and the echoes of my thoughts will still manage to reach them, like the light from a long-extinguished sun. It’s the closest our doomed species comes to immortality.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?  

HEAT SEEKER: COMBUSTION will finish up with Issue #4 in February, but after that you can look forward to HEAT SEEKER: EXPOSED starting in May – and then GUN HONEY DOUBLES DOWN toward the end of the year.

For more information, visit: www.hardcasecrime.com

Motivational Monday: Chasing the Way

 

Get Your Superhero Fiction On This Season!

Are you missing your Christmas fix from iHero Entertainment this year? Then pick up this new seasonal mix of heroic goodness. Just $1 for the ebook!

Enjoy this special collection of holiday stories from the superhero universe of iHero Entertainment and Cyber Age Adventures. Stories feature fan-favorite characters The Grandstander, Ms. Futura, The Boom Machine, and Starlight. Now with a brand-spanking-new cover!

Features the stories:

• "Sin and Error Pining" (featuring Ms. Futura)
• "It's Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home" (featuring Starlight)
• "Nor Doth He Sleep" (featuring The Grandstander)
• "The Ghost of Christmas Past" (featuring Starlight and The Boom Machine)

Available for Kindle and all ePub readers. And all for a mere buck, a single dollar.

New this year! The print version "chapbook" -- only $4.99!

Happy holidays!

Get your copy from Amazon or from Smashwords.

[Link] Penguin Random House books now explicitly say ‘no’ to AI training

The copyright page on new books and reprints now says they can’t be used or reproduced ‘for the purpose of training artificial intelligence.’

By Emma Roth

Book publisher Penguin Random House is putting its stance on AI training in print. The standard copyright page on both new and reprinted books will now say, “No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems,” according to a report from The Bookseller spotted by Gizmodo.

The clause also notes that Penguin Random House “expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception” in line with the European Union’s laws. The Bookseller says that Penguin Random House appears to be the first major publisher to account for AI on its copyright page.

Read the full article: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/18/24273895/penguin-random-house-books-copyright-ai

Announcing the launch of Horrific Scribblings, LLC!

PUBLISHING ANNOUNCEMENT!

What does the world need right now? More people who publish dark fiction, of course!

L. Andrew Cooper is pleased to announce the launch of Horrific Scribblings, LLC, a new indie imprint/press.

You can read a more detailed account of the mission and plans on the About page of the new website, and see the nifty logo (by the fabulous Ruth Anna Evans).

We plan to publish some multi-author anthologies, , then look for like-minded authors to sign. We’ve got the long game in mind.

You’ll be hearing more often in the coming days. We hope you’ll support Horrific Scribblings as we struggle to grow, and I fantasize that I’ll be publishing some of you in the not _terribly_ distant future.

Meanwhile, have a look at our beginnings!

HORRIFIC SCRIBBLINGS is a publishing imprint, basically an indie press, dedicated to the provocative, scary, and strange–dark fiction that challenges boundaries, assaulting readers’ expectations and violating their comfort zones. We do all types of horror, from the quiet to the extreme, and love horror-adjacent areas like the surreal, the weird, and dark fantasy. We believe horror is important, even when, or perhaps especially when, it revels in the unthinkably bizarre and disgusting limits of the imagination.

OPENING FOR SUBMISSIONS SOON.

Your New Favorite Indie Author Holiday Shopping Catalog!

No doubt you've already received your catalog from Amazon and a thousand other retailers for your holiday shopping. Well, we didn't have your address, so we decided to post our recommendations for seasonal book-buying for those readers on your list (or yourself!). All these titles are from regular contributors here on the blog. 

Thanks for supporting our contributors.

Enjoy the books!

Santastein

by Bryan K. Morris

If you found The Nightmare Before Christmas to be way too saccharine, this is the book for you. Read it aloud to someone you love and try, just try, to maintain a straight face. In this tale of irreverent holiday horror, Dr. Victor Frankenstein raids the graveyard to assemble not just a man, but the Spirit of Giving himself. However, will the creature save Christmas for the village or will he lead to its destruction? 

We say that Santasteinis laugh-out-loud funny, but we only go by what other people tell us.

https://www.amazon.com/Santastein-Post-Holiday-Mr-Brian-Morris/dp/0615987036

Aeros & Heroes

by Ef Deal

Can the Mistress of the Forge best the Mistress of the Night? 

Strength is forged in the moment when you dare to be vulnerable. Despite this inherent knowledge, Jacqueline Duval struggles with feelings of weakness and failure when a private celebration for her twin sister’s marriage turns fraught with peril. Beset by vampires and insurrectionists and rogue monarchs, how is Jacqueline to keep her invited—and uninvited—guests safe, and the King of the French on the right side of the grave? 

https://especbooks.square.site/product/aeros-heroes-by-ef-deal/

Setting Suns

by Elizabeth Donald

• A nightmarish fun house turned deadly. 
• A couple trapped in a futile journey through time. 
• A single baleful eye watching from the deep. 
• An assassin waiting in a snow-covered tree. 
• A toy that seems to have a life of its own. 
• A pair of soldiers trapped between death and something worse. 
• A tenebrous hand reaching out of the shadows. 

These are the award-winning tales and terrors of Elizabeth Donald, writer of things that go chomp in the night. This new anniversary edition is being released 20 years after the first story was published, now including a bonus short story and the author’s reflections on twenty years of twilight tales. In that space between evening and nightfall, between consciousness and sleep, the moment when the light fades and the shadows take over… These are the lands of the Setting Suns. 

Winner of the 2005 Darrell Award 

“Elizabeth Donald is the George R.R. Martin of horror.”
– Michael Knost, author of Return of the Mothman 

“Donald’s is one of the strongest and freshest new genre voices out there.”
– Bryan Smith, author of 68 Kill and The Unseen 

“Elizabeth Donald delves into the shadows of the human psyche and plucks out the darkest, squirmiest bits fit for the spookiest of campfire gatherings.”
– Sara Harvey, author of Music City 

"One of the strongest writers it is my privilege to know.”
– H. David Blalock, author of Ascendant 

“A storytelling ability to rival that of Stephen King.”
– Enchanting Reviews 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V7PDZX2

The Challenger Chronicles Volume One

by Gordon Dymowski, Barbara Doran, Michael Panush, and Samantha Lienhard

Airship 27 Production is thrilled to debut brand new adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle’s second great hero. Prof. George Challenger. In this premier volume, writers Gordon Dymowski, Barbara Doran, Michael Panush, and Samanthan Lienhart send the daring Challenger to strange and exotic locales always in search of new wonders and thrills. Artist Clayton Hinkle provides both the interior illustrations and the dramatic color cover. 

https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Chronicles-One-Gordon-Dymowski-ebook/dp/B0CJNF2FNC

A Crowd in Babylon and Other Dark Tales

by Sean Taylor

Featuring 17 tales of Southern horror, dark fantasy, and weird adventure inspired as much by Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, and Shirley Jackson as by F. Marion Crawford, Stephen King, and Ray Bradbury, Sean Taylor's A Crowd in Babylon takes readers from the chilling underside of the urban landscape to the homegrown terrors of rural life and hidden frights that lie beneath suburban smiles. 

Inside the pages of A Crowd in Babylon, readers will meet a diverse and macabre group of characters, including: 

• A zombie writer whose work funds the lifestyle of her cheating husband 
• A musician who learns that true art requires irretrievable loss 
• A Cherokee brave who must face the monsters from his people's legends 
• A time-traveling widow nursing a violent and deadly grudge 
• A woman who needs four-footed help to teach her grandchild to grieve 
• A young writer obsessed with a dead actress 
• An immigrant haunted by the vengeful ghosts of children 
• And ten other creepy tales! 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1WMZMV

Yeti Left Home 

by Aaron Rosenberg

Peaceful, unassuming Wylie Kang -- a Yeti with an appreciation for more human creature comforts -- lives a quiet life in his self-built sanctuary on the outskirts of Embarrass, Minnesota. But when violent dreams disturb his peace, and a series of strange murders plague the area, a Hunter comes to town, nosing after Wylie's trail.

Fleeing pursuit, Wylie packs up his truck and heads for the Twin Cities, hoping to lose himself in the urban jungle, only to find a thriving supernatural community.

Just as he begins to settle in -- with the help of some new-found friends -- he discovers the bloodshed has followed... as has the Hunter.

Can Wylie catch the killer, before the Hunter catches him?

https://www.amazon.com/Yeti-Left-Home-Aaron-Rosenberg/dp/1949691918/

Dragon Tales 

Edited by Michael A. Gordon

Dragon Tales is a benefit book celebrating Atlanta’s largest multi-media pop culture convention for fans by fans. Containing stories, essays, memories, pro-tips, and more by folks who honor Dragon Con in their heart and try to keep it all the year. Featuring contributions by Darin M. Bush, Jerry Chandler, Joe Crowe, Kevin Eldridge, Michael Falkner, Esther Friesner, Bernadette Johnson, Rob Levy, Bobby Nash, Mary Ogle, James Palmer, Ashley Pauls, R. Alan Siler, Beth Van Dusen, and DJ Spider.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCSVHGND

Rumble Paperback 

by Nikki Nelson-Hicks 

BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU DIG... There is something very wrong in the Gobi Desert at the natural gas mining camp, BST147.Two weeks ago, satellite photos showed a thriving operation.Two days ago, a war zone.That’s where the Stonecipher Tactical Security team comes into play. Hired to do a simple search and rescue, the situation quickly turns when the sun goes down and the team is attacked by creatures from above and below. To say nothing of the other dangers lurking all around them: a wild man whose flesh is carved with arcane symbols, Eco-terrorists and, most dangerous of all, an office bureaucrat with a clipboard.It’s going to be a long night.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732096775

Aym Geronimo and the PostModern Pioneers:
Tall Tales Paperback 

by John Morgan Neal, et al

ACTION! ADVENTURE! SCIENCE FICTION! MYSTERY! HORROR! DRAMA! SPORTS!

Something for Everyone!

TALL TALES is a collection of short stories of Aym Geronimo and the PostModern Pioneers. Headquartered in the Wonder Wall, a complex carved from a side of the Grand Canyon. The PostModern Pioneers travel to all corners of the globe and undertake dangerous deeds, discover the unknown, defy disasters, and defeat the diabolical using the advanced tools of technology forged by the brilliant mind of Ms. Geronimo and the prodigious skills of her comrades.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095WRC2FJ

Bikini Jones Vs. The Brainnappers From Outer Space 

by Patrick Thomas

Cursed by a witch to forever wear a bikini, she fights for justice in a dangerous world.

Bikini Jones has come a long way and saved the world many times over.

But no matter how far you've come, family is still family. So when her estranged sister uncovers an Egyptian pyramid outside of Philadelphia, PA and needs her help, Bikini drops everything. Soon a search for missing women uncovers an eons-old plot for world domination.

Bikini faces off against Prohibition-era gangsters, a brain-transplanting mad scientist, the mummy of the first pharaoh, and aliens who need the brains of human women so they can conquer the world.

If Bikini fails, humanity will be enslaved. If she succeeds, she still has to put up with her sister.

https://www.amazon.com/Bikini-Jones-Brainnappers-Outer-Space-ebook/dp/B09SBYT93R

When the Devil Drives

by John L. French and C.J. Henderson

Bad things happen.

Sometimes there is no other choice but the lesser of two evils — sacrifice some for many, make the deal and take your chances. Look into the Abyss and dive right into it.

In this collection of 16 weird stories, John L. French writes of how some miscreants, faced with these choices, deal with them. There are zombies, witches, vampires, angels good and bad. Amidst the chaos and evil, sometimes hope can be found at the bottom of the box, even if it is only a hope in Hell...

https://www.amazon.com/When-Devil-Drives-John-French-ebook/dp/B0DG4D1J1R

Tom Myers Mysteries Vol. 1 

by Bobby Nash

READERS LOVE A GOOD MYSTERY…

TOM MYERS LOVES SOLVING THEM!

WELCOME TO SOMMERSVILLE

BEN Books presents: Tom Myers Mysteries Vol. 1 collects 3 action-packed stories from award-winning author Bobby Nash [IN THE WIND, SUCH A NIGHT, and STANDING ON THE SHADOWS] together for the first time.

IN THE WIND - When a secret joint FBI/US Marshal safehouse is attacked, federal witness Bates Hewell flees custody in the confusion and heads into the wilds of Sommersville. Can local sheriff, Tom Myers find him and bring him in before a band of hired killers do?

SUCH A NIGHT - No one talks about it, but everybody knows what happens in the trailer on Dogwood Alley. When a brutal double homicide rocks Sommersville, Sheriff Tom Myers and his deputies discover is a decades old secret, deception, danger, back-door deals, and a betrayal that could rip their peaceful small town asunder.

STANDING ON THE SHADOWS - A startling discovery points to a decades old murder whose outcome could spell disaster for Sommersville and those who call the rustic, small town home. When the once ice-cold case suddenly burns white hot, Sheriff Tom Myers discovers a cover-up meant to keep the truth buried forever.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8YC791T

Sola-Tay

by Robert Krog

Exiled Khar-elt and his adopted siblings have found peace at the very edge of the world in backwater Sola-Tay, so long as Khar-elt’s sword and gift for command can earn coin solving problems for local lords. But youngest sibling, Trantis, has found a purse of gold that belongs to the chief priest and faces a death sentence, though he is innocent. Saving him will doom the siblings to flee again into further exile, but may plunge the region into ruin. For the demon-gods of Sola-Tay have awakened and will exact a price from all if the malefactor is not sacrificed.

https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/sola-tay-by-robert-krog

Holly and Ivy

by Selah Janel

Holly is forced to return to her parents’ farm after she loses her job and goes through the worst breakup of her life. Incapacitated by hopelessness and embarrassment, she doesn’t expect to bump into a forgotten childhood friend who isn’t supposed to exist.

Ivy is a dryad who lives in the pine trees Holly’s family grows as part of their livelihood. As the friends reconnect, Ivy not only shares her views on life, nature, and the modern world but it also gives Holly a magic charm that will change both their lives.

As the year progresses, things magically fall into place and a new figure is introduced into Holly’s life. Still, guilt lingers that maybe all the good developments aren’t deserved and aren’t even her own doing. Christmas not only brings surprises, but a choice.

What’s more important: success, happiness, and love, or keeping a promise to an old friend?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPBWBGYQ

Holiday Writing Prompts

If you find yourself needing a little push or a little help getting started, try some of these prompts for Season-Themed tales:

https://minds-in-bloom.com/20-christmas-writing-prompts/

http://www.build-creative-writing-ideas.com/christmas-writing-prompts.html