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…