Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Arcbeatle Press!

To celebrate, we have a free book for you, featuring brand new stories from: Aidan Mason, Aristide Twain, James Hornby, Plum Pudding, Xavier Llewellyn, Lena
Mactíre, Molly Warton, Theta Mandel, and James Wylder.

Thank you so much for your support through 2024, and may your own holidays be filled with joy and warmth.

Jhe Sang Mi rubbed her eyes, and sat up in bed. Her phone said it was midnight, but she could hear sounds from the living room.
“Santa?” five-year-old Sang Mi asked herself, and climbed down from her spot on top of the bunk bed, her footie pyjamas giving her feet a little plop sound as she touched the floor. She immediately began shaking her twin brother in the bottom bunk. “Sang Eun! Sang Eun! Santa Keulloseu is here!”
He sat up, and rubbed his own eyes. “…It’s not morning, we’re not supposed to look. Min Jun said Santa wouldn’t give us any presents if we looked.”
“That’ll only happen if he sees us! And since he has to do Earth, Gongen, Titan, and space and stuff, the Reindeer have to be really tired, so he’s probably distracted!”
Sang Eun thought about this, and decided this was flawless logic. “Okay, but we have to be very sneaky.”
“How can we be sneaky?”
“Well, we have to crouch like they do in video games.”
She nodded; this, too, was flawless logic. Lots of flawless logic flowing around tonight. Quietly, they crouched, and moved towards the door to their room, and then had to un-crouch to actually open the door, but promptly continued with their sneaky progress. There was light in the living room, and jingles. Plus… clomping. They peeked their heads around the corner, and saw… Santa! And a helper! And a… reindeer?
“You’re not supposed to bring the reindeer into the apartment,” said the white-haired Elf.
“Well they don’t have a chimney, so I couldn’t really park it on the roof, now could I?”
“You didn’t have to park it anywhere! You didn’t have to bring the deer!” the Elf complained, pulling on the reins of the reindeer to prevent it from trying to take a bite out of a cushion.
“I knew they were real!” Sang Eun said. “Jae Hyun didn’t know what he was talking about. He tried telling me the parents brought the presents.”
“He’s always… silly,” Sang Mi yawned, and leaned onto her brother’s shoulder. He chuckled at her dozing off — he was only yawning to keep himself awake, he thought, as the two cuddled up and drifted off to dreamland.

* * *

Santa looked down at the twins. “Oh no, I got the years wrong — unless they got younger?”
The Elf sighed. “You got the year wrong. Again.”
Santa pouted. “If I kiss you, will you forgive me?”
Sighing deeper, the Elf accepted the kiss, and picked up one of the twins as Santa picked the other up. “Let’s get them tucked in, they’ve got a big day ahead of them.”

* * *
​
Kwang Sun sighed as he pulled a sweater on. His wife, Hei-Ran, rubbed his shoulders. “Its okay. We managed to get the kids something.”
“Nothing they wanted. I pulled extra shifts, and it still wasn’t enough.” He covered his face.
“You did more than anyone could have asked you. Now come on, let’s enjoy the morning.”
“I just worry about seeing their disappointed faces.”
She kissed him, and held his hand, and together they opened their doors and… their jaws dropped. The living room was filled with presents! The kids rushed in, and even the serious Min Jun was jumping up and down with excitement. With parental okay, all began tearing open their presents, though the grown-ups got close to make sure these mystery presents were fine…
“I got a brand new computer!” Sang Mi exclaimed. “I can learn coding!”
Hei-Ran smiled, kind of weird she was into that at her age but whatever.
“I got a new computer too!” Sang Eun said.
“I got a new bike!” Min Jun exclaimed.
“And I got…” Sang Mi squinted. “…a college test-prep kit for high schoolers?”
“Me too?” Sang Eun said.
“Well, I see Santa Keulloseu has been… very busy this year?” Hei-Ran said.
“This is the best Christmas ever!” Sang Eun said.
“Absolutely!” his sister agreed.
“Indeed it is,” Min Jun concurred.
Kwang Sun smiled at his wife. “Did you…?”
She shook her head. “How?”
“I guess… it’s a Christmas miracle?”
“You know what? That’s flawless logic,” Hei-Ran replied. “Let's go with that."