Short Stories 366:361 — “The Fabulous Animal Jamboree,” by Paul Magrs

Okay, I know Christmas is done, but there was one more of the stories in this collection, Christmassy Tales, that I really wanted to talk about before the closing of the year, so consider it a Boxing Day theme, and I promise it even suits, what with Boxing Day begin about repurposing things and the …

Short Stories 366:360 — “The Greatest Gift,” by Philip Van Doren Stern

Every now and then I realize there's a hole in my reading, and this was this year's holiday realization: I'd never actually read the short story "It's a Wonderful Life" was based on. It turns out, like most classic tales, it seems, Philip Van Doren Stern couldn't find anyone to take the tale, and had …

Short Stories 366:359 — “Collie Jolly,” by Leigh Landry

Okay, it's probably time for me to just give up on the whole "but really, I'm a Cat Person" and admit two huskies have changed my mind and I am approaching the middle position in the Dog-Cat spectrum of personhood, and roll with it. "Collie Jolly," by Leigh Landry is an excellent example of this …

Short Stories 366:358 — “The Christmas Elf,” by Jae

By the time you get to the third of the three stories in Love Beneath the Christmas Tree, you've watched Rachel the mall security guard go from being a Christmas Grump to a smitten girlfriend of a mother of a little boy, and wanting to cement her place in their lives. So this, their third …

Short Stories 366:357 — “American Christmas,” by Adriana Herrera

As is likely a surprise to no one given how often I've mentioned it this month, I freaking love queer re-tellings, and this novella from Adriana Herrera, "American Christmas," is basically a queer re-telling of "The Gift of the Magi" (the characters even discuss it as such) and it's both adorable and over-the-top in effect. …

Short Stories 366:356 — “It’s a Wonderful Wife,” by Camille Pagan

It's probably obvious by now how much I love a retelling, given how I try to write one every year, and so it's likely not a huge surprise that I loved this contemporary and gender-flipped version of "It's a Wonderful Life" from Camilla Pagan, "It's a Wonderful Wife." We meet Bailey George (who runs George …