Saving Christmas

by Bob Batchelor

Ruth Jameson gives Steve Michaels a seemingly-impossible task – Save Christmas! The nearly hopeless assignment feels like life or death for bank employees who fear that an impending merger means that they will be downsized for the holidays! Before charting a new course, though, Steve must confront his own shaky past with Old Saint Nick. Can he excise the demons that he still carries from his Western Pennsylvania childhood? Will he overcome the infamous “Shark Lady,” Ruth’s hardhearted boss as she circles sensing blood in the water? With a glimpse into the modern business world, “Saving Christmas” is an honest, thoughtful, and ultimately moving story about the absurdity of corporate life, the challenge of memories, and the meaning of family and love. Bestselling author Bob Batchelor’s “Saving Christmas” is the second story in the “A Moment in Time” series, which explores the lives of people who yearn for better days ahead as they battle the forces that keep them from fulfilling their dreams. Secrets, desires, dangerous revelations, and heartbreaking love and agony fill these tales of people and families we know and see all around us. Each “A Moment in Time” story can be read in a single setting. Share it with someone you love. Visit the author, an award-winning biographer and cultural historian (Rookwood, The Bourbon King, Stan The Man Behind Marvel) at www.bobbatchelor.com

19 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2020

About the author

Bob Batchelor is a critically-acclaimed cultural historian and biographer. He is the author of Stan Lee: A Life (Rowman & Littlefield, October 2022), Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel, Young Adult Edition (Rowman & Littlefiled, October 2022), and Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties (Hamilcar Publications, November 2022).

He has published books on Bob Dylan, The Great Gatsby, Mad Men, and John Updike. His latest, Rookwood: The Rediscovery and Revival of an American Icon, An Illustrated History won the 2021 Independent Publishers Book Award for Fine Art. The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition’s Evil Genius won the 2020 Independent Publishers Book Award for Historical Biography. Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel was a finalist for the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Nonfiction.

Bob’s books have been translated into a dozen languages and his work has appeared in Time magazine, the New York Times, Cincinnati Enquirer, and Los Angeles Times. Bob is also the creator and host of the podcast John Updike: American Writer, American Life. He has appeared as an on-air commentator for The National Geographic Channel, PBS NewsHour, PBS, and NPR. Bob hosted “TriState True Crime” on WCPO’s Cincy Lifestyle television show.

Bob earned his doctorate in American Literature from the University of South Florida. He has taught at universities in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as Vienna, Austria. Bob lives in North Carolina with his wife Suzette and their teenage daughters.

For more information, visit www.bobbatchelor.com.

Reviews

[Namita Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the upcoming bank merger, employees fear downsizing during holidays. Steve has been assigned the task to "Save the Christmas" for employees.

I loved how the two stories intersect, where one is the present Steve trying to figure out a way to help employees of the bank and on the other hand he is trying to comprehend facts to a Christmas memory from his childhood.

The language is simple and you can connect with the childhood Steve. It brings a smile to your face when you read through Steve’s unearthing of the actuality.

Indeed a recommended quick read.

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