Queen of the Kitchen

I have just finished wrapping gifts for my family, which means it is time for your suprise subscriber present!

This short story (a little updated) is a young adult Christmas-themed fantasy I wrote years ago. The cover illustration is by the very talented K Smirnov1.

Christmas in Aotearoa New Zealand is about sun, sand, and seasonally inappropriate cultural artefacts imported from the Northern Hemisphere. I was raised Catholic, so the religious aspects used to be an important part of the holiday for me. Now I enjoy the part where my niece and nephew light up with excitement, the opportunity to see my family, and the food.

Gosh, I love the food.

So I wrote “Queen of the Kitchen”, about the inconvenience of having the fairies visit on Christmas morning when you’ve got a pavlova to make2, and now I’m gifting it to all my subscribers.

Thanks for joining me on this wild year, while I worked my butt off to make the magic happen!

P.S. There’s a recipe at the end. I got you.