The 12 Days of Christmas - Day 6: Claws

Last weekend was Krampusnacht.

Now, as anyone who has been reading this blog for some time will know, I am a little bit obsessed with Krampus the Christmas Devil. Not only have a written a gamebook that features him as the Big Bad, I have also published a roleplaying game which features him in the same role.

However, I first wrote about Krampus in 2012 for the Ain't No Sanity Clause anthology of festive horror stories, in a tale called Claws.

Here's what one reviewer had to say on Amazon about my story:

"This anthology is a cut above the norm with every story being well written and some approaching perfection. 'Claws' by Jonathan Green, with its shades of the Brothers Grimm, introduces us to a very early traditional Santa and his less welcome counterpart... So evocative is the writing, I was almost shivering along with Gretel in her snowy woodland home despite it being a balmy day in mid May!"

You can download a pdf of Claws here.

Gamebook Friday: 'Twas - The Krampus Night Before Christmas

Over the years I have written a number of Christmas-themed books and stories, most notably the non-fiction title Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts (a.k.a. What is Myrrh Anyway? a.k.a. Christmas Miscellany).

     

In terms of fiction there's the Pax Britannia novella Christmas Past and the short story Claws.

     

I've also written two festive-themed Judge Dredd short stories, You'd Better Be Good, For Goodness' Sake and Miracle on 34th and Peltzer. And last year I self-published the novella Scrooge and Marley (Deceased): The Haunted Man.

My latest Christmas-themed endeavour is the fifth title in my ever-growing ACE Gamebooks series, and you can find out more about it by joining the new ACE Gamebooks Facebook Group now.

The Kickstarter to fund production of 'Twas - The Krampus Night Before Christmas launches on 1st January 2019.

Happy Krampusnacht!

Today, or rather tonight, is Krampusnacht!

Krampus - from the Old High German word krampen, meaning claw - is a Christmas devil, the bad to St. Nicholas' good, whose purpose is to warn children to behave and to punish those children who've been bad.

In the Alpine regions of Austria and Hungary, young men still dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December, and roam the streets frightening children and women with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition goes so far as to include the birching of young girls!

Images of Krampus usually show him with a basket on his back used to carry away bad children and dump them into the pits of Hell.

I was inspired by the legend to write my own story about Krampus and you can download a pdf of the story Claws here.

You can find out all about the Krampus, and other darker Christmas traditions, in my festive-themed book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Happy St Nicholas Day

In case you didn't already know, today is St Nicholas Day and for some children in Europe, that means that tonight is the equivalent of Christmas Eve, with the Big Man delivering their presents... if they've been good. But if they've been bad, they'll have the Krampus to deal with.

If you didn't see it last year, here's my own St Nicholas Day present to you. And on the subject of Krampus, you might want to check out the first of this year's new Christmas movie releases...

Haunted Holidays

You may have noticed that I'm giving away one of my short stories for Christmas. Well I'm not the only one. Josh Reynolds, creator of the Royal Occultist, is giving away five of his.

The Royal Occultist: Haunted Holidays contains four previously published stories – The Dreaming Dead, Krampusnacht, The Gotterdammerung Gavotte, Feast of Fools – and one all new, never before published story, The Riders of St. George, which sees St. Cyprian and his more than able assistant Ebe Gallowglass battle an army of undead knights on St. George’s Day.

If you would like to download your free copy of Haunted Holidays, you can do so by clicking this handy link.

A late Christmas present...

For everyone!

Now I know Krampusnacht was celebrated back on the 5th December and the Feast of Saint Nicholas was on the 6th December, but Family Green are away in the snowy Austrian Tyrol at the moment, and in a fit of seasonal generosity, inspired by the inspiring surroundings, I am giving away a story I wrote back in 2012.

You can download a pdf of Claws here.

If you enjoy Claws, and you like you future police enforcement Mega-City One-flavoured, then chances are you will also enjoy my latest seasonal Judge Dredd offering, You'd Better Be Good, For Goodness' Sake.

And of course you can find out all about the Krampus in my Christmas book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Short Story Saturday: Ain't No Sanity Clause

Theresa Derwin's first anthology as editor, Ain't No Sanity Clause, was published by Fringeworks in time for Christmas last year, and has already received some rave reviews on Amazon.

Here's what one of them had to say about my contribution Claws:

"It is of no surprise to any science fiction fan that Jonathan Green has done what he does best; create a magnificently entertaining and elusive piece of holiday hori-fiction. The touches of old language in his dialogue make for such wizardly entertainment and the new twist on an old fairy tale works throughout the whole piece with delightful suspense. Another target hit by Jonathan Green."

You can buy yourself a copy of Ain't No Sanity Clause here.

And don't forget, my first collection of horror fiction Dark Heart is available now as well.

Ain't No Sainty Clause published today!

Fringeworks' first collection of Christmas stories, Ain't No Sanity Clause, edited by Theresa Derwin, is published today.

It contains stories combining psychopaths and other lunatics with a Christmas theme, and I'm in it. My story is called - appropriately enough - Claws.

You can find out more about this festive anthology here.

Short Story Saturday: Ain't No Sanity Clause

It's Saturday again (already!) which means it's time for some more short story news...

I shall be appearing in new publisher Fringeworks' first collection of Christmas stories, Ain't No Sanity Clause, edited by Theresa Derwin. The brief for story pitches was to combine psychopaths and other lunatics with a Christmas theme. So that's what I did.

The book's out on 10 December and my story is called - appropriately enough - Claws.

Here's the cover by artist Harry Raymond.

Of course I've tackled psychos and Christmas together before in 2009's Pax Britannia novella Christmas Past, which is still available to download for free here.

And in other short story news, in case you didn't know about it already, by first horror-themed short story collection is available now in eBook form*.

Dark Heart collects six of my horror-themed short stories under one cover**, including The Doll's House that first appeared in Solaris Books' House of Fear anthology, and is something of an eBook experiment in self-publishing.

Simply click on the appropriate cover below to download your copy today.

* The print edition is on its way too.

** All be it a cover formed from zeros and ones inside the eReader of your choice.