He rapped out a rhythm on the wrong side of an interview table and pushed back the uncomfortable plastic chair to allow room for his paunch. He shivered. The room was not freezing, but they had confiscated his coat due… Continue Reading
He’d wondered, when he started the job, why he needed a belt with so many holes. Now he knew — it fitted around him twice and felt like it needed tightening again. It took months to visit every home in… Continue Reading
My patrol had taken longer than I had anticipated, and I returned at dusk, the cold December air clinging to me as I snuck back into the house. After weeks of spying, I finally had the intel from the last… Continue Reading
The early December snowstorm lifted and the two hunters, lost and disorientated, were surprised to discover a log cabin slap bang in the middle of the wilderness. A signboard, set between the building’s eaves and flanked by a smoking chimney… Continue Reading
Alfred and Eldrid crept down the chimney, their tiny bodies moving easily in the cramped space. Hanging upside down, the elves scanned the living room for traps. As members of Santa’s Legendary Elite Investigative Getaway Helpers, or S.L.E.I.G.H. for short,… Continue Reading
Early Christmas morning aboard the Masters’ starship, and once again there was no Santa Claus. I stared at the stars streaming past on the display window. There was a quiet knock on our apartment’s door, a little rap-a-tap-tap given with… Continue Reading
I hated Christmas. “The elf did it,” Rudolph said before he spat a glob of tobacco juice into one of Mall of America’s promenade trashcans. Dark brown liquid splattered his faux fur. The combined scent of Red Man and dark… Continue Reading
Commander Goorecs covered his scaly hide with his thick imperial cloak as he suffered though his first Earth winter. He wished he were home relaxing in warm swamp water beneath the bright midday sun, not overseeing this backward planet’s occupation.… Continue Reading
The advert had stipulated ‘Bring your own boots’. Kanti looked at the men’s feet. Most wore wellies. One had work-boots, dusty at the toes. The man at the far end wore Doc Martens. She referred to the list on the… Continue Reading