“There’s More Scumm Where That Came From, Reader!”

Thus the banner beneath the first few paragraphs of my story, “Holly Jolly,” for a look at which one may click here.  Yes, it’s issue 6 of PLANET SCUMM (cf. November 14, 6, September 7), the “O Scumm All Ye Faithful” issue and mine is the cover story they’ve chosen to excerpt.  While as for the issue as a whole. . . .  The wailing of wind through barren trees.  Black ice on an unlit backroad.  A [image error]baker’s dozen of snowmen in your yard — they sprung up overnight.  Halloween may be the season of tricks and treats, but on Planet Scumm the dead of winter is for horror.
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Inside, we have a skin-stealing witch snuggled up next to a lost traveler — he says he came through the payphone.  There’s a businessman, too, over there by the fire.  He’s hiding from his employers, or so he says to the ghostly woman sitting across the room.  Poor fool can’t tell she’s just a hologram.
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And what’s that jingling on the roof?  Why, it must be the festive stars of our cover story, James Dorr’s Holly Jolly.  Don’t remember Ol’ Kris Kringle needing quite so many elves.  And certainly not with all those weapons. . . . 
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Or as they say, There’s more Scumm Where That Came From, Reader, for more on which one may press here.