The Bleak Midwinter
'So that is our tradition¸ on old twelfy night we go¸ merriness in our cheeks and cider in our blood¸ to the orchard and hail the Quiet King. Many that observe the wassail do not truly believe in any repercussion in the event they fail to honour the Apple Tree Man. He is a fiction¸ a kindly and comforting one nonetheless¸ but a fiction all the same. This is what all rational minded men think of this tradition. They are wrong.'
In the shadows of the longest night¸ ten authors have gathered about the hearth to share tales of Yultide terror whilst a wild December wind howls at the brittle windowpanes. From the frozen horror of an arctic expedition to department stores and haunted houses¸ these are the tales of the Bleak Midwinter.