Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new literary fiction story, "Holiday Party."

You can find the written version of "Holiday Party" right here.

About the Author

Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015), a pop culture nonfiction, and his debut fantasy novel Killerjoy (5050 Press, 2017). His recent short fiction includes "Men Who Are Strong" (IHRAM Press) and "Upon a Dream," an original fable published in The Fairy Tale Magazine. He's the chief editor of Cetera Magazine and his work has appeared or is forthcoming in several anthologies, including Neon Hemlock​, Oddity Prodigies, Inked in Gray, Speculation Publications, and more. He was also a finalist for the 2025 BCLF Elizabeth Caribbean-American Writer’s Prize and is a Best American Short Stories of 2025-nominated writer.

Listen toward the end of the show for Jon’s full author’s notes on the making of this story.

• Read "Holiday Party" with original artwork.
• Explore our full archive of stories and poetry.
• Submit your own story to be featured on Cetera.

About Cetera Magazine

We publish original short fiction every Thursday. Our stories span literary fiction, speculative tales, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and weird fiction. All written without AI assistance and curated by editor Natalia Emmons.

Credits

• Host & Author: Jon Negroni
• Editor: Natalia Emmons
• Artwork: Jon Negroni
• Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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