Christmas Inn

by Gene Wolfe, James Hannah (Illustrator)

A Special Publication for Postscripts Subscribers. Chapbook Number One.

Four adults and one child show up at the otherwise vacant Christmas Inn in a mysterious black SUV.

Limited edition of 200 trade paperback copies. A signed hardcover edition was sent to all subscribers to the hardcover edition of "Postscripts" magazine with their Winter 2005/2006 issue. An additional 200 signed hardcovers were offered for sale.

Genres: Short Stories

28 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

Gene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.

The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.

While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe

Reviews

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chapbook by Wolfe that tries to tell a lot in a little space. In the beginning, it's hard to see where the voice is coming from, as Wolfe jumps around different character's points of view. There was little character development, and he doesn't state who the character is that is narrating the story, until you are halfway through that section. So, I found it confusing. But, after you get through that, you end up getting a pretty neat story.

The story is about the snowed in "Christmas Inn." It's slow this year, but the owners family is visited by an unusual set of guests, who grant them all a couple of gifts (that are bad and good), and then offer them a choice of what they want to do about it. There's also the mystery of who these mysterious guests are? It's a good little story, but one that needs a reread, to fully understand it better.

[Michael Frasca · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems that Wolfe can take story and, like a Jenga tower, remove pieces one by one until the tower is still standing, but with only a ghost of the entire tale remaining. A 100 page novella becomes a 28 page short story. It is up to the reader to fill in all the empty space, and each time the story is read the result is just a little bit different.

We have the Christmas Inn, its owners and staff, a snow storm, and four--or perhaps five?--very strange guests. Who, or what, are are these unusual...people? Why have they come to the inn? What choice will June make?

And which version of the story did the author wish you to see?

"What do you think? Gene Wolfe answers.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this limited edition Gene Wolfe chapbook to read because, while the story is included in the British variant edition of The Very Best of Gene Wolfe, it's not included in the American edition of The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction that I already bought. I saved it to read at Christmastime. since that seemed appropriate. I very much enjoyed reading it, discussing it with my friends, and figuring out its literary puzzles. The short story is something of a crossover between his short story "The Tree Is My Hat" and his novel An Evil Guest. It's definitely worth tracking down if you're a Gene Wolfe fan!