May I Still See the Magic

The world has changed so much in a post-The Phoenix world. As Nicole and her friends work to rebuild the world, they are still trying to rebuild their own lives. Meanwhile Nicole, haunted by a former-favorite Christmas song from her past, struggles to remember what life was like before her world turned upside down.

"Happy Holidays," says Xern. But what do the holidays mean for Nicole after all that has happened? Will she be able to find her past again? Will she be able to still see the magic of Christmas?

Author’s Note

Even though I am nowhere near done with The Phoenix, I recently started wondering what life after The Phoenix would look like. Obviously, the O.P.D. loses. But does the world go back to normal? What is normal?

What could be more normal than Christmas?

And yet, for many people, Christmas isn’t normal. Christmas is broken. What happens when one stops seeing the magic in Christmas? And who would be better to struggle with Christmas joy and magic than my dear character with the weight of the world on her shoulders, Nicole?

With all these questions in my head, I set out to do something I have never done before: I was going to write what authors call “a quiet story.” What was more, I was going to write a Christmas quiet story.

Although I didn’t know what a post-Phoenix world would look like when I started this story, as I write May I Still See the Magic, ideas have started to flow. I now have a (somewhat) clearer picture of where I’m going in The Phoenix itself. (Thanks!) I’ve known from the beginning that the post-Phoenix world would be a healing world, a world that would need some Christmas magic. Maybe even a little bit like our world today, only we’re headed in the opposite direction.

(Have none of our politicians read dystopia?)

If Christmas magic can heal the Phoenix’s world, maybe it can help ours. My hope is that this story - when completed - will bring a little Christmas magic to you amid all the darkness and chaos in this uncertain world.

Thanks to the following songs and poems for inspiring this story: “Hallelujah” sung by Pentatonix, “Silent Night (Be Still)” by Rend Collective, and a poem by an unknown author, which First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt carried in her wallet during the Second World War.

Be still my heart, be still my mind,

May I still see the magic of that Silent Night,

Fill me with wonder, keep mystery alive,

May peace on earth be my song tonight.

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