The 12 Terrors of Christmas: A Christmas Horror Anthology

By: Claudette Melanson, Lynn Lamb

Narrated by: Pamela Hershey

Award-winning author Claudette Melanson offers 11 new and original stories to make your skin crawl at any time of the year. This horror anthology also includes an original short by Amazon international best-selling author Lynn Lamb, titled "Bring Me Flesh and Bring Me Wine". A special bonus story is also included by Melanson, "Mislead", previously published only on the Halloweenpalooza blog. Grab a cup of cocoa and make sure the windows and doors are locked tight as you settle in by the fire to enjoy these tales of terror, but be warned...locks have never succeeded at keeping Santa from gaining entry. If you enjoy a slice of horror with your holiday cheer, this collection of Christmas horror shorts will satisfy all your dark cravings during the holidays...and beyond.

Terror One: Who is Santa really? Does something sinister lurk beneath the red suit and apple-cheeked visage? More importantly, what does Santa want for Christmas?

Terror Two: It is said that every wish bears a cost...even a wish of good intent. What do Detective Talbot and his son, Mallory, stand to lose when the pair seek to right a wrong on Christmas Eve?

Terror Three: Christmas can be a time for great joy...but also for heart-wrenching regret. Can the magic of Christmas Eve turn back the clock before time runs out for Morana and her family?

Terror Four: Snow falls white and clean, seeming to purify the small town of Moon, Pennsylvania, but the woods behind Vaughn's home have taken on a sinister cast. The snow keeps falling in record-breaking depths, but does evil lay hidden beneath its seemingly innocent luster?

Terror Five: As his elves scurry to fill the toy orders for the busy season, unknown terror creeps toward the workshop intent on releasing an evil meant to cancel Santa's yearly deliveries forever.

Terror Six: A well-meaning elf casts a spell that could inadvertently reveal the dark truth about Santa's workshop and its inhabitants. The world's children may end up paying a terrifying price, proving that the path of good intention oftentimes does indeed lead to hell.

©2017 Claudette Melanson (P)2018 Claudette Melanson

The narration is really bad.

It skips and repeats and sounds like Siri. Overall interesting story just hard to listen to.

good story bad performance

The stories are all quite good. Such a fun mash up of holidays and horror with some fun twists. The reader is good but her cadence and reading style is dull and not suited for horror stories.

Terror is a relative term

I do love a good anthology because you never really know what you are going to get, and what I got here was better than I have read in a long time. The characters throughout were interesting and much more different than anyone I could have imagined. I also like the way things were laid out because it kept me guessing as to what was going to happen next. This gets 4.1 stars after averaging all the stories read, as usual, some better than others.

My Christmas Immortal- 4.5
I liked all the characters especially Santa who came across as you would expect a very fine and jolly fellow. Willa was your typical child though willing to hang on to things others would give up. I have to say that I was kind of surprised by the ending though I should not have been.
Santa has been visiting Willa since she was a young child letting her know that he truly exists. But why would he do such a thing, could there be more behind these visits?

The Price of a Christmas Wish- 4.0
The story is kind of dark but also hopeful at the same time. The characters are well defined and come across as three dimensional for the most part. Some are a little too good to be true, however. I knew something bad was coming but it was beautifully told.
There is always a cost for wishes made whether good or bad. Detective Talbot's son makes a wish from a place of innocence that could affect many. What are they willing to pay if their wish harms others?

The Ghost of Christmas Could've Been- 4.0
I liked that the story was not blatant about the situation that the sister found herself in but let you figure it out for yourself.
Morana takes her sister on a journey that shows her how things could have been for them. That if she had only taken the time for herself they might have shared good times. This Christmas brought both joy and sorrow.

Snow Legions in the Time of Cowardice- 4.0
This story harkens back to a previous story given us more information on characters that we have met before. You get a story about the old country and the old ways, so dark and scary in many ways.
Snow falls white and clean, seeming to purify the small town of Moon, Pennsylvania, but the woods behind Vaughn's home have taken on a sinister cast. The snow keeps falling in record-breaking depths, but does evil lay hidden beneath its seemingly-innocent luster?

Don't Look a Gift Were in the Mouth- 4.0
I do love every minute we get to spend with Santa and his helpers. They are not having a good time but things are always going just left of center and making some more than sinister and terrifying things occur.
As the elves work to fill toy orders for the busy season unknown terror creeps towards the workshop ready to unleash an evil meant to cancel Santa's yearly deliveries forever.

A Recipe For Holiday Disaster- 5.0
I am happy to keep going back to characters we are getting to know better and better as the stories progress. The setting and storyline continue in a nonlinear manner but in a roundabout that keeps you guessing what might happen next.
A well-meaning elf casts a spell that could inadvertently reveal the dark truth about Santa and his workshop help. A terrifying price may be paid by the world's children, proving good intentions often do lead to hell.

Twas The Horror Before Christmas- 5.0
Not much to say here other than I love the twist on the original Christmas poem. It was kind of perfection.

All Santa's Were Deer and All Santa's Elves- 4.0
This was the twistiest of the stories as far as I am concerned. I was really pulled into this one because it really took Santa out of his element and put us into the horror of things much more deeply.
Santa and his sleigh go down in a storm on Christmas Eve prompting fears of a less than Merry holiday. The head elf takes it upon himself to try and save the season with magic and a big dose of hands-on bodywork to try and save the day.

Just What You Always Wanted- 3.2
I was not really happy with this one mainly because I did not like the silly girl, she annoyed me. I did like the overall story because I knew what was coming long before it happened.
Trinette is preparing to share her first Christmas in love. Her boyfriend says he has found the perfect gift for her, but beneath the shiny paper and ribbon is a secret he has managed to keep hidden during all the months of dating.

Night of the Living Dead Elves- 4.5
I do love a good zombie story. How often do you get zombie elves running around in the snow? I am going to bet this may be the only time. Loved it!
Because of the explosion of children in the population Santa's workshop has a big need to expand. They must dig below the permafrost in order to get things done but they should be careful because they could find something they wanted to keep buried.

A Very Vampire Christmas- 3.5
This is a Maura DeLuca stand-alone story from the YA vampire series. I have never read anything in the series before but did enjoy this first look for me.
Maura is spending Christmas with her extended vampire family for the first time without her mom and dad. While the celebration starts out good for everyone it does not continue in that vein.

A Special Gift From Author Lynn Lamb- 3.0
Santa loses it and the Dringle twins help to bring him back.

I listened and read the story. The narrator of the audiobook is Pamela Hershey, I did not totally enjoy her narration at first but it got better as the book went on. She sometimes reminded me of the text to speech feature. I also would like to say that numerous elves were killed in the writing of this book, luckily the ones I liked were spared, mostly. Merry, Merry!

Tough listen

Oh man, this book was rough. I tried to stick it out, I really did, but I wasn't able to finish. Once Santa was attacked by a sea monster and 'Frankensteined' back together, I was out. By that point I wasn't sure what I disliked more; the story or the narrators pronunciation of words like 'slashing' and 'thrashing'. Truth be told, I lost interest early on when the author referred to their own book on audible. Overall I'm embarrassed that I spent money on this.

thrilling

I was not sure what to expect from this audio but once it started it was like OMG what is gonna happen next

Always believe in 🎅 Santa.

I loved the stories. Well, there was one, that until I realized it was a dream, made me mad and I kept putting off listening to it.

I wasn't keen on the narration in the first half, but after a few glitches around terror six the narrator gets better and the audio smooths out.

Despite these stories having a horror element, some have happy endings, and they all made me excited for Christmas. I even started buying gifts while listening, and Christmas is a few months away.

Horrible Narration

I cannot tell you if the stories were any good because the narrator was absolutely terrible. Not sure if she was the daughter or spouse of one of the producers but one of those reasons has to be why they would cast her as a narrator! Robotic most of the time and just downright terrible. The worst part? Audible is not allowing me to return it! I love this app but am disappointed that I am unable to return this anthology for something I can enjoy. I’ve been a loyal customer for years and love 95% of the books I get. This one is not on of those!