Winter (Re)Reading

I never used to be the sort who waved goodbye to Hallowe'en and immediately turned to thoughts of the winter holidays. I put that down to being in Retail where I had no choice in the matter, and had already been forced to schedule, hire, plan, train and prepare for Christmas Retail (a.k.a. the most …

Canadian Christmas Romances, Final Day!

Hey again! It's December 8th, so we're hitting the end of the Canadian Christmas Romances Under $5 e-book promotion. If you missed my earlier noise, this promotion—which includes—"Handmade Holidays"—is dropping all sorts of awesome Canuck authors with their titles for you, all under $5, and all in once place for ease of browsing. So, go …

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 …