Christmas Spirits. Speculative fiction, #2

A haunted starship. A reluctant spiritual healer. A Christmas Eve unlike any other. 'Christmas Spirits' is a quietly powerful science fiction short story by award-recognised New Zealand writer p.d.r. Lindsay, blending Maori cultural tradition with deep-space adventure in a tale that will stay with you long after the final page. The family motto has always been simple: there are no ghosts in space.
For generations, the family's tohunga, their Maori spiritual leaders, have built a thriving business solving the problems that technology and science cannot explain. The current tohunga, the ninth in the line, has cultivated a comfortable life firmly rooted in the New Zealand landscape he loves. Space jobs are for his children. Until now. A quarantined deep-space military starship is experiencing communication failures, unexplained static, and persistent disturbances that have defeated every specialist sent aboard.
With Christmas Eve counting down and the whole family waiting back on the Northland beach, he boards the isolation bay and begins to investigate. What he discovers changes everything he thought he knew about what it means to be lost, and what it takes to truly come home. Perfect for readers who love: - Thoughtful, character-driven science fiction short stories - Science fiction featuring indigenous culture and mythology - Festive SF and Christmas ghost stories with emotional depth - New Zealand fiction and Pacific voices in speculative fiction - Short reads ideal for the holiday season Rich with cultural authenticity, gentle humour, and genuine heart, 'Christmas Spirits' proves that the most ancient human needs, love, belonging, and the longing for home, travel just as far as any starship ever could. A warm, wise, and wonderfully original science fiction story for the Christmas season and beyond.
Published by Writer's Choice, a writers' publishing collective dedicated to quality fiction.