The Book(s) of J. Robert Matthewson and other Pseudonyms
Hello and welcome to Infinite Squirrels with Infinite Keyboards. The homepage for my books, as well as the occasional waxing of philosophical musings about the human condition.
A blog. It’s also a blog.
So, keep scrolling and you see the latest news and thoughts about myself, my books, and Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Comments closed
Reincarnation, the idea of someone dying and being reborn in a new, different body, is a very old concept. It is one that has always fascinated me, even if I personally don’t believe in it.
I’m not an expert on either reincarnation as a religious concept, or isekai as a genre on the whole, but as a writer of Reincarnation Isekai, I am both aware of and fascinated by trends that have developed regarding both and I wanted to talk about them here.
When it comes to many of stories that use reincarnation as the narrative means to transform the protagonist into a new form, there tends to be three basic core philosophies behind the Why they were reincarnated and the What/Who they reincarnated into.
The first philosophy is probably also the most recent trend and that is the protagonist is being rewarded through their reincarnation. Either it’s an award for good deeds done/living a virtuous life, or a consolation prize for having to suffer through an awful existence prior to their usually untimely and likely unjust death.
In their new existence, the protagonist gets to be someone cool and awesome! Or maybe someone powerful and heroic. Or perhaps someone beautiful and popular. They get everything they were denied in their last go-round and perhaps even more.
This type of reincarnation story tends to lean very heavily into power-fantasy and/or wish-fulfillment. There usually isn’t much character growth in these stories because the story usually isn’t about a character growing into someone awesome, but rather about showing off how awesome they now are just by being reincarnated.
The second philosophy is probably the closest to the core religious beliefs regarding Reincarnation. A person dies and they’re either not ready, or not worthy enough to move on to the next phase of their existence. Thus they’re reborn into a new body (not necessarily a better or worse one, just different) and given another turn on the cosmic rollercoaster to see if they can do what’s necessarily to move onto a greater reward.
Reincarnation is presented as an opportunity to improve oneself. A chanced to correct past mistakes, move past old regrets, and, in general, be better. Perhaps this new body has benefits that the protagonist can take advantage of, like special powers or a high status, but who they used to be is equally important and thus it is often the protagonist using memories or skills from their previous existence that will play a vital role in the story resolution.
"We all change, when you think about it, we're all different people; all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good, you've gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be." - The Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who)
The final philosophy I wanted to discuss is thankfully one that has seen a greatly reduced usage in recent years, but ironically the one I have the most to say about. That is the concept of reincarnation being a form of punishment being inflicted upon the reincarnated person for past misdeeds or attitudes.
The punishment isn’t that they have to go through another life, but rather that the body in which they must live in and experience this new life is one the reincarnated finds intolerable. A chauvinistic man finds himself reborn as a woman. A bigot is now forced to live as someone they were prejudiced against. A beautiful, but vain person becomes someone they consider ugly. Someone who enjoys killing animals for cruel reasons becomes the prey they once hunted. It’s the classic “Walking a mile in another person’s shoes” type story.
These kind of stories tend to unfold in two ways. The first is that we establish the protagonist as an awful person toward some specific other group. They then die (usually in a sudden or ironic way) and are – Surprise! – reborn as a member of that very group. They then must endure living as a member of that new group, experiencing all the hostility, bigotry, or hostility from others that they once happily inflicted in their previous existence.
Eventually, they learn a valuable lesson™ about treating others as they would wish to be treated (y’know, basic goddamn empathy) and they are given second chance, in which I mean that either the divine powers who saw fit to “punish” them with this reincarnation return them to their old body, erasing their death, or there’s some other narrative reset like “turns out it was ALL a dream.” The protagonist moves forward in their old body, perhaps a little wiser for having gone through their “ordeal.”
The darker and much worse way these stories unfold is that we spend the bulk of the story following the protagonist being awful to some group and then, at the very end, they die and the protagonist awakens to – GASP! – find themselves now a member of the group! The story ends as the protagonist realizes, with the slowly dawning horror, everything they’ve done to others will now be visited upon them in kind, perhaps even worse. No redemption is offered. “Karmic Justice” is served.
Not gonna lie, I hate this usage of reincarnation and, frankly, I’m glad it has all but faded from popular media.
I do understand the appeal that such stories had. The visceral need to see someone awful getting karmic justice, their “just desserts,” if you will. You will often hear people say about/to people who are awful to specific groups, “I hope that in your next life you come back as X, so you know how it feels!”
But is that really “Karmic Justice” or even any form of justice at all?
Here’s my two problems with those sentiments. The first is implying that anyone’s mere existence in akin to a punishment. “Oh, you’re X? Man, you must’ve done something in your last life to piss off someone” is a pretty shitty thing to say to anyone. No one should have to feel like their existence is something undesirable. That isn’t to say that there aren’t challenges to any life and some have more than others and some are much more difficult to overcome, but that’s an external societal issue, not one inherent to someone’s existence itself.
The second is that such sentiments inherently imply support for the current, shitty, status quo. It’s akin to saying, “[Shitty Person] is being shitty to X Group who are regularly treated badly. If [Shitty Person] somehow, one day, reincarnates into a member of that group, I hope X group is still being treated badly so [Shitty Person] gets a taste of their own medicine!”
Seriously, think about that for more than a few seconds. Why would you want people who are being mistreated now and whom you claim to support to continue be mistreated in the future? Just on the off chance some asshole might have to suffer like they have? That’s not justice. That’s sociopathy.
So, how would I improve these kind of stories? Honestly, I don’t know is it’s possible to really salvage the idea of Reincarnation as punishment. I feel like the whole concept is toxic and should be buried in some sort of story landfill. And then paved over with concrete.
First, I don’t really want horrible, irredeemable people getting reincarnated in the first place. Some people truly only deserve one turn and when it finally, mercifully, ends, we can all happily move on, never to think about them again.
But if you put a gun to my head and forced me to write a story where a shitty person is reincarnated into the body of someone who belongs to a group that they used to target for abuse, then I wouldn’t force them to endure mistreatment akin to what they once happily doled out to others.
No, I want them to find out that in their new life, the group they now belong to is treated with all the dignity, respect, and justice that they were denied during the reincarnated’s previous life. That they aren’t seen as acceptable targets for maltreatment or scapegoats for society’s problems, and the hate-mongering grifters who try to treat them as such are rightfully mocked, scorned, and shunned by society.
But I want them to remember who they used to be. I want them to look around and see a better world for the people they used target and know, in their heart of hearts, that the world only got better after assholes like them finally snuffed it, and more so, that they absolutely are not missed. I want them to live in this better world that they did nothing to help create and actively delayed its creation, receiving kindness and dignity they denied others. Most of all, I hope it helps them be a better person this time around and the shitty person they used to be is buried and gone forever.
Would anyone want to read that story? I dunno. It probably wouldn’t sell many copies.
But I wouldn’t mind living in that world.
Comments closedRecently, my spouse and I had to say goodbye to our Dumplin’-Butted Fur Kid. The Pieroghi Princess, Lillian “Lily” Bouquet, First of Her Name, Ruler of All Couches Her Eyes Beheld.
We had to make the difficult decision to let her rest after recurrence of cancer had quickly changed her body to the point where it was affecting her mobility and general comfort.
It had only been six months since we had to say goodbye to our sweet buddy, Burghie and while the circumstances of both situations were different, neither were easy nor was one any less painful than the other.
Lily came to us a brief time after we had lost our first cat, Toby. She had originally belonged to my sister-in-law who was moving and was unable to bring four cats to her new place. We were both still raw from the sudden and very unexpected loss of Toby and were unsure if we were ready to bring someone new into our lives, but Lily needed us.
And we quickly realized that we needed her just as much.
Lily was very different than both Toby and Burghie. She was always reserved and less social than either of her brothers. She didn’t so much ask for pets, but rather demanded them as if they were her due and only until she’d had her fill. She was a queen and she knew it.
When we adopted and brought home Burghie from the shelter, we were wondering how she would react. We had decided to bring in a second cat because we didn’t want her to alone all day while we were at work, but we both knew that she was, to put it politely, high-strung AF, so we were seeking a mellow cat to compliment her. Burghie was a cat that could be classified as a liquid.
As the pair sussed each other out, it quickly became clear what their relationship would be. He was her big, dumb kitten and thus he remained for the next 8 years. She was content to let him be the hyper affectionate, social one and only after he vetted any humans who entered her domain, would she deign in fit to grace them with her presence, if only to let them know whose realm they had entered.
When Burghie left us, she did what every good monarch does – She did right by her people. She left her throne room and spent more time with us, as if she knew that was what we needed more than anything else in that moment.
And we likewise did our best to do right by her, even when it hurt so damn much.
That’s the deal between humans and cats. We do our damnedest to do right by them, because what they give us back is immeasurable.
And when we must inevitably say goodbye, the pain is likewise immeasurable, but it’s also worth it. Every memory you build is worth that pain because, while that pain never goes away completely, it will fade and eventually it even becomes infused with the joy their memory brings to your life.
We are, in the end, just moments on this spinning rock hurtling through space. Lily was a good one and I’m forever grateful that I was able to experience it. I was her Cat Dad and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
Right now, for the first time in 11 years, there are no cats within the walls of our home. It’s a strange, surreal feeling for certain. What’s also for certain, however, is that will not be the case forever. One day in the future we will bring another fuzzy soul or perhaps a pair of them into our family. We will take tremendous joy in their presence while still remembering the joy their spiritual siblings had brought us.
I look forward to that day.
Comments closed
Hello again! It’s me, your friendly neighborhood self-published author™ and generally tired human being, J.
We’re about halfway through Pride Month. 7 years after officially coming out as Bi, I attended my first Pride Parade and Festival. The atmosphere was one that I would describe as Defiant Jubilation, which is honestly something my spirit needed during times like these.
Moving on, no promos this month. I’ve talked before about how Tales of a Stranger Sister isn’t what I would call a LGBTQ+ book and during Pride Month, I want those creators and stories to get the spotlight they very much deserve.
NEXT month, however, I’ll be running some promotions in conjunction with my and S.E. Robertson/C.A. Moss’s attendance at this year’s Confluence SFF Conference. We’ll be selling our books (mine – singular, theirs – many) and bringing our brand of cozy-adjacent storytelling to where the Three Rivers meet. If you’re attending, make sure to stop by the dealer’s room and find us! We’ll have candy! And bookmarks! And Social Anxiety! Come before the first two run out!
Now, that brings us to the final bit of business with this post – Making good on a promise.
I’ve been pretty mum about the next book, other that there will be a next book. I don’t like hyping things up when there’s no guarantee they will happen as announced (See Nukem Forever, Duke.)
However, that said, I feel pretty confident that this story will be completed and, eventually, published, if for no other reason than I’m too damn stubborn to give up on it now.
I don’t have a release date, a cover preview, or even a completed draft. Hell, I don’t even have a finalized title. But if you like working titles, then this your lucky day! From the exhausted brain of J. Robert Matthewson, author of Tales of a Stranger Sister, comes…
The current goal is to have a completed draft by the end of the year and to then spend 2027 on edits, rewrites, and revisions with the hope being that I will have a finished book for sale by the end of 2027 or in early 2028. Like I said, it’s a goal, not necessarily a plan, but I’m gonna keep working on it until it’s done. Along the way, I do plan to share snippets and more information about the story as I move toward completion of these goals. So, if you’re all about the creative process, then stay tuned!
Until next time – Stay Proud, Stay Defiant, and, most importantly, stay Jubilant!
Comments closed
It’s May and that means we’re (hopefully) past the last of the freezing weather and soon it’ll be time to plant some gardens and spend a bit more time outside.
That also means that the Spring Cozy the Day Away Sale is here!
I’ll be offering Tales of a Stranger Sister for 0.99¢ (or the international equivalent) on May 8th. This will likely be the last time it goes on sale for the next few months, so if you’ve been thinking of trying my debut novel about Sibling, Stories, and Second Chances, this is a great opportunity to do it!
Both I and my amazing writer spouse, S. E. Robertson/C. A. Moss will be participating with our Cozy Adjacent works along with over a 100+ other books for sale. Why not grab a few of these amazing titles so you’ll be prepared next time you find yourself on a beach, back patio, or in a hammock wondering how to pass the next few hours without doom scrolling.
Speaking of my awesome spouse, They have a NEW BOOK coming out on May 15th!
The Dark Lord’s Army Wants You! is the third omnibus collection of novellas set in the How I became a Therapist in Another World universe. Featuring Queer romance, community, hijinks, food, and a whole lot of fun, this is a book, along with Volumes 1 & 2, are worth checking out!
Okay, That’s it for me on this update. Next time: I FINALLY start spilling some deets on the next book. (Ooh! Look at me with the cliffhanging teaser over here.) Yinz all have a good one!
Comments closedIt’s Spring! Hooray! At least it is this week. Who knows what the weather will decide next week. That’s just how April be in Western PA.
Things are… Progressing. Slowly, but surely. A new book is definitely in production and while it may not exist as something that can be purchased and enjoyed for some time yet, it is moving in that direction.
That said, let’s talk about things that can be purchased and enjoyed. That’s right, let’s talk about a few Spring promotions that will feature Tales of a Stranger Sister.
First off is The Narratess #IndieApril Fantasy, Sci-fi, & Horror Sale! Tales will be available from April 11th – 13th for only 0.99¢ (Or the closest international equivalent.)
Then in May, we’ve got the Spring Cozy the Day Sale! I participated in the fall sale and have applied for the upcoming one on May 8th! Again, I’ll be offering Tales for only 0.99¢ (or the closest International equivalent.)
Lastly, Spring means something else in this neck of the woods. Playoff Hockey! It’s been absent and sorely missed these last three springs, but my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins are one period away from clinching a playoff berth (with three games to spare.)
In a season that started with talk of tanking for a high draft pick and dumping highly-paid skill players to hasten a rebuild, the Pens have taken us on a helluva ride and are even dangerously close to making me believe they can do something truly special. Damn, I missed this.
EDIT 9:24PM 4/09/2026: The Penguins win 5-2 and have clinched a playoff berth in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let’s. Go. Pens.
See you again, perhaps with some actual details of the Next™ Book. Maybe.
Comments closed
On February 28, 2025, I released my first self-published novel on Amazon. The culmination of 3 1/2 years of steady, constant writing, rewriting, revising, and editing. In short, a metric crap-ton of hard work.
Writing Tales of a Stranger Sister has been one of the most fulfilling & satisfying experiences I’ve ever undertaken, and I will always be proud of both the effort exerted and the results it produced.
What I didn’t know at the time was that only after teh book went live, then began the real, much more thankless work — Promotion and Marketing.
That has been much less fulfilling and satisfying undertaking. Frankly, it’s been mostly aggravating and frustrating. It’s not enough to simply say you have a thing that you’ve poured your time and love into, and it might be worth spending a few bucks to see it for yourself. Rather it feels like you need to become an online Personality™, creating a constantly stream of Content™, usually at the expense of trying to actually create more of that thing you actually want to make (i.e. more books).
After a year of attempting that, (while simultaneously dealing with various offline trials), I think I’ve come to the realization that I’m not particularly good at it. I mean, I’m not gonna stop trying to promote or sell this 400+ pages of words and feelings, but I’m going to stop worrying about trying to create a set amount non-book, non-story content for both this site and my social media accounts and focus more on creating the next novel (which I think has finally, truly gotten rolling), and post Content™ when I need a break from the writing grind or have something I’m genuinely excited to talk about.
That said, I did want to take a moment to reflect on my first full year as a self-published author. Truly, none of this would even be possible without the help and support of my amazing editor, self-publishing guru, sounding board, best friend, and, oh yeah, spouse — S.E. Robertson/C.A. Moss.
I will be eternally grateful to everyone who took a chance on my book, whether they bought it at the full price, during the periods when it was discounted, or even for free. I’m especially grateful to the handful who felt it was worth the time and effort to share their feelings about it in the form of reviews. Each one was truly and genuinely appreciated.
In the last year, I went from being exclusively on Amazon to selling on dozens of platforms and I think that was a positive move and am looking forward to taking advantage of the expanded availability in 2026 and beyond for both Tales and future books.
Lastly, while the results haven’t always been what I hoped so far, I’m glad that I was able to participate in multiple group promotions during 2025. The opportunity to put my book alongside other indie and self-published authors has been a unique experience and one I’m looking forward to replicating in 2026.
Which leads me to the next bit of business: Upcoming group promotions!
In a bit of Book Birthday Serendipity™, Tales of a Stranger Sister will be 50% off from March 1st through 7th exclusively on Smashwords as part of their Read An Ebook Week sale!
I have also submitted to two other promotions this spring and once I hear word if I’ve been accepted to either or both, I’ll be sure to give the specifics here as well as on Bluesky.
Lastly, some news for the semi-distant, yet still-rapidly-approaching future. Both S.E. Robertson and I will be attending Confluence 2026 in late July and will be selling and signing our books in the dealers’ room. More details will follow as we get closer to it, but if you happen to be in the Pittsburgh area then and appreciate sci-fi, fantasy, & horror books and art, then we hope you’ll check it out (and perhaps swing by the dealers’ room to say “Hi!”)
Now, let’s blow out these candles and cut this cake already! I call dibs on a frosting flower.
Comments closed
Okay, so this particular blog post is a few weeks overdue. I had planned to look back on the year that was and look ahead to 2026. I had a full outline and everything. Then life happened this last month and, frankly, the last thing I ever want to think about ever again is 2025, so that into the trash that outline went.
My spouse and I had to help the sweetest fuzzy boy to ever grace this planet find rest after a prolonged battle with kidney disease. He gave us eight of the most wonderful years any creature can bestow on another and it simultaneously feels both like we were cheated and yet it was more than we could ever deserve. He was love itself wrapped in fur. He is missed and will be missed until the day I can no longer miss anything because I will cease existing.
Goodbye, Burghie, my fur-son. I am grateful for every day I was privileged to be your Cat-dad. I love you.
Honestly, the last month has felt like a year in itself and a hard year at that. I’m just going to let it and 2025 as a whole fade away and instead only remember the period for three things:
Speaking of 2026, I don’t make resolutions when the new year arrives. I instead prefer to set actionable goals for myself, express hopes for what’s to come, and try to have positive intentions about my actions in the new year.
My biggest goal is to complete at least one draft of something in 2026, be it novel, novella, novelette, short story… Something. Anything. 2025 was a bit of a lost year for me, writing-wise, so getting back into my writing routine and redeveloping the consistency that helped me complete Tales of a Stranger Sister will no doubt do wonders for both my mood and attitude in the upcoming year.
I hope that some of those out there who bought my first novel will read it and feel strongly enough about it to want to write a review.
As for intentions, I want to make more of an effort to take better care of the doughy meat-suit my brain dwells inside. I want to connect and reconnect with people, both friends and family as well as the communities I am part of. Lastly, I intend to try and do the most good I can, when circumstances allow for it, and accept that I cannot single-handedly fix everything, but that does not mean I cannot make some things better in some small way.
I don’t know what’s in store in the year 2026, but I hope there’s some good coming, for all of us.
And if it doesn’t come, that we make some good for each other.
Comments closed
Okay, I’m back with more things I love about the holiday season. Well, one kind of thing, but at least there’s three of them.
Christmas trees, Christmas cookies, and caroling on a cold December night. There’s no shortage of traditions tied to Christmas alone, let alone the dozen other holidays one might celebrate this time of year. That said, there a few, let’s say especially unique, such traditions that might have disappeared into the mists of history if not for one simple fact.
They friggin’ rule.
So, if you’re not familiar with these traditions, allow me to help you get acquainted with them so you can share them with your friends and family.
The Lord of Misrule was a title bestowed to someone, usually a poor beggar, during the winter Feast of Fools and who was charged with leading the Christmastime revelry. The Lord would then lead his merry band of revelers to the homes of the wealthy and make demands for food and liquor. These demands were usually backed with threats of yuletide violence visited upon those who refused. Frankly, I think threatening the rich with violence unless they feed the poor is something we should bring back.
Not just at Christmastime, but throughout the year.
Mari Lwyd is a Welsh tradition which also involves people coming up to someone else’s home and demanding refreshments.
Except this time the party paying a visit is a Skeletal Horse.
A RAPPING skeletal horse.
That’s right, this boney bastard knocks on your door and then challenges you to a Rap Battle where instead of using your dope rhymes and sick beats to diss him, you need to come up with excuses as to why a skeletal horse can’t come inside and drink your best booze and tastiest eats.
Basically, it’s Caroling but METAL AS FUCK!
Heitstrenging is the old Norse Yule tradition of getting hammered and then proceeding to swear an oath about all the kick-ass bitchin’ things you’re about to do in the upcoming year. These oaths are usually outlandish, sometimes even literally impossible, things that one only promises when they’re already dozen mugs of ale in on the longest night of the year. Whether it’s armies you might defeat, wild animals you might slay, or literal gods that you’ll fuck, marry, or kill (or if feeling especially boastful, all three), nothing is off the table, and the only limit is your imagination and blood-alcohol level.
Anyone can resolve to go to the gym more often come January 1st. It takes a special kind of gumption to promise to woo a Valkyrie and pimp slap Thor right across his stupid, sexy face.
Okay, that wraps up my Holiday Content Extravaganza™ (for real this time.) Thank you for letting me indulge in some holly jolly what-the-fuckery. Whether your holiday celebrations involve beating up the rich, rapping horses, not-so-humble Viking brags, or something a bit more traditional (by Western standards), I hope its joyful and that you share it with those you like and love.
Ho Ho Yo! Happy Holidays to one and all, regardless of what you celebrate, how you celebrate it, or even if you don’t celebrate anything at all. 2025 has been… uh… interesting, so this post isn’t just Content™, but also a chance to add a little positivity to the last couple weeks of this weird year by sharing a few of my favorite things that I associate with the season.
Let’s start with one of the staples, as most of us who celebrate the holiday have an opinion on what is and isn’t a “Christmas” movie and which ones are all-time classics. While I won’t get into either of those debates, I do have two favorites. One I consider a more “Traditional-style” Christmas movie in tone and theme and one that’s a bit more off-kilter.
A lot of people consider A Muppet Christmas Carol to be a masterpiece and Sir Michael Caine’s performance as Scrooge is up there in all-time great portrayals (Though I’m more partial to Sir Patrick Stewart’s take on the character), but when I think of Muppets and Christmas, my first thought always goes to 1987’s A Muppet Family Christmas.
This might be the Endgame of Muppet specials considering that it features the Muppets, their CTW brethren from Sesame Street, and the Mother-lovin’ Fraggles. Watch that icy patch.
My other favorite is actually an awful movie, but it was salvaged (and savaged) by a pair of wise-crackin’ robots and their hapless human companion stranded in space by a pair of mad scientists. Come, gather ’round as we watch Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow riff to smithereens the cinematic disasterpiece Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
For many years I had a deep loathing of Christmas Music. I spent eight years of my late teens and early-20s working retail in an actual brick and mortar mall. From mid-November until January 2nd, I was deluged with Christmas music for 8-12 hours a day. I still avoid prolonged exposure to the holly jolly tunes, but at least my eye no longer twitches at hearing Feliz Navidad.
That said, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have at least a few favorite tunes. Mostly ones that are a bit quirkier and played much less often by radio stations. In regard to the classic carols, I hold a fondness for The Muppets (Can you tell I was a child of the 80s?) and John Denver banging out their version of The 12 Days of Christmas, Bah bum bum bum bum…
When it comes to more original faire, I have a trio of interesting, quirky, and just plain weird songs I look forward t hearing upon December’s arrival.
First, is the Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping
Next up is The Royal Guardsmen’s Snoopy’s Christmas
Lastly, let’s get Weird (and pretty violent) with “Weird” Al Yankovic’s The Night Santa Went Crazy
Okay, moving on from media, let’s talk Christmas food.
Most people associate Christmas with carving a nice roasted turkey or baked ham, or if really old-school, a fattened goose.
I think of fish.
Specifically, fried smelts. As a kid, I always remember a large platter of these crispy, small fish at my extended family’s Christmas Eve gatherings. If I ever get haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past and we stop by one of those nights, I’m taking an entire to-go box of these suckers with me.
I’m a simple man and when it comes to cookies, I’m what many would call “a basic bitch.” I come from the land of Wedding Cookie Tables, and I can pack away ladylocks, buckeyes, and snickerdoodles like the love child of Pac-Man and Kirby. When it comes to Christmas time though, just give me a plate of Frosted Sugar Cookies, a big glass of Chocolate milk and leave me to it. I’m not saying I would fight Santa if someone left a plate of these on Christmas Eve, but… well, actually, yeah, I would.
So, the tree my spouse and I trim every year is an eclectic mix of childhood ornaments, tributes to our hometown, and assorted nerdery. One of absolute favorites is just a simple ball, but the story it tells is over 40 years old and is as much a part of my childhood as Charlie Brown’s sad Christmas tree or Boris Karloff lying to Cindy Lu Who’s stupid-adorable face.
Eat’n Park is a western Pennsylvania institution and in 1982 the restaurant created what would be its holiday icon.
It’s been recreated on T-shirts, postcards, coffee mugs, and yes, Christmas ornaments. For over 40 years that star has been helped to the top of the tree, reminding us that we all could use a helping hand, not only this time of year, but all year round.
I won’t say “Favorite Gifts” because every gift I’ve ever received is appreciated in the spirit in which it was given. However, that doesn’t mean that some gifts don’t hold particular places of honor in my home or heart. I still remember, as a kid, tearing away the wrapping paper and holding in my little Ghostbustin’ hands the object I most desired in 1987…
Sadly, like 99.9% of my childhood possessions, it ended up in a charity garage sale and is long gone. I could always rebuy it with my middle-aged disposable income, but frankly, it wouldn’t be the same and it would really just take up space we don’t have. Luckily, as an adult, I received a pretty nice (and much smaller) replacement on another Christmas afternoon…
Of course, if we’re talking about gifts I’ve received as an adult, then my Awesomely Amazing™ (and Amazingly Awesome™) Spouse provided me the gift that never fails to bring a smile to my face (well, OTHER that their presence in my life)…
They commissioned Renaissance-style portraits of our Fur-kids, Lily and Burghie. These immediately went up in the place of honor in our front room so anyone who enters our home knows that A.) we’re love our kids and B.) we’re both huge dorks.
Well, it’s time for me to catch a sleigh outta here. I got several inches of “Winter Wonderland” to shovel off my sidewalks and driveway from a pre-Christmas blizzard that rolled through last night. I’ll most likely post here again after the holidays with a 2025 year in review. Have a Happy Holiday season and may it be, if not joyful, at least stress-free.
Welcome to December! We’re about 3 weeks away from Christmas and as we get closer to the big day, I do plan to share some Seasonal Content™. Today, however, I plan to keep things short and simple and focus on the topic at hand – Sales! As in my book is going on sale and will remain so until the end of the year.
Starting Monday (December 8th) until New Year’s Day, I’m offering the ebook of Tales of a Stranger Sister for $1.49 – a 50% discount! And while the crux of the sale is over at Smashwords, I’m offering the 50% discount across all storefronts and countries for the entirety of the sale.
So, if you know someone who likes Small-Scale, Slice-of-Life Fantasy, perhaps you could play Santa and drop a copy in someone’s digital stocking. Or, if it’s more your thing, then maybe you might just treat yourself to a new read for less than the cost of a cup of hot cocoa (Though I do recommend reading it alongside a hot beverage and a cat if one or both are available.)
Anyway, if you haven’t already wrapped up your Christmas shopping or have and want to treat yourself, I hope you’ll give my debut novel a try.
Okay, Gonna ends this post here. Next time: All the things Christmas! ALL THE THINGS!!
Comments closed