New ‘Holiday Horror’ fiction: ‘To Grandmother’s House’

A rare (for me) bit of horror writing. Warning: This is not Hallmark Movie material.

Image accompanying Andrew Careaga's short story "To Grandmother's House," published December 3, 2025, on Spillwords.com

Not long ago, in an effort to drag myself out of my writing rut, I decided to write some short stories to fit themed submission calls. One of those calls came from Spillwords. For their annual Haunted Holidays” feature, Spillwords‘ editors were seeking writings that “embrace the dark side of the winter holiday season, and all that’s lurking in the shadows of Christmas merriment.” So I wrote a short story specifically for this call. I was happy to learn earlier this week that the editors had accepted it, and it is featured on the litmag’s website today.

Content warning: If you’re more into sweet and sappy holiday fare, or Hallmark Movie holiday romances, you might want to give this one a pass. But if you crave a bit of psychological tension and yuletide horror, then by all mean, give “To Grandmother’s House” a read.

Image via Spillwords.

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Author: andrewcareaga

Former higher ed PR and marketing guy at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) now focused on freelance writing and editing and creative writing, fiction and non-fiction.

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