A wax seal impressed with the pear tree in the circle, branches above the line and roots below.

Recovered accounts concerning the winter customs of the northern countries.

1610 to the present. Set in order by a hand that does not sign.

Most of these are true. The trouble has always been telling which.

Enter

The Holdings

Twelve entries. Most are not open yet.

Sheets of close handwriting and sealed packets spread on a dark table by candlelight.
Entry IThe BowlOpen
Entry IIThe SillSealed until 15 December
Entry IIIThe Pear TreeSealed until 1 December
Entry IVThe Burned OrchardSealed until 1 December
Entry VThe Empty NightSealed until 15 December
Entry VIThe Longest NightSealed until 21 December
Entry VIIThe First RideSealed until 25 December
Entry VIIIThe Feast of StephenSealed until 26 December
Entry IXThe Coventry LedgerSealed until 6 January
Entry XThe CrownSealed
Entry XIThe DirgeSealed
Entry XIIThe GlenSealed
A pale bowl set on a worn windowsill at dusk, lit warm from within the room, snow beyond the glass.

Leave a bowl on the sill. Cream if you have it, thin milk if you do not. If you have nothing, leave a clean spoon anyway, so the night can see you tried.

Entry I. Recorded in the valley, 1610.

People still do this. Photographs arrive every winter. #ABowlOnTheSill

The Letter

The Chronicle of Mercy

Sent when there is something worth sending. The sealed entries open there first.

No schedule. No sequence. Leave whenever you like.

An engraved plate of an old tree in snow at night, its roots lit from beneath.

Volume One

The Twelve-Tide Sagas

The Blood of Winter
The Crown of Summer
The Song of Midnight

Cover of The Blood of Winter
Cover of The Crown of Summer
Cover of The Song of Midnight

All sagas begin in fire. All hope rises in song.

AmazonApple BooksKoboBookshopSigned copies

Three books. December 1, 2026.

S.C. Kincaid, in a flat cap and a dark shirt, lit warm against a black ground.

S.C. Kincaid

S.C. Kincaid is the author of The Twelve-Tide Sagas, a historical fantasy trilogy reimagining the origin of Santa Claus through the witch trials of 16th and 17th century Europe. His family carried a Scottish name and a longer Scottish story from the Highlands to the Arkansas Ozarks. He writes about the stories that survive every crossing.

On craft and tools: how this work was made, and what was not made by hand.