Around 1700 years ago, Nikolaos, Bishop of Myra, got into the habit of secretly slipping coins into the shoes of people who chose to leave them out in case rumours of his nocturnal good deeds were true.
Fast forward a while and we have ourselves an annual orgy of gift-giving in his name, and – if wikipedia’s to be believed – he’s the patron saint of Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Barranquilla, Bari, Burgas, Beit Jala, Fribourg, Huguenots, Kozani, Liverpool, Paternopoli, Sassari, Siggiewi, Lorraine, sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children, pawnbrokers, students and the people who once guarded half his bones. How all that came about I hardly dare speculate. I know there were miracles involved, but show me the Venn diagram that makes sense of that list.
Anyway, as his namesake, I figure it’s up to me to carry on the tradition, albeit in a somewhat updated way (so don’t go leaving your shoes out hoping for coin).
Seasonal purchasing is well underway, and I know that tablets and ereaders will be ending up under more than a few trees. No, I’m not about to offer to come over and poke either of those free into your shoe, but how about some content? How about, instead of just giving the reading device this Christmas, you give it preloaded with some fiction?
I’ve talked to the team at Exciting Press, and they’re happy to get in on the spirit of the season. We’re ramping up free giveaways at the Kindle Store dramatically, so that people can pick up some ebooks to preload onto gift devices (and, sure, pick some up for yourself while you’re at it).
Something of mine will be free here in the Kindle Store every day for the next month, with each book free for 2-3 days at a time. Some of these won’t be worldwide but, for the next week, the three stories featured will all be free worldwide.
On top of that, Exciting Press is temporarily reducing the price of all their books of mine in the US Kindle Store to 99c each (short stories, novellas and novels). My apologies to people not in the US …
I’m not expecting that, 1700 years from now, this’ll see me as patron saint of Slough, Novosibirsk, Caloundra, homeschoolers and LOL cats, but who knows? In the meantime, some free fiction couldn’t hurt.
Nick Earls 
Sounds good, Nick – but are you SURE you want to pass up the chance to be the patron saint of Caloundra?
Best to you and Merry Christmas,
Danielle
thank you, future St Nick! (quite likely your name will be misinterpreted over the years as your having been Earl of somewhere)
I will enjoy having some of your books on my kindle as well as the ones on my bookshelf 🙂
Isn’t it interesting that people’s remains were so revered that they were kept in churches as holy relics. In one church in France we saw, in a very ornate glass case, the inner ear bones of a long dead saint. We saw the skull of John the Baptist at Amiens Cathedral as well, only it turned out to be a replica because the original was lost. Poor John!
I hear the inviolate arm of St Ignatius is currently doing a tour of Australia. I must admit I find it hard to pass up a look at a peculiar part of a saint if I’m passing through a town that has one. Never seen a saintly malleus, incus and stapes though.
It’s morbidly fascinating, isn’t it.