Krampus: The Yule Lord (49 page)

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Authors: Brom

Tags: #Fiction, #Legends & Mythology, #Contemporary, #Fairy Tales, #Folk Tales, #Fantasy, #Horror

BOOK: Krampus: The Yule Lord

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Geri and Freki:
Odin’s wolves.

Hel:
Both the name of the Norse netherworld and its queen, Hel (Loki’s daughter).

Huginn and Muninn:
Odin’s ravens.

Perchta:
Female witch/spirit that roamed the midwinter countryside of Bavaria and Austria. Punished or rewarded children depending on their behavior during the year.

Spain:
The Dutch tale goes that Saint Nicholas lives somewhere in Spain and arrives in Amsterdam each December by ship, to hand out presents to good girls and boys. I can certainly understand why Santa would rather live in Spain than the North Pole.

Tanngrisnir and Tanngnost:
The goats that pulled Thor’s chariot through the sky.

Hasil Adkins (1936–2005):
Is famous for such songs as “No More Hotdogs,” which includes the poetic line: “I’m gonna cut your head off, and you can eat no more hot dogs,” and such timeless lyrics from the song “She Said” as:

I wen’ out last nigh’ and I got messed up

When I woke up this mornin’, shoulda seen what I had inna bed wi’ me

She comes up at me outta the bed, pull her hair down the eye

Looks to me like a dyin’ can of that commodity meat . . .

In 2005, Hasil was deliberately run over in his front yard by a teenager on an ATV and he later died from his injuries.

Areas in Boone County, like so many other rural communities, are suffering from the tragic effects of the growing meth epidemic. Strip-mining is also taking a devastating toll on both the community and the land.

It has been a delight spending time with Krampus. I now feel a much closer kinship with him than his jolly counterpart. It is my hope that Krampus will continue to catch on around the globe and reclaim his rightful place as Yule Lord. If you share this sentiment, then be sure to leave out a few treats in your shoes this coming Yuletide and, who knows, you just might find a gold coin or two in return. If you don’t . . . well, you’ve been warned—Krampus is coming to town.

Brom

Yuletide 2011

Acknowledgments

T
o Diana Gill, for her downright supernatural instincts for story and character, as well as all of her hard work shepherding my musings along. I would be lost without her guidance. Thanks, Diana, for your editing voodoo.

To the phenomenal Julie Kane-Ritsch, for her continued friendship, enthusiasm, diligence, and a multitude of other superpowers. Thank you, Julie.

A lot of wonderful people worked very hard to help bring this tale to life. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the following people for all of their efforts and contributions: Jie Yang, Dale Rohrbaugh, Paula Szafranski, Rich Aquan, Pam Spengler-Jaffee, Shawn Nicholls, Jessie Edwards, and Will Hinton.

Illustrations

KRAMPUS

JESSE

ISABEL

SANTA CLAUS

PERCHTA

WIPI

NIPI

MAKWA

About the Author

Over the past few decades,
BROM
has lent his distinctive vision to all facets of the creative industries, from novels and games to comics and film. In addition to
The Child Thief
, he is the author of two award-winning illustrated horror novels,
The Plucker
and
The Devil’s Rose
. Brom is currently kept in a dank cellar somewhere just outside of Seattle. Visit him online at bromart.com and facebook.com/Brom.Artist.

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Also by Brom

The Child Thief

The Devil’s Rose

The Plucker

Credit

Cover design and illustrations by Brom

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

KRAMPUS
. Copyright © 2012 by Gerald Brom. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.