Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Trace of Christmas Spirit
    A Trace of Christmas Spirit
    A Trace of Christmas Spirit
    Ebook58 pages53 minutes

    A Trace of Christmas Spirit

    By Havan Fellows

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Since his brother's death, Camden’s yearly road trip to celebrate Christmas with his parents has turned to nothing more than drudgery. With his holiday spirit gone, this is the last year he will subject himself to their narrow-minded views on his life.

    But Cam’s world takes a left turn when he gets snowed-in with the eccentric and way-too-jolly Trace. Maybe...just maybe spirits can be revived and the joy of Christmas reclaimed.

    This book was originally published December 2011 in the anthology And The Prompt Is...Holiday Edition with the Story Orgy. Though the base story remains intact, it has been edited again, enhanced from its original version. I hope you enjoy this new version and thank you.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHavan Fellows
    Release dateNov 15, 2013
    ISBN9781310147319
    A Trace of Christmas Spirit
    Author

    Havan Fellows

    I annoy, love, respect, scare, seduce, hurt, anger, infatuate, frustrate, flatter, envy, amuse and tolerate everyone. I just do it better in writing thanks to a little thing called...edits. Okay no, seriously...I'm a simple minded person who enjoys the escape from real life through a book. I write with the group Story Orgy and hope to continue doing so for a long time. I also am privileged to be with the Pulp Friction writers creating intermingling books in a world all our own. And just like every other red blooded human – I love hearing from people. So feel free to drop me a line – whether it's a comment on my blog, an email, a tweet or you track me down on FaceBook or Google + ... it's easy to catch someone who wants to be caught.

    Read more from Havan Fellows

    Related authors

    Related to A Trace of Christmas Spirit

    Related ebooks

    Gay Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The People’s Chris

      Jun 30, 2022

      The People’s Chris
      14 min read

    • Article

      You’ve Got A Friend In Me Author Allison Pearson On Real, Meaningful Friendship

      Oct 14, 2019

      The other day, my friend Karen turned down an invitation to lunch with a neighbour. The woman had lived across the road for years and, although they were chatty, they’d never got close. Recently, the woman started messaging daily, suggesting they mee

      3 min read

    • Article

      How The Life Goes On

      Feb 4, 2021

      How The Life Goes On
      9 min read

    • Article

      No Pressure!

      Apr 22, 2021

      No Pressure!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Restless Souls

      Mar 6, 2018

      Restless Souls
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Double Life

      Feb 6, 2020

      A Double Life
      10 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      This Family Saga Finds Grace And Beauty In Ordinary Lives, Fully Lived

      Jun 10, 2021

      Simon Van Booy's new novel Night Came With Many Stars follows several generations of a Kentucky family, their crossroads and choices, their curses and hard memories, their luck and their chances.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Drawn to THE MOORS

      Feb 8, 2022

      Drawn to THE MOORS
      11 min read

    • Article

      21,915

      Jul 7, 2022

      21,915
      2 min read

    • Article

      21,915

      Jul 7, 2022

      21,915
      2 min read

    • Article

      ’Tis the SEASON

      Nov 11, 2020

      ’Tis the SEASON
      6 min read

    • Article

      Broken Wings

      Aug 24, 2020

      Whenever Gemma Faber came to London for work, she stayed at Searle’s. It was a luxurious club-type hotel and every time she visited, she felt she’d really made it. The taxi pulled up and her heart lifted at the sight of the lilac-and-gold striped awn

      5 min read

    • Article

      Sifting And Sorting With Joy

      Jul 20, 2020

      Friend Jan phones to ask if I’d like to buy his grandmother’s old pump organ. He is scaling down big time, he explains, moving house one last time. Actually, he corrects himself, it’s the penultimate move, the last one being the ABF (absolute bloody

      3 min read

    • Article

      Bucksaw

      Jun 3, 2019

      From the back seat of the car, Benjamin read the gold-lettered sign at the edge of the rolling green lawn and said, “Why do they call it a correctional facility?” He’d meant only to think the question, rather than speak it, but lately, more and more,

      23 min read

    • Article

      The Perfect Holiday

      Aug 8, 2022

      She doesn’t know why she does it to herself every year. Why she allows these two short weeks to take on the significance she does. The weight of all their – conflicting – expectations weighing her down as she plans where they might go. For Amber: sun

      7 min read

    • Article

      Winter

      May 23, 2019

      Winter
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stockpiling for Winter

      Dec 14, 2018

      Stockpiling for Winter
      3 min read

    • Article

      Goodwill to All Men

      Jan 7, 2022

      Goodwill to All Men
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Double Life

      Dec 7, 2020

      Sadie is in the kitchen, already dressed in school uniform, fastening the clips on the violin she chose for her most recent birthday, when Gabriela heads downstairs the following morning. Seven years old: how the hell did that happen? Briefly, she wo

      6 min read

    • Article

      Ready, Set, Let go!

      May 15, 2019

      Ready, Set, Let go!
      11 min read

    • Article

      Nothing to Declare

      Jun 15, 2019

      All the senior partners were having a laugh about a movie they’d seen. Forty-Five Years. Something, something about the movie taking forty-five years to sit through. The woman McGuinness thought he recognized was in it with them at the far end of the

      24 min read

    • Article

      Epithalamium

      Jun 1, 2023

      Epithalamium
      16 min read

    • Article

      Reach

      Apr 10, 2021

      Jack Benson stands dissolved in an ocean of strangers, humans he couldn’t have known existed until forced to jostle with them for space and share odors. He recoils imperceptibly with each touch, eager not to offend or stand out any further. As a mass

      10 min read

    • Article

      Where is THE LOVE?

      May 12, 2019

      Where is THE LOVE?
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Trace of Christmas Spirit

    4/5

    5 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Gosh, funny take on an old Christmas theme. Loved it! Keep up the good work.

    Book preview

    A Trace of Christmas Spirit - Havan Fellows

    Blurb

    Since his brother's death, Camden’s yearly road trip to celebrate Christmas with his parents has turned to nothing more than drudgery. With his holiday spirit gone, this is the last year he will subject himself to their narrow-minded views on his life.

    But Cam’s world takes a left turn when he gets snowed-in with the eccentric and way-too-jolly Trace. Maybe…just maybe spirits can be revived and the joy of Christmas reclaimed.

    This book was originally published December 2011 in the anthology And The Prompt Is...Holiday Edition with the Story Orgy. Though the base story remains intact, it has been edited again, enhanced from its original version. I hope you enjoy this new version and thank you.

    A Trace of Christmas Spirit

    By

    Havan Fellows

    Smashwords edition published in the United States

    Second Edition Copyright © November 2013 by Havan Fellows

    Copyright © December 2011 by Havan Fellows

    Acknowledgements

    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations, incidents and positions are completely and absolutely a part of the author's skewed imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, businesses, events or locales are entirely coincidental and maybe a little bit freaky.

    Cover Art by Startled Monkeys Media

    Editing by Jae Ashley

    All rights are reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, is forbidden without express written permission of the publisher/author. So please be good, good is fun.

    Dedications

    To Bev Smith whose joy for life and generous heart have guaranteed that her spirit shines down from the brightest star in the sky.

    To Myristica Onenine…you are always a joy to talk to, and these prompt words you sent in made a story pop into my head that I'm very proud of. Thank you for your kindness, and I hope you enjoy this story that wouldn't be if not for you.

    Prompt words: toy maker / snowed in cabin / Christmas wrapping

    Trademark Acknowledgements:

    The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

    Merriam-Webster: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

    Oxford (Dictionary): Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford

    And now…for your reading enjoyment…

    A Trace of Christmas Spirit

    Chapter 1

    Camden Bartels swore under his breath. The last thing he wanted to do was drive thousands of miles to spend a fucking fake ass holiday with his fake ass family. None of them mattered to him anymore; he was free of their tyranny. Free until Christmas came around every year, that was. He was forced to drive up to Maine once a year to spend a grueling week with people who didn't give a damn about him. How did that work anyway? How was a grown man forced to do something so heinous that he absolutely despised the thought of it?

    Oh yeah, because his kid brother made him swear to it. Daley was the only one of the lot worth anything. The only one with the power to make Camden take this journey every year, even after Daley's passing ten winters ago.

    Well, this was it. The last year he participated in this stupid ass ritual. His parents could just shove it; they didn't want him there anyway. They had written him off long ago when he confessed the obvious… he didn't like girls. His mother actually offered to pay for his therapy if he would just find a nice wife and have lots of rugrats. His father threatened to beat the shit out of him until he manned up and hit back. He would have pulverized his father with two good blows. Two really fucked up ideas of how to straighten his ass out, if you asked Cam. Hell, you could ask anyone and they would think the same thing: his parents were bigoted lunatics.

    Not Daley, though. Six years younger than Cam, his brother had been fine with

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1