OK: it’s nearly time for that celebration of Winter, these days a celebration whether you are religious or not. Out in the wilds the weather may be (not so) delightful and it’s dark outside, but there’s a fire burning and the lights are on, with a warming beverage of your choice available at Hobbit Towers, should you wish to take refuge.
But what to read in this holiday season of the festive? Here’s some suggestions from Mark Yon as to what books he likes to settle down with over the Christmas season. Pull up a chair and have a look: here’s hoping something you’ll like.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
To start with I guess I can’t miss what is regarded as the Christmas story (other than the Christian one, of course!) Well known by just about everyone in the living world, this tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge and his journey to redemption at Christmas typifies what is for the archetype of Christmas (ie: a Victorian one.) It is usually much creepier in prose than many remember. Dickens’s other Christmas tales are also worth mentioning as well, such as The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton from The Pickwick Papers.
Christmas Stars by David G. Hartwell
As someone who always loved the Christmas covers of magazines like Galaxy, David’s eclectic collection from 1992 covers twenty-five famous and not so famous festive genre gems that seem to encapsulate the range and depth of the genre’s version of Christmas. You will recognise many of the authors names, such as Ray Bradbury, Gene Wolfe and Anne McCaffrey. Personal favourites are Arthur C Clarke’s short-but-memorable The Star, and Connie Willis’s Miracle (see below) but also the less well-known The Greatest Gift by Philip van Doren Stern, which was the basis for Frank 
Capra’s movie, It’s a Wonderful Life! There are some big differences to the movie, though the basic plot is still recognisable.
The following year Hartwell added Christmas Forever and in 1994 Christmas Magic (also recommended.)
A Cosmic Christmas edited by Hank Davis
Read this one in 2012. (Link to review HERE.) A more recent version of a collection doing what Hartwell’s collections did before – a nicely eclectic bunch of old and relatively new SF tales from Baen Books, edited by their go-to editor, Hank Davis. To quote the Baen website: “New York Times best-selling author Larry Correia sends his popular tough guy detective and magicwielder, Jake Sullivan, on a special case at Christmas time, while visions of tommy guns dance in the heads of the thugs he’s up against. Mark L. Van Name‘s Lobo, an A.I. housed in a pocket battle starship, drops his usual cynical pose to help a troubled family at Christmas time. Nebula Award-winner Catherine Asaro tells of a romantic Yuletide weekend that turns into a mystery in
a futuristic high-tech house. New York Times best seller Mercedes Lackey offers a Christmas ghost the likes of which Scrooge never encountered. George O. Smith, a star of the Golden Age of science fiction, is on hand with an episode from his classic Venus Equilateral series, in which a Christmas celebration on a gigantic space station is interrupted by the arrival of a ruthless interplanetary criminal, who didn’t drop by to hand out presents. And much more, in a holiday package that any fan of science fiction and fantasy would be delighted to find under their tree, on any planet.”
I said in my review, “Twelve Christmassy tales, with varying degrees of success, but generally worth a read. It’s varied enough to keep the reader entertained whilst in its company, and, like the best party guest, doesn’t outstay its welcome. Though it’s a little uneven, it is a great one to sit with, whilst the bad weather’s outside and a warm drink’s inside nearby.”
Joy to the Worlds: Mysterious Speculative Fiction for the Holidays (2015) by Maia Chance, Janine A Southard, Raven Oak and G Clemans
And lastly in the collections, here’s one that I reviewed last year. It’s not perfect, but there’s a nicely varied range of SF, Horror and Urban Fantasy to dip into. A nice mix of Romance, Mystery & Horror. (Review HERE.)
For those who like to be reminded of the darker side of Winter, I’m going to recommend these:
NOS4R2 by Joe Hill
Much darker territory here. This is a Horror tale worthy of comparison with some of Joe’s Dad’s work. We meet Charlie Manx, the Pennywise of Christmas, a serial killer who picks up his victims in a vintage Rolls Royce to take them to the not-at-all-nice ‘Christmasland’, a place to be filed under ‘Not what you think it is.’ To quote my review, “It is a sign of the brilliance of this book that I’ll never think of Christmas in the same way again. What is there to say about this one? How about ‘Thank you, Joe.’ ” (Review HERE.)
Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James (1904 – 1925)
Although these are for many a regular read at Halloween, did you know that most of these creepy tales were written to be read out loud at Christmas? Montague Rhodes James used to read these stories to the choirboys after Christmas Carol Services at King’s College, Cambridge. They still work wonderfully well when read in your head! Tales of remote rural settlements, mysterious artefacts, academics discovering things best left alone and strange things in the shadows make this a thoroughly chilling read, whether Christmas or any other time of the year. (Review HERE.)
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries by Otto Penzler
Strictly speaking, this one’s not entirely genre. But in this huge, nearly-700 page tome, there’s a variety to dip into. As well as all those expected vintage detective noir tales such as the Sherlock Holmes story set at Christmas, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, and others by writers such as Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen and Ed McBain, there’s a section named “An Uncanny Christmas”, which has some nicely creepy tales. These include The Haunted Crescent by Peter Lovesey and The Christmas Bogey by Pat Frank, of Alas, Babylon fame. All worth a read.
Miracle and Other Stories by Connie Willis (1999)
See also The Doomsday Book (1992)
If not the Hartwell collection, then this is my specifically Christmas collection of choice. Unlike the Hartwell miscellany, however, this one is full of stories all by one genre award-winning author, Connie Willis, who should not be a new name to those reading this! As is often the case, Connie mixes warmth and humour with some brutal observations of life in general. There are some terrific Fantasy stories collected here – a couple of which you may need to read twice. And I say this even if I don’t agree with Connie’s contention that Miracle on 34th Street is a better movie than It’s A Wonderful Life, though she argues it well….
The Doomsday Book is here simply because the Christmas scenes in the time-travelling story set in the 1200’s are so memorably bleak. Not a book filled with Christmas cheer, but a memorable one, nonetheless, and perhaps Connie’s best, in my opinion. Recommended for that reason.
Onto something a bit less bleak, now. For many, Christmas is for children. With that in mind I was reminded of a few classics.
Box of Delights by John Masefield (1935)
Here’s one that’s formed a lot of childhood memories for many, though these days often forgotten. A children’s tale of the titular magical box, which allows our hero Kay Harker to travel to magical places and different times. It involves magic and settings which evoke the spirit of Christmas.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis (1950)
And again, a staple of many a Christmas childhood: the Christian message in narrative form. It is the tale of the Pevensie children who go through a portal into a land of snow and ice dominated by the Snow Queen. Adults may find the religious message rather heavy, but for younger readers it can be enchanting.
Eagle Annual by Daniel Tartarsky (2007)
When I was young I always got an Annual at Christmas. For me it was usually based around Gerry Anderson’s television programmes (TV21) or my other favourite TV programme (Doctor Who). This though is a real blast from the even-more-distant past – a selection of some of the best of the Eagle Magazine, from the UK’s best-selling comic (by far!) in the 1950’s. There’s Dan Dare, of course, but as Marcus Morris, the creator and editor of Eagle, was originally one of the clergy, Christmas was always an important part of the magazine. Though I got to these much later than when they were first published (I’m not quite that old!), they are a wonderfully nostalgic reminder of idyllic British Christmases past, if all rather middle-class. I loved the fact that the banner of the Christmas week edition was always edged with piles of snow on the front cover.
And lastly…
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (1997)
This seasonal Discworld novel (Terry’s 20th) has that typical Pratchett sense of humour that combines light and dark, this time using the meaning of Yuletide and the myths around Santa. It involves the return of the character of Death with a new job, an assassination attempt on a key character and Death’s granddaughter, Susan Sto-Helit. There are some subtle observations about the whole idea of Christmas, but ultimately a tale of hope and faith that makes you realise, whether a child or not, why such celebrations are important. One that makes me laugh out loud. A lot. (And that’s not something I do very often, believe me.) There’s a TV series too, but Pratchett’s prose has a certain warmth that’s not always evident visually. To “too many absent friends” indeed, Terry.
Ooh, now… movies. There’s a thought…..
Merry Christmas!
