There is nothing quite like that delicious feeling when you wake up on the first day of Christmas holidays, safe in the knowledge that you’ve left the lab behind you for a little while. It’s time to stop thinking about bad-assed bugs, cells, manuscripts (we’re juggling four at the moment), statistical analyses and grant applications, and start focusing on sleep, food, literature…and maybe a little bit of the fermented stuff. Today, I even gave my hair a leave-in treatment – for this overstressed academic, that’s the height of indulgence and time-wasting.

Here at LabLit Central, the tree is up, the gifts are wrapped, the cookies are baked and it’s time for a bit of well-earned downtime. And maybe even a few hours spent penning some fiction.

From all of us at the magazine, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday, and a prosperous new year.

What is everyone going to be reading? We’d love to hear.