I put the copy of ’A Christmas Carol’ that my grandfather had first read to me 60 years ago on my desk, and I began to write. The result, for better or for worse, is the ’Christmas Spirits.’ I plan to read it to my grandson.

Strieber frames his writing as an act of intergenerational transmission: a cherished childhood reading of Dickens becomes the catalyst for creating a new Christmas tale meant to be read aloud to his own grandson. The quote emphasizes continuity of ritual (the family reading), the power of a physical book as a memory-object, and the way literary influence can be both homage and renewal. By adding “for better or for worse,” he acknowledges the risk inherent in revisiting a canonical work—inviting comparison with Dickens—while also asserting that the emotional purpose of the story (connection, wonder, and moral imagination) matters as much as artistic perfection.