The characters in Nathan Graziano’s dark fictional backdrop are waiting–waiting for the next fix, the next fling, the next inevitable miscue or mistake. This collection of short prose pieces tackles the breakdown of the modern marriage, the existential despair of technological times, and the ubiquity of the current opioid epidemic. Without flinching, Graziano introduces a hardened world populated by the desperate and vulnerable people we’d rather ignore while stringing our lights and singing our carols. Almost Christmas reminds us that our myths are simply fancy lies.