Mainlining Christmas

Remember last year, when I wrote a novel-length collection of short Christmas genre fiction and posted it daily to the blog in December? Well, I enjoyed it so much, I decided I'd rather rip my teeth out with pliers than try to do it again this year. So if you were hoping to get another twenty-five short stories out of me this December, you're out of luck. I might - MIGHT - write a handful if I get any ideas worth pursuing, but don't expect anywhere near the level of fiction I wrote in 2012. I burned through just about every idea I had, and I don't have the kind of free time this year I had last. To make it up to all of you, I'm giving away the new e-book version of last year's*  collection for a limited time on Smashwords . Now you can take the stories of Mainlining Christmas with you wherever you go. I mean, you could probably do that before, assuming you have a smart phone. The stories are still sitting here on the site, after all. But then y

I know I said I'd see you next year , but that's days away, and... I missed you guys. Besides, I've got something to say. When we started Mainlining Christmas, Lindsay and I discussed, among other things, what would and would not constitute a "Christmas movie." It's not as easy to delineate as you'd think. Originally, I excluded Die Hard, reasoning that an action movie wasn't a Christmas movie, regardless of when it was set. We went ahead with it this year for a few reasons, not the least of which being that we wanted to watch something good. But there's more to it than that. As we've covered more and more classics, the line's gotten blurred. Holiday Inn is considered a Christmas classic: hell, it's where the song "White Christmas" originated. But Christmas actually only represents a small portion of the film's time and attention. The rule of thumb I've been using so far has been that if something feels  like it&

This isn't a full post, but I wanted to mark a milestone. Today is December 12th, 2012, a day of significance to many people. Let me spell it out for you: this is 12/12/2012. Or, to put it another way, today is the 2000th anniversary of 12/12/12, the last repetitive date the Universe ever saw. If anyone claims today's date is repetitive, it's likely because they're unaware that when we drop the 20 from 2012, it's just shorthand. If that made a difference, we could just start writing dates without the placeholder for ten in the year. Then we'd get repetitive dates all the time. March third, 2013 would be 3/3/3, as would the same day in 2023, 2033, 2043, and so on. Of course, we'd all know it would be BS: dropping a placeholder doesn't mean it doesn't exist: it just means we're lazy. On an unrelated topic, you've got less than 2 weeks of shopping before Christmas.

Remember two years ago when I wrote five short stories for the blog in the midst of trying to review dozens of crappy specials and movies, and by the end of it I was almost ready to put my head through a brick wall? Good times. But at least my hard work was appreciated. I mean, just check out these enthusiastic quotes about the free compilation I dumped on Smashwords afterward ( download yours today! ): Nothing cheery about these Christmas stories. Would not recommend it. -Anonymous reviewer on Barnes & Noble's website Though this collection of short stories was better than the other free books/short stories I've purchased on my nook, I still will not say it was very much worth reading. -Reviewer on Goodreads If the people want more, who am I to say no? With that in mind, I'm ready to announce something a little special this year. After slacking last year (three stories - really, I am embarrassed), I felt like I owed you a bit more this holiday. That'