Episode 17: Coldest Christmas
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Hello, my beautiful cinnabar moths or whatever kind of moth you want to be. Thank you for joining us here at cinnabar moth – joining us on Cinnabar Moth’s YouTube channel, we’re going to be talking about the anthology again, except this time, we’re going to be talking about the Coldest of Christmas. Now that we’re midway through November, it feels more Christmassy. And I feel like the holiday season is really kicking in. I’m from California in the United States. And it just kind of feels like I’ve always felt like the holiday season proper for me, we started midway through November. And it really felt like I started like hearing more Christmas music and getting in the spirit and all of that. And that’s why I wanted to talk about the Coldest of Christmas, the first half of our Anthology. And it’s just really, for me, I was really impressed how well the authors encompass and captured. What the past year has been like for for everyone. And the past couple years now has been like, for everyone. But also telling a great story in talking about that, and compassing that, and I didn’t feel like it was pointedly fixated on that, which I think is really easy to do. Because it’s been 2021. Man, I’m ready for 2022 I don’t know about y’all. I feel like 2021 was a doozy of a year, and really just a wild ride. And I feel like 2020 kicked it off too. So I feel like the past two years have been a lot. And I think that’s one of the things that drove me to want to do the anthology is I wanted something fun and light, but also a sign of the times. I didn’t want something that was bubble gum and, and cheery. Because I’m not quite there yet. I’m still healing from, you know, life. And for me personally, when I was putting the anthology together back in the summer of so I started in around Feb, I started putting the anthology together in February of 2021. I want to say it might be February or March. And my thinking was Christmas had just passed, or the holiday season had just passed, and winter had just passed. So the writing prompt of send me a short story between 3000 and 3500 words that takes place in winter, I felt was really timely. But as time went on, we collected stories until June 30. And as time went on, and winter in the holiday season, was further and further away. I found that we didn’t, we weren’t getting as many Christmas stories as I had expected. But the ones that we did get. So the Christmas section is smaller than the darkest of winter section. But each of the Christmas stories, I think really does kind of there is a thread that kind of runs through them of family. And I really liked that. Because for me, the holiday season had always been about my found family and my found friends and and loved ones intermixed with my blood relatives. And that was always so fun to me that intermixing and that bringing of worlds together. And that’s how it felt bringing these stories together. They’re from so many different worlds and so many different universes, and so many different point of views and perspectives.
And that’s really cool to me, the fact that we have stories from authors who are in Europe stories from authors who are in Asia, stories from authors who are in Africa and all around the world. And we have stories from authors from South America. And it’s so cool to me that we have this cosmopolitan group of authors sharing their stories. And for me, I love that all of them were different enough to be interesting and fun to read, but familiar enough to hold my attention if that makes sense. I didn’t feel with the Christmas stories. It wasn’t a complete departure from what I know and understand Holiday season to be. And that was comforting. It was comforting and felt like, for me, when I was young from a very young age books have been my friend. And it felt like I was getting to meet a bunch of new friends and the stories and friends that were going through things, that’s for sure. Because these stories are dark. And these stories are sad. But they’re also entertaining. And there’s great comedy in some of them. And I like that mix. I like that mix of melancholy to make you want to cry, to make you laugh, and surprise and delight. So that was really fun for me the surprise and delight. And it was also quite shocking for me. And I enjoyed the surprise. To be honest, I was like, Okay, I see what you’re doing. I see where you going. And I like it. So some of the stories start off in, you know exactly what the story is going to be. It’s familiar. It’s not a great departure. It’s a well worn tell that the retelling of comforting and familiar and fun. And for me, some of the stories were very reminiscent of the dark Tales from the dark side, a TV show from I want to save it, eds. I’m in my 50s. So time slips just to kind of give you guys, I’m thinking back to my younger days. So when I was younger, I’m guessing like late 70s. I don’t know when Tesla Darkside was and the original Twilight Zone. And I loved both the black and white versions, and then they remade them in the 80s. And I think they’re redoing them now as well. There’s the Twilight Zone now. And a lot of the stories took me there in this section of the anthology, which was really cool. And I thought, wow, this is the vibe, this is this is happening. And I had no idea. So there’s these familiar stories, and there’s the family stories. And then there’s the surprising stories that are like, huh, I didn’t see coming. Like, I didn’t see where this was going. And I didn’t know where this was about this is a completely different world.
And again, we have a mix of contemporary fiction and literary fiction and fantasy in this section as well. I don’t think we have any straight horror in this section. But I can think of a Yeah, we do. We have a horror story in the section as well. And I like that, that mix again. And I found it very entertaining. And when I put the the stories together, I was putting them together in a way that I hope would be entertaining for you as well, and take you on a journey. And I wanted to start it off with a story that was really unassuming and familiar. And for me quite poignant as a parent of an adult child and what it means to grow old. And a couple of stories touch on that, like what does it mean to grow old and in the modern era? And what does that mean for your traditions in the modern era. And that, to me was really interesting and really relatable. Because I know, my family traditions have changed. I don’t do large gatherings anymore. I can’t remember when the last time I threw a party was I think it was at least 10 years ago was the last time I threw a house party and used to be one of my favorite things to do. But as I age I find that my tastes and likes change. And that’s reflected in the story that aging and what happens when we age kind of thing to our family, to our lifestyles to our traditions. I really loved that. And then there’s also tales of of great loss. And what does that mean? You know, when you lose someone precious to you, how does that change how you celebrate the holidays, and I found that to be really fascinating for me, like wow, this is so beautiful, and so sad. And so moving. That I just I was mesmerized I really was, it was so gorgeous. And the fantasy and science fiction, in in the book was also like dark science fiction. So it wasn’t like dark science fiction, it was dark science fiction and messed up. So I thought I thought, well, this is messed up. That’s not right. And that was really, really good. And for me, I liked that there wasn’t any forced happy endings. There’s happy for now and things but there’s not forced Manik be happy is the holidays kind of drive. And that spoke to me because this year, the holidays are hard. And last year, the holidays were hard. Hopefully next year, the holidays will be light and breezy. But for a lot of people, this time of year, no matter what year it is, is not a happy time of year. And if you’re one of those people, I’m sorry. That’s tough. But this is the Anthology for you. Because we’re not asking you to be happy. We’re not asking you to celebrate. We’re asking you to sit back. And, you know, get your getting your comfy reading chair, and make some new friends and meet some new people who can relate to where you’re at. And if you’re one of those people who absolutely loves the holidays, and thinks that it’s the most magical and wonderful time of year. I think that this is the book for you as well, this anthology worked well for you. Because you’ll be able to have empathy for the people who are having a hard time in the Christmas in the coolest Christmas. And also I think you’ll enjoy the science fiction and the fantasy and the humorous stories that are included in this.
And have you sort of put a spooky twist on Christmas, but in a fun way, is kind of like the same kind of some of the stories have the same kind of vibe is like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. But it doesn’t have the happy ending at the end, it doesn’t have everybody’s singing around a tree kind of thing. So if you’re wanting something like that, maybe I don’t know, it’s hard to tell a reader that maybe the book isn’t for them. But if you’re really, really dedicated to happy endings, and that’s the only kind of ending you find satisfying. And to be honest, this book may not be for you, this anthology may not be for you. I do strongly advise that everybody please read the content notes. There are a lot of them any sort of content note that you would want in a book. It’s in this book. They’re all heavy hitters, all the stories are heavy hitters, all of the stories have, there’s not a single story that doesn’t have a comp but doesn’t need a content note, just to kind of give you an idea of five of the stories. I’m really pleased with what we put together, I hope that you’re going to be t get free arcs on book siren. So go ahead, check out your arc. And let us know what you think. And be sure to like this video and subscribe for more book related content. We’re going to be intermixing with you know, we do our book trailers, and we do our Meet the authors, and we do sneak peeks for our audio books. And we’re talking about our Anthology. But, and we put together really great playlists. So if you’re in a book club, you can have recipes and drinks to make and playlist of music to kind of set the vibe for when you’re having your discussion. But in with all of that, we’re also going to be talking about querying and demystifying the publishing process. So that way authors can understand what happens after you sign your contract. And what is a good query letter. Because I find my query letter to be probably the most mysterious thing in publishing ever. So subscribe, put on your notification bell and make sure you check out all of our videos. And if you’re returning welcome back if you’re new, welcome. We enjoy we appreciate and enjoy every single view that we get an every single subscriber. And we hope that y’all enjoyed this video. Let us know down in the comments or hit us up on Twitter at cinnabar moth puff. Hope you have a happy holiday season. Bye