It’s time for the last new release announcement of the year. As the title indicates, this will be a big announcement, because I have three new holiday stories plus a collection to announce.
Unfortunately, some of the buy links are still missing, because several distributors and vendors are slow to get new e-books up in the run-up to the holidays.
Furthermore, the good folks at Smashwords are having their annual end of the year sale. You can get lots of e-books at reduced prices, including several of mine.
Back in 2013, I decided to write a Christmas story for the holiday season. This story was Christmas Gifts and it did quite well, so I decided to write another holiday story the next year. And then the year after. Some years, I ever wrote more than one holiday story. And so I’ve thirteen Christmas stories (as well as two Valentine’s Day stories and one Easter story) in various genres over the past seven years.
I haven’t been feeling particularly festive this year, but nonetheless inspiration struck and so I published not one or two but three very different holiday stories.
The first new story is a sweet holiday romance novelette called Driving Home for Christmas. The inspiration for this story happened last year just before Christmas, when I had to make a phonecall and therefore pulled into the parking lot of an outlet mall. The mall was closed, but the Christmas lights were still on and so the entire parking lot was lit up by electric stars. It looked very pretty – a lot prettier than an outlet mall deserves – and so I thought, “You know, this place would make a nice romantic setting for a holiday romance. Especially when it’s snowing.”
So I wondered what might bring two people to the parking lot of a closed outlet mall late at night just before Christmas. That particular outlet mall is right next to the Autobahn A1, one of the main North South routes for all of Europe. So I thought, “What if someone’s car broke down and they had to leave the Autobahn and wound up on the mall parking lot? And what if they meet a good Samaritan who’s willing to help them?” The story grew from there.
I used the real Autobahn exit and the outlet mall as a setting, though I did rearrange the shops a little. I also borrowed the details of a car breakdown I had a few years ago – though at a different Autobahn exit (because it would be too easy, if my car broke down some seven kilometres from home) and not at Christmas.
So follow college student Laura, whose car breaks down after midnight on Christmas Eve, and Danish truck drive Jonas, who comes to her aid, as they are…
Driving Home for Christmas
When her car breaks down after midnight on Christmas Eve, Laura thinks she’ll never make it home for the holidays.
But then fate sends Laura her very own Christmas angel in the form of hunky truck driver Jonas…
This is a short and sweet holiday romance of 8400 words or approximately 30 print pages.
More information.
Length: 8400 words
List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, Vivlio, 24symbols and XinXii.
The second holiday story is another romance novelette. This one is part of Christmas at Hickory Ridge Mall series of loosely interconnected holiday romances. The connecting thread in this series is that all three stories to date take place at the same mall just before Christmas and that all characters eventually end up at the same coffee shop, where they are served by the same barista.
This latest story takes us outside the mall to the Christmas tree lot, where Jessica is trying to buy a tree one day before Christmas. However, she gets more than she bargained for, when she meets biology graduate student and seasonal Christmas tree vendor Matt in…
The Crappiest Christmas Ever
Jessica is having the worst Christmas ever, when her parents announce that they are getting a divorce two days before the holidays.
Stuck on her own with no home to go to, Jessica heads for the mall to buy a Christmas tree for herself. Here she meets Matt, who sells Christmas trees and is having a really awful Christmas himself.
Matt and Jessica bond over their shared pain and also manage to make each other laugh. So maybe, this won’t be the worst Christmas ever after all…
This is a short and sweet holiday romance of 12000 words or approximately 40 print pages.
More information.
Length: 12000 words
List price: 2.99 USD, EUR or 1.99 GBP
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, Vivlio, 24symbols and XinXii.
The third holiday story of 2020 is something completely different. For starters, it’s not romance, but horror comedy (since I’m still unable to write straight horror – it either comes out as urban fantasy or comedy).
The initial inspiration for this story was coming across this piece of fantasy artwork by artist Jakub Rozalski on Twitter. In the image, Krampus has just gutted Santa, while a few kids look on. Since Krampus, who also appears in The Bakery on Gloomland Street, another of my holiday stories, is actually supposed to be Santa’s helper, I have course wondered what might have led to Krampus turning on Santa. So I thought, “What if Krampus isn’t Santa’s pal at all, but actually hates him?”
As I looked through Jakub Rozalki’s portfolio at Art Station, I also came across another holiday related horror image of a reindeer with bloody antlers facing down Santa, while a gutted elf lies on the ground. So I thought, “Maybe it’s not just Krampus who hates Santa? What if the elves and the reindeer hate Santa as well?” The story grew from there.
To be fair, this Santa is a very bad Santa. He exploits his workers, cheats of Mrs. Claus with two attractive young women and he takes drugs, too. So don’t feel too sorry for him. And besides, Christmas still happens as normal, though with someone else manning the sleigh.
I may also have done something nasty to Donald Trump. But to quote a character in the story, “Ain’t no one gonna miss him.”
So watch as elves, reindeer, Krampus and Black Piet take on Santa and stage a…
Revolt at the North Pole
Rebellion is brewing at Santa’s compound at the North Pole. The elves and the reindeer both are overworked, underpaid and angry, so they unite to take down Santa. However, there’s still Santa’s most fearsome enforcer, the horned, clawed and fanged holiday monster known only as Krampus…
This is a short holiday horror story of 3900 words or approx. 14 print pages by Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert.
More information.
List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP
Length: 3900 words
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, Vivlio, 24symbols and XinXii.
Since I now had thirteen holiday stories in six different genres – romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, fantasy and horror – I also decided to offer all of my holiday stories to date in one handy mega-collection. This one is a real bargain, because you get almost 400 pages worth of holiday stories at a much lower price than if you were to buy them individually.
So check out the…
The Christmas Collection
Thirteen tales of Christmas by Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert.
Romance, cozy fantasy, murder mysteries, pulp thrillers, science fiction, horror and humor – we have all that and more.
Watch young people find love in the pre-holiday shopping rush at Hickory Ridge Mall, at a Christmas tree lot, on the parking lot of a shuttered outlet mall and at the one bar in town that’s open on Christmas Eve.
Experience Christmas in Hallowind Cove, the permanently fog-shrouded seaside town, where strange things keep happening.
Watch as Santa’s various helpers unite to depose him.
Follow Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team as they investigate the death of a robber dressed as Santa Claus as well as a wave of thefts at a Christmas market.
Meet Richard Blakemore, hardworking pulp author by day and the masked crimefighter known only as the Silencer by night, as he fights to save an orphanage from demolition in Depression era New York City.
Watch Alfred and Bertha, an ordinary married couple, as they decorate the Christmas tree and live their marvellous twenty-first century life.
Experience Christmas on the space colony of Iago Prime as well as after the end of the world.
Enjoy thirteen novellas, novelettes and short stories in six genres.
This is a collection of 118000 words or approx. 390 print pages.
Contains the following stories:
- Christmas Gifts
- Christmas Shopping with a Broken Heart
- The Crappiest Christmas Ever
- Christmas Eve at the Purple Owl Café
- Driving Home for Christmas
- The Bakery on Gloomland Street
- Revolt at the North Pole
- A Bullet for Father Christmas
- Santa’s Sticky Fingers
- Nicholas of Hell’s Kitchen
- The Tinsel-Free Christmas Tree
- Christmas on Iago Prime
- Christmas after the End of the World
Length: 118 000 words
List price: 4.99 USD, EUR or 3.99 GBP
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, Vivlio, 24symbols and XinXii.
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So what can you expect from Pegasus Pulp next year? There will be more In Love and War space opera, more sword and sorcery in both the Thurvok and Kurval series, more Two-Fisted Todd adventures, more Helen Shepherd Mysteries, more Alfred and Bertha and lots of other stories.
But for now, I wish you a Merry Christmas or other seasonal holiday, whichever one you may celebrate, as well as a happy, healthy and hopefully better 2021.
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