Welcome to the SFR Brigade Holiday Showcase! There are over 30 authors participating in this awesome blog hop, so when you're done reading here, hop on over to the next person. Lots of prizes and giveaways are being offered from each author. The list of participants can be found here: SFR Brigade Holiday Showcase.
Ever look at something we do in our culture that makes you go, "Huh?" I love studying cultures and traditions. We, as humans, look at the traditions of other cultures and wonder where they came from or how those traditions were started. We even look at our own traditions in or own culture and wonder.
Such as Christmas trees. Bringing live trees indoors to put decorations on them is a little odd when you think about it. The tradition is so ingrained that we even have fake trees, just to continue the tradition without having to get a live one. We even have toys and gimmicks that all revolve around the Christmas tree.
Other cultures may look at this tradition and think us very strange indeed. I like to take sentiments like that one step further. How would an alien from outer space interpret human traditions? What would Christmas trees look like to a space alien? Specifically, what would singing Christmas trees look like to an extraterrestrial? Remember those? They were called 'Douglas Fir.'
I couldn't help it. "Meet Douglas Fir" was born from this idea. In this story, a human family introduces Christmas to an extraterrestrial couple they happen to know. If you've read "Aliens in the Barn," it's the family from that story.
Here is a short excerpt. This is right as Alex shows his extraterrestrial friend, Bazin, a Douglas Fir singing Christmas tree:
Eyes popped opened from their disguised
place within the branches along with a mouth that started singing "Jingle
Bells."
The alien let out an uncharacteristic
yelp before lunging forward in a flurry of movement, knocking the tree from
Alex's hands and then stomping it until the music stopped. To Bazin's credit, a
gun didn't appear out of nowhere like last time they were at this truck stop.
He even managed to keep his human disguise.
"What are you doing?" Alex
yelled. "Those are really hard to find!"
"Did you see the size of its
mouth?" Bazin nudged it with his foot. One of the bushy branches covering
an eyeball twitched and he stomped on it again. "It could have eaten your
hand."
 |
| I learned how to make book covers this past summer. This one is my favorite! |
Thank you so much for reading! What human tradition is your favorite? Or what space alien tradition you've read somewhere made you smile, or a reaction to a strange tradition? Tell me in a comment below. I will be gifting a copy of "Meet Douglas Fir" to 5 commenters (chosen at random / ebook gifted from Amazon).
'Meet Douglas Fir' can be found on Amazon here. 'Meet Douglas Fir' can also be found in "Aliens in the Barn: 4 Short Stories of Mech Alien Romance and Misadventure."
Go check out all the other blog posts of this SFRB Holiday Showcase . Happy reading!
Oh, I have a newsletter now! If you would like to be on my mailing list, let me know in a comment below.
:::Laughing and laughing and laughing::: Gotta love Bazin.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember if I signed up for your NL yet. If not, most certainly add me! :)
LOL, I love writing how he misunderstands things. So fun!
DeleteThank you! You are added. :)
LOL. Love the excerpt and the cover! My favorite tradition is a family one--we get breakfast in bed on our birthday! Nothing like starting your own. Happy holiday and please add me to your newsletter.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Breakfast in bed on your birthday is a great tradition. It's so fun to see what kind of traditions individual families do for themselves.
DeleteYou win a free copy of Douglas Fir! I will gift it to you through Amazon.
And thanks for the interest in my NL! I will add you. :)
Oh I want a douglas fir. But I'll need a pdf fir. Or David will yell "oh Pine needles!" And we don't want that.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I will send you a pdf. Though hearing David yell "Oh, pine needles" sounds pretty funny. And you've also already heard David read it to you through the short story collection "Aliens in the Barn." Sending it anyway, since it was your favorite of that story collection and might be fun to hear it all by itself. :)
DeleteHappy Holidays!
Each Christmas for many years, my MIL gave us singing/dancing characters. The tree sings Santa Baby. LOL Love Bazin's reaction. Have a great holiday.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that one before! So fun! Happy Holidays!
DeleteLol - we have a tree like that with a motion sensor. The cats jump when it starts singing.
ReplyDeleteLOL, that's so funny!
DeleteYou win a free copy! I will gift it through Amazon. Don't remember if I have your email address...I think I do.
Happy Holidays!
Well, I really don't think a decorated tree is as strange as a fat man in a red suit coming down the chimney, but I agree aliens COULD look like trees. Why not?
ReplyDeleteSo true! A fat man in a red suit in the chimney is super strange, lol.
DeleteOh, excellent stuff. I really enjoyed that. Have a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas too!
DeleteAnd you are a winner of a free copy of "Meet Douglas Fir." I will gift it through Amazon. I think I already have your email. If not, I'll be back to ask for it. :)
Loved it!
ReplyDeleteHave a very Merry Christmas and much success for the New Year.
Thank you so much!
DeleteYou too! Merry Christmas!
What fun! Oh, I wish I could do the 'eat for a week and sleep through winter' like my saurian characters. It would be so much nicer to hibernate.
ReplyDeleteLOL, thank you! Your saurian characters are so cool. That would be a nice thing to be able to do, indeed.
DeleteHappy Holidays!
So funny. Happy Holidays, Kyndra!
ReplyDeleteLOL, thank you! Happy Holidays to you too! <3
DeleteHa! Very funny. I also mused on the oddness of bringing a live tree into our house once more this year, and then thought it even stranger to bring a fake one in. We opted for the live one. Hope you have a great Christmas!
ReplyDeleteIt's so odd, indeed, but gave me a funny story idea. You are a winner of a free copy of "Meet Douglas Fir!" I will gift you a copy through Amazon. I don't think I have your email... You can email me at kyndrahatch at gmail dot com or put it in a comment here and I will get it out to you.
DeleteHope you are enjoying your live tree! Merry Christmas!
Yay! I'm so excited. It's tess at tess rider dot com. Looking forward to reading this. Happy holidays!
DeleteFun concept! Love it...happy holidays indeed! I'll mention this on the New Releases post this coming week.
ReplyDeleteThank you! And thanks for the mention! I completely forgot to send you an email to ask about that. <3
DeleteLOL! Fun excerpt!!
ReplyDeleteLOL, thank you! Hope you're keeping warm in all that snow and wind!
DeleteROFL. I don't remember singing trees but OMG Why??? LOL
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, they were so funny! And creepy! But creepy in a fun way. I used to like to make them all sing and dance on the shelves in the store. It was madness, lol. Type in "Singing Douglas Fir Christmas Tree" on YouTube and watch the disturbing magic that is Douglas Fir, hahaha!
DeleteAnd you win a free copy of "Meet Douglas Fir!" I will gift you a copy through Amazon, but I need your email. You can send it to me on my email: kyndrahatch at gmail dot com, or post it in a comment here. :)