Christmas and horror have always had a special bond for me. From my earliest experience, my family’s tradition had been to watch A Christmas Carol, with Alistair Sim, when it was inevitably aired by the local CBC station at some point on Christmas Eve. It is a tradition which I continue to this day, though on Blu-ray via my 200-inch screen* (my living room wall, painted white), instead of our grainy 21-inch black-and-white RCA.
The 1951 version of Scrooge, as A Christmas Carol was known in the UK, was and is the quintessential version, in my humble opinion. As some of you might know, I even borrowed a brief scene from that movie, which is playing on the TV set in Minerva’s hotel suite at one point in the novel, where Scrooge encounters his housekeeper, Mrs. Dilber, on Christmas morning.
Little Katie always loved the spooky ghost rattling his chains and blowing the door open to Scrooge’s chambers. But grown-up Katie loves how Dickens’s classic tale is also one of redemption. I never tire of watching Ebenezer’s glee at suddenly doing good to those around him after all those years of cutting himself off from the world. Such a wonderful ending to the story, and Sim’s acting was Academy Award-worthy to be sure.
An engaging Christmas tale with great characters is something people can enjoy year-round. And when you mix all of that with man-eating monsters, well, it’s like chocolate and peanut butter, always a great combination. And now, it’s my turn to contribute to that tradition with CLAW Resurrection. Those of you who are preparing to enjoy it, I won’t give away any spoilers, except to say that some of the characters in Resurrection are beyond redemption, but still manage to be loveably horrible, in their own unique and special ways (I’m looking at you, Ethan and Roxanne).
Regarding my latest novel, I have a small ask for those of you who have read it—please leave a review. As I have said before, and likely will do so again in the future, reviews matter, especially to independent authors like myself. I have no massive corporate PR machine to bring attention to my stories, and your sharing of your enjoyment helps immensely. Here’s a link for you to leave a review of Resurrection, if you are able: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=B0FS26BYPC. Please share your experience so that others can hopefully be intrigued enough to join in the adventure that is the CLAW universe.
Speaking of universes, ABANDONED, another series I write, is set in the same universe as the CLAW series. For those of you who have enjoyed it, or those planning to, I have a bit of a Christmas surprise—two, actually.
ABANDONED Book 1: Arrivals and Awakenings is now available in Amazon Prime Reading for the next three months! Anyone who is a Prime member can enjoy the first book free, without being in Kindle Unlimited, no strings attached.
By happy coincidence, this ties into something else I have been working on over the last few months: a compilation of Lively and Minerva Deadmarsh’s first adventure, ABANDONED, all in one place, in a limited-edition box set. In the coming week, I will be releasing this exclusive eBook box set of the original four-book series, entitled ABANDONED: The Obsidian Edition. Why the obsidian edition, you ask? In addition to giving those who want to be immersed in the entire series all at once, it also comes with a new, exclusive short story.
Set in the Sinclair Hotel, the short story details the origins of one of the resort’s mysterious inhabitants. And it gets even better: I am selling this box set for only $9.99 (or the equivalent thereof in most marketplaces). You can check out the attached graphic to see what it will look like if you want to pick it up on Amazon next week. I will send out a brief email at that time to let you know when it is out, for those of you who are interested.
Now, we need to get into the monthly draws. Being the holiday season, I will be giving away FOUR audiobooks to randomly selected email subscribers, instead of the usual two. And they are, in no particular order: hyped2914@XXXXXX.com, teriarledge@XXXXXX.com, laneb2@XXXXXX.com, kymberlywilkinson@XXXXXX.com. Congratulations to all of this month’s lucky winners!
Well, I think I have kept you long enough. While some of you will be checking into the Sinclair Hotel for the very first time this holiday, I will be busy at work writing what transpired just before the opening of ABANDONED. As you might know, this new novel is called BESIEGED, and it will be a single standalone adventure—a nice, meaty read, like Resurrection, and not a multi-book series.
Don’t fret, Lively and Minerva will continue to investigate strange places and curious things after BESIEGED in the sequel novel ABANDONED II: Continuum. These stories will be interspersed with a few more CLAW novels (including a spin-off of Emergence). A crossover novel featuring all the characters from both CLAW and ABANDONED is also planned, and it’s going to be a lot of fun, trust me.
Just a quick little bit more fun here. I have included a new parody poster for those of you that enjoy them as I do. Yippee ki yay!
That’s about it for now. I need to get back to wrapping a few Christmas presents and writing more of Lively’s newest adventure—he’s a little seasick at the moment and might need some more Gravol.
In closing, I wish each and every one the very best of the season, no matter which holiday you celebrate.
Good health and great reads to you all,
Katie Berry
I’ve read all of your work religiously and absolutely love everything Lawless. I found the Abandoned saga relentless and frightening! Keep up the great work and try and get some well earned rest over the holidays. Cannot wait to see what you write in 2026. Merry Christmas x
Thank you very much! So glad you are enjoying the stories. Don’t worry, I will try to get plenty of rest as I write. All the best of the season to you!