Probable Claus

This year, he has to steal Christmas to save it.

Santa Claus isn't jolly anymore. He's a CEO.

For a century, Nick Claus has traded magic for metrics, optimizing the North Pole into a sterile corporate machine. But when he pushes the factory's "Joy-Per-Hour" efficiency to the breaking point, he doesn't just miss a quota...he blows the workshop off the map.

Now, the factory is in ashes, the elves are on strike, and the "Holigarchy" (the shadowy governing body of holiday figures), is threatening a hostile takeover.

To make matters worse, a Silicon Valley tech mogul named Sonny Yu has launched "Click-Mas(TM)," a disruptive rival service armed with an army of drones and an AI that predicts wishes before they happen. Sonny has the inventory Nick needs to save Christmas, but he isn't sharing.

Nick has one choice: Go off the books, off the grid, and onto the Permanently Naughty List.

He recruits a black-ops crew of "unmanageable assets" to pull off the greatest heist in history:

• Socket: A rogue engineer banished to the geothermal vents for building unauthorized rocket sleds.
• Tinsel: A deceptive gift-wrapper who can hide a Christmas tree in a sock box.
• Blaze: A reindeer grounded for fifty years for breaking the sound barrier and refusing to fly in formation.
• Flaherty: The Union Boss who just wants his pension-and an apology.

From high-speed chases in a stealth-titanium sleigh to a showdown in a server farm, Nick must outsmart an AI that knows everything, a military general hunting "The Anomaly," and a tech bro who thinks he can optimize the soul out of the holidays.

From the author of "A Kick In The Ads," the first fiction novel from Tim Burt delivers a high-octane, satirical adventure about what happens when you try to optimize magic, and why the best gifts can't be found in a spreadsheet.

(c)2025 Tim Burt Media, LLC. Published by CapeTownPress.com.

By trade, Tim Burt transforms advertising into revenue, with over 50,000 commercials crafted for global brands like Toyota, Burger King, South African Airways, and Jack Link's, plus countless small businesses - including over 5,000 concert commercials. His ads have driven over $500 million in global sales, proving their unmatched effectiveness.Following a 25-year radio career-including 16 years as Production Director at CBS Radio-Tim now runs Tim Burt Media, where he specializes in marketing strategy, voice-over, and ad creation.Tim continues to be a trusted voice in ad analysis, delivering real-time critiques of Super Bowl ads since 2006. His insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, Radio Ink, The Huffington Post, Arizona Republic, and Canada's CBC, among many other media outlets around the world. As an innovator, Tim launched The QR Market in 2021 and Cybermall.TV in 2022, both recognized as groundbreaking platforms reshaping how businesses connect with customers.A dynamic speaker, Tim has inspired audiences at conferences and media groups across the U.S., Canada, England, South Africa, Pakistan, and Mozambique. With the advent of AI in marketing, he leads the way in harnessing this technology to create ads that perform even better.The author of six books, Tim still produces approximately 500 ads annually. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, he now calls resides in St. Louis, Missouri.