These are a mix of stories about childhood reverie, gentle crime, and winter weather - but all are centered around the Christmas holiday.Winter can be a wonderful season, but I think these stories are best read inside, next to a warm fire or candles, with a warm drink of tea or cocoa beside you.

When a blind psychic warns of a dark fate awaiting seven homeless teens, PI Cam Sharp and her flamboyant partner, Juju, infiltrate a high-society fundraiser called the "Night of Misrule." They soon discover the party is a cover for a sinister magical ritual. To save the kids and stop the chaos, they must snatch a powerful enchanted artifact from a newly crowned king before everyone becomes a permanent pawn in a terrifying game.

A Heartwarming Holiday Short Story Collection About Home, Kindness, and Second ChancesStep into the quiet magic of the holiday season with this beautifully written collection of short stories that celebrate the moments that matter most.Set against snowy nights, glowing windows, and familiar winter rituals, these stories explore the many ways the holidays shape our lives. Within these pages, you’ll meet characters facing reconciliation after years apart, chi...

In the dusty and hot parking lot of a local tavern, a young woman is overcome with a memory from her childhood that causes her to reconsider her relationship and her future in a small town in Colorado.

Two young women survive a flash flood. During their adventure they find a hidden cave full of drawings of animals and symbols done by ancient people.The artwork connects them in place and time to the wider, universal dance of life.

A family learns how intelligent and frighteningly devoted crows can be when a young girl befriends a family of the birds. This short story takes place in Denver, Colorado, where the danger that lurks is not always the expected.

When a small-town art museum in Trinidad, Colorado, prepares to unveil its new Spanish colonial collection, the last thing the staff expects is a haunting. But as crates are unpacked and strange things begin to stir—laughter echoing through empty halls, tiny handprints smeared across glass, and paint mysteriously spilled in childlike trails—one worker starts to suspect the artifacts brought more than history with them.What begins as innocent curiosity turns into a chilling mystery ...

Meet Rye Gannon, a private detective who knows her craft and doesn't blink, even when she discovers that magic is real - and that she has the unusual ability to find it. Rye is hired by the Harpocrates Society, a secret organization, to use her newly discovered talent to find and secure magical items, and she is drawn into a world of adventure and intrigue she hadn't known was possible.When a magical object is stolen from a curio shop in Omaha, Nebraska, Rye is called in to find th...

A young woman alone in the deep woods at night, and with no immediate memory of why she was there. What brought her to this place? Why did they leave her?This short story is for those with a love of the night, vampires, a thirst for revenge, and tales about endings…and beginnings.

The public library was going to be closed Christmas Day. The church shelter nearby was closed as well for Christmas Eve and Christmas night. With no day or evening shelter available for the street people in this small town nestled near the Rocky Mountains, the librarian hoped for a miracle.This gentle crime story with a touch of magic is the perfect read on a cozy winter night.This story was originally published in the book Magic and Mistletoe: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology, ...

Viktor, a tracker, is called in to a grisly scene in a Minnesota state forest. An illegal poacher has been murdered and the hope is that Viktor can track the murderer through the woods so that the dangerous and possibly deranged villain can be apprehended.The tracker searches, but the trail comes to an end when it intersects with the road. Will Viktor be able to find his quarry?

In this short story, Jim wakes up one morning into a day of silence. The hustle and bustle of the city is gone - and so are the electricity and motor vehicles that run the world.How does he respond? How will the world react when everything has to be done by hand and in-person? Does it have to be a dystopia? Jim's first days in this new reality could set the tone for years to come.