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

All sagas begin in fire.

Recovered accounts concerning the winter customs of the northern countries, and the nights they keep.

100 BC to the present. Set in order by a hand that signs no name.

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

Enter

The Front Hall

Three doors, and the house is the same house behind every one.

Cover of The Blood of WinterThe First DoorThe BooksThree books. Twenty-one days. One legend.EnterCover of The Maker's WonderThe Second DoorThe LegendsFree stories from the world of the books, beginning with The Maker's Wonder.EnterThe First Tree through the turning seasonsThe Third DoorThe MusicEvery book carries its own score. Begin with the theme.Enter

The Keepings

Twelve recovered accounts. Each opens in its own time.

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. #EmberNight #EmberWake #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.

AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshopWalmartApple BooksKoboGoogle PlayLibro.fmSigned copies

Three books. November 10, November 20 and 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.