Yuletide Thrills

Do you like your Christmas stories naughty or nice? Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Cantrell dishes out both in this anthology of four never-before-seen stories and two published favorites, all inspired by beloved Christmas songs. Like Christmas day, the collection starts in the bright light of morning and the stories get darker as the day wears on. Get ready to put on your headphones, queue up the holiday songs and experience some Christmas magic. In TWINKLE, follow Joe Tesla and his dog Edison through a New York Christmas. When Edison rescues a lost kitten on the subway, Joe has to find the kitten’s owner before Christmas, and he doesn’t even know the little girl’s name. Suggested song pairing: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Christmas). The boy in WHEN WE HAVE GONE ASTRAY gets a talking Buzzy for Christmas. But the toy is learning more than how to speak--it’s coming alive! Suggested song pairing: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The main character in HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is definitely not going to make it there. A programmer on an oil rig prison discovers too late what he’s been building. Suggested song pairing: I’ll Be Home for Christmas with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to finish. WHITE CHRISTMAS first appeared in Dark Discoveries under the title “Caulbearer.” When a man tells his divorce lawyer that what he really wants is to experience true connection, he hasn’t yet learned to be careful what he wishes for. Suggested song pairing: White Christmas. I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. A boy’s mother kisses Santa Claus and then disappears. When he follows her footsteps out into the snow, they end in the middle of the yard. Did Santa take her? Suggested song pairing: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.