Christmas Short Stories Anthology

The beloved Victorian Christmas ghost storytelling tradition continues to thrive in modern day, and this multi-genre anthology of short stories is proof. Cuddle up next to a crackling fire with some holiday music playing softly in the background, and lose yourself in eight amazing Christmas stories by a gang of super-talented, cross-genre authors. Not only are they heartwarming, but they incorporate mystery, science fiction, romance and ghosts!

In this collection are found stories of gay romantic love, the love between a father and his gay son, and old lovers returning from the beyond. There are stories within this book about a magical Christmas tree that appears of its own accord every year, angels, ghosts, and a century-old hotel that miraculously reappears during the holiday season. Most of the stories are written for gay listeners, but some are just cozy Christmas tales. There are stories in this volume for all true lovers of Christmas.

Being the only mortal in a world of magical elves isn’t easy for Chrissy Star, especially at Christmastime. Feeling as if she’s in the way, she escapes Christmas Town and her duties as CFO for a week long vacation on a Greece isle. If she could have her Christmas wish, she’d meet a man who would not only heat up her love life, but understand her unusual family. Nick Christopoulus has met Chrissy before, but a lot has changed in five years.

Whether Christmas is a time of unbridled joy, a season of past reflections, or an ordeal to be endured until the return to normalcy after the New Year, its impact is pervasive in most of our lives. Everyone's feelings are super sensitized, every emotion is heightened. The happy become giddy, the sad become despondent, the lonely become lonelier – unless, yes unless – the magic of Christmas has its way. So it is for the characters in these stories.

Whether you've been naughty or nice, Santa has a treat just for you. Replete with visions of sugar plums, big juicy candy canes, and stockings eager to be filled, The Merry XXXmas Book of Erotica is a campy, blazing-hot feast of holiday erotica that will have you wishing the season of giving lasted all year long. Among these stories, Lynne Jamneck’s "What I Really Want for Christmas” is a tale of friendship igniting to passion with the help of an interfering family, good whiskey, and a Santa suit.

This Yuletide collection of stories, poems, and essays has been rescued from obscurity by the editor, who has also edited and annotated them to make these wonderful classics more easily accessible to modern listeners. While some of these authors may be unknown to you, their works have been included in this collection because of their capacity to instantly intrigue and delight. Give them a try, and don't be surprised if a few of them make their way onto your list of all-time personal Christmas favorites!

While out for a walk, two young men find themselves on Enderly Rd., known for its poor inhabitants and shabby dwellings. They meet a crying girl on her way home and stop her. Learning that the boys who promised to help decorate the schoolhouse for the examinations to be held on Christmas Eve were backing out, the two young men decide to help out the little girl.

In their first encounter, Isabella becomes infatuated with Marc, a handsome young man who makes fantastic potato chips. Fifteen years later while Isabella purchases a picturesque Victorian house she discovers Marc is the seller. His magnetism stirs her emotions and pulls her into his troubled world. Soon Isabella realizes her new house, nestled deep in the woods, is haunted. By communicating with the house's spirit, she hopes to learn secrets, which can help Marc resolve his conflicted past and move him into the future.

Angelina Turner would heartily agree with Dicken's Ebenezer Scrooge that Christmas is a "humbug". She is estranged from her family and doesn't think much of the holiday so she decides to test her theory that there is no such thing as the "Christmas spirit". But unlike Dicken's character. who needed three visitors to change his mind, Miss Turner only needs a Christmas Angel to show her "the rest of the story" and bring us all to a happy ending and a changed heart.

It's that time of the year again, the holiday season. Between checkout lines a mile long, the office party hangover, battles with traffic, and delayed flights, what's better to do than to listen to The Worst Noel and laugh your holiday aggravation away? The collection features an eclectic mix of writers with playful, often dark humor as the common thread.

Each Wednesday morning they take the bus--the lonely graduate student, the marine trying to start a new life in the corporate world, the elderly woman on her way to the senior center, and the exhausted single mother and her daughter--but they never interact. Not until the day tragedy strikes and brings these five strangers together.

She has always had one goal in her mind: for things to be the way they were. But she sees some major setbacks in her path to this goal. From seeing her loved ones torn to shreds by their circumstances to seeing the people that she holds most dear completely change, will she be able to survive it all? This is a story of resilience, fighting back, love, and betrayal.

Ready to risk all that she has for one thing, will Emily succeed in having the beautiful life she once had, or will she lose it all? From the celebrations of the most beautiful time of the year to the most severe heartbreak, Emily has to keep herself together if she wants it all. Can she have it all? Or does she have to let go of one for the other? Emily is in a dire conflict with her own self.

Listeners are invited to sit back and enjoy this collection of classic Yuletide tales....

A Christmas Present, a gift from an aunt to a niece, Narrated by Mike Vendetti. And we always thought it was a guy thing.

“The Santa Call” - After accidentally forgetting his wife at home during a weekend getaway, ol' St. Nick returns to discover she's left him. At wit's end, Santa turns to a radio talk show for some much needed love advice. But will he win Mrs. Claus back in time to save Christmas?

Also included: “Mad Dog” - Mad Dog is a drunk. He was also once the top sports announcer in the country, announcing everything from Cotton Bowls to Super Bowls. Now he's washed up and looking for work.

Seven contrasting short stories, all set at Christmastime: 'Mr. Huffam' by Hugh Walpole, 'A Strange Christmas Game' by J. H. Riddell, 'The Christmas Tree and the Wedding' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole, 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry, 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Cop and the Anthem' by O. Henry.

This short story, "El Espejo de Navidad", is in Spanish. It is about a father, who is having a hard time letting go of his daughter, as she comes to the point, where she no longer believes... in Papa Noel(Santa).

Gnarl Saves Christmas is a satire of classic holiday tales and modern fantasy. The tale is told on a cold, snowy night, when two children snuggle in bed while Grandpa tells them a story. In a long-ago age when monsters and magic ruled the land of men, a family of beast-like gnolls is visited by jolly St. Nick. Chaos ensues, and by the time that it's done, the ruler of their clan - Gnarl - must don the red and white garb, take up the magic bag, and finish the rounds, lest the holidays be lost across all of the land.

This collection follows on from Australian Christmas Yarns Volume I and consists of 10 stories by notable Australian author Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958). These stories sketch challenges of landscape, relationship, loss and hope.