John SilbersackReseñas

I read this a few years ago and so cannot recall much about it except that the interest lay in the fact that it contained an early story by Pat Cadigan, one by Connie Willis and an interview with Elizabeth A Lynn.

I don't read anthologies very often but a friend gave this to me because it has a Christopher Stasheff story in it I hadn't read. Like most anthologies, it is a mixed bag, but the majority are quite pleasant reads, all related to Christmas in some form. The only sour note was Gael Baudino's "Tidings of Comfort and Joy", which had a lame story and one-dimensional characters. But the rest were charming. I think my favorite might have been "I Sing of a Maiden" by Judith Tarr, but then I always was a sucker for time travel, however subtle. If you can overlook (or skip) Baudino's story, it's a good book for reading by the fireplace.

I don't remember much about this book of short stories but with writers like Piers Anthony, Jack Dann, Tom Disch, and others it's probably good. The back cover says ' This may be the most controversial collection you will read this year. ...[W]e offer the most ambitious of the new fiction that will define the direction of science fiction and fantasy for the 1980s. No easy reads. No fillers. No stale voices from the past. Just good sharp fiction aimed at the heart and sometimes at the jugular."