Merry Kitsch-mas!

Bindlegrim is happy to announce that Grim Happy Christmas is now in its 2nd edition for 2013 with improvements on both price and format. This newer version is a larger 8.5" square which just seems more kid-friendly, and the print is larger for those of us with tired eyes. As well, the cover and content are now on soft-to-the-touch matte pages without any major loss to the photographic quality. I only regret it has taken me since 2011 to get this done!
 

You can find the book in two places online* this December with the following special prices:

1) On Amazon (currently priced around $7.95 and qualifies for their free shipping deals).

2) On CreateSpace (using December's coupon code 4DX92CZD get it for $5 + shipping). 

* Note that the book is still on blurb.com but there the 7" glossy (first edition) costs around $20 to produce and for some reason they only offer limited and expensive shipping options via UPS)... 

Are you new to Grim Happy Christmas? Well, once upon a time, a little Christmas gnome leaps from the darkness of his storage box to seek out the happy dreams of the holiday, but instead finds dirty dishes and big scary bills! What has happened to Christmas? The story that follows is told in simple words and photography, and is appropriate for the entire family (minus perhaps a scary scene with the grim reaper), and offers a quick lesson that maybe the importance of the holiday isn't found rushing off to find glittery gewgaws to bedazzle the senses, when love is right there at home, wherever that may be for you!

Christmas Gnomes (Tomte, Nisse, or Hobs) are (per Wikipedia) mythological creatures from Scandinavian folklore typically associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. The gnome is known as a gift bearer and considered the Swedish version of Father Christmas. As mid-century decorations - the gnomes were Christmas kitsch ornaments Made In Japan during the 1950s of hand painted hard plastic faces topped by flocked paper hats. Arms, legs, and hair were chenille, and the bodies and feet were made from spun cotton.

The characters of this book are actually cherished vintage hand-me-down ornaments from the author's home, that became the centerpiece of this book's lesson during a particularly skint and cancelled holiday. The photos seen in this book were at first to become a simple Christmas card yet during the photo session seemed to be telling a story, and this developed into a little hand-made book of scribbled words and pasted pictures. It was the only material gift offered during that harsh year - but with content that became meaningful beyond price. 

Bindlegrim, Red Hob, & Green Hob send you their best this season! Merry Kitsch-mas!

You can see more pictures of the book on flickr:

Let Rains Bring Toads - author notes

It's here! At the end of the week occurs the drawing from those who comment for a Bindlegrim vintage-style lantern. Yes, this is the final entry in the Bindlegrim blog comment contest (see below)*** of author-note series for the print & e-book Tall Tales Shorter Days, and looks like ol' Bindle will have to find something else to yak about for the next batch of entries...

This final story in On Stranger Winds is, as mentioned in The Ballad of Papi Huesos entry), a grim piece called Let Rains Bring Toads. And this would definitely be on the darker side of the book's various journeys.

In some ways the book is a travelogue. Since the first story was penned, I have moved from the rainy Seattle (Jitter, The Pumpkin Dream), past the snow-deep woods of Ichabod's Cottage (Herbivorous Witch, Watrous & Valmora), to desert environs, (Papi Huesos, Let Rains Bring Toads). This one was written during the monsoon season, when huge storms, like thundering animals lash with lightening, sweeping across the warm summer desert lands where you have little place to hide. The name follows one of these experiences, when one quiet night, after a tremendous storm, a nighttime canyon echoed with the calls of desert toads, perhaps like this one...(seen in this list of New Mexico amphibians)?

photo: list of amphibians - New Mexico (Wikipedia)

The story opens during a monsoon, upon a property of one particularly odd building. But this is not the adobe that the area is so famous (see wikipedia photo below). It is instead described as having a surface more like a termite hill. And as the view enters inside one of the small, thick border windows, that is where our tale begins...

photo: adobe - (Wikipedia)

So, at that, I'm ending this entry rather short, sufficing to say, that there is, as seems to be coincidental in all these stories, another spell-caster, who lives at this abode. And on this given night, a mob of towns people have entered very upset with her magic, and their choices in the past at their own questionable utilization of her magic. What follows is perhaps something like an old horror movie scripts that struggles with morality and mortality, or perhaps I was channeling such shows as The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond, or The Twilight Zone.

photo: vinegaroon - (Wikipedia)

Oh, and before I forget, last, but not least, there is a guest appearance by some skeletons, as well as some desert creatures in this story. The witch has a couple of acquaintance --- there is a shape-shifting coyote, and another creature involved in her spell-casting, the vinegaroon (whip-scorpion shown above), the latter of which I have yet to see in the wild, because they only come out at night. Imagine that crawling into your boots or tent. Yikes!

Well, that's it - the final entry! A big thank-you to all have have visited the blog these past few weeks and participated, and I'm looking forward to the giveaway at the end of this week!

Bindlegrim books in need of a new home. PS - Cover art is by David Irvine

*** GIVEAWAY DETAILS ***

1) From March 10th to Mar 17th - leave a blog comment here about whatever you like... about witches, old movies or TV shows, weird architecture, big bugs, you name it...

2) For each author-notes blog entries, I will draw randomly at the end of that week to give the commenting visitor a signed printed copy of Tall Tales Shorter Days.

3) At the end of all six blog entries (occurring THIS week) I will draw from ALL comments (more commenting visits, more chances to win) for one Bindlegrim lantern - The Horrid Decor (Orange on Ghost Skin) seen below.

Note - Bindlegrim encourages and hopes, but does not require, readers might leave a Like or Review on Amazon for the book: (in print on Amazon or Etsy) or by e-book via Kindle/iPad.

*** GIVEAWAY DETAILS ***