Eighteen stories of Christmas horror from bestselling, acclaimed authors including Scott Smith, Seanan McGuire, Josh Malerman, Michael Koryta, Sarah Pinborough, and many more. That there is darkness at the heart of the Yuletide season should not surprise. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is filled with scenes that are unsettling. Marley untying the bandage that holds his jaws together. The hideous children--Want and Ignorance--beneath the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The heavy ledgers Marley drags by his chains. In the finest versions of this story, the best parts are the terrifying parts. Bestselling author and editor Christopher Golden shares his love for Christmas horror stories with this anthology of all-new short fiction from some of the most talented and original writers of horror today. Absinthe & angels by Kelley Armstrong -- Christmas in Barcelona by Scott Smith -- Fresh as the new-fallen snow by Seanan McGuire -- Love me by Thomas E. Sniegoski -- Not just for Christmas by Sarah Lotz -- Tenets by Josh Malerman -- Good deeds by Jeff Strand -- It's a wonderful knife by Christopher Golden -- Mistletoe and holly by James A. Moore -- Snake's tail by Sarah Langan -- The second floor of the Christmas hotel by Joe R. Lansdale -- Farrow Street by Elizabeth Hand -- Doctor Velocity: a story of the fire zone by Jonathan Maberry -- Yankee swap by John M. McIlveen -- Honor thy mother by Angela Slatter -- Home by Tim Lebbon -- Hiking through by Michael Koryta -- The hangman's bride by Sarah Pinborough