That Time of Year

[Ben George]

It's that time of year so I was wondering if anyone had any great SFF recommendations for any of the holidays that occur around this time of year.

My contribution is A War of Gifts, but I was hoping there were a bunch I didn't know.

Happy Holidays.

[TraceyL]

The Shining takes place in the winter. Holidays are mentioned but I don't think they ever get to them.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

There is the classic fantasy Xmas story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A bit more modern. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill It does have Christmasland ;-)

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

[Phil]

I read a collection called Christmas Magic edited by David Hartwell a few years ago. I recall that some of the stories were excellent.

[John (Taloni)]

Hogfather! Yeah, that was among the best of the routinely-great Discworld books.

I feel I should mention my fave indie author has an entry: Kate Danley's The Spirit of Krampus. It's short and illustrated but only 3 bucks.

[Sean]

I'll also recommend Hogfather. Death as mall-Santa alone makes the book worth reading.

[William]

Time and Again by Jack Finney comes to my mind.

Then there is the mind-blowing In The Late December by Greg Van Eekhout which you can read on Strange Horizons at http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/in...

Of course there's the classic Christmas on Ganymede by Isaac Asimov. You can read that in scanned pulpy glory at https://archive.org/stream/Startling_...

As the snow falls I am also reminded of the gentle fall of snow in A Deepness in the Sky... though I think that was nitrogen snow. Still, it makes me feel cozy on a winter's night.

[John (Taloni)]

Haaa, Christmas on Ganymede was pretty good! Thanks for the referral. It was cheesy but fun. I enjoyed it. A human reveals the story of Santa to locals on Ganymede, and they want a visit or else they strike, ending the cushy jobs the humans have there. It involves some actual science in the form of low-gravity navigation but really a whole lot of hand waving. Hey, it's a Santa story.

The story has to be taken in historical context. First it uses a trope already a little out of date for publication in the 1940s, which is that other bodies in the Solar System have abundant life and some intelligent locals. Then those locals are a little too close to the actual exploitation of natives during the colonial era. Read the story for the fun it brings and perhaps use the historical context as a lesson in that day's attitudes.

[Molly]

Not a specific holiday, but Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy is wonderfully wintery. Reading about the Russian winter makes me glad I'm curled up warm in bed!

[Iain]

Assassin's Apprenticewith all its Christ analogies (he is ‘reborn’ in a stable for crying out loud).. :-)