So here’s the back story: when Mike was a kid, some independent station out of North Jersey used to show a Hammer Films Dracula movie marathon every Christmas Day. (Because nothing says, “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” quite like Christopher Lee drinking virgin blood.) This planted in his young editorial brain the idea that the various winter holidays should be celebrated with something really cool that also has almost nothing to do with, well, the various winter holidays. And that’s why the December Issue of Jersey Devil Press consists solely of a novella about ninjas…in the suburbs.

It’s by new writer, Jimmy Grist, and it’s one of our favorite things we’ve read in a long, long time. We’re happy to be sharing it with you while Hannukah is in full swing, Kwanzaa, Solstice and Christmas are only two weeks away, and — if our reading of The Pergamum Codex is accurate — Gurnenthar’s Ascendance is next Tuesday.

So, “Happy Holidays!”

Enjoy Jimmy’s first novella. “Keeley Kunoichi” is fifty-five pages of awesome. Share it with someone you love.