Holiday Magick
Copyright © 2013
Sale of the paperback edition of this book without its cover is unauthorized.
Spencer Hill Press
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Contact: Spencer Hill Press, PO Box 247, Contoocook, NH 03229, USA
Please visit our website at
www.spencerhillpress.com
First Edition: May 2013.
Storrs, Rich and Porteous, Jessica (editors)
Holiday Magick: a short story anthologyâ1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary:
Anthology of short stories in which each holiday has a paranormal origin or tradition.
The authors acknowledge the copyrighted or trademarked status and the copyright and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in these works of fiction: ABC Family, Barbie, Burton Ale, Coke, Disney, eeBoo, Facebook, Fisher-Price, Google, Green Toys, Haba, Hello Kitty, Hills Hoist, Jeep, Jell-O, Mattel, National Readers' Choice Award, Plan Toys, Playmobil, Pokemon, PowerPoint, Red Bull, Star Wars, Tales of The Order, Tinkerbell
Cover design by Gary McCluskey
Interior illustrations by Amanda Clark
ISBN 978-1-937053-49-9: (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-937053-50-5: (e-book)
Printed in the United States of America
No Ents were harmed in the making of this book.
Holiday Magick
20 Holiday Stories
with a Twist
With stories by:
Daniel A. Cohen
Owen Dean
L.M. Graham
Kate Kaynak
Kimberley Long-Ewing
Maria Martinez
Emma Michaels
DK Mok
Meredith Morgenstern
Dave Porteous
Jessica Porteous
Jennifer Allis Provost
Candace Sams
Kendra L. Saunders
Rich Storrs
Keshia Swaim
Trisha J. Wooldridge
Nicole Zoltack
Edited by Rich Storrs and Jessica Porteous
S
PENCER
H
ILL
P
RESS
Upcoming Holidays
Valentine's Day
My Dearest Valentine Maria Martinez
Paper Hearts Jennifer Allis Provost
Purim
The Esther Meredith Morgenstern
Japanese Doll Festival
Doll Trouble Kimberley Long-Ewing
Las Fallas
Finding Fire Trisha J. Wooldridge
St. Patrick's Day
Earth Day
The Keeper of the Trees L.M. Graham
Arbor Day
Planet Pattern Baldness Daniel A. Cohen
Memorial Day
Dragon Boat Festival
Equinoxes
Columbus Day
A Land Without Zombies Nicole Zoltack
Halloween
All Souls Day
Thanksgiving
Second Thanksgiving Kendra L. Saunders
Christmas
Christmas with the Krampus Owen Dean
The Toy Makers Jessica Porteous
Â
For my parents, for
always
supporting and encouraging me in all of my pursuits, and for my son. â Jessica
For my father, who set the example that I think about every day. â Rich
Introduction
Holiday Magick
came about as a result of mediocre television programming. Jessica was watching yet another Christmas movie that stereotyped Santa's elves as goofy nitwits that relied on Santa for everything. She thought, “Who says the elves are uneducated and clueless? Maybe they're the brains of the operation.”
She and Rich then spent quite a while talking about that concept and wondering about what other holiday traditions we don't usually question, but may have alternate explanations. While brainstorming story ideas, one of them said, “This could be a great anthology!” Wonderful Kate Kaynak, at Spencer Hill Press, liked the idea and let them put the book together, with a barely-hidden smirk (she'd recently finished putting together another anthology,
UnCONventional
, and knew more than Rich and Jessica did about the amount of work they were in for).
Many months later, Jessica and Rich had the incredibly difficult task of whittling the many wonderful submissions into a coherent, yet diverse, set of stories. Then they had to keep track of all twenty stories, at twenty different stages of completeness, with twenty illustrations, and eighteen authors. And, of course, collaborating with artists on the cover design. Jessica was in charge of keeping track of all that, since her organizational abilities far outweigh Rich's.
At this point, the commonly accepted versions of holiday origins and traditions are colliding with the ideas of these extremely creative authors, and Jessica and Rich don't know which ones to believe.
Now the exciting part: sharing the stories with the world! There are a variety of stories from holidays around the world, some looking at the holidays' origins, others focusing on particular traditions, and still others posing questions about the future or how we celebrate. Every story in
Holiday Magick
starts with some factual background information about the holiday in question, for readers who might be unfamiliar with, or need to learn more about the origins and traditions involved in, that story. The questions that follow are intended to get the reader thinking about the holiday, and what might have another explanation. Enjoy!
My Dearest Valentine
Maria Martinez
The 14th day of FebruaryâValentine's Dayâthe day when couples all over the globe celebrate their love for each other. It is a day filled with romance, passion, and enchantment where lovers rush out in droves to buy cards, roses, and hearts filled with chocolates. They write love letters and whisper sweet nothings.
But why? How did that particular date and name come to be synonymous with romance? And why those specific gifts? What is the real truth behind Valentine's Day?
“She will be dead by dawn.”
“No. This can't be the only way.”
“We have already discussed this. The Queen's heart can take no more.”
“I refuse to believe that! You're nothing but a pathetic, old fool who knows nothing of magic!”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, you know absolutely nothing of true love.”
“How dare you! Guards, remove this man from my sight! He is banished from the castle. See to it that he never steps foot in my kingdom again.”
10 Years Laterâ¦
Hand in hand, Valentine and Daniella silently walked through the magnificent royal gardenâabundantly filled with greenery, lush fields of grass, and the rarest flowers known to man. Since their rendezvous at the garden's gates ten minutes earlier, they hadn't said a word.