As I type this we’re just into December – Halloween has been and gone, the nights are drawing in, and the weather’s turning a little colder at Hobbit Towers. Thoughts here are now turning towards the Yuletide festival – a religious event that seems to have taken on a curiously secular tone and yet is still often of global importance.
In 2012 I reviewed Baen Books’s We Wish You A Cosmic Christmas – a science fiction collection of SF-nal tales appropriate for the time of the year. I enjoyed it and so this year I thought I’d try another. Joy to the Worlds is a wide-ranging mixture of SF, Fantasy and Horror that made me wish for snowy weather and a good hot drink whilst sat safely indoors at Hobbit Towers.
It is not the longest book I’ve ever read – eight stories, over nearly 300 pages. But there’s enough variety there to keep the reader amused. Stories that involve themes as varied as a mobster Santa, Victorian villages, time-travelling detectives, a Krampus, eerie bell spirits, and more, this collection of short cross-genre fictions explores mysteries across time and space, from dark dystopian worlds to comedic retro-futures.
Wild Hunt by Janine G Southard is a tale involving a character that is part of the legendary Great Hunt, and has to earn his spurs, so to speak, by solving a locked-door type death. It’s done in a nice detective noir style, but the key point of the story was a little too slight for me.
Escape from Yorktown by G. Clemans is a story set in the future where people travel back to Earth to celebrate Christmas in a mock-Victorian theme park style. It’s initially amusing, being told from the perspective of some young teenage workers determined to ‘escape’ from the living hell, but soon turns into a chase tale as the son of the President crash-lands there and tries to evade capture. The author in her Afterword describes it as Escape from New York meets Victoriana in an anachronistic setting, which is a fair summary. The author in her afterword describes it as generally fun, fast moving but pretty lightweight. The pages turned quickly but I suspect I’ll not remember it for long.
Odysseus Flax & the Krampus is a darker tale by comparison and shows us an alternative form of Christmas by dealing with Krampus, described in the tale’s introduction as ‘a judgemental, devilish forbearer to today’s jovial Santa Claus.’ I also liked Odysseus Flax, who is very much in the ‘gentleman thief’ mould of anti-heroes. It was one of the collection’s more enjoyable tales for me. Ol’ St. Nick by Raven Oak was also a pleasant surprise, being an SF tale set amongst space salvagers. Part mystery novel, part gangster story, this was much better than I expected and reminded me very much of the old Galaxy Magazine Christmas covers.
The rest of the book is a varied mixture. Bevel & Turn by G. Clemans is a Grimm’s Fairy Tale-type tale of a family curse and a mystery. Death Node by Janine A. Southard is a time travel story of a dystopian future that’s a thought-provoker.
The Ringers by Raven Oak is a not-so-humorous Fantasy tale of a village with its inhabitants kept in slavery and denied the use of magic. The arrival of the dead beings that regularly take villagers away is usually preceded by the ringing of the titular bells. The story was a tad sinister and, like A Christmas Carol, at times did deliver a pleasant chill.
The final story, Mr. and Mrs. Mistletoe by Maia Chance, finishes the collection off nicely by being something a tad lighter and rather heart-warming, even to an old cynic like me. There’s a nice 1950’s retro-vibe that I enjoyed a great deal.
In short, this is a collection that eclectically entertains and amuses without pushing a religious message too strongly. It reminded me of Connie Willis’s collection Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, which has become a bit of a staple for me at this time of the year. For those thinking of what to read for the festive season, this is a gentle guide towards celebrating the event in the deep mid-winter.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Joy to the Worlds
Stories of Mystery and Speculative Fiction
by Maia Chance, Janine A. Southard, Raven Oak, and G. Clemans
Published by Grey Sun Press, December 2015
ISBN: 9780990815761
Review by Mark Yon
