WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT! 
 last year, amy(other amy) tipped me off to this cool thing she was doing: the short story advent calendar, where you sign up to this thingie here and you get a free story each day. 
 i dropped the ball and by the time i came to my senses, it had already sold out, so for december project, i'm going rogue and just reading a free online story a day of my choosing. this foolhardy endeavor is going to screw up my already-deep-in-the-weeds review backlog, so i don't think i will be reviewing each individual story "properly." i might just do a picture review or - if i am feeling wicked motivated, i will draw something, but i can't be treating each short story like a real book and spending half my day examining and dissecting it, so we'll just see what shape this project takes as we go. 
 and if you know of any particularly good short stories available free online, let me know! i'm no good at finding them myself unless they're on the tor.com site, and i only have enough at this stage of the game to fill half my calendar. <--- that part is no longer true, but i am still interested in getting suggestions! 
 DECEMBER 12 
 She wrapped herself up in a quilt that night and sat in the rocking chair on the back porch. "We'll see what kind of rat bastard steals an old lady's tomatoes," she grumbled. 
 (Grandma Harken thought of herself as an old lady, because she was one. That she was tougher than tree roots and barbed wire did not matter. You did not steal an old lady's tomatoes. It was rude, and also, she would destroy you.) 
 this one is more of a novelette than a short story, so if you're planning to read it yourself during a similar story-a-day challenge, make sure you set extra time aside for it. this is the second grandma harken story, after Jackalope Wives, and they are both wonderful, totally worth the length and in fact, you will probably wish they were longer. or that there were more of them. i certainly want more. but not tonight - tonight i am sleepy. 
 read it for yourself here: 
 http://www.apex-magazine.com/the-toma... 
 and you should read jackalope wives, too: 
 http://www.apex-magazine.com/jackalop... 
 DECEMBER 1 
 DECEMBER 2 
 DECEMBER 3 
 DECEMBER 4 
 DECEMBER 5 
 DECEMBER 6 
 DECEMBER 7 
 DECEMBER 8 
 DECEMBER 9 
 DECEMBER 10 
 DECEMBER 11 
 DECEMBER 13 
 DECEMBER 14 
 DECEMBER 15 
 DECEMBER 16 
 DECEMBER 17 
 DECEMBER 18 
 DECEMBER 19 
 DECEMBER 20 
 DECEMBER 21 
 DECEMBER 22 
 DECEMBER 23 
 DECEMBER 24 
 DECEMBER 25 
 DECEMBER 26 
 DECEMBER 27 
 DECEMBER 28 
 DECEMBER 29 
 DECEMBER 30 
 DECEMBER 31