Not one but two of my drabbles have been accepted in the Eleanor Merry Presents Christmas Horror anthology “Dark X-Mas”.

According to the blurb for Dark X-Mas Drabbles Anthology:

I’m dreaming of a Dark Christmas
With every little tale that I read
When the knife blades glisten
And scared children listen
To hear slayers in the night
Where sugarplums can be gory
In the frightening elf story
And trees eat favorite household pets
There are gifts on all the pages
Of terror through the ages
Told of gift giving regrets
I’m dreaming of a Dark Christmas
With every little tale I read
While the bright lights shine
And the family dines In the soft fireplace glow
So hold loved ones tight
It’s not Santa visiting tonight
Death lies buried in the snow.

I actually don’t know a whole lot about co-publishers Eleanor Merry and Cassandra Angler, but some other authors I’ve been published with before, including David Bowmore and Shawn Klimek, are participating, so I figured “what the heck?”

Authors can submit up to five drabbles (flash fiction stories of exactly 100 words), but for this anthology, only two immediately came to mind. The submission call will be held open until November 15th, but the anthology is shooting for a rapid release (aiming for December 1st!).

So for 2019 (so far), fourteen of my stories have been accepted for publication.

Here’s a blurb for each one to be featured in Dark X-Mas Drabbles Anthology:

Christmas Feast

For centuries, the innocent belief of children breathed life into Santa Claus, bringing him into the homes of millions every December 24th, laden with gifts for precious cherubs. But the world changed and children changed, and finally there was too little faith left to keep the old elf going and he expired.

But this year, Santa’s chief servant Alabaster found ten wee ones he could spirit away from their cozy beds at the stroke of midnight in order to supplicate themselves at the grave of St. Nicholas. These children desperately want Santa back, but what horrible sacrifice will they be expected to make to resurrect a very different Santa from what the world has ever known?

The Ghost of Christmas Past

A year ago this Christmas, Bill’s six-year-old daughter Emily died under tragic but mysterious circumstances. Bill’s wife suspected the worst and left him, taking everything. This Christmas Eve, he sits in grief and remorse in front of a Christmas tree bereft of gifts. He is alone, with colored, twinkling lights his only illumination. A terrible secret weighs heavily upon him, and in a moment of supreme sadness, he wishes everything he had done could be made undone.

The first moment he sees Emily’s specter next to the tree, he thinks his dearest wish as come true. But in the next, he horrifically realizes that it is not reunion his daughter seeks, but macabre vengeance. What is Bill’s hidden crime and how will Emily make him pay for it?

Look for Dark X-Mas Drabbles Anthology in about six weeks. I’ll post more details as they come in.