JINGLED, a novel by Evan J. Corbin
AVAILABLE FOR EBOOK PRE-ORDER
RELEASE ON NOVEMBER 7, 2025
Matt Daughtry has always felt as if he and his parents inhabit parallel universes—his defined by the urbane ideals of the Northeastern liberal elite, theirs by Southern conservatism, homespun “common sense,” and talk show-fueled conspiracies. His homosexuality remains an open secret, something they prefer to ignore rather than confront, much less accept. When he and his sister return home for Christmas, it’s the wrong sibling who brings a boyfriend for the first time.
What begins as a tense but familiar holiday visit soon turns surreal. Flights are canceled. Pilots and flight attendants inexplicably take leave. Within days, seventy-eight million Americans fail to return to work. Their explanation? They just want to spend more time with their families. After all, Christmas can be every day when you’re with family.
Matt’s parents—and millions of others—have fallen prey to a bizarre condition, trapped in an endless Yuletide loop, content to celebrate forever as their debts climb, the economy collapses, and reality itself unravels. The cause appears to be an addictive algorithm powering an evangelical shopping app called MerryNet, which delivers both bargains and blissful delusion in equal measure.
At first, Matt wants no part of it. He’s spent a lifetime trying—and failing—to reason with his parents. Why should this time be any different? But when the syndrome spreads nationwide, he uncovers evidence that it may not be a coincidence, but a calculated act of ideological warfare. Faced with a choice between silence and truth, Matt realizes that exposing the conspiracy may cost him his career, his safety, and his sanity. Yet if he doesn’t act, the country may surrender completely to its digital holiday trance.
With the help of his boyfriend and sister, Matt must uncover the origins of the so-called “Christmas Syndrome” and confront the deeper divisions tearing both his family—and the nation—apart.
PRE ORDER
RELEASE ON NOVEMBER 7, 2025
Matt Daughtry has always felt as if he and his parents inhabit parallel universes—his defined by the urbane ideals of the Northeastern liberal elite, theirs by Southern conservatism, homespun “common sense,” and talk show-fueled conspiracies. His homosexuality remains an open secret, something they prefer to ignore rather than confront, much less accept. When he and his sister return home for Christmas, it’s the wrong sibling who brings a boyfriend for the first time.
What begins as a tense but familiar holiday visit soon turns surreal. Flights are canceled. Pilots and flight attendants inexplicably take leave. Within days, seventy-eight million Americans fail to return to work. Their explanation? They just want to spend more time with their families. After all, Christmas can be every day when you’re with family.
Matt’s parents—and millions of others—have fallen prey to a bizarre condition, trapped in an endless Yuletide loop, content to celebrate forever as their debts climb, the economy collapses, and reality itself unravels. The cause appears to be an addictive algorithm powering an evangelical shopping app called MerryNet, which delivers both bargains and blissful delusion in equal measure.
At first, Matt wants no part of it. He’s spent a lifetime trying—and failing—to reason with his parents. Why should this time be any different? But when the syndrome spreads nationwide, he uncovers evidence that it may not be a coincidence, but a calculated act of ideological warfare. Faced with a choice between silence and truth, Matt realizes that exposing the conspiracy may cost him his career, his safety, and his sanity. Yet if he doesn’t act, the country may surrender completely to its digital holiday trance.
With the help of his boyfriend and sister, Matt must uncover the origins of the so-called “Christmas Syndrome” and confront the deeper divisions tearing both his family—and the nation—apart.
PRE ORDER
No comments have been added yet.
