Christmas Story 2016 Contracted

Photo from the Library of Congress

I signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press to have my 2016 Scroogish story "The Orpheum Miracle" included in their holiday anthology.

Last year's story, "Blame It on the Fruitcake," was about how the Christmas staple brings two men together. This year's story follows a homeless man who lives in the Orpheum Theater and his journey to love. It also mentions the holiday film I detest the most--"It's a Wonderful Life."

More information on ordering the anthology and the story will be forthcoming.

Make Your Holidays AWWWWsome!

Fruitcake is the laughingstock of the holiday season. But can it be an aphrodisiac instead? Motorcycle mechanic Sam McGuire is surprised to find a gaily wrapped box on his doorstep with a piece of fruitcake accompanying an invitation to a holiday party.

Wondering if he’ll fit in, Sam attends the party—mostly to get more of the fruitcake he falls in love with—and meets Jay Merriweather, his new neighbor. The lure of Jay’s big family and its holiday tradition of enjoying Grandma’s fruitcake hook Sam, as does the sexy man himself.

But Sam can't imagine why handsome, college-educated Jay would want someone like him, who was raised in a children’s home and barely graduated high school. Maybe the magic of the holiday season can help two men who seem so different come together like the ingredients in a well-made fruitcake.

 

Blame It on the Fruitcake is a story that will make you go AWWWWW...

 

Get yourself, family, and friends in the mood for the holidays by buying the story at:

Dreamspinner

Amazon

Amazon UK

 

Two Review Day

Well, this is a first: Two of my reviews are featured on two different online sites.  Wow.

On the upside is Toy Run by Charley Descoteaux, one of Dreamspinner's Advent stories.  I opted to read three of the stories, and two of them turned out to be about Hanukkah, which even though it's celebrated over a number of days isn't really considered Advent material.

No matter.  Descoteaux's short story is a wonderfully cute mix of bikers, toys for children, and comfort and joy--all the ingredients for a happy holiday season.  It also includes three dogs, two bars, and rain and sleet in Oregon.  What's not to like, right?

The downside of the reviews is Brad Vance's A Little Too Broken, which should have been a spectacular story, but veered off into sex before settling the more important issues Vance tackles--double amputation, service dogs, HIV-positive lifestyle, and PTSD.  Somehow deciding how the protagonists will manage to have meaningful sex takes precedence over the more important details of how they will order their lives in order to live together for a few days, much less a lifetime.

If Vance decides to rework his novella, I'd love to reread it.  I hate to see potential like this go to waste.

What's a Cajun Christmas Anyway?

My abbreviated account of the differences between Christmas in Nebraska and Christmas in Louisiana is published in the After Hours section of AAR today.

Happy holidays to everyone!  And however you celebrated, I hope it was the happiest and most peaceful day of the year for you.