Piotr Gociek – Polish journalist, columnist and author – in his introduction to Fantastic Christmas Eve Stories, talks about how rarely in recent years translations of short forms have appeared on the Polish market, which on the one hand represent fantasy and on the other take place in a festive atmosphere (thus justifying the sensibility of publishing Fantastic Stories …). I will not hide the fact that the journalist’s words forced me to lightly reflect, which concluded that I probably never read such a story myself. It was a bit shocking, because every year I read publications around Christmas. At the same time, it boosted my interest in the anthology I was holding, because it unexpectedly turned out to be something completely new for me and so far unfathomable.
It’s over!
Oddly, starting my opinion with the end of the book, I will tell you that the last pages contain a fantastic thing. Gociek decided to create mini biographies of each of the authors whose texts he chose for the book, along with explanations of the broader context of each of the works. I am writing to you so that you absolutely do not forget to read these justifications, because it may turn out (as it was in my case) that they will change your view of the entire anthology. These biographies provided me with a lot of interesting information about the writers, and also allowed me to better understand both the content that I read and Piotr Goćek’s motivation to choose specific texts, and not other ones. And, believe me, the scale of diversity is very wide here!
Aliens, strange children, Christmas newspapers and feather cutting
The book contains as many as thirteen texts by various authors. The authors include both Poles (Sędzikowska, Kochański, Orbitowski, Oramus, Gociek) and foreign writers (Willis, Haldeman, Rucker, Gerrold, Card, Reed, Rusch, Kagan). Summarizing all of them does not make sense in my opinion, because I would take a lot of pleasure from reading them, but I will mention a few words about those that I liked the most.
The Gazette that opens the book is, on the one hand, a funny and, on the other hand, a slightly scary story about how aliens could take over the entire planet virtually unnoticed and bring (seemingly) a lot of good with their actions. This story is read with full commitment and a slight smile under his breath. At the same time, it raises doubts in us, or maybe there is something in it …? After reading it, the warning lamp remained in my head and I was more sensitive to unusual phenomena.
Under Krzysztof Kochański’s Christmas tree is a rather disturbing vision in which the beloved Santa Claus becomes a huge threat, and the symbolic Christmas tree – a fantastic defensive shield. I especially liked the fact that despite the obvious change in the creation of the character of Santa Claus, he was not created in the image of the Austrian-Bavarian Krampus, but had its scary and menacing character. So far I have not read anything from Kochański’s pen. Thanks to this text, I know that it is worth giving his creativity a chance.
My private “top 3” ends with the last story in the collection, the Nutcracker Master’s Move, which is the story of a revolution on an alien planet. The world depicted in this text is extremely vivid, and the characters you want to know even more about, so after reading it, you start to wonder why it was just a story and where to apply for a “full-length” book. The heroes use the Nutcracker to fight the power, and eventually laughter as well, which gives the story (despite the heavy topic of human rights) a slightly lighter overtone.
Very tasty, but not for everyone
Each of the texts in this anthology is different. Gociek perfectly juxtaposed both the heavier and lighter stories – so that the reader would not be tired, but also would not switch too quickly to everyday matters after the end of the reading. He thinks about these stories and wants to get to know the authors better. These are not typical warm and family texts about Christmas bustle, so if you are looking for something like that – it’s not here. Political and religious threads, adoption, suicide, and all this additionally filtered through the prism of fantasy. It is not an easy read, but it is definitely rewarding and reminding people what they love fantasy for and how much it has to offer.
