Weird Christmas Podcast

2021 Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Contest (4th Annual Results Show)

Weird Christmas Podcast

Show Notes

It’s out later than I would have preferred, but like the inevitability of New Year’s following Christmas, it is here. To read the stories, get bio information and links on the authors, and for all other show notes, please check out WeirdChristmas.com. Results: Overall Winner: “The Fight” by Elizabeth Guilt “Weird Cards” Category Winner: “If the Suit Fits” by Michelle Christophorou “There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard” Category Winner: “A Churchyard Carol” by Dan Fields “Stocking Stuffer” Category Winner: “The Power of Presents and Spidersilk” by Daniel Ausema Honorable Mention (in no particular order): “The Second Coming” — Michelle Christophorou “Married to Christmas” — Dustin Pari “The Christmas Room” — J.D. Wilson “Saving Cinterland” — JJ Mokrezewski “The Messenger” — Jens Hieber “A Christmas Burial” — Gary Ballard “Spirits of Christmas” — D.P. Blanchard “A lock of hair, a baby tooth, a toenail” — Eleanor Luke “Red Nose” — Thomas Lawrance “The Last Holiday” — John Wolf “It’s the Most Dreadful Time of the Year” — Paul Lewthwaite “How Santa Got Schooled” — Kate Sherrod “O Holey Night” — John Possidente “The Yew’s Embrace” — Jen Rowe “War’s End” — Adam Gottfried “Carton Holiday” — Ibiteye Overcomer “Christmas Spirits” — Laurie Peterson “Piss Pistol” — Brandon Case “Grandpa?” — Jonathan Saint Please help support the contest, the podcast, and Weird Christmas website by buying a “coffee” (a gift in increments of $3) at Ko-Fi.com (click here). For even more support, please consider joining my Patreon page (click here) where for $2 or $5/month, you’ll have access to extra content and bonuses like physical postcards mailed throughout the year. With more support, I can offer more and bigger prizes for the contest next year. A big thank you to my volunteer readers this season: my work buddy Lisa and LW Salinas (@sithwitch), both of whom stepped in at the very last second. Otherwise, almost all the authors wanted to read their own work this year, which was fun! Bumper music: Usual opening: “O Holy Night” by Tiny Tim, “Christmas Doesn’t Last” by Make Like Monkeys, “Santa Claus Boogie” by Hasil Adkins, “Space Age Santa” by Ross Christman Special opening: “A Little Too Late for Christmas” by The Crux Outro: "White Christmas" by the Ventures Bumpers: here, here, here, here, here, lots of dark piano Christmas music and Theramin stuff. Contest results from previous years: 2020, 2019, 2018.

More from Weird Christmas Podcast

Dec 26, 2025

Please check WeirdChristmas.com for the text of all the stories along with links to the authors' bios, other works, and all the show notes. Please help support the show, the podcast, and Weird Christmas website by donating/gifting any and all amounts at Ko-Fi.com (click here). The money from the prizes is all from donations. And the more donations I get, the more I can give to the contestants. My long term goal is to make every story count as a professional sale by most writing organization’s standards. You can also donate any amount through PayPal by giving to [email protected].

Dec 22, 2025

If you’re looking for any of the links mentioned in the show, they're all at WeirdChristmas.com on the post for the first part of this conversation, which, yes, is technically a different episode, even though I probably should have made them all one, although there were a couple years inbetween the talks, so it kinda makes sense, and once you've started a truly epic run-on sentence, you really need to see it through. But all the links we discuss are there in one place. The only differences are the intro/outro tunes: Music:

Dec 21, 2025

Craig talks with Benito Cereno about Benito's tour of Christkindlmarkets (Or Christkindlmärkte to be accurate, but we're also gonna call them Christkindlemarkets just to make sure the search engines fine anything for my fellow Americans).

Dec 14, 2025

Baking: Recipes & Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys. Talk about disgusting food and wondrously delicious treats, along with some of the strange stories that lay behind them all

Jan 7, 2025

2024 Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Contest Winners: Weird Card Winner: “The Study of Owls and the Christmas Contronyms” by Daniel Roop Unreal Holiday Celebration Winner: “The Mycelial Muffinheads’ Annual Pilgrimage to the Cave of Forget-Me-Nothings” by C.L. Sidell Stocking Stuffer Winner: “All Eves for the Yule” by A.S. Hahrwort All the stories: (in no special order other than appearance on the show):

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