Merry Christmas!

From me and my family to yours, merry Christmas! We hope you have a happy and safe holiday.

A Very Scary Christmas

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “Christmas”? I know for me it’s some good, old-fashioned, spine-tingling horror. I mean, what can be more frightening than the holidays? Fighting the crowds to buy some over-priced gift for someone who may or may not like it. An overweight guy in a red suit that knows everything you’re doing, whether you’re being naughty or nice. For goodness’ sake, he knows when you’re sleeping and when you’re awake. I don’t know, but if you ask me, this guy sounds a bit like a Peeping Tom. And let’s not even get started about all the “fun” that is had traveling during the holidays.

So in celebration of all the horror that occurs during this season, I’ve decided to have “A Very Scary Christmas” giveaway here at my blog. I’m not the most creative person when it comes to these contests and giveaways—plus I’m pretty busy during this time of year—so I’m going to make entering this contest a breeze. There are three possible ways for you to enter:

1. Leave a comment on my blog. You can comment on any post here, new or old. It doesn’t have to be anything insightful or profound, just leave a comment. You receive one entry for leaving a comment; feel free to comment as much as you want, but you only get one entry even if you leave 50 comments.

2. Become a follower of my blog. If you click on the little “Follow” button to the right and become a follower of my blog, you receive an entry for the contest. All current followers are automatically entered.

3. Re-tweet one of my tweets on Twitter about this contest. Again, feel free to re-tweet me 50 times, but you only get one entry for the giveaway.

You may get up to three entries for the drawing if you do each of the above things. The contest will be open for one week and will end on Tuesday, December 14th at 12:00 p.m. EST. At that time, all entries will be tallied and a drawing will be held, with my kids drawing names of the winners.

So, you may be asking, what are we drawing for? There will be a first and second place price, which I think you’ll like:

First place: Winner will receive five—yes, five—physical books. And these aren’t just any books; these are books by some of the most talented horror writers out there today: Vampyrrhic by Simon Clark, A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene, Snow by Ronald Malfi, The Killing Kind by Bryan Smith, and Joyride by Jack Ketchum.

Second place: The second-place winner will receive a physical copy of The Regulators by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman).

All books are brand new and have not been read. Due to shipping costs, this contest is limited to U.S. addresses only. ***Winners will be announced here and via Twitter. You will have three days to claim your prize before another winner is selected.***

Good luck and have a horrible…er…I mean, wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas!

Here we are on the eve of Christmas, and my wife and I are wrapping presents and being Santa's "helpers." It has been a fairly eventful, and stressful, day. We were brave enough to go to Wally World earlier today and it was packed. We have worked on getting presents wrapped and the house straightened. And the kids decided to have their worst day in a long time (no matter how many times we reminded them that Santa was watching).

So after all of that, you would think Christmas would be wearing old by now. And, truthfully, there were times today when it did. But now that the kids are in bed awaiting the arrival of St. Nick and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is playing on the TV, somehow it all feels right. So from my family to you, merry Christmas and happy holidays! Be safe!