Packing up for Wyatte Baptist Church’s Christmas Craft Fair this week!
There’s going to be over thirty vendors and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus! It’ll be a great opportunity to Christmas shop. And I’ll be bringing some special book boxes and bundles that, due to shipping costs, are only available at live events.
Our family attended Wyatte when we lived in Northern Mississippi several years ago. We love the people there. They make you feel like family. So I’m doubly excited to return and be a part of their craft fair.
If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi. I’d love to see you.
Wyatte Baptist Family Life Center 257 Wyatte Tyro Road Wyatte, Mississippi 38668
K.A.: E. Bronwyn Hinkle is with us today to talk about her Christmas-themed flash fiction collection, The Lawrence Chronicles.
Welcome, E. Bronwyn! Glad you’re here. Please, tell us about your story.
E. Bronwyn: The Lawrence Chronicles is a series of flash fiction adventures centered around a particular ex Marine. He never expected to be hired as a member of Santa’s security force, and now he deals with all kinds of situations he never would have believed possible. Of course, if Santa is real, other mythical creatures are too. Now the Ex-marine runs a different kind of special ops: North Pole & Magic Relations Security. With a candy cane between his fingers and an elven blaster on stun, Lawrence faces trial after trial of ridiculous adventures from wrangling pixies to the Lochness Monster. He is best friends with Donner and spends much of his time keeping things in order, the way his predecessor, Sprinkles the Christmas elf, used to.
K.A.: That’s awesome! We’ve had several Marines in our family, including my husband and our middle child (who’s currently serving). So you hooked me with ex-Marine and ridiculous North Pole adventures. Lol.
How many stories are in your collection?
E. Bronwyn: The book contains 42 flash fiction adventures all ranging from roughly 700-1000 words. It’s quite the genre mashup of sci-fi fantasy/action adventure. I didn’t have a target audience in mind when I wrote it, but it’s geared to be very family friendly and children love it.
K.A.: Sounds like the perfect book for reading a story or two each night leading up to Christmas. What inspired you to create it?
E. Bronwyn: Christmas ninjas. Many years ago my friends and I were gathered for our monthly writer group. We always started a session off with a writing prompt, and that night, it was “Christmas Ninjas”. From that I came up with the ridiculous premise of an Ex-Marine who worked as Santa’s Head of Security, his arch enemies being of course the elf ninjas. I set the story aside for a while, but eventually I began writing more and more flash fiction pieces centered around Lawrence and his misadventures. One day I looked and realized I had more than fifty short stories and I thought, well, why not make this into a book?
K.A.: Tell us about the research that went into writing this story. Did you venture into any new areas or topics?
E. Bronwyn: There is a surprising amount of research in Lawrence! I learned more about reindeer, different myths and legends, and facts about all kinds of wild animals. I didn’t venture so much into unfamiliar topics, since I’d always been kind of interested in that sort of thing, but I learned a good many off-the-wall legends and animal facts that I never would have otherwise!
K.A.: Off-the-wall legends and facts? Intriguing. So, what was the most interesting thing you learned?
E. Bronwyn: Well, turns out that reindeer can actually see Ultraviolet light! It helps them since they live in an environment that is almost always a blinding white. I was so excited to discover this in my research because not only is it absolutely incredible, but it played perfectly into my idea that in this world, the reindeer are one of the few magical creatures who can see through perception magic. The magic that many mischievous creatures, like pixies and goblins, use to hide themselves from others and create dangerous illusions.
K.A.: Cool. As a huge fan of Easter eggs, are there any hidden references readers should keep an eye out for?
E. Bronwyn: Oh absolutely yes! I don’t remember them all. Did you ever watch the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie, with Sam the snowman? I hid quite a few references to that movie, and even the old stop motion Santa Clause is Coming to Town one! I think of those movies as relatively cannon in my book.
K.A.: It’s been fun to have you here, E. Bronwyn Hinkle. Thanks for giving us a backstage tour of your Christmas-themed, flash fiction collection, The Lawrence Chronicles!
About E. Bronwyn Hinkle
E. Bronwyn Hinkle is a writer with a love of the ridiculous and a passion for writing goofy, clever stories that encourage people to think and to laugh. She was born in California but spent a good part of the last twelve years in Ohio. I’m obsessed with Stargate, Georgette Heyer, Middle Earth, and Narnia, and love to write Y/A, flash fiction, and whatever strikes my fancy in between. It is her goal to write someone’s comfort book, a book that helps someone get through a hard time or brightens their day. It’s also a goal of mine to one day drive around in a black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am.
