Tales of Christmastime
Read two new Christmas stories by Scott Holleran
This season, I’m pleased to announce that two true stories—creative non-fiction in the literary industry—published for a general audience.
Additionally, a new short story about a dancer at a gay bar who’s forced by religious terrorists to dance or die has been accepted for publication . “Strapped”—about an artist one who is targeted and fastened with a low-grade, motion sensory nuclear bomb while being streamed around the world to propagandize against Western liberation and dance—will be featured in English on Libretto magazine in the majority Moslem country of Nigeria. “Strapped” will be my first fiction published in Africa.
The tale of my first consciously-held Christmas, when I was three years old in Chicagoland on Christmas Eve, was selected by Creative Non-Fiction Editor Jenny Robbins to be pictured and featured in Anti-Heroin Chic, a journal dedicated to exploring themes of overcoming addiction. Read “First Christmas” here.
My father was dying during this time last year. Other challenges compounded my disengaged sense of drift in isolation. I accepted a friend’s invitation to meet at a nearby Starbucks, which was decorated for Christmas. That’s when a woman who watches me dance at the fitness center where I work out—I practice and stay fit through cardio, strength and core exercise—approached to initiate a conversation. I decided to write about the encounter. Literary Editor and Curator Lyndsey Ellis chose “Do You Need What I Need?” for publication on today’s Scarlet Literary Journal by the Jaded Ibis Press. You can read the story here.
I’m as enchanted by Christmastime as ever. I know, too—more deeply than I can express—that sorrow can come during this time of year. I’ve tried to express both with these stories. In tandem, they represent an attempt to instill the sense that you and I belong here on earth. In the name of the best, which does not mean being perpetually joyful, within us…cheers.
