Ohhhh the ending is precious - but don't let @mvkean see it! He's always after me to sever myself from the wicked tentacles of the jungle (Amazon).
The prose is dazzling and memorable, as we expect from @raj808. Lines like this: "Santa's body was found on the northern plains, frozen solid like a candy cane. That thing that inhabits Clause mansion is not Santa... it is an abomination!" and the derelict Rudolph, smoking, drinking, and moping over a lost romance--Rudi, deciding to "grow a pair" once more (consider the elves!) and rise to the occasion. Glorious ending! Like great westerns and cowboy tales of yore, with a heroic battle and good triumphing over evil. Ah, but no cliche here. This heartwarming yule-tide tale comes with a sly wink and poke at corporate greed. Masterful, fun, and full of epic archetypes - only you, Raj, can pull this off time and again! #loveit
I know right... I've managed to develop beyond my old tendencies to always have a sad and gruesome ending. Part of me wanted to write this much more grisly with Mr M A Anzo either torn apart by ravid reindeer, or have him and his corporate COLD obliterate everyone in a dystopian nightmare elf town... but hey, it's Christmas... I must be getting soft in my middle age 😆
I felt like this story was a reasonably lighthearted poke at the giant multinational behemoths that monopolize our consumer nature. I originally planned on spending a lot more time around the character of the Anti-Santa, Mr M A Anzo (did you spot the anagram of 'amazon'?😉) and explore the darker ideas I had about how the company was spreading the COLD to the elves, rather than making it the fun bombastic ending that it turned out as. But, as they say, everyone loves a happy ending... and in this case even I do 🙂
Thanks for reading Carol.
You know me - a fun bombastic ending is my favorite kind!
I'm not clever with anagrams, but the ending of the story made me go "Aha!" - I'm ridiculously slow at word play. Shakespeare and his buddies had to be a riot - oh to be a spectator at the tavern, with good hearing, and the quick wit to *get * the puns and allusions and jokes. I'd love to meet you over a Happy Hour with our Brits of Steemit! Cheers! and thanks for being here - and delivering a happier than usual ending. :)