The holiday season is upon us (heck, it’s almost gone!) so I thought I’d share some insights into Myths and Mistletoe, my first holiday story collection.
If you haven’t heard about this book, it’s a collection of four stories set in my fictional worlds around the winter holidays. And not just Christmas!
Read on to find out about each story and holiday.
Or, if you’d rather watch, here’s the video version:
The Inspiration
I got the idea for this holiday story collection back in 2017 while on a birthday camping trip to Utah. As I lay there, beneath the stars, thinking about how much I love reading holiday short stories and novellas (especially romance anthologies) I decided to write one of my own!
After that chilly September night, I came home and got to work.
I outlined the stories, wrote the first drafts, edited them, created the cover, and published it at the beginning of December. Just over two months from idea to finished book.
Now that’s some holiday magic!
The Stories
Warning: May contain spoilers if you haven’t read the other books in the series yet!
Of Solstice Dreaming
The first story takes place in my Darkly Fae world during the Winter Solstice. It’s all about one of the main characters in When Magic Sleeps, Winnie Price.
Winnie Price has spent years dreaming of the magical Winter Solstice celebration in the fae realm. This is the year she will finally get to attend. But when things don’t go according to plan, will her dream still come true?
There are definite spoilers if you haven’t read When Magic Sleeps. But you can change that by grabbing the first Darkly Fae novella for FREE!
You can also read this holidays story for free! Get your ebook copy of Of Solstice Dreaming HERE.
A Mythmas Carol
The second story takes place in my Sweet Venom world (big spoilers) during Christmas. It stars Gretchen Sharpe, one of my monster-hunting triplet descendants of Medusa.
Christmas has never brought anything but trouble for Gretchen Sharpe. She’d rather spend the holidays hunting down mythological monsters than fighting over mashed potatoes. Can three sentimental hunts change her mind?
I love stories that show the softening of a hard soul, and Gretchen was the perfect candidate to go through a bit of a ghosts of Christmas past experience.
Snow Falling on Serfopoula
The third story takes place in my Oh. My. Gods. world (with minor spoilers) during the Haloa festival, which was an ancient Greek celebration of Poseidon. It stars Adara Spencer, a secondary character in the original books.
The Haloa festival is supposed to be a time of hope, but Adara Spencer hasn’t been feeling particularly hopeful. Until a surprise island snowfall brings three surprise visitors to her door with a surprise invitation.
This is one of the more serious stories I’ve ever written. Still, I think it’s full of hope. Which I think is really important this time of year. Not everything is glitter and joy, but there is hope and magic in the air.
New Year, New Mermaid
The fourth and final story in the collection takes place in my Forgive My Fins world on New Year’s Eve. This one is spoiler-free because it stars characters that you don’t meet in the original books.
Marina Borealis knows having a crush on your best friend is the worst. Especially when he doesn’t feel the same way. Especially on New Year’s Eve. Will she spend another year unrequited, or will everything change before the shell drops?
Finally, a romance story! Because every holiday story collection needs a good romance. And Marina is definitely overdue.
The Future
I had so much fun writing and producing this holiday story collection. I can’t wait to do more!
My immediate plans include creating an audiobook version (reading it myself, maybe!!!) and a special edition with color illustrations and some fun extras inside.
I also plan to write more holiday story collections down the road. Maybe in other seasons, not just winter. But then again, I do love a good Christmas holiday romance…
We’ll see what the holiday-filled future brings!
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