The Gothic Holiday Spirit

“How can you write that paranormal stuff during the holidays?”

A most interesting question; not because writing paranormal stories during the holidays is any great feat, but because the question itself over looks the fact that the holidays are full of paranormal stories. The enduring Christmas tales we all grew up with are full of ghosts, elves, angels, and magic unlike any stories to be told outside of Halloween. The Yuletide spirit is built upon the hushed magic of a world in winter slumber; and it has birthed tales we tell again and again, in forms that change but with messages that remain the same.

At what other time of year can you see what the world would be like if you were never born? When else can your entire take on life change due to seeing the happiness of your past and the loneliness of your future? What other season can see a department store Santa bestow the belief in magic and miracles to a place as sophisticated and jaded as New York City? It is a paranormal paradise full of possibility that calls for an opening of the imagination as well as an opening of the heart.

Sure, my on holiday cheer might have a few more vampires than most. My angels are sexy and hot rather than merely benign and helpful. And if my elves are making toys, they’re toys of a decidedly adult nature, but in the end it all comes out the same. My winter wonderland is full of magic and paranormal goings on that transform how you feel about the world and your place in it.

What more can you ask for?

So I say that if this holiday season your reindeer happen to shape-shift, that’s okay. If the immortal elf bearing gifts didn’t come from a chimney but fell out of an enchanted book and looks smokin’ hot, that’s perfectly legitimate. If your ghost-of-lovers past takes a more intimate and pleasure oriented approach to redemption of your hero or heroine, that’s all in the spirit of things.
It’s all about the ordinary becoming extraordinary beneath a blanket of the clean, yuletide snows, and not everyone’s extraordinary need be the same.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I’m off to deal with a herd of shape-shifting reindeer in need of a sleigh mistress.

Happy Holidays to all.

~X