Every year, I join Rhonda Parrish’s Giftmas blog tour, a circle of authors sharing Christmas and other seasonal cheer to raise money for the Edmonton Food Bank. This year our theme is Connections — which, I’m not gonna lie, struck me as a tough theme in 2020.
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that Giftmas is when we raise funds for the Edmonton Food Bank. (No, I don’t live in Edmonton. No, I don’t even live in Canada. But look, Canada would help me out, too.) Giftmas is organized each year by Rhonda Parrish, my editor of many anthologies, and each year it’s a fun way to tour some writers’ sites, do good by putting food on the table, and win cool stuff.
There are three parts to this post: What’s in it for charity, what’s in it for you, and a tease for a Christmas gift from me.
Spotted online: If they don’t want a book, do they really deserve a gift at all? Well, I’ll allow that other gifts can be nice, too, but this is a great time of year to introduce friends to your favorites and to find new favorites for yourself —… 12 Days of Fantasy & Sci-Fi Christmas Deals
“The Face of Herod.” That actually sounds like a title, doesn’t it? But I guess it would have to be a mystery, as we don’t have any idea what King Herod looked like.
In case you missed my previous post, this month a lot of authors are participating in the Giftmas 2018 blog tour to raise money for the Edmonton Food Bank. Our readers have been great; you can check our final stats over here.
Each day of the tour, an author has posted a free story to support the effort. But it’s possible that you didn’t get to them all, or that you hate reading on a blog instead of in your favorite ereader or on traditional wood pulp.
Well, Merry Christmas! Because today we have an anthology for you.
It’s become something of a tradition to join editor and author Rhonda Parrish in her Giftmas blog tour to benefit the Edmonton Food Bank, and now we’re back again! I’m picking up the blog baton from author E.C. Bell. And this year we have something new and cool for you!
Every stop along the tour, starting December 1, will have a story or poem for you. It’s free — a gift, you might say. So you’ll have 24 free stories just for coming along with us.
We’ve just finished Thanksgiving here, complete with turkey and Beef Wellington and dinosaurs.
dinosaurs and Beef Wellington
Thanksgiving is fundamentally about both gratitude and sharing. Frequently at the end of the year, I list some of my charities and invite readers to donate with me. We don’t talk amounts, there are no special prizes, it’s just me sharing some causes and the organizations I trust to do something about them. None of these links are connected to me, I get no kickback or prize for referrals or anything. This is just part of me thanking all of you for helping me to support these groups, who offer help to all in need regardless of identity, creed or worldview, etc.
From the iconic 1947 filmĀ Miracle on 34th Street to Clement Moore’s immortal poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” to Rise of the Guardians (with a great burly Santa) to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (too awful even for my schlock-loving B-movie taste), Saint Nick has gotten a lot of attention. But there’s another figure who has been consistently overlooked, and it’s time she gets her due.
I mean Mrs. Claus, of course.
And so I am pleased to announce a new anthology of stories all about the lady behind the jolly old elf.Cover Reveal: Mrs. Claus