the story is about a selfish kid being invited to the North Pole. During his stay he spend time pursuing his own desires at Santa and his elves expense. Boundaries are broken, among other things. The kid is taken to court to determine his fate, but an interesting twist relates to the meaning of Christmas grace.

Rebellion is brewing at Santa's compound at the North Pole. The elves and the reindeer both are overworked, underpaid and angry, so they unite to take down Santa. However, there's still Santa's most fearsome enforcer, the horned, clawed and fanged holiday monster known only as Krampus… This is a short holiday horror story of 3900 words or approx. 14 print pages by Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert.

Why would Doug Hall follow in Robert Peary's 1909 sled tracks to the North Pole, despite the grueling terrain and temperatures between 15 and 62 degrees below zero? His goal was to resurrect the spirit of Peary's journey in a world increasingly driven by instant gratification, short term business focus, and lack of sustained dedication to great causes. Peary succeeded where some 578 expeditions before him had failed. North Pole Tenderfoot is Doug's attempt to let the reader experience what is possible when one does what Peary did: think big.

"The North Pole" is Capt. Robert E. Peary's personal account of his expedition to attempt to be the first Man to reach the Geographic North Pole. Peary achieved his dream in 1909 (although doubt has subsequently been raised as to whether he actually arrived at the Pole itself, or only got within 5 miles of it.) To his horror, on returning from the Arctic Peary discovered that Frederick Cook, his companion from a previous trip to the Arctic was claiming to have beaten him to the Pole by an entire year. The Scientific and Geographic Community cast great doubt on Cook's claim, and threw their weight behind Peary, but the controversy raged for years. Nonetheless, Peary retained a strong claim to have been the first man to reach the North Pole, pioneering the use of the customs and practices of the Native Eskimo people to achieve his aim. This book is testament to his incredible grit and determination to achieve his goal, and as well as the text it contains a variety of original photographs from the expedition. with introduction by President Theodore Roosevelt

It may not be inapt to liken the attainment of the North Pole to the winning of a game of chess, in which all the various moves leading to a favorable conclusion had been planned in advance, long before the actual game began. It was an old game for me—a game which I had been playing for twenty-three years, with varying fortunes. Always, it is true, I had been beaten, but with every defeat came fresh knowledge of the game, its intricacies, its difficulties, its subtleties, and with every fresh attempt success came a trifle nearer; what had before appeared either impossible, or, at the best, extremely dubious, began to take on an aspect of possibility, and, at last, even of probability. Every defeat was analyzed as to its causes in all their bearings, until it became possible to believe that those causes could in future be guarded against and that, with a fair amount of good fortune, the losing game of nearly a quarter of a century could be turned into one final, complete success. It is true that with this conclusion many well informed and intelligent persons saw fit to differ. But many others shared my views and gave without stint their sympathy and their help, and now, in the end, one of my greatest unalloyed pleasures is to know that their confidence, subjected as it was to many trials, was not misplaced, that their trust, their belief in me and in the mission to which the best years of my life have been given, have been abundantly justified. But while it is true that so far as plan and method are concerned the discovery of the North Pole may fairly be likened to a game of chess, there is, of course, this obvious difference: in chess, brains are matched against brains. In the quest of the Pole it was a struggle of human brains and persistence against the blind, brute forces of the elements of primeval matter, acting often under laws and impulses almost unknown or but little understood by us, and thus many times seemingly capricious, freaky, not to be foretold with any degree of certainty. For this reason, while it was possible to plan, before the hour of sailing from New York, the principal moves of the attack upon the frozen North, it was not possible to anticipate all of the moves of the adversary. Had this been possible, my expedition of 1905-1906, which established the then "farthest north" record of 87° 6´, would have reached the Pole. But everybody familiar with the records of that expedition knows that its complete success was frustrated by one of those unforeseen moves of our great adversary—in that a season of unusually violent and continued winds disrupted the polar pack, separating me from my supporting parties, with insufficient supplies, so that, when almost within striking distance of the goal, it was necessary to turn back because of the imminent peril of starvation. When victory seemed at last almost within reach, I was blocked by a move which could not possibly have been foreseen, and which, when I encountered it, I was helpless to meet. And, as is well known, I and those with me were not only checkmated but very nearly lost our lives as well. But all that is now as a tale that is told. This time it is a different and perhaps a more inspiring story, though the records of gallant defeat are not without their inspiration. And the point which it seems fit to make in the beginning is that success crowned the efforts of years because strength came from repeated defeats, wisdom from earlier error, experience from inexperience, and determination from them all.

Fascinated by what lies beyond the boundaries of human experience, men and women have throughout history been irresistibly drawn to venture into the unknown. Lavishly illustrated, To the Ends of the Earth charts the astonishing feats of history's most intrepid explorers. From the early voyages of the Ancient Greek mariner Colaeus, who first discovered that beyond the Mediterranean lay a far greater ocean, to the compelling tale of the race for the Poles, this book encompasses the discovery and exploration of the great continents and oceans of the world. Whether motivated by the prospect of conquest, the spirit of scientific enquiry, nationalism, fanaticism, or just plain curiosity, the explorers in this book dared to seek out the most remote and inhospitable places on Earth and in so doing changed forever our perception of the planet. "I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose." - David Livingstone (1813-1873), African explorer