I’ve always been a
sucker for Christmas. I try not to jump in until after Thanksgiving,
but from Black Friday right up until Christmas Eve, I’m catching
Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas reruns, squeezing in
another reread of A Christmas Carol, and finding new tunes to
add to my Christmas music collection (closing in on 400 mp3s). When I
realized that Michiko would love Christmas even more than I do, and
that Beth might have reasons to be ambivalent about the holiday
season, the story came together quickly.
“Best Christmas
Ever!” was actually written in 2013, back when I was expecting the
first Monkey Queen book to be published a lot earlier than it
actually was. I loaded it with all sorts of references to Christmas
and the holiday season, though I didn’t leave out the main reason
that Beth had to celebrate the day (before she met Michiko, anyway).
It ended up sitting on my hard drive until November 2014, when with
two books out, I finally cleaned it up slightly and posted it.
There are some
moments in this story I’m quite fond of. One of them is when Beth
tells April the truth about Santa Claus...and a bit of the real
truth. I love those moments in Christmas specials when the “true
meaning” is mentioned or shown. Come on, who doesn’t get a bit of
a chill when the Grinch realizes why the Whos are still singing on
Christmas morning? I wanted to write a moment like that, and even if
I didn’t succeed, I still like it..
And I’m also happy
that Gregor got to provide a bit of holiday grumpiness. Krampus is
going to be after him at this rate...
On less happy
matters: The version of “Best Christmas Ever” I just posted has
been revised from the original version, which has been taken down
from this blog and elsewhere. It’s been indirectly pointed out that
overzealous copyright lawyers could spot the song lyrics I quoted in
the original version and sue my chestnuts off. Because of this, I
decided to remove the lyrics in favor of song titles.
I also felt that the
writing needed some extra polishing, so I changed things in more than
a few spots. Most of it was cosmetic, but in some places, I did
revise or expand. Where were these places? You’ll just have to read
the story to find out. Heh heh heh. (However, nothing has been cut
except for the aforementioned lyrics.)
Favorite reference:
Beth’s second reference to the Grinch. You’ll have to read the
story to find out why, because spoilers.
Most obscure
reference: Probably a tie between the second and third songs Mandy
sings, “Happy Holidays Too” by the Doubleclicks and “All The
Right Reasons” by Dressy Bessy, two of my favorite Christmas songs
of recent years.
Not an obscure
reference: I decided that I wanted to try to create the most
frighteningly syrupy Christmas song title around. I still can’t
believe that I came up with “Freddie, The Little Christmas
Fruitcake That Could”; I still have to hold back laughter every
time I think about it. I really hope that someday, someone comes up
with lyrics to match, and choreographs a Candied Cranberry Dance to
go with it.
Did you know?: This
is the Christmas that’s referred to in the first and last chapters
of A Tiding Of Magpies, and
the “project” Mec mentioned was the wand he crafted for Beth.
All the Monkey Queen short stories are in continuity, in fact, but
this one is a little more so than others. I’ll be sure to post a
revised bibliography whenever Redblade comes out.
Did you also know?
This is post #300 on the Monkey Queen Books blog! Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment