On the second day of Christmas . . .

. . . it’s Boxing Day! But did you know that today is also St Stephen’s day – the one made famous by Good King Wenceslas? It’s one of the best Christmas carols there is, so here’s a sing along to get you in the Christmassy mood.

And what could be more Christmassy than a tale of Kings, snow and goodwill? Well exactly!

So first I’m going to recommend a wonderful novel by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s called The Name of the Wind, the first of The Kingkiller Chronicles (see how I got kings in?) and it features one of the coldest, snowiest scenes I’ve ever read. Brrrr! It’s also the perfect read for Christmas, in a cosy chair by a crackling fire . . . and you can browse an excerpt here – or find out how I first came to read the novel here!

. . . and secondly, a little bit of goodwill. Patrick Rothfuss runs an amazing charity raffle for Worldbuilders, which helps people all over the world work their way out of poverty and starvation. They do amazing work . . . and to help them do it, Patrick is offering you the chance to win an amazing set of prizes (including, but far from limited to, some fabulous Gollancz books . . . and an extraordinary donation from Neil Gaiman!). All the details of how to take part can be found here. . . or, if you’d rather support Worldbuilders all year around, check out their fabulous Literary Pin-up Calendar – or even pick up your very own set of Eolian Talent Pipes!

Merry Christmas!