Chestnuts Roasting Anthology
Author Bio:
Mischief Corner Books is an organization of superheroes… no, it’s a platinum-album techno-fusion group…no, hold on a sec here…
Ah, yes. Mischief Corner is a diverse group of authors who met on a mountain in Tennessee and decided since we probably were too easily distracted to rule the world that we’d settle for causing a bit of mayhem instead.
In addition to making mayhem, we publish books with a diverse range of genres and topics… we live to break molds.
MCB. Giving voice to LGBTQ fiction.
Author Contact:
Mischief Corner Books Website and Store: https://mischiefcornerbooks.weebly.com MCB Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MischiefCornerBooks
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books, LLC
Cover Artist: Catherine Dair
Blurb(s):
Christmas means different things to everyone, but most often it’s all about pulling loved ones close and brightening the gloom. The fire’s crackling. The snow is piling up outside, even if it’s only in your dreams. Time to snuggle up with some cocoa and some stories carefully crafted by the Mischief Corner Crew to warm hearts and cockles.
Wreath of Fire: Smokey Mountains Bears 2 – Toni Griffin
Michael’s trying to start a new life away from his abusive father, but he’s drifting and not sure what he wants. When he accidentally starts a kitchen fire, the hot new fireman who comes to the rescue is not only another bear shifter. He’s Michael’s mate. Michael desperately needs to get his act together and figure out what he wants if he has any hope of claiming the bear fated to be his.
A Christmas Cactus for the General – Angel Martinez
Exiled to Earth for perhaps the worst failure in Irasolan history, General Teer must assimilate or die. Earth is too warm, too wet, too foreign, but he does the best he can even though human males are loud, childish louts whom he can’t imitate successfully. When a grieving seaplane pilot strikes up a strange and uneasy friendship with him, he finds he may have been too quick to judge human males. They are strange to look at, but perhaps not as unbearable as he thought.
Holly Jolly – Silvia Violet
I’m not gay. I just notice men sometimes. Everybody does, right? I notice Dane a lot, like every time I’m near him, but just because I think he’s an attractive man that doesn’t mean I like him, does it?
I’m also not a fan of Christmas. Too many years “celebrating” with my Bible-thumping family ruined the holiday for me. So what if I envy all these cheerful souls dashing about with smiles on their faces? I don’t have to like Christmas, do I? If anyone could get me in the Christmas spirit, it would be Dane with his easy, relaxed manner and his gorgeous smile. If that were going to happen, though, I’d have to find the courage to talk to him and to admit that maybe I don’t know myself all that well after all.
Snow on Spirit Bridge – Freddy MacKay
Alone in Japan, Finni is struggling against the constant distrust, avoidance, and xenophobia he experiences every day. He misses home. He misses his family. Nightmares come all too frequently because of the stress, and well, Christmas is just not Christmas in Japan. Not how he understands it.
Distressed by how miserable Finni is, his roommate, Mamoru, offers to be Finni’s family for Christmas. Little does he know how much one agreement would change everything between them, because both of them kept secrets neither ever dreamed were true.
Categories: Contemporary, Fantasy, Humor, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy (Please note: Not all tags refer to the collection of stories.)
Excerpt:
From “A Christmas Cactus for the General” by Angel Martinez
Teer kept still, watching the man drive off. The men on this world amazed him, such clumsy, uncontrolled louts, like overgrown children. If that had been one of his own men back home, Mr. Bruce would have been on the floor with a boot against his windpipe. But Teer couldn’t do such things here. It was, from what he understood, illegal.
“A pansy seems an honorable flower. Such strong colors,” he said as Molly returned to him. “But I’m fairly certain that wasn’t a compliment.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Molly pursed her lips, an expression Teer knew by now meant she was unhappy. “I’m sorry about that. I think he goes to visit someone in the cemetery every Friday. But it’s no excuse to act like a son of a bitch.”
Sometimes it still struck Teer as odd, working for a female, but Molly was a sensible, practical person, more like a male Irasolan than most of the men on this strange, wet planet.
“When you say he visits someone at the cemetery, is this a way of saying he goes to honor someone who has died?”
Molly gave him an odd look, then shook her head. “I’m sorry. Your English is so good, I forget you get tripped up by expressions sometimes. Yeah. I’m pretty sure he lost someone close to him.”
The single hyacinth every week seemed extravagant tribute, but Teer had to tamp down hard on his instincts every time he filled a customer’s order. Flowers to these people were disposable, things of temporary beauty that could be callously cut from their parent plants. A single plant given to the honored dead back home would have been a sign of such overarching grief that the survivor’s family would have feared an imminent suicide attempt.
But for this man, the tribute paid is every week. His wounds are deep, but not fatal. Not that I have any reason to be curious or even vaguely interested. Rude, uncouth…what is the word? Jerk.
“Ah. Never fear, Molly. It’s difficult to be offended by words that don’t mean much to me.” He offered her a smile, since smiles were often meant as reassurance here. “You said you had lights to put up today? For the upcoming holidays?”
“Right! The Christmas lights!” Molly scurried to the back and returned with two boxes, full of small glass bulbs attached to wires. “I guess you don’t do Christmas either, huh?”
“My…family never celebrated Christmas, no.”
“Oh, right. Buddhist or something I bet.”
“Something of that sort,” Teer murmured as he began to pull one of the hopelessly tangled strands from the first box. Apparently, Christmas had something to do with testing spatial acuity and patience. Odd holiday.
‘A Christmas Cactus for the General’ – Angel Martinez
Interview
Sometimes it takes a tribe…
About this time last year, the Mischief Corner crew said wistfully, “We really should do a holiday anthology next year.” The astounding part in this is that we remembered. Or Silvia kept reminding us, depending on which month it was.
But last summer, we put it on the calendar, marshaled the troops, and set a due date for submissions. Hooray! We were doing an anthology for the Christmas season! But what should we call it? Oh, whatever, we’ll figure it out. Plenty of time for that.
What to write…what to write…
Someone suggested that Toni really should get her second Smokey Mountain Bears story written. Toni thought this was a fabulous idea, and there would be firemen. Even better. Silvia had something in mind, a fun contemporary with a sort of bah humbug protagonist. Angel…well, you know what happened to Angel’s brain. She had to look at Christmas through an alien’s eyes, so she went about creating a new universe and a new culture to meet that need. Freddy wanted to do a nekomata. “For Christmas?” certain people asked in disbelief. “You know this really should have a happy ending…?” Trust me, Freddy said. There may have been some maniacal laughter involved. That’s classified.
Writing happened sporadically over the summer between other author commitments, but it happened. This thing was taking shape. Autumn rolled around and then October and GRL, (Gay Romance Literature in Chicago) and the crew realized with a certain amount of horror that the anthology still had no name. The crew had thrown names around, taken votes, circled back a couple of times and…nothing stuck. It took a high top bar table, drinks all ‘round, and the input of Hank Edwards and Tim Brehme (FoMCB – friends of Mischief Corner Books) to cement a title. To be fair, Chestnuts Roasting was entirely Hank’s idea after Tim egged him on with more and more outrageous suggestions. Yes! There was much rejoicing. And more drinking.
GRL was also the place to tackle, er, connect in person with two other people enormously important to the process: our ever patient, long-suffering editor, Erika Orrick and our favorite artist for commissioned work, Catherine Dair. Erika had our edits in hand, and managed to pull through with her usual fabulousness even though she’s currently working on moving. (We love you, Erika!)
Catherine…oh, Freddy had plans for Catherine. Freds wanted something different, illustration more reminiscent of a watercolor style, something warm and cozy. Catherine worked her magic, deliberately, precisely, step by step, as the requests came fast and furious. There were to be feet. And a fireplace. With a mantel. And Christmas-y stuff. And so on. The crew watched in awe as our cover took shape. (Freddy did the pretty typography – and it’s everything we could have wanted .)
So here we are, heading into the holiday season and we have an anthology for you, with the help of an extended crew, some patient professionals, and the authors who persevered and got those stories in. And that nekomata story? Yep, Freddy wrote a happy. We promise. Really.
Tour Dates/Stops:
20-Nov
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
21-Nov
24-Nov
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
25-Nov
26-Nov
27-Nov
28-Nov
1-Dec
Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings
2-Dec
Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
3-Dec
4-Dec
Sales Links:
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http://mischiefcornerbooks.weebly.com/chestnuts-roasting-anthology.html
