A Fantastic Holiday Season

by Kevin J. Anderson (Editor/Introduction/Contributor), Kim Antieau, Dean Wesley Smith

Grandma gives a sweater she knitted, Dad receives a necktie he doesn't really like, the kids get toys that make a variety of noises, most of them loud, all of them annoying.

What do writers give for the holiday season? They give the gift of stories that take the reader away to fantastical times or places, tales that can be blood-curdling or heart-warming, adventures that capture the heart of the season.

Fantastic Holiday Stories by

Kevin J. Anderson * Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rebecca Moesta * David Farland * Larry Correia
Nina Kiriki Hoffman * Dean Wesley Smith
Debra Gray De Noux & O'Neil De Noux
Jerry Oltion * Kathy Oltion * Kent Patterson
Ray Vukcevich * Kim Antieau

Cover art by Myles Pinkney

Genres: Christmas, Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Holiday, Fiction, Science Fiction

237 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2013

About the author

Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.

I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.

I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.

My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.

Reviews

[Julia Sarene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by far my favourite Christmas Fantasy anthology so far!
Almost all stories were 4 or 5 star reads for me, and I really enjoyed them.
I'll definitely look up some of the authors and see what else they have written! I don't think I have more than one or two in my shelves yet.
They were quite a divers set of topics and tones, from serious to silly and and from fantasy to dystopia and even sci-fi.

I breezed through this one in one afternoon!

(Sole exception was the one by Larry Correia, which I wouldn't even give 1* for if possible. That one I hardly made it through even skim reading.)

[Susan]

This book listed Nina Kiriki Hoffman on the table of contents: of COURSE I had to buy it. Short stories in e-book format? Perfect for NOOK, though I also now have a KINDLE, too...

I was *delighted* to see Kent Patterson's "Wereyam" re-printed here (I have the F&SF it was originally published in, I also have One Evening a Year, which re-printed it... but now it's available electronically!)
♦ The Wereyam by Kent Patterson re-read 11/26/2001 re-read 7/7/2014 re-read 5/6/2015

"Jukebox Gifts" by Dean Wesley Smith -- wow. just ... WOW re-read 7/8/2014

"These Halls" by Kathy Oltion read 7/9/2014

"My Favorite Christmas" by Dave Farland (friend of the late Ardath Mayhar!) read 7/10/2014

"The Christmas Noun" by Larry Correia -- smirk read 7/11/2014

"LaZelle Family Christmas" had to be re-read... 7/21/2014

A Christmas Caroler by Kim Antieau
Santa Claus is Coming to Get You! by Kevin J. Anderson

♥ "Foreign Exchange" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman 2/15/2015
Nutball Season by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
One Last Gift by Jerry Oltion
Popcorn for Christmas by Debra Gray De Noux and O'Neil De Noux
Christopher's Crummy Christmas by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Dead Snow by Kent Patterson
Inquiring Minds Want to Snow by Kevin J. Anderson
The Jolly Old Boyfriend by Jerry Oltion
Cold Comfort by Ray Vukcevich
The Ghost of Christmas Always by Kevin J. Anderson

[Steven]

Truly enjoyable Christmas/Yuletide collection of stories, only one of which was truly depressing and morose. My favorites among them were by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Kevin Anderson. If you want some Yuletide magic to read, this is a great book to pick up!

[Basbousa Shrief · Rating 5 out of 5]

woooooooooooooooooooooooow

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Christmas Caroler - Kim Antieau: 4 stars. ghost story.
Jukebox Gifts - Dean Wesley Smith: 4 stars
Santa Claus is Coming to Get You - Kevin J. Anderson: 3 stars horror
Foreign Exchange - Nina Kiriki Hoffman: 3 stars
The Wereyam - Kent Patterson: 2 stars horror
Nutball Season - Kristine Katherine Rusch: 4 stars.
These Halls - Kathy Oltion: 3 stars
My Favorite Christmas - David Farland: 4 stars
One Last Gift - Jerry Oltion: 4 stars
Popcorn for Christms - Debra Gray De Noux & O'Neil De Noux: 4 stars
Christopher's Crummy Christmas - Kristine Katherine Rusch: 4 stars
Dead Snow - Kent Patterson: 3 stars
Inquiring Minds Want to Snow - Rebecca Moesta: 4 stars
The Jolly Old Boyfriend - Jerry Oltion: 4 stars
Cold Comfort - Ray Vukcevich: 3 stars
LaZelle Family Christmas - Nina Kiriki Hoffman: 4 stars
The Christmas Noun - Larry Corria: 3 stars
The Ghost of Christmas Always - Kevin J. Anderson: 5 stars

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough

This collection of stories, all with Christmas as the theme, range from good to so-so. While I'm not going to read it again, this was fine just to pass some time.

[Carrie Ives · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked some of the stories and thought others were only ok. I picked it up for the Patricia Briggs story and quite enjoyed hearing how Asil's set up date went.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - good

This first volume of A Fantastic Holiday Season was not nearly as good for me as the second one was. You can read my review of that second volume here, if you would like. So many of the stories in this first volume felt unfinished, or were simply just confusing. This resulted in my feeling rather disappointed by this book.

The best stories for me were the two by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: "Foreign Exhange" was fun and "LaZelle Family Christmas" just really wowed me. :-)

Also pretty neat were "Jukebox Gifts" by Dean Wesley Smith and "The Christmas Noun" by Larry Correia, which made me laugh. :-)

Special mention should also be made of "Inquiring Minds Want to Snow" by Rebecca Moesta. I didn't quite understand the reporter in the story, but seeing as how it was told in rhyming verse, it sure was fun to read!

My least favorite stories are, probably, two of the three written by the Oltions. Kathy Oltion's "These Halls" and Jerry Oltion's "One Last Gift" both numbered among those stories that left me confused or feeling let-down. Thankfully, JO's second story, "The Jolly Old Boyfriend," was the best of the three. It was sort-of good, if a wee bit confusing.

A few words on the book as a whole, most of the stories were error-free in this first volume, but the editing was not perfect on every story, though I did not make notes on mistakes. The one mistake, though, that I do not understand, that drove me nuts, and that I really just despise is that Jerry Oltion's "One Last Gift" was mislabeled as being "Popcorn for Christmas" at the top of the page, where the story's title was printed. So when I came to the next story, which was also/again "Popcorn for Christmas," I was all, "Wait, what?"

So that explained one reason for why "One Last Gift" was confusing for me. While reading it, though it was short (and properly titled on its first page), I was all, "why is this story called 'Popcorn for Christmas'?"

In sum, this book was mostly disappointing for me, despite the few gems I read in it. So I am going to give it just 3.5-good stars. (I was thinking three stars would be a good rating for it, but those few gems inspired me to up my rating to the 3.5-good level.) While I may someday buy volume #2 for rereading purposes, I think this first volume will be best if I can just forget about it. The few gems were too few and really just bogged down by the duds.

Am I glad I read this book? Yes, because I love short story collections and this was a rather fun one. Am I disappointed that I didn't just leave it at having read book two? Also, yes. All of the gems-for-me were originally published elsewhere, so, with one exception, I could probably have read the other collections and been more satisfied. The one exception is Larry Correia's "The Christmas Noun," which was written for and first published in this book. So I guess I am happy to have read this first volume of A Fantastic Holiday Season stories.

;-)

[Linda Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am someone who cannot get too much Christmas, so I loved this collection. I also loved the origin of the book. Years ago, a group of struggling young authors would get together to celebrate the holiday with lasagna and one dollar gifts. But the best part of the gathering is that each one would share a never published original Christmas story with the group. These stories only share the holiday theme in common. Some are funny, some heartwarming and some are definitely tales of horror. As is my custom, I limited myself to one or two stories a night in order to make the book last longer. I suspect that it will be pulled out again on another Christmas. Because reruns are part of the season.

And yes, I did return to read this book again. Still as enjoyable as it was the first time around. We shall meet again in a few years.

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are pretty good. This is not just put A holiday in it and people will buy it stories. But not something i will want to return to either.

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few awesome stories. All holiday stories. A couple were great, a few were a little boring. There was one called Christmas Noun that was great and so was Wereyam. Nice collection.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another short story book I read and enjoyed and want to re-read in order to evaluate/review each author...

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed most of the stories. There were a few in the book that I didn't enjoy, but overall the stories reflected the season and were well-written.