Time Travel Holidays: A Holiday Anthology, which includes my short story “Training Run,” is set to go live on November 3, wherever ebooks are sold. That said, the anthology is also included as a stretch reward in WMG Publishing‘s Kickstarter for The Holiday Spectacular.
This is how it works: Every day from November 23 to January 1, backers will receive one holiday-themed short story… a kind of fictional Advent calendar. Those who back it for a bit more will receive their choice of a number of excellent anthologies, including Time Travel Holidays. Check out the Kickstarter here.
You have until November 2 to take advantage of this great deal!.
After her 20-year marriage collapses from inertia, Beatrice Talsma sets off on a year-long, cross-Canada journey to discover where she truly belongs. When she reaches the Yukon, however, her short pause turns into a decision to settle down in this strange new place.
In a complete break with the past, she rents out a cabin in the Yukon wilderness. It’s a wonderful spot, except that her closest neighbor, Henry Pekarik, also her landlord, seems determined to help Beatrice out, whether she wants it or not.
Deputy Chief Rob McKell doesn’t trust Christmas. Bad guys don’t take time off during the holidays so why should he? Then the lovely Jillian, a gemologist with an independent streak, invites him to dinner on Christmas Eve for the all-important meeting of her friends. Soon, he starts to revise his feelings about the holiday—and his fear of long-term commitment. But before the evening ends, Jillian’s dangerous past will rear up to prove that Christmas is no time to let his guard down.
When Faith decides to escape Christmas and her friends’ matchmaking efforts by spending the holiday alone in the big city, she never expects to find Christmas waiting there for her.
DECEMBER 17, 2022 UPDATE: I have taken down “Training Run,” as my contract allowed me to keep up for one week only.
December 10, 2022: Today, my short story “Training Run” is the feature story in the WMG Holiday Spectacular. I will post the story here for one week–on December 17, it comes down. The Holiday Spectacular is a calendar of short stories, one a day, from American Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, delivered directly to your inbox. One a day for 39 days! It’s not too late to subscribe and get all the stories emailed to you. Just visit https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/spectacular/.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who edits the Holiday Spectacular, says of my story:
“Marcelle Dubé writes great atmospheric mysteries, sometimes venturing into Gothic territory. Her work has finally caught the attention of the Crime Writers of her native Canada. They gave her short story, “Cold Wave,” the award of excellence in the short fiction category in 2021, and shortlisted her novella, “Identity Withheld,” for the novella category of the same award just this year.
“Her stories appear everywhere, including Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Crime Wave, and many other publications. She has also written a number of novels. Her most recent, The Wronged Woman, just came out in January. Find out more about her work at marcellemdube.com.
“So now that I’ve told you all about her mysteries, I’m going to tell you that “Training Run” isn’t mystery at all. It’s a time travel story, but it does have crime and a haunting sense of wrong at its heart.
“It’s a powerful tale about truth and lies, history and family. And it’s set in Quebec on one very snowy Christmas Eve.”
In the spirit of the season, I’ve made my romantic Christmas short story, A Yukon Christmas, free for the month of December. You can find it here: https://books2read.com/u/bPdDrb
After her 20-year marriage ends, Beatrice finds herself in a cabin in the Yukon. For the first time in a long time, she’s happy. Or she would be, if her attractive neighbor and landlord, Henry Pekarik, didn’t try to help her quite so much.
And if you’re really in the Christmas mood, I have other short stories:
Deputy Chief Rob McKell doesn’t trust Christmas. Bad guys don’t take time off during the holidays so why should he? Then the lovely Jillian, a gemologist with an independent streak, invites him to dinner on Christmas Eve for the all-important meeting of her friends. Soon, he starts to revise his feelings about the holiday—and his fear of long-term commitment. But before the evening ends, Jillian’s dangerous past will rear up to prove that Christmas is no time to let his guard down.
It’s Christmas eve day and Constable Marco Trepalli of the Mendenhall Police Department can’t wait to be off shift. He’s planning a big surprise for his girlfriend, Amanda. Something special. Something romantic.
Then a kid doesn’t return home after sledding and Trepalli forgets all about his plans in the mad scramble to mobilize search parties and interview the kid’s friends. And as hour after hour slips by with no sign of the boy, Trepalli braces himself for what could turn into the worst Christmas ever… for him and the kid’s family.
When Faith decides to escape Christmas and her friends’ matchmaking efforts by spending the holiday alone in the big city, she never expects to find Christmas waiting there for her.
In Christmas Magic, Marcelle Dubé sweeps the reader into cozy worlds of Christmas snow, wood stoves, and new romance… with a little mayhem thrown in. A collection of three romantic Christmas short stories (McKell’s Christmas, A Yukon Christmas and Running Away from Christmas) by the author of The Shoeless Kid and Ghosts of Morocco.
Last weekend’s book sale at Fort Macleod was a blast. We were in the Ft. Macleod library, hosted by the most wonderful librarians, ever (I’m looking at you, Susan!). The library was buzzing with activity, including a chili fundraiser (I forget for what now). You bought a small pottery piece donated by local potters and got a bowl of delicious chili, too! I got a beautiful little vase, round like an ancient Venus. People flowed in and flowed out–to pick up books, get some free hot chocolate, use the washrooms… and they all stopped to visit with us (and have some candy). Then the place emptied out because the Santa Claus parade was going by on the street!
My first Santa parade in decades and it was wonderful. School bands from all around the area participated, great floats, lots of candy tossing. Apparently a man riding a bison was at the front of the parade but I never saw him. I did see a bunch of antlers going by from my vantage point in the library. I presume they were attached to reindeer…
Ft Macleod is a happening place. Every building was decorated for the season and there were craft fairs going on at the same time. Hundreds of people came for the parade and stayed for the chili. What a blast. Here’s a photo of the five of us at our table: Lorraine “Lorrie” Morales, me, Laurie Carmichael, JT Conners and Marcia Laycock.
I am so very pleased that my Christmas Magic: Three Romantic Holiday Tales is part of StoryBundle’s Holiday Collections. The bundle consists of 11 collections of holiday short stories ranging from sweet romance to horror. In all, there are 72 short stories, by very talented writers.
StoryBundle’s Holiday Collections
Dean Wesley Smith, the curator of the Holiday Collections bundle, says “Wow, is this bundle going to be fun. Fantastic writers and 72 different holiday short stories. That’s right. 72. And you can get all of them for one low price that works out to about 20 cents per story.” You can read his entire essay and check out each of the collections at https://storybundle.com/holiday.
I’ve already started reading and you should, too. The bundle is available until the end of the month, then it disappears. Don’t wait–this is the perfect reading to get you in the holiday mood–whatever mood that happens to be.
I love Christmas, even this year. I love it so much that I’ve actually written a few romantic Christmas short stories over the years. If you’re in the mood for some light (mostly light) reading, here are some short stories that might warm your heart.
