Life on Florida’s West Coast

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

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Just this morning I finished reading a collection of Christmas short stories by one of my favorite authors, Connie Willis. This book, Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, has me invigorated. I read a lot. I read often. Lately, though, I have not felt inspired or excited by what I am reading. Willis never fails to get my blood moving and my mind thinking. She is the fiction author that whips me into gear the same way Griel Marcus does in his non-fiction works.

Willis is primarily a Science Fiction Author, but I would never lump her into the pulp category. She is not hardcore space and science tech. She is subtle and intellectual and sly. She taps into human emotions in a way other authors cannot or will not.

If you have read Doomsday Book or To Say Nothing of the Dog or even Bellwether, and you have been sucked in by the sheer humanity she weaves into her off-kilter realities, you HAVE to read this Christmas collection. In fact, even if you consider yourself someone who is not a reader of Science Fiction, you still need to read this collection. If you just plain love Christmas, you will find a kindred spirit in Willis.

It should come as no surprise that I discovered Willis due to my love of time travel fiction. I bought a copy of Doomsday Book and about halfway through, I traveled to NYC and left it there by mistake. When I got home, I ordered another copy. While I was waiting for it to arrive, I realized there was a copy in the boxes of books my ex-husband had left behind. It was a book that was determined to be read. It only took three copies coming into my hands. :) I ended up giving my extra copy to a professor I had over the summer for a class I took for my graduate degree.

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