A New Jersey Christmas Tale

Book excerpt: Mr. Dickens and Mr. Hausleben combined! Christmas fantasy and magic! A classic Christmas tale with a New Jersey twist! A New Jersey Christmas Tale is another Christmas release by the master storyteller on an already long list of Christmas books and seasonal joy! What gift do readers receive when the COVID-19 pandemic locks down the master storyteller during the 2020 holiday season? Another Christmas story penned by Mr. Paul John Hausleben, of course! When Mr. Hausleben takes up his annual Christmas Eve reading of what he feels is the greatest story ever written; then inspiration ignites reading and writing magic. What better Christmas mix than for Mr. Hausleben to join up in writing forces with the author that invented Christmas as we now know it? Paul John Hausleben does not hide his love for his favorite author, Mr. Charles Dickens, and he does not mince words when he heaps praise upon Mr. Dickens’s Christmas masterpiece, A Christmas Carol. Mr. Hausleben proudly states, “I believe it is the greatest story ever written with the most colorful and amazing characters of all time, too. Dickens has no peers; in my opinion, he is the greatest author of all time." Mr. Absalom Steed operates his Steed Lace Factory in Paterson, New Jersey as he lives his life. Stomping over everyone and everything, counting his pennies, obsessed with factory production and numbers and living a miserable life and making everyone around him miserable, too. Steed is obstinate, mean, heartless, and uncaring. Yet, his past haunts him and there are many reasons for his current misery. Somewhere, some place, deep inside, there is good in his soul and Christmas magic in 1974 unlocks the good and it turns his life around. Mr. Hausleben takes the original basic theme of the classic Christmas story, adds touches of fantasy, and holiday magic, adds his own characters, sets the story in his home city of Paterson, New Jersey with a nostalgic mid-1970s setting, and Mr. Hausleben turns the old classic into a new classic. In the author’s notes, PJH adds some commentary on the original story with his usual deep insight and flair. He adds some of his own Christmas artwork within the pages, with his own cover design and his own simple and captivating hand-drawn artwork. All of this makes this book a must-have for your Christmas reading list!