I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I adore Christmas and the excess and excitement of it all. But I also love the post Christmas indulgence of lazing in warm corners with a stack of Christmas books, a small glass and a casual hand dangling in the chocolates. I look forward to this time every year, most especially the wonderful treasures of all the Christmas short stories. There seem to be more every year and I plough through them as fast as I do the Quality Street. This year has been no exception. I’ve received some truly fabulous collections. Amongst them is Night Terrors: The Ghost Stories of E.F.Benson – a recent find for me. Part of the Chitchat club, he was one of M.R. James’s listeners and, for my money, possibly as good himself. Eight Ghosts – The English Heritage Book of New Ghost Stories has some amazing contributors including a favourite of the Christmas story genre, Jeanette Winterson, along with Sarah Perry and Mark Haddon.
With that in mind, I’ve been inspired to write something of my own to share with you on these very stormy nights. Obviously, it’s not in the same league but I am a great fan of the short story and love the discipline of condensing all your thoughts and ideas into a few short pages. I hope you enjoy it and wish you a very happy and fulfilled 2018.
One thought on “Happy New Year.”