In this cyberpunk Christmas tale, genetically engineered children compete and kill for the chance to win Christmas. In a simulated, yet antiquated future playground called Daycare, Ceep, an omniscient computer, responsible for creating deadly gangs of urchins who desire to reap the rewards of Christmas, encourages his creations to use their enhanced genetically-engineered skills to destroy one another and take the Christmas tree for their own.Only the strongest survive, or do they? When Chronos, the leader of his gang, discovers his love for one of the most detested members of his group is stronger than his love for his creator, he can't help but try to save her from ultimate destruction. Rhea is a Vancouver, BC writer known best for her short stories and many of those are posted here at Smashwords.I'm mainly a short story writer and a writer of poetry although lately, I've made a foray into novel writing. I've been nominated 3 times for the Canadian Aurora award, twice for short stories, once for poetry, also nominated for a Rhysling award for poetry. I've made the preliminary nominations for a Nebula award (did I mention I like to write "Science Fiction?") I've also made Ellen Datlow's honourable mention list 3 times for horror.Here at Smashwords, you'll find my shorts that have been traditionally published but those rights have now come back to me and I republish the stories here. As well, you'll find short stories that are published here for the very first time. These stories are ones that editors loved, held for tons of time, shortlisted, longlisted and then decided the piece couldn't fit the theme or some other aspect of their needs. Those are very frustrating times for a writer, but the beauty of Indie publishing is that you can publish them at some point and get them out to your readers.When posting my work at Smashwords I try to show diversity in writing and select stories that I think are relevant, and might surprise the reader; a good story will usually be relevant until the end of time. The work I post here has been worked on quite a bit so hopefully, it satisfies the reader.My wish: I'd love to have more reviews from readers and stars. Those are so important to writers. That's how we know that there's anyone out there...
