The 13 Days of Christmas app for iPhone and iPad

Our modern Christmas Holidays season is a combination of traditions garnered from across both the Old and the New Worlds, traditions that sometimes seem curiously contradictory.

Over the course of a single evening you may find yourself at a Carol Service singing songs as relentlessly cheerful as The Twelve Days of Christmas yet, just a couple of hours later, be sat around a blazing log fire with your friends and family swapping ghost stories that are scary enough to send shivers down your spine.

This free app pulls together these two strands of Christmas tradition in a reworking of a classic Christmas Carol but with a Dark Fantasy - and darkly humorous - twist to see you into the New Year.

In this app you will find a combination of words and comic book-style drawings, bringing you a fresh verse and illustration for every one of our 13 Days of Christmas. Each day is also accompanied by a few words of explanation, sometimes not entirely serious, other times delving into history and folklore - but always intriguing and entertaining.

In addition, we are offering six bonus Christmas Gifts of short stories and folklore tales that will only become available as the 13 days progress. This bonus content is entirely free and requires no in-app purchases.

The text is by Charles Christian, who was described in one review of his latest book as "An outstanding writer who perfectly captures the hidden worlds and forgotten corners of Britain."