This Christmas, Picador are doing something very special with their PICADOR SHOTS. In December we will publish eight Picador Shots that are not only short stories in their own right, but can also be sent as unique Christmas cards. Each `Christmas Shot' will be available with an envelope and, when you open the first page of the book, it will have a goodwill message like a normal Christmas card. The shots will be small enough to send out with a first class stamp in the UK and will be priced at just GBP2.50.

The stories will all have a festive theme and are written by some of the great writers of the last two centuries, such as Dickens, Hardy, Guy de Maupassant, Henry James, M R James, Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Gaskell. The finals titles are yet to be confirmed but the cover designs will all follow a stylish, yet appropriately festive approach.