When a malfunctioning “mind-enhancing” gadget turns last-minute Christmas shoppers into the technically undead, reluctant mall Santa Frank must trade his gift list for a weaponized candy cane.

With a ragtag team including a by-the-book security guard, a tech-savvy teenager, and a seven-year-old who still believes in Christmas magic, he’ll discover that sometimes the best holiday gifts are survival and redemption—if he can just keep his polyester beard from itching long enough to save the day.

Thanks for listening1!

I hope you enjoyed Niamh’s Journey as much as I enjoyed writing.

I wanted to explore the impossible choices parents face during crisis through the lens of a zombie apocalypse. While zombie stories often focus on action heroes or hardened survivors, I was interested in examining how an ordinary mother would navigate this nightmare while trying to preserve not just her child's safety, but his innocence.

The story deliberately plays with our expectations - starting in a cozy domestic scene of bathtime and bedtime stories before plunging into horror. I tried to keep the focus tight on Neev's internal struggle between protecting Sean and maintaining her humanity in an increasingly inhuman world.

For me, the heart of the story lies in those quiet moments between the chaos - Neev telling pirate stories to keep Sean calm, the family under the truck begging for help, Chad's harsh but necessary lessons about survival. It's about how crisis strips away our civilized veneer while also revealing depths of sacrifice and love we never knew we possessed.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Did Neev's choices resonate with you? What would you have done in her situation?

Let me know if you'd like to see more stories exploring parenthood in impossible situations.

Thanks again!

Jon

P.S. For more stories and audio, visit patreon.com/joncronshawauthor.

When a neural interface app goes viral, one coder must prevent Silicon Valley's latest 'disruptive technology' from turning users into mindless drones.

A biting satire that pits methodical problem-solving against startup culture's endless buzzwords and blind optimism.

Read the text version at patreon.com/joncronshawauthor