I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CHARLY BLISS-“All I Want for Christmas is You” (2017).

For some reason I though this Christmas cover song came out this year.  It actually came out two years ago!

Charly Bliss do a fun power-pop version of this Mariah Carey song

It starts off quiet;y with just Eva Hendrick’s voice and a gentle guitar.  After the first verse, the whole band kicks in with a rocking pop version of the song.  There’s some great backing vocals from the guys (their oohs and ahhs are really great) and even a set of jingle bells from time to time.

Eva gets to rock out in the middle third with some loud high notes and then the band rocks out after that with some loud guitars a and a few screeching solo notes before the pleasant guitar solo that takes the song out.

There’s a lot of great versions of this song, and this is one of them.

[READ: December 20, 2019] “The Unbeatable Deck of Ronan Shin”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fourth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

The Short Story Advent Calendar is back! And to celebrate its fifth anniversary, we’ve decided to make the festivities even more festive, with five different coloured editions to help you ring in the holiday season.

No matter which colour you choose, the insides are the same: it’s another collection of expertly curated, individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

(This is a collection of literary, non-religious short stories for adults. For more information, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.)

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

Want a copy?  Order one here.

I’m pairing music this year with some Christmas songs that I have come across this year.

This story was remarkably sad, but with, maybe, a small glimmer of hope.

Despite that overall tone, I loved the way it was created.  And that the main character plays a role-playing game.

The story is about Ronan Shin and his fantastic deck for the game Aftermath. Aftermath is a knock off game… sort of like Magic: the Gathering, but more nebulous.  It’s this vagueness that appeals to Ronan.  The cards

are made with a fraction of the budget of the card titans, and it shows.  The ink work is scratchy.  The faces are sometimes disconcertingly unfinished, askew, the expressions wrong, like they were meant for a different card, or a different game altogether.  …  Even the universe of the game is sketchy.  The game never attempts to explain who the player is within its world.  Nowhere in any of the flimsy game materials is the calamity that has befallen the planet described

It’s this shoddy strangeness that first hooked Ronan.  Of course, none of this matters in competition–it has nothing to do with the rules, which are concrete-but it’s the vague backstory that he likes.

His best (and really only) friend is Nima Tehrani.  Nima has theories about what the backstory is supposed to be–he spends time imagining an explanation for where they are playing. But Ronan knows the truth.  There is no secret mythology.  The company that makes Aftermath bought unused concept art from a few other failed role playing game and cobbled them together.  The game was made in a boardroom by people with no imagination.

But he still loves the game and he has an unbeatable deck.

The story is written so that each page has a card facing it (no art, just the text).  It works for the Aftermath game but it also bears significance to the story itself.

The story also centers a lot around Nima. Every day, every single day, Nima is beaten up by Jacob DeGroot.  Nima can’t run away because he obese and Jacob is on the football team.  Jacob can also bench press 400 pounds.  When Nima is beaten up on the way to school, the card attached to this page is Forsaken Traveler.  This abuse has been going on for two years and it is incomprehensible.  Once, while lying on the ground, Nima asked him Why?  Jacob said “Because you face fucking pisses me off.”  The card opposite is The Beast.

Ronan doesn’t understand why Jacob picks on Nima and yet not himself.  Jacob actually ignores Ronan entirely.  Even when Ronan told a teacher what Jacob was doing, Jacob ignored Ronan and gave a harder beating to Nima.  Jacob also has a posse which calls themselves BLZ–who knows if it stands for anything.

When we first meet Nima, Jacob has just put a rip in his favorite Mountain Goats shirt. He’s obviously upset, but the early morning beating means that Jacob will leave him alone for the rest of the day, so the day looks brighter.  NIma has a new deck to play against Ronan.

They play in the library.  It is a sanctuary because Jacob never goes there and it’s too public for a beating. The card attached to it is Survivor’s Outpost.

Ronan wins because his deck has never lost to anyone in any competition.  Ronan is able to see patterns of his opponents.  When they play a card he knows what will be coming down the road.  Every card hints at what lies ahead and Ronan is very good at seeing what’s coming and adjusting accordingly.

But despite the fun, Ronan is plagued that he friend is always in pain.

One of the last cards in the short story the page is called Ambushed. It’s followed by Field Medicine.  And that’s when Ronan wonders how well he can see what’s coming down the road–does Jacob have a secret weapon or not.

This story was really depressing and yet so well-written and so full of interest about the game that it didn’t always seems so bad.  As a parent now, I feel for Nima’s parents, who must know what’s going on as well.

I hope everyone gets a Hammer Viridin card for the holidays.

The calendar says, It’s December 20. Kiyash Monsef has a scratchy shiny rainbow rare, but his parents won’t let him bring it to school.