The Good Cheer Holiday Bundle - Curated by Dean Wesley Smith
Wonderful Reading for the Holiday
I suppose I should tell you that during the holiday season I watch a lot of Lifetime and Hallmark movies. Yes, I really do and I love them. During this time of the year, and especially this year, I just want good stories with characters that I can depend on to take me away from the realities of pandemic and politics for a short time.
Now that does not mean I binge only on light, predictable romance stories. Nope. I read a lot of mystery and science fiction as well, and watch both on television as well. But during the holidays there is just something special about stories with a holiday theme, no matter the type or genre.
So when putting this Good Holiday Cheer Bundle together, I did my best to find not only great novels set around the holiday season, but a lot of short stories as well.
After all, we are all busy in one way or another during this time of year, and sometimes we have time for a longer escape, sometimes we need just a short respite. Or something in between.
In this bundle there are stories of all length and sizes, all focused on holidays in one form or another. And some amazing stories and holiday history by the one and only L. Frank Baum.
I think that all of these novels and stories in this bundle are perfect ways to escape for just a short time into the hands of professional writers who can take you into other words, other places, for just a short, wonderful time.
Since I mentioned classic Lifetime or Hallmark type stories, I want to start off with a perfect example in book form. Tidings of Comfort and Joy by Kristine Grayson would be a perfect Hallmark movie, about a trouble-shooter having to go to the North Pole to fix Santa's old computer and, as it turns out, so much more. Wonderful, feel-good novel you don't want to miss.
Another novel set in the holiday romance side of things from Anthea Lawson is a fantastic Victorian love story called A Duke of Midwinter. As Anthea describes it, "it is full of Christmas trees, mulled wine, misunderstandings, and, of course, true love."
Following that I got a wonderful novel from Suzan Harden about a superhero attorney struggling with not only saving a city, but saving Christmas dinner in a light and fun book, A Very Hero Christmas. The tag line on this describes it all… "The only thing more dangerous than a superhero is his attorney."
Next I wanted to move into the mystery world with a fantastic private eye novel from Rebecca Senese. The Twelve Deaths of Christmas stars Noel Kringle, private detective. As Rebecca described the book… "Mystery with a dash of fantasy, Noel Kringle mixes Christmas, and sleuthing, in a tale of magic and suspense."
Bestselling author Lisa Silverthorne sent me a stand-alone short novel that is perfect for a short read this holiday season. Lisa said, "Gina's Remains is about Slate Landry, who had nothing much left but his job, that is until Angle Flight went down." Wonderful escape for this holiday season by one of the nation's top writers.
And then from New York Times bestseller Kevin J. Anderson, I got a short and wonderful installment of his Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I series. In Naughty & Nice, Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. finds himself tackling a bizarre Christmas case when Santa Claus himself becomes a client, hiring Dan to recover some very precious stolen North Pole property. If you like werewolves, vampires, evil elves, zombies, as well as a lot of belly laughs, curl up with this story and some eggnog.
At this point, we have three long novels, two short novels, and I wanted to fill the rest out with collections of short stories, to make sure that everyone who bought this bundle found more than enough holiday reading to last well into the new year.
Every year New York Times bestselling writer and editor, Kristine Kathryn Rusch edits an Advent-like calendar of short stories. Subscribers can get an original holiday story in their inbox every day from American Thanksgiving until the first day of the new year. None of the stories are religious, just focused on all sorts of holidays. And then the stories are published in various books the following year. For this bundle, she offered up Joyous Christmas, a collection of 11 holiday short stories by 11 different authors with introductions by Kris, all from last year's Holiday Spectacular Calendar. Wonderful reading, I promise you.
And award-winning writer Annie Reed offered to the bundle the collection The Diz and Dee Holiday Mysteries. These six mystery stories by one of best short fiction writers working today are light-hearted blends of mystery and fantasy. And as Annie put it, "All served up with a healthy helping of holiday charm."
Then I added in one of my collections about a time traveling Jukebox called Through the Jukebox. Every Christmas Eve, the owner of the bar lets his regulars take a special trip back through time for the length of a song on his special jukebox. The first story in this collection, "Jukebox Gifts" has been optioned numbers of times for movies and television and might be one of my best short stories.
And then finally, the best of the best of the best. The Santa Claus Stories by L. Frank Baum. (Yes, the Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum.) This was edited, with all the original art, by James Romag and somehow published by Wordfire Press and guided by Kevin J. Anderson. A massive task and a book that you should not miss.
Santa Claus and many of our Christmas traditions came from these stories. Of course, lots of sources before these stories contributed, and Coke ads after these stories refined what we think of Santa Claus in looks. But the L. Frank Baum stories were the center of it all. And James Romag, in his introduction, lays it all out for you.
This book is an amazing treat to read this holiday.
So now, for the first time ever, you can read all the original Santa Claus stories, plus see all the original art that came with the stories, in one fantastic book.
And you can get that book right here in this bundle.
So, in this bundle you have lots of different forms of holiday escape for a really tough holiday. Light novels, mystery novels, short novels, classic short stories, and a lot of short stories of all types to give you as many choices as you would like for escape, all for one very low price.
Also, when you get this bundle, don't forget to add a little for AbleGamers.com, a fantastic charity that provides gaming equipment to the disabled to help them survive in this harsh world. Even more important during these holidays.
– Dean Wesley Smith
Las Vegas, Nevada
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For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus six more!
This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi) for all books!
It's also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.
Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.
StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.
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