We arrive yet again at the end of it all: the dreaded holiday season, where everything is too bright, nothing is where it should be, and you will be constantly hounded by the persistent dread of having forgotten something very important. And traffic will be totally and utterly f*cked all the way to the mall. We are doomed.
But there may still be some spark in these fading minutes before the heat death of the universe, before the last tear is shed, and before the last present is unwrapped. Madness awaits, surely, but there may still be light to guide us to a distant haven. Come with us, once again, across this desolate doomscape of humanity's own creation.
Kozy Krampus contains 29 stories of the nocturnal monstrosities that slither down our chimneys while the coals cool and quiet, of the awkward terrors that lurk within pretty boxes with prettier bows, of the doom that creeps into our bowels as we cram yet another slice of sticky, gummy, oh-what-the-hell-is-this? fruitcake into our mouths.
These are the horrors visited upon us by family, festivities, and futility. You will get the wrong gift for someone who cares too deeply about material things. You will recoil too often from someone who merely wants to snuggle during the winter months. You will wait up all night for someone to come save you, knowing full well that they will never arrive.
Welcome to the cozy cosmic horror of the holiday season.
Edited by Mark Teppo & Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito
The full table of contents is as follows:
• Sara Wilson - "'Tis the Season"
• Martha Hipley - "He's Coming"
• Em Starr - "Dead Wood"
• Michael Huyck - "Of Wilbur, Trains, and Snails"
• Ryan Van Ells - "Alive As He Could Be"
• Margo Pecha - "Aged to Perfection"
• Devan Barlow - "My Hanukkah Kraken"
• L. E. Daniels - "Krampus Air"
• Chris J. Karr - "Luminarias"
• Sydney Sylvester - "White Elephant"
• Edward St. Boniface - "Dag It, You Fungi from Yuggoth!"
• Peter Damien • "On the Ice"
• Megan Lee Beals - "ToyCo's Esoteric Order of the Rescue Pups"
• Lauren Taylor Bak - "Merry Kissmas, Love Cthulhu"
• John Klima - "Fire is the Winter's Fruit"
• Colleen Anderson - "You'll Be Home for Christmas"
• KB Willson - "Snowflake"
• EB Helveg - "What the Heavens Rede"
• Tobby Hagler - "Sin-Eater Claws"
• Jack Stein - "As Red as Any Blood"
• Bethany Browning - "Take Her"
• J. Rohr - "The Chesire's Killer Cousin"
• Elad Haber - "Deep and Dark"
• Chris Baker - "'The I Night I Defeated the Demon of Winter' from Chapter XLVIII of the autobiography of Sir Gottfried von Berlichingen"
• John Tures - "The Ugly Christmas Sweater from Hell"
• Erik Grove - "Not Just for Christmas"
• Brian U. Garrison - "Holiday Offerings"
• Nat Reiher - "It Used to Get Cold At Christmas"
• Kevin Wetmore "Frau Perchta's Handmade Christmas?A Holiday Guide to the Perfect Home, Foreword by Knecht Ruprecht, Translated from the German by Kevin Wetmore "
