Season's Eatings

Treats for all of my wonderful readers

What’s new with you?

Hi!

It’s Mat here. I hope all’s well with you and yours.

I hope you’re winding down for a bit of a break — some time with family and friends, some time to yourself. Whatever recharges your batteries.

I’ve got a mini-update for you all, with some exciting stuff crammed inside — an amazing story I found, a little festive horror micro from inside my own brain, and a writing prompt to get you in the seasonal mood.

But first… Gifts!

Want to read the first 30-odd pages of Watcher, the novella I wrote with JP Relph? For free? Course you do!

In that case, get on it.

What am I reading?

I stumbled upon an incredible flash fiction piece the other day, courtesy of Kyle Seibel and Scaffold Lit. The World’s Biggest Sleepover is playful, compelling, and deeply, wonderfully strange. I absolutely love it.

You need to read it. Right now. Go!

Boxing Day Pie (A holiday interlude)

“Go on Ron, invite him round. It’s wasted otherwise.”

We couldn’t enjoy Boxing Day pie knowing he was sat there, alone, next door. Paul, his name was. Skinny thing. Thirties. Pale. Just divorced, Betty said. Quiet lad, bless him.

“I’ve never tried Boxing Day pie,” he said, as Betty poured wine.

“It’s our little tradition. All the best bits of Christmas day, mixed up together.”

She carved him a big slice and Paul dug in, cheeks rosy, warm from the wine. His first mouthful was spuds, carrots, and turkey. Cabbage, ham, and cranberry came next.

“Christmas on a fork!” I said, watching Paul chew.

He noticed our empty plates.

“At our age it all gets a bit much, such rich food,” explained Betty.

The lad smiled with surprise as the pie offered up a hefty mouthful of Christmas pudding, parsnips, stuffing, and an ooze of custard.

“Eat up,” I said. “Betty made it special.”

Paul’s next, more tentative forkful contained a wad of tinsel, wrapping paper, and a silver ribbon. The lad’s eyes were wide, confused.

Finally, a cheery tinkle of breaking glass met his knife – a fragile bauble shattering amid the sprouts. Betty rose to stand behind Paul, carving knife held at his throat.

“Eat.”

Writing prompt

In the spirit of that nasty little tale I wrote, why not take a family tradition and turn it upside down?

Every family has them, those quirky little habits that become normalised over time. We only really understand them when we start to enter other people’s worlds.

They can be small (“in this house, we don’t wear shoes”) or major (“in this house we do not use electricity on a Sunday”), low key (“everybody sings a song or recites a poem on after lunch”), or wildly eccentric (“bow to the Antler King, offer him the blood of your firstborn”).

View these things through an outsider’s eyes, look at them up close. Find the wonder, the humour, the horror, in the things we take for granted.

Signing off (and a teaser)

I hope you and yours have a truly wonderful holiday break. I hope you get the chance to rest, refresh, and recharge. I’ll be back in 2025.

Oh, and if you made it this far, here’s a treat…

It’s the cover of my novella-in-flash, Dantalion is a Quiet Place, set for release on Wednesday, January 15th. I love the cover Suzanne Craig-Whytock made and I can’t wait for you all to get the chance to read it. I’m immensely proud of how this book turned out.

Until the new year, take care and enjoy your writing.

Best wishes,

Mat