It’s that time of year…Christmas. You either love it or you hate it. Or you hate the toil and trouble, the trailing around the shops, trying to find something for Great-aunt Alice that isn’t yet another pair of fluffy slippers or that she won’t put in the drawer and try and remember to put on display every time you call round. It’s all a mad silly rush and you vow, yet again, that you’ll be more organised next year and start in May, roundabout when you’re starting to think of your summer hols.
My recommendation? Well, aside from sorting dear old Alice out with a Kindle/ereader and a few respectable books (or grabbing a passport and escaping to Timbuktoo), let me suggest sitting down in a nice comfy armchair beside a pleasantly glowing fire with a cup of deliciously steaming-hot cocoa (or if it’s after six, some mulled wine maybe?), and forget about the festive lunacy and escape for half an hour with a seasonal short story. It’s safe, it’s legal, it’s cheap, (well, depending on the number of glasses of mulled wine you have), but more importantly, it’s a tried and tested (by me) remedy to help prevent loss of sanity.
Two authors and four books spring to mind for this little home-grown cure. Continue reading “Spotlight on…Christmas fiction”