Christmas in July: My Three Christmas Books!
Click image to check out your Icemaster buying options.
As long as it’s July, seems a great time to remind devoted readers that they now have three—count ‘em—three Christmas books from me to read. The first two are Books 1 and 2 in the ongoing Kris Kringle series: the main title, Sorceress Kringle, about the time in the 1600s when Santa Claus saved a young New York City, and the prequel, The Icemaster of New-York, that tells Kris’s backstory of how she was rescued as an orphaned infant and adopted by the nefarious father of winter, Jack Frost. Beyond that series, I recently pubbed a short Christmas time travel novel called Preston the Provider.
I’m the sort of guy who can read Christmas stories all year round, so it’s a little surprising that it took me this long to work Christmas stories into my work. But I’m glad I have. They’re fun and festive, and they make great gifts.
Oh—about that: both the Kringle and Frost books are available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover. Preston’s in ebook and paper only.
Click to check out your Kringle buying options.
As I’ve told people for a while now, the Kringle Saga was inspired by the Mary Stewart books I’d read as a kid, on the life of King Arthur. The first book in that series focused not on Arthur but on Merlin as a boy. Because it had seemed logical to Stewart that we should understand the mentor before the mentee.
I wanted to do something similar.
Kringle narrates her story. She’s all goodness and light. Frost, who introduced her to the world of magic, tells his. And he’s a fun character to write, being that he is a cantankerous prick, full of venom and evil when it’s necessary. The two compliment each other nicely.
Click image to check out your buying options…
Preston’s a whole other ball of wax. He’s a geeky teen growing up in modern-day New York City, who stumbles upon a wondrous artifact that gives him a great gift at the right season of the year when he needs it most. It’s quick read. Totally worth checking out. The paperback, which has some cool photos and illustrations—the first time I’ve dabbled with art as background images—are nice.
I hope you’ll check him out too.
Click image to see buying options for Preston the Provider.
And not to be outdone, I’ve another Christmas tale for you coming up soon. Nothing fancy, just a short story. But I’ll save that one for, oh, you know, the real Christmas, not Christmas-when-it’s-sweltering-outside.
Yes, I know it is 2026, and the holidays are technically behind us. But our house and front yard are still festooned with decorations, and I don’t think I’ve taken enough photos of the Christmas Village that took so much effort to put up this year. So when it came time to write a post for SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, this week, my head was still stuck on Christmas. In one of my first posts of the new year, I always try to share some sort of inspirational message for writers. Today I am sharing an anecdote of how I came to write my first published story, and the strange thing that happened immediately afterward.
You can read my article at this link. It is called…
I promised to share some videos of our Christmas Village when we finally tricked the whole thing out, with some attention to the larger train set that snakes through the village. I have a number of videos for you in this post. The first two show two different M&M-themed cars. There are few others showing scenes from the village, and there’s a rerun of our mantelpiece trolley.
One of my rituals of the Christmas season is taking the time to read O. Henry’s charming, heartfelt story, “The Gift of the Magi.” It is only 2,000 words long, and a great snapshot of life in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. My particular favorite is the last paragraph, which at first glance seems a little redundant, until you realize that it needs to be. That said, I have an article at SleuthSayers today that focuses primarily on the “mystery” inherent in the story’s very first paragraph.
Every year, we try to get our Christmas tree and decorations up as soon as possible after the American Thanksgiving holiday. It just makes sense to do so, since in the USA this holiday is our only four-day weekend. And because Thanksgiving falls so late in November this year, if we dawdle on decorations, Christmas will be here before we are ready for it.
In our house, decorating for Christmas means at least two, possibly three, train sets…
As long as it’s July, seems a great time to remind devoted readers that they now have three—count ‘em—three Christmas books from me to read. They are…
I can’t believe it has taken me this long to write a short Christmas story. I already have two Christmas-themed novels available, but they are not exactly short. Sorceress Kringle, my gender-swapped Santa fantasy, and its prequel, The Icemaster of New-York, clock in at 600-plus pages. Whereas Christmas time is the perfect time to indulge in something short. I wrote Preston the Provider a while back, but it has taken me this long to design the cover and interior, and have the book copy-edited. It is finally out in the world as of today. You can click on the above image to see the links where to buy it. Rest assured, you can get the ebook or paperback versions, whichever you prefer…
The Sherlock Holmes mysteries consist of 56 short stories and four novels. And only one of those stories takes place at Christmas time in Victorian England. It’s the famous story, “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” which finds Holmes and Watson chasing a jewel thief in London who has stuffed his prize down the throat of a live Christmas goose. Yes, you heard me. A goose. First the goose is alive, then it’s not, then it’s well and truly cooked. And zaniness ensues. It’s fun story but there’s a huge gaping plot hole in the middle of it all…
Well, the folks over at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog I write for, have me contributing a post on this, the deadest reading day of the year, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when all good Americans are out spending themselves blind. Not to be outdone, I have managed to blame the entire Black Friday concept on short story writers, the very same folks who operate the SleuthSayers blog. I know, it’s wacky clickbait premise, but you can’t blame a guy for trying. My argument is based on one of the oldest American Christmas traditions…
Back in 2013, when the book that was to become my wife’s first bestseller was months away from publication, I found myself with time on my hands. It had taken her seven years to write and research that book, and we were constantly driving up and down the east coast so she could interview people and investigate archives.
But now her book was done, and something I had wanted to write finally had the breathing room to come to life. I envisioned a multi-book series about the life of Kris Kringle. I was inspired by the Mary Stewart books I’d read as a kid, on the life of King Arthur. The first book in that series focused not on Arthur but on Merlin as a boy. Because it had seemed logical to Stewart that we should understand the mentor before the mentee.
I wanted to do something similar…
As shared by the Marilyn Whirlwind character in an episode of the old TV show, Northern Exposure…
A long time ago the Raven looked down from the Sky and saw that the People of the World were living in Darkness…
What is Christmas?
Good question. Technically, Christmas is the day on which Christians celebrate Christ’s birth. But like all things grown large in a troubled world, Christmas has become so much more…
This week I’m participating in Advent Ghosts, an annual flash fiction event run by writer Loren Eaton. You'll find links to all the stories participating in this event at his blog, I Saw Lightning Fall. Every single one of these stories is exactly 100 words.
Loren will be adding links to more stories as we get closer to Christmas, and as writers submit them.
So be sure to check back. Here’s my story…