POPLAR GROVE, Ill. - s4story -- Horrifying Holidays Two: More Holiday Spookfest" is a new collection of stories from Northern Illinois publisher Tales of Wonder and Dread. The book features spooky stories and poetry centered around Christmas. It's the sequel to 2021's "Horrifying Holidays: Holiday Spookfest." The book was published on November 24th.

Spooky stories for Christmas time are a time-honored tradition that has been forgotten in recent years. This book, along with its predecessor, is part of an effort to bring back that tradition. This edition features three poems from Frank Coffman, "The Christmas Wasp," "Grýla" and "Perchta." There are also five haiku poems from Gary Hill, "Home for the Holidays," "Christmas Gift," "Snow Angel," "Holiday Visitor" and "Down the Chimney."

This book also includes one dramatized non-fiction piece by Ernie Fuhr. That piece centers around a real event that happened in Rockford, Illinois in the 1960s. It's titled, "The Skydiving Santa Tragedy."

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In terms of fiction, there are two stories that are collaborations by Gary Hill and Elizabeth Lynn Blackson. Those stories are "Silent Night" and "Another Christmas Carol." Gary Hill also has a solo story, "Christmas Comes to Amityville." Looking at the remaining fiction Del Merritt's contributed  "A Ghost Story for Christmas." R.C. Mulhare brings life to something called, "A Visit From Miss St. Nic." Patrick J. Murphy III's "The Hunt" is also included. Stephen Osborne's tale "Christmas at the Raven's Rest Inn" rounds out the fiction offerings.

The first book in the series "Horrifying Holidays: Holiday Spookfest" includes classic fiction tales from John Kendrick Bangs, E.F. Benson, Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell. It features a poem from Frank Coffman, three fiction stories from Gary Hill, and one fiction tale each from Stephen Osborne and Glenn Tilson. Rounding things out are five non-fiction stories (four by Gary Hill and one from Diane Hill). Calvin Schwartz of "NJ Discover" called the book "A delightful (but still very spooky) literary romp with Christmas themes, some true and some not. A hugely engaging anthology"

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A number of contributors to both "Horrifying Holidays" books will be at "Put the Spooky Back Into Christmas" at Veteran's Memorial Hall in Rockford, Illinois on December 2nd, and both books will be available there. The contributors who will be in attendance are Frank Coffman, Diane Hill, Gary Hill and Stephen Osborne.  The event will feature author readings on video, spooky attraction elements and host of vendors. There will also be three attendance prizes (a selection Christmas horror movies from MVD Entertainment, a 50 dollar gift card from Maze Books and three holiday horror books from Tales of Wonder and Dread."

The book is available in paperback and hardcover at lulu.com/spotlight/strangesound and GaryHillAuthor.com and TalesofWonderandDread.com.