What The Dickens? … Christmas!

By Maeve Alpin (Guest Blogger)

Charles Dickens and his wonderful books influence Christmas celebrations to this day. Many families include reading The Christmas Carol aloud, going to a play of it or watching one of the movie versions as part of their holiday traditions. Galveston, Texas goes one step further, bringing the merry images in Dickens’s books alive in the annual Christmas festival, Dickens on the Strand.

Readers of Steampunk and Victorian romances will feel their senses reeling with all the sights and sounds. You’ll find musicians playing or choirs singing at every corner. Yummy treats are to be had such as spiced wine, roasted chestnuts, and English toffee. It isn’t all about the well to do in their Christmas finery. The beggars and the chimney sweeps frolic in the streets as well, getting their jolly on.

Christmas Beggers

Chimney Sweeps

Here is a little ode to describe the merry festivities:

Galveston , Oh Galveston, I still hear the carolers singing.

I still hear the bells ringing.

I dream of more old fashioned fun, in Galveston.

Carolers Singing

Galveston, Oh Galveston, I still hear the children laughing.

Still see the gentlemen dressed all dapper and dashing.

I still recall Queen Victoria waving to everyone,

as her carriage rolled on the Strand, in Galveston.

Gentlemen Dapper and Dashing

Galveston, Oh Galveston, had a reenactment of a civil war camp,

complete with period nurses in crisp white uniforms,

There I am holding a replica civil war gun, in Galveston.

Me and My Gun

Speaking of Dickens, The Christmas Carol is not only a holiday book it’s also a good old fashioned ghost story. One of the best ever. Another fun, heartwarming ghost story set in the Victorian era is the Steampunk/Romance, To Love A London Ghost by Maeve Alpin.

Here is a blurb:

When Queen Victoria orders Sexton Dukenfield, premiere phantom hunter, to track down England’s missing ghost he stumbles into Ceridwen, a phantom warrior woman of an ancient Celtic tribe. Not only does he find her intriguing as a piece of the puzzle of the missing spirits, but he’s also haunted by her sultry sensuality. Though they both burn with desire, it’s difficult to quench their fiery passion since Ceridwen is so translucent. Every time Sexton touches her, his hands pass through her misty body. On a mission through the bustling narrow streets of London, to a dreary match factory, and even to the Otherworld and back, to stop a genius scientist and his phantasm debilitater machine, the ghost and the ghost hunter also seek the secret to freeing the boundaries of life and death.

Blogging Contest. I’m giving away a PDF ebook of To Love A London Ghost. To enter the contest just comment below. Be sure to include your email address in your comment! For more on my Steampunk/Romances, please visit my website at http://MaeveAlpin.com

Merry Christmas to one and all!