A Christmas Puzzle (With a 100 dollar prize!)

So, my daughter and I are collaborating on my next book.  It’s a pretty unique collection of christmas stories, framed by a strange gathering.  We’re working like the Dickens (I hear he worked very hard on his writings) to get this done in the next few days, uploaded and available on Kindle, and soon after on iBooks and Nook.  

Here’s the really cool part.  This Christmas book comes as a solvable puzzle with a prize to the winner!  The value of the prize may change somewhat, based on how many people buy the book, but I do guarantee it will be at least a 100 dollar cash value in super cool prizes.  I won’t tell you what they are because that’s part of the puzzle, but I will tell you they are timeless, with broad appeal to any number of our readers.  

Most of all you get the pleasure of solving the Christmas Puzzle!  So, keep on eye on this site, my Facebook Page, and my Amazon author page for the new book coming soon!

Here’s a taste:

It was a strange gathering.  Four strange men and one equally strange lady. Strangers indeed in every respect. True, they all shared one vocation as storytellers but aside from this they had never met, never could have met, except here in this strange place.  Canterbury Lodge was no ordinary ski lodge.  For one thing there was no skiing, no mountain, no snow.  There were none of these things outside for there was no outside.  How can there be an inside but no outside?

That was the very question George asked as he returned from gazing out the window into,well, nothing.

Jack looked as if he might reply, but it was Oscar who said languidly,  “…don’t know what’s so odd about that.  I frequently find a downside when there’s no upside and I’m always on the right side when others with me are on the wrong side.  For that matter people often tell me I’m not in, when I was not aware of ever having been out!”

Emily spoke in that dull rhythmic singsong which the others were slowly learning was characteristic of her.  She didn’t speak often but when she did it sounded both completely natural and entirely scripted.

“oh the darkness of the veil

It only serves to hide

The riches b’yond the pale

Obscured by our pride.”

A.C. pondered her words.  He could never tell whether to take her seriously as a muse of some kind, holding mysteries for all of them to learn from or as mere doggerel.  Did she have answers?  Did she know how they got here, who had brought them and why?

I’ll let you know when the book’s out.  Get your copy and solve the puzzle for prizes guaranteed at a minimum 100 dollars!