Promotional image for the anthology of drabbles “Dark X-Mas.”

Not the news I had hoped to deliver by now, but I just found out that “Eleanor Merry Presents: Dark X-Mas is now available to pre-order both at Amazon US and Canada for delivery on your Kindle device December 1, 2019.

Here’s the “blurbs” again for the two drabbles I have featured within its virtual pages:

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?

December 1st is less than four weeks away. Maybe this would be the perfect gift for someone on your “naughty” list.