25 Comments
User's avatar
MA Knight's avatar

This was like a fucked up Christmas Carol!!! James was so awful and hilarious. Your descriptions of the landscape/injuries/sensations were wonderful. Great stuff.

Walt Shuler's avatar

Wooo! Thank you! I really struggled getting this thing in shape. Really glad to know that his loathsomeness came across and that it hit the way I'd hoped it would!

Nathan Hatch's avatar

Love it.

Perfect Aerosmith song.

And the Trans Am...

Love it.

Walt Shuler's avatar

Both the song and the car really felt fitting, lol. Thanks for putting this project together! It's been a lot of fun (and there's still so many more days to go)!

Graeme Brandham's avatar

This was incredibly haunting, hard to read, and yet beautifully written. One one hand I hated James, and I am not one that usually goes in for horror. And yet the writing had such impetus and momentum that I just couldn't put it down. A testament to a well told story. I can see why this has garnered such popularity.

Walt Shuler's avatar

Thanks for reading in spite of the fact that you don't care for horror! I find that horror-like elements work their way into a lot of my stuff (kind of like that one scene in Leander the Loser. James is a real gem, isn't he? And thank you for the kind words, Graeme.

Graeme Brandham's avatar

Who knows, maybe horror is like good scotch whisky. Most people don't like it at first. But after you have had that first good taste you crave more. 🤣

Walt Shuler's avatar

Lol, I’m the wrong person to ask about whiskey, because it all tastes the same to me. I think horror-ish elements are part of everything, really. I dislike a lot of conventional genre tags, because, well, life isn’t just one thing, and good fiction isn’t, either.

CC Loftin's avatar

Oh my! Walt this is brilliant! Your prose are outstanding and you really pulled this into a perfect short story. Bravo!

Walt Shuler's avatar

Thank you! And thanks again for the feedback, because this wouldn’t have happened without it :)

CC Loftin's avatar

You're too kind and I was glad to help. 😉

Andy Edge's avatar

I love a not nice guy story. Really gets the blood boiling! 🎅🏻

Walt Shuler's avatar

Right? He was so much fun to kill off.

RM Greta's avatar

whoa! I thought I knew where it was going but I was so wrong. that is rough! What a dirtbag. Thoroughly enjoyed! Also enjoyed all the descriptions of sounds and snow and clouds and darkness.

Walt Shuler's avatar

It was kind of twisty! But it was a lot of fun to write (and killing James was pretty awesome, I'll admit).

Alex Jenkin's avatar

Great stuff Walt! Really heavy, grimy and dark feeling even throughout. The characters felt super alive and dynamic too 🤘

Walt Shuler's avatar

Thank you, Alex! James was weirdly hard to write. Amelia, less so, lol! 🤘🤘

Alex Jenkin's avatar

Haha he was great.. early on you have the “is this guy a dickhead? Surely not, he’s the main character” thought… then it’s confirmed rather spectacularly 😅

Walt Shuler's avatar

😂 he does go to great pains to confirm that he is in fact a dickhead.

Posy Churchgate's avatar

Harsh revenge- but justified IMO. Great pacing & a twisty plot - I enjoyed this.

Walt Shuler's avatar

I’m glad you liked it! It was pretty harsh, agreed.

Gil Nobodi's avatar

Absolute horror. Your descriptions were wildly successful. Great job!

Walt Shuler's avatar

Thanks so much, Gil, that means a lot to me!

Tom Schecter's avatar

Goddamn dude

Walt Shuler's avatar

It's definitely a heart-warming tale of reciprocity and seasonal cheer 😃