I received this anthology of mystery-themed science fiction and fantasy set during the Christmas season from LibraryThing's EarlyReviewer program several years ago... just before I got overwhelmed with the number of ER books I had and thus shifted to being much more selective about my requests. But this  book finally surfaced to the top of my reading list over this holiday season, and so I finally read it, and now I am finally writing it up. Only seven years after it was published! How's that for "early"?

The book has no credited editor, and consists of eight stories by four authors, each contributing two stories; the writers write introductions to each other's work. It's published by a small press and gives off a very small-press vibe in a bad way: none of these stories really read like they're ready for prime time. They almost all needed some tightening, or some rethinking of the basic premise

The first one, "The Wild Hunt," has a neat idea of a modern wild hunt, but the very set-up makes no sense: we're told  they sniff out murders, but they fob their newest member off on a murder they see as unimportant... only they don't seem to have anything else to do? Or there's "Escape from Yorktown," set in a Victorian-themed reenactment on future Earth that just seems to go on and on before it gets to the point and is filled with clunky dialogue. "Bevel & Turn" had a neat premise, a Christmas whirligig that transports a character into their own family's history, but either I couldn't keep everything straight or (more likely) the story couldn't motivate me to want to. "Ol' St. Nick" was an overlong story where a murder victim was dressed as Santa Claus and otherwise had no meaningful Christmas connection.

The closest story to being good was "The Ringers" by Raven Oak, which was creepy and atmospheric, though if it was meant to be set in our world's real history, it didn't convince; felt more like stereotypes of the past than the actual past.

So overall, very much missable, and a good example of why I became more selective with my LTER requests. Mediocre books you get for free might not cost you money, but they do cost you time you could have spent reading and reviewing a better book.

An entertaining read, with some definite highs and lows. For the most part, I enjoyed the stories. The Ringers and The Wild Hunt were favorites, but I had trouble engaging with Escape from Yorktown. A nice way to spend a few hours. ( )

I love Christmas-themed reading and get a bit fed up with only being able to find chicklit or children's books. So I enjoyed this collection of fantasy-time travel-science fiction stories which are festive themed even if some of the stories didn't particularly appeal to me. The book has 8 stories by 4 different authors and it really is a mixed bag. Generally they are fun and original but occasionally the writing really needed a good editor. My favourite story was the last one, Mr & Mrs Mistletoe, and I would actually have enjoyed a longer version of it. ( )

A few stories in, I had to check if this collection was self published (surprisingly, it's not). The stories themselves were alright, but the whole collection was in desperate need of a better editor. The acknowledgements call their editor the "Grammar Chick," which suggests she did little more than fix up spliced sentences... these stories needed something more critical. I would put the writing quality at the level of your average unbeta'd fanfiction work.

My least favorite (Wild Hunt) seemed to be trying for 'dramatic noir detective' and 'Joe Normal in a weird situation,' and failed to be either. It also used an annoying mix of everyday and awkwardly formal vocabulary ("didn't want to mess up the crime scene" followed by "the... button-up shirt bore amber stains"), and had all sorts of unrealistic and unnecessary plot points (a witness leaving her prosthetic leg behind because she was in a rush to go to another cabin to have sex? What? Did she hop?) It's odd that they started the collection with this story, because it's the weakest.

My favorite (Escape from Yorktown) started out with your typical melodramatic, my-life-is-terrible, too-real-for-this, self-insert teenage girl for a main character. Then the plot happens, and she actually kinda makes sense. The characters aren't super deep, but they feel like real people, and the town is pretty cool. This could be the first chapter in a full-length YA novel. ( )

I don't know what I expected, but I think I expected something more "christmassy". A story doesen't become a good christmas story just by the mentioning of Santa, snow or "Come all ye faithfu". I found that most of the stories didn't have the right christmas feeling. The one I really liked was The Ringers by Raven Oak which was creepy and cosy at the same time. I give it four stars. The others were ok, but not for me. ( )