{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6491", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 6491, "subject": "Christmas sf/f? (Craig Brewer)", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "2013-12-20T03:39:11+00:00", "last": "2013-12-20T16:57:53+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Michael Conrad", "address": "mickjeco at gmail.com" }, "date": "2013-12-20T03:39:11+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Christmas sf/f? (Craig Brewer)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\"Can anyone recommend good sf/f about Christmas, barring Wolfe stories?\n(Those I know.) I see a few collections online, but they look bland. You\nguys have better taste than Google, so I'd rather listen to your advice.\"\n\nI like Gene's stories a lot (just reading through \"No Planets Strike\" and\n\"And When They Appear\" for a project - as usual with Gene, you find more\nand more layers with each reading, and researching the odd and unfamiliar\nwords and references reveal whole new levels of meaning - lots of stuff I\ndidn't notice on first reading!)\n\nFor non-Lucan Christmas stories, I would recommend:\n\n\"Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus\" by Frederick Pohl - both a sweet love story\nand a view of the increasingly corporate nature of Christmas.\n\n\"Nackles\" by Donald Westlake - a modern view of the dark companions of St.\nNicholas in European folklore like Krampus and Knecht Ruprecht (who also\nmakes an appearance in \"And When They Appear\")\n\n\"Into Egypt\" by Stephen Vincent Benet - a Nazi officer makes a surprising\ndiscovery among the hordes of displaced Jews relocated to the death camps.\n\n\"Bless me Father For I Have Sinned\" by Ray Bradbury - A priest on Christmas\nEve receives and makes a confession on the great sin of his life - an\nincident that Bradbury himself has noted as autobiographical.\n\n\"The Fellowship of the Ring\" by J.R.R. Tolkien - well, the Fellowship left\nRivendale on Christmas Day! (Tolkien wrote an annual letter to his\nchildren, by the way allegedly from Father Christmas, that grew more and\nmore involved each year, and were charming. My kids loved reading them\nevery Christmas. They're collected as \"Letters From Father Christmas.\"\n\n\"The Selfish Giant\" by Oscar Wilde - a beautiful story for children and\nadults." } ] }, { "message_id": "<1387558673.16213.YahooMailNeo@web162806.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>", "from": { "name": "Craig Brewer", "address": "cnbrewer at yahoo.com" }, "date": "2013-12-20T16:57:53+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Christmas sf/f? (Craig Brewer)", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Awesome! Thank you! I've read a couple of these, but the others sound wonderful.\n\nAnd thanks to Dan'l for the Willis recommendation. I remember now having heard about that, but I'd completely forgotten. Now I have presents for myself!\n\nCraig\n \n\n________________________________\n From: Michael Conrad \nTo: urth at urth.net \nSent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 8:39 PM\nSubject: (urth) Christmas sf/f? (Craig Brewer)\n \n\n\n\"Can anyone recommend good sf/f about Christmas, barring Wolfe stories? (Those I know.) I see a few collections online, but they look bland. You guys have better taste than Google, so I'd rather listen to your advice.\"\n\n\nI like Gene's stories a lot (just reading through \"No Planets Strike\" and \"And When They Appear\" for a project - as usual with Gene, you find more and more layers with each reading, and researching the odd and unfamiliar words and references reveal whole new levels of meaning - lots of stuff I didn't notice on first reading!) \n\nFor non-Lucan Christmas stories, I would recommend:\n\n\"Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus\" by Frederick Pohl - both a sweet love story and a view of the increasingly corporate nature of Christmas. \n\n\"Nackles\" by Donald Westlake - a modern view of the dark companions of St. Nicholas in European folklore like Krampus and Knecht Ruprecht (who also makes an appearance in \"And When They Appear\")? \n\n\"Into Egypt\" by Stephen Vincent Benet - a Nazi officer makes a surprising discovery among the hordes of displaced Jews relocated to the death camps. \n\n\"Bless me Father For I Have Sinned\" by Ray Bradbury - A priest on Christmas Eve receives and makes a confession on the great sin of his life - an incident that Bradbury himself has noted as autobiographical. \n\n\"The Fellowship of the Ring\" by J.R.R. Tolkien - well, the Fellowship left Rivendale on Christmas Day! (Tolkien wrote an annual letter to his children, by the way allegedly from Father Christmas, that grew more and more involved each year, and were charming. My kids loved reading them every Christmas. They're collected as \"Letters From Father Christmas.\" \n\n\"The Selfish Giant\" by Oscar Wilde - a beautiful story for children and adults." } ] } ] }