Unwrapping ‘The Giving Season’ This December

'The Giving Season' promotional image. Black background with white text and a red present. Text reads 'The Giving Season' a holiday horror challenge by horror author J.A. Steckling.
The Giving Season is a themed collection by horror author J.A. Steckling

The Giving Season marks the next themed collection for the month of December. It will be released Winter of 2022.

Christmas and horror seem like they should go together more often. It is a dark time of year for many. The spirit of giving is extremely important, but when it becomes a materialistic capitalist obsession, it loses much of its true meaning.

The themed collections are monthly writing challenges that I set for myself. I write a poem per day, and at the end, pick my favorite 25 or so to make the final cut. There is one storyline that continues from collection to collection revolving around The White Lily Escapees (read about them here). Their stories are told in a collection of about 13 short shorts narrated by the characters themselves that connect to form a full-length short story. There is also consistently at least one traditional short story in each collection.

This month, the escapees are spreading holiday horror. The short story/stories that will be included in this collection will emphasize the real horrors of the holidays, and I can confirm (as a former retail worker) that at least one monstrous Karen will get their just desserts.

I hope you will check back for updates and keep an eye out for the release of the first themed collection, Halloween, next September (2022).

— Justine

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