DECK THE HALLS WITH BOOKS HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA - - THE COAL ELF by Maria DeVivo

Holiday Traditions – Christmas Adam

The holidays were always a major production in my neck of the woods.  I’m the oldest of five children in an Irish-Italian family, and Christmastime was always a time of dramatics and theatrics.  Lots of our celebrating centered around food – a constant rotation of courses: antipasta, appetizers, salads, breads, pasta dishes, chicken cutlet parmigiana, fish of all varieties, ham, and not to mention the oodles upon oodles of desserts.  As my siblings and I got older and started to “branch out” so-to-speak, dividing time between our prospective in-laws, our wild extended family, and each other became a very difficult feat.  So, we created our own special day; a day that we would set aside for just the siblings and our parents.  We called it Christmas Adam, and it’s celebrated on December 23rd (because Adam came before Eve in the traditional sense).

This day became our time together.  We did a grab-bag style of gift giving (which was beneficial to the struggling college kids we had grown into), and we didn’t bother with the formalities of a seven-course meal – Chinese food or pizza worked beautifully.  The day fast became an exciting and highly anticipated tradition for us.  

As adults, now with our own families spread out in the country, Christmas Adam is still a thing. We’re not all together anymore, and long gone are the days of deciding where we’re eating Christmas Eve dinner and where we’re eating Christmas Day dinner. Christmas Adam is no longer a necessity for us as a family, but it’s a day we still recognize and observe. I’ve since passed on the tradition to my daughter, and it has evolved into our “cooking prep day” for the season. The original meaning behind the day has evolved, but we still hold the old observance as a part of our family tradition, and the sentiment will certainly remain as family legend.

**FUN FACT: In The Coal Elf, the coal elves celebrate a holiday they refer to as Adam’s Day!  That’s my own little personal nod to my brothers and sisters and to the wonderful times we shared together.

The Coal Elf

The Coal Elf Chronicles,#1

by Maria DeVivo

Date of Publication:  October 15th 2024

Publisher: 4 Horsemen

Genre:  Dark Fantasy

 Publications

ISBN: 979-8823204231

ASIN: B0CW1HMWZJ

Number of pages:  260

Word Count: 73k

Tagline: Santa is real, but this isn't your childhood Christmas tale!   

BLURB

Ember Skye is a fed-up teenaged Coal Elf with a big ashy chip on her shoulder. Torn away from her carefree life Aboveground, she was forced into a world of dirt and darkness in the Mines. Now, the coal is starting to take its toll. Plus, being the only girl-elf coal miner at the North Pole is not fun at all!

Amazon     4Horseman Publications

Maria DeVivo writes horror and dark fantasy for both a YA and adult audience. Each of her series has been Amazon best-sellers and have won multiple awards since 2012. A lover of all things dark and demented, the worlds she creates are fantastical and immersive. Get swept away in the lands of elves, zombies, angels, demons, and witches (but not all in the same place). Maria takes great pleasure in warping the comfort factor in her readers’ minds – just when you think you’ve reached a safe space in her stories, she snaps you back into her twisted reality.

https://linktr.ee/mariadevivo   

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BOOK BLITZ w/EXCERPT - HOLIDAY FANTASY LGBTQ+ - A CHRISTMAS TO FIGHT FOR by Jessica Frances

A Christmas to Fight For

by Jessica Frances

Publication date: November 12th 2021

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Holiday, LGBTQ+, Romance

BLURB

As the last of my kind, I’ve long lived in the shadows. But, with the death of my father, I have a dying wish to fulfill, and I can no longer keep quiet. I can no longer stand back and watch as the Santa Claus Organization takes everything from us. So, I launch an attack that was doomed from the start. I am but one krampus up against the cruelest organization in the world. I knew it was a long shot. I knew I would likely die.

Then something surprising happens. The most recent Santa Claus comes into my life, and I don’t know what to make of him. He wasn’t what I was expecting. He’s supposed to be a puppet. A heartless, despicable Santa. But he’s not. He’s … a good person?

Do I have things wrong? Have I had them wrong all along? Or am I falling for the biggest con in the world?

Either way, change is coming for North Pole, and this is sure to be the deadliest Christmas on record and a time that no one will ever forget.

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EXCERPT:

Standing over me, the demon is almost in shadow. However, past the strange features of his skin, tail, and horns, I clearly read his anger and hate. He hates me.

Why?

“For my father! For my people! For all that is still good in this world!” he shouts.

The impact of his words are almost the same as a jolt from a bullet. He sounds righteous and like he is on the right side, not us. He must be delusional. He must be crazy.

He holds up his gun, his aim pointed at my chest.

I close my eyes, wondering what death will be like. I heard people say that their ancestors are there to greet them, that they are welcomed by them and live out their afterlife in the cradle of family. But my family disowned me, and I somehow don’t expect anyone further up my family line to understand me. If anything, they will probably hate me worse.

Is it my destiny to be murdered then spend the rest of my afterlife alone, too?

Instead of the blast of the weapon expunging the bullet from the nozzle, I hear a click, which tells me that he’s out of bullets.

I open one eye first, and then the other, watching him glare down at his gun.

Could it be? Am I saved?

He throws the gun to the ground then fists his hands into my suit, picking me up then headbutting me.

I cry out, certain I have been stabbed by his horns, but it’s my nose that feels the most pain.

Blood gushes down my face, and all I taste and smell is blood.

“Release him!” someone shouts from behind him. He’s so damn big that I can’t see who it is.

“Just kill it!” someone else yells, this voice commanding. I think it might have come from Chancellor Gibson.

I begin to feel better knowing he’s here. He will know what to do.

“They’re so close that we could hit Santa Claus!”

“Then we’ll get another Santa Claus! Just kill it! It cannot be allowed to live!”

I glance at the demon still holding me, one hand releasing me so he can grab something out of his pocket. He then swings me around just as a gunshot blasts from behind him, but this demon isn’t quick enough to use me as a shield.

His body jolts as he’s hit, and then his hand smacks into me. The item he’s holding is a space-eater.

“Shi—”

The last syllable is lost as we jump through space and land somewhere I have never been before.

What the hell just happened?

 

Author Info

Jessica lives in Adelaide, South Australia. When she is not writing, you can find her reading, napping or watching excessive amounts of TV. Connect with her on Facebook and Goodreads.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram

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