Haven’t gotten a publication date for Christmas in Pandemonium yet, but I’ve decided to start promoting the book with a new feature: “This Week in Pandemonium.” As an explainer for those reading about Pandemonium for the first time, Pandemonium is the town my book is based in that was founded in South Carolina by Satanists in the year 1620. Four groups of people live there: the Witches (descended from the aforementioned Satanists), the Strangers (disreputable pirates turned Christian religious fanatics), the Fieldhands (Pandemonium’s African-American community), and the Ze’ev (Jewish werewolves who immigrated to Pandemonium in the 1890s). For this week: June 9-16.

June 9, 1912–The famous Athena Oratorium opens in Pandemonium. The Athena will become one of the premiere venues for jazz, ragtime, and the blues in the U.S. The building was donated by Grand Dame Elizabeth Davis who claimed the building was once a ballroom where her father, Col. Robert Davis, met her mother, though historians believe it may have served as the burlesque house in the antebellum south.

June 10, 1672–Stranger smugglers are caught trading directly with Spanish ships in defiance of English colonial law. Their confiscated cargo includes lumber, tobacco, and some very odd statues bearing strange ruins.

June 11, 1929–Alan Grayson, famous head coach of the Cramner Red Devils, is born. Grayson, who would go on to lead the Red Devils to an NCAA Football Championship in 1984, would be consecrated to Satan, per family tradition, three days after his birth.

June 12, 1945–Pandemonium resident Bunim Greenblatt is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for taking out an entire German division on the night of February 9 in the same year.

June 13, 1960–Federal District Court Judge and Stranger-Born Brian Applewaith strikes down state and local laws requiring the segregation of public schools and crafts an integration order, mandating that Pandemonium High School admit seven Fieldhand students when school starts in August. Satanic High Priest Blaise Jackson responds by placing a curse on Judge Applewaith.

June 14, 1897–The day before a full moon, the newly arrived Ze’ev lay the cornerstone of Temple Ze’ev, now on the National Register of Historic Landmarks. An antisemitic mob of Strangers gather to burn the building down. Of the 25 men who assemble to take part in the mayhem, six return.

June 15, 1776– Pandemonium votes to declare independence from Great Britain nearly a month before Jefferson’s famous declaration. A committee of Witches drafts a declaration and passes it inside the town meeting hall at 3 am with the doors locked to avoid interference from Loyalist Strangers.

June 16, 1822–During the height of the Era of Good Feelings, the Stranger Mayor and Witch Mayor of the town meet at a gazebo for lunch, and after sharing a meal of succotash and fried chicken, shake hands and tip their hats to each other. This is followed by a riot and an election where both men are voted out and then tarred and feathered.