The Magic of Christmas

By Paul G Mann

After 200 years of faithfully delivering presents to children, Santa Claus is retiring. Tonight is his last ride on the old, bright red sleigh, a sad night that not even his legendary jolliness can overcome as he soars over villages, towns and cities, delivering presents to all the boys and girls, who had been good throughout the year. Now a new Santa would take the reins. Once found the new Santa, and the Elves, would make sure next Christmas would come and go, without a hitch as it always did
Adverts are placed in every newspaper in the world, but only one person, (Travis McGee) applies for the job. Travis is a drunkard, workshy and thoroughly dishonourable; an individual who will stop at nothing to make money, and who only applied for the job after a row with his long suffering wife, Rosie, to ingratiate himself in back her good books.
Travis is a Scouser, Liverpool born and bred; not typical of the men in that city, he had only ever held one job in nearly thirty years of expert dodging; at 45 years of age, the thought of work made him shudder with terror, it gave him hives, uncontrollable shivers, twitching and cold sweats brought on by the stress, yet here he is, across the table from three individuals telling him to his absolute horror, he is the new Santa Claus.
He is trapped, forced to work with the Elves, who drive him mad with their antics and crazy way of thinking. Added to his misery is the fact the magic is fading, within 10 years it will be gone along with the Elves, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, himself and the Village. It's a race to find a solution, but working with the Elves is almost impossible. Can it be done? It has to be, despite the Elves crazy logic and madcap ways.
Ho, Ho, Ho.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul G Mann
• Release date: May 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463231746

Paul G Mann

Writing never came easy to me, even at school but somewhere inside me I always thought I had a story to tell. Before word processors and spell checks the bringing up of a family and out working to support them took precedence over such things as writing and as such setting my story down on paper was the least of my priorities.Things changed in 2007 when I suffered a heart attack which effectively ended my working life. My first computer back in 1988 was an old Amstrad word processor that allowed me to take work home from the office without the need of a ream of paper and white correction fluid. All I needed was a small three inch disc that fitted quite nicely into my pocket. It made letter writing so much easier and renewed my interest in writing although at that time I didn’t pursue it.I have had a large and varied working life to give me inspiration. I was a seaman for three years in my teenage years; I worked as a bus conductor on leaving the sea to raise a family before training as a plasterer and working in the building industry. A telecommunications factory offered better pay and conditions so I moved into the production of telephone exchanges for six years until securing a job in BT for seventeen years until made redundant in 1992. Ultimately I worked as a private hire taxi driver until illness forced me to stop.I am twice married with 3 children of my own (all grown up and flown the coup now) and 3 step children (also flown away). My present wife Gillian is a rock to me and who without her support and encouragement these books may never have been finished for publication. So if you don't like them blame her not me.The heart attack changed my life. I had to find something to occupy my mind and soon decided the best thing I could do was write. I readily admit I am not and probably never will be the most gifted writer in the world but as an exercise in keeping the old grey matter in working order it cannot be surpassed.All my work is ready for reading in e-book format from Smashwords and Paperback from http://www.Feedaread.com (cheaper at smashwords}