A Yuletide Universe

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A Yuletide Universe: Sixteen Fantastical TalesThe contributors to this Christmas anthology include well-known writers with strong fan followings such as Bram Stoker and Hugo Award-winning author of "American Gods" Neil Gaiman, Hugo Award winner Connie Willis, Anne McCaffrey, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, and many others.From BooklistStarred Review Anticipating pop singers, genre (i.e., "pop") fiction writers have put out "Christmas albums" ever since Dickens--the prototypical pop novelist, after all--"sang" A Christmas Carol. This fine anthology demonstrates that, on the whole, this has been a good thing. Editor Thomsen re-presents Christmas tales by sf and fantasy hands, mostly, although yarns by two mystery scribes, Donald E. Westlake and James Powell (obscurer than the delicious "Plot against Santa Claus" entitles him to be); Oz-inventor L. Frank Baum; and ur-western writer Bret Harte (in fine form in "How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar") appear, too. Short-shorts by Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, and Richard Christian Matheson open the collection, and four Santa-substitute stories follow (points of interest: Gaiman's "Nicholas Was . . ." began as a greeting card, and Harlan Ellison's "Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R." is as nasty as its date, 1968). Then come five first-raters, of which Clive Barker's "The Yattering and Jack" is probably the best known, but Connie Willis' "Miracle," a fantasia based on two classic Christmas movies, is the best. Maureen F. McHugh's pensive "A Foreigner's Christmas in China" and, in the section with "classic" authors Harte and Baum, Anne McCaffrey's philosophical "A Proper Santa Claus" tie for next best. Regard this as your one-stop source of great "new" readings for Christmas story hours. Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedcontentsSanta ShortsNicholas Was . . .Cyber-ClausHolidaySanta SubstitututesNacklesSanta Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R.O Come Little Children . . .It’s a Wonderful Miracle on 34th Street’s Christmas CarolVariations on the Holiday ThemeThe Yattering and JackIcicle MusicMiracleA Foreigner’s Christmas in ChinaHousehold Words; Or, The Powers-That-BeClassic Tales of Christmas Science Fiction, Fantasy and WhimsyA Kidnapped Santa ClausHow Santa Claus Came to Simpson’s BarA Proper Santa ClausThe Plot Against Santa ClausAbout the AuthorBrian M. Thomsen is an editor of science fiction who has worked at Warner Books and TSR, Inc. A Hugo award nominee and the author of two novels Once Around the Realms and The Mage in the Iron Mask and over 40 short stories, Brian has also edited several anthologies including Oceans of Space, Oceans of Magic, and The Repentant. He has just published a critical anthology titled The American Fantasy Tradition. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Donna and two cats.