Review – A Very Scalzi Christmas

From Goodreads: Deck the halls with boughs of holly! ’Tis the season…for Santa’s lawyer to talk about the legal status of the workshop elves, for Christmas to arrive in an unexpected month, and for the innkeeper at the nativity to spill the beans about what really went down on that one night in Bethlehem.

It’s not just Christmas. It’s A Very Scalzi Christmas.

New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi gift-wraps fifteen short takes on the holiday season—interviews with holiday notables, “informational” articles about TV specials and Christmas carols, short stories and poems, and even a couple of nods to Thanksgiving and New Year’s—and puts them all into a stocking stuffer-sized package that makes the perfect gift for friends, family, or yourself.

With stories both funny and touching, A Very Scalzi Christmas also features three new stories exclusive to this collection: “Christmas in July,” “Jangle the Elf Grants Wishes” and “Resolutions For the New Year.”

A wonderful collection for the most wonderful time of the year.

I am a huge fan of Scalzi’s novels but his short fiction can sometimes be some of his best! I loved the last collection of short fiction I read and so did Netflix making three of them into cartoons as part Love, Death and Robots series. Now he is back with a fun and festive collection.

It contains the expected out of the box thinking with his interviews series. It gives us insight into Santa’s legal issues, the reindeer training regime (as long as you don’t mention Rudolf), what really happened in Bethlehem and just how Festive mascots make their mark. Every single one of these interviews had me laughing out loud. They were filled with the usual observational wit that I associate with Scalzi.

Another particular favourite was Christmas in July which was just a perfect little military Sci-Fi story that fully incorporated Christmas. To me it very much could have happened in the world of “The president’s brain is missing” another Scalzi short work I read earlier this year. Again just filled with wit and a sideways skew to traditional thinking that I love about reading Scalzi.

Then Scalzi did something I didn’t think one of his books would make me do. He made me cry. Sarah’s Sister is a beautiful and heartwarming story with just a pinch of magic that I am sure will have any big sister reaching for the tissues by the end.

It’s a great festive read. I also picked up the Audio (as it was cheap) and it was a full cast production so I highly recommend that too!