Christmas is a time for peace and love and harmony, and to be honest, too much of that can wear out its welcome this time of year.  Rather than overdose on the holiday spirit and take an axe to the family, you need a healthier release–perhaps reading horror stories might soothe your less Christmas-y tendancies.

You can find plenty of great horror stories set in West Virginia in three new books, “Legends of the Mountain State 4” and “Specters in Coal Dust“, edited by Michael Knost, and “Mountain Magic: Spellbinding Tales of Appalachia“, edited by Brian J. Hatcher.

Better yet, you can give these as gifts to diffuse any potential ticking time-bombs among your relatives. On top of that, you can get these fine literary anthologies signed by the editors and some of the authors, this very weekend!

Friday, at the Borders Express in The Charleston Town Center, Editors Michael Knost, Brian J. Hatcher, and contributing writer Keith Davis will be on hand to personalize your gift, from 5 to 8 PM.

If you miss out on that, you can head to the Borders in the Huntington Mall on Saturday from 2 to 4 PM, when the above trio will be joined by contributing writer Frank Lanerd for a book signing. What person on your gift list wouldn’t be impressed by a signed first edition of a cool book set in their home state?

You can find out more about these books at Woodland Press’ website, and you can buy the books, unsigned, at several local bookstores.