Winter Extravaganza: Dia Reeves

Dia Reeves is the author of Slice of Cherry.

SUMMARY: Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that’s just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around. It’s no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire—the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren’t killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities…. (Publishes on January 4, 2011.)

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Winter's pretty lame here in Texas. We get maybe two or three days of actual winter events, like snow flurries or freezing rain. Other than that, our winters are pretty mild. To get any kind of true winter experience I have to rely on fiction, and winter tales, the ones I like anyway, all tend to be dark and deliciously creepy. Like the one about the girl made out of snow who melts when she falls in love or that one about the miserly old guy who gets visited by ghosts during Christmas Eve. But my absolute favorite winter stories are short stories. I'm glad to be able to share these because short stories aren't as popular as novels and don't get nearly as much love. Here are three of my favorites:

"Snow Cancellations" by Donald R. Burleson. It's about this boy who's very excited to experience his first snow cancellation (he's from Arizona, I think, where they never get snow days). The problem is, the snow that's causing the cancellations is evil...and hungry. I still get chills when I read it.

"Silent Snow, Secret Snow" by Conrad Aiken. In this story, winter is all in the boy's mind. For some reason, he can't stop thinking about snow and how great it is, to the point where he can barely hold a conversation with anyone and lashes out when people interrupt his snowy daydreams--it's a terrific psychological read. Very disturbing.

"Wolfland" by Tanith Lee. This is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and I would marry this story if I could. It's romantically wintry--snow-covered forests, howling wolves, a girl in a thick red cloak. The wolf that menaces her is very different from the wolf in the fairy tale, though, but I won't say how and give it away.

So definitely grab a mug of hot chocolate and curl up with one of my wintry tale recommendations, especially if you live in the South like I do. Because if the weather outside doesn't give you chills, these stories certainly will.

Wow I'll have to check out these creepy Christmas short stories - thanks Dia!

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