Advent Calendar Day 1

Happy 1st of December!

Hasn’t this been the craziest of years? I feel like we just finished LAST year’s Advent Calendar and here we go again!

If you’re new to me and the blog, this might be your first Josh Lanyon Advent Calendar. How it works is like this: all through the month of December I try to post something of interest or good cheer every day. Sometimes it's just a nice photograph, sometimes it's a giveaway, sometimes it's a holiday coda.

A coda, for those of you joining us for the first time, is an ending part of a piece of music or a work of literature or drama that is separate from the earlier parts. The fact that the coda is separate from earlier parts of the story is what makes it different from, say, an epilogue wherein all the story parts are pulled together and we have a final last word on what it all meant.

So in this case, the codas are all bits and bobs from my existing stories -- in some cases they're bridges to new stories and in other cases they are a final glimpse of the characters. Sometimes they are really short -- just a couple of lines. Sometimes they're an actual vignette. Once again, I’m planning to do about six codas this year, maybe more depending on the time factor.

What’s different this year is I’m inviting readers like you to submit their own holiday offerings too. Anything related to any of the stories is welcome. The idea being that no one better understands what a fan might enjoy than another fan! So if you want to submit artwork or a snippet from a scene you wish I’d written or a poem or a song or anything at all really, send it to me through my website contact page and we’ll put those into the calendar as well. (All donations gratefully accepted!)

As for why I do the Advent Calendar? It's just a way of thanking you all for your kindness and support during the year. Yes, you buy the books because you like the stories, but there are lots of stories and lots of authors out there, so I appreciate the fact that so often you choose Josh Lanyon stories. Thank you very sincerely. I truly hope you enjoy this year's calendar.

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you.