By turns subtly humorous, heartwarming, iconoclastic, mildly alarming, and lots of fun, A VERY SCALZI CHRISTMAS collects fifteen essays, poetry, and short stories bound to elicit both chuckles and warmed hearts (while gently mocking modern commercialism and marketing). This was my second reading of this author after THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY early in the year (I adored!) and I am definitely convinced he inhabits a very special category all his own.

“A Very Scalzi Christmas” contains a series of holiday and Christmas-related short stories and sketches, and a poem. Written in an off-beat style, each of them captures some aspect of Christmas, although not in a traditional manner. The sketches are short, taking just a few minutes to read each one. Most of the sketches are of high quality, although I skipped over a few of them.

The book features interviews with characters related to Christmas, such as the trainer of Santa’s reindeer, Santa’s lawyer, and the month of November. My absolute favorite was the interview with the innkeeper at Bethlehem, which brought forth tears of laughter. The short story “Sarah’s Sister” also brought forth sentimental tears at the poignancy of the story. While these short sketches might seem comedic and off-beat, they manage to capture both the culture of Christmas and its true meaning. Readers will find this collection to be a fun stress-reliever at this busy time of year. At the same time, the true message of Christmas comes through loud and clear.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

This was the perfect collection of stories for reading during the holidays! They ranged from silly light-hearted tales to emotional tear-jerkers. True Scalzi fans may have already read many of these stories on his blog but this signed collectors edition is a must own and fun-loving fans of Christmas will also enjoy discovering Scalzi for the first time!

John Scalzi is a very funny author, and I'm SO glad that I got to giggle at all the funny stories in this book of Christmas absurdity. I'm tempted to read his version of grace out loud next year, but I'm pretty sure that the grandparents would ban me from future gatherings....

This was both charming and hilarious and would make even the Grinch laugh out loud on his morning commute.

This is a fun collection of short stories. I like John Scalzi and was in the mood for something fun and light, so this was perfect for the a-few-days-after-the-holidays doldrums. The actual stories, as opposed to the interviews, were my favorites.

I received a free eARC from the publisher via the publisher and the formatting was not great. I hope that the formatting was better in the published version.

John Scalzi has always been good at entertaining, so it’s no surprise he managed to put out a perfect Christmas book. I found this on Netgalley a while back and saved it strategically for December 25th and it was just the thing to do. First off, because it’s so short, you can easily read in in under 90 minutes and not take too much time away from spending the time with your loved ones. Secondly, because Scalzi is a total Christmas fanboy and it comes across in every story. These brief delights are a combination of interviews with key Christmas figures such as Santa lawyer, elfs, etc. and random fiction, there’s even a poem. It’s a regular one Christmas themed variety show Of the best kind. All the stories are decidedly cheeky except for one genuinely sincere (almost jarringly so) story about a young girl finding out the meaning of Christmas. And Scalzi has always let his humorous streak show in his writing, but here it’s in proper form and it’s all very funny. Cleverly funny. Kind of reminds me of Jeff Strand, the wackiness and irreverence of the jokes, which is, of course, a compliment. So, yeah, I loved this small book, it’s a great, greatly entertaining Christmas read and (as much as I am a digital reader these days) this one in paper form would make a great gift for any book lover, not just a Scalzi fan. It even has funny art sketches to accompany some of the stories. Definitely a book to love, laugh with and appreciate this and many Christmases to come. What a very (merry) Scalzi Christmas indeed. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

It’s that time of year when everyone’s looking for some new reads to put them in the holiday spirit. If you’re looking for something lighthearted and fun, then I think this anthology will definitely fit the bill.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag, with things from lists to short stories. While this is probably overkill, I’ve gone ahead and reviewed each of the items in the anthology, along with an associated quote.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that moistening aliens was not on the agenda for any of us at this table.”


“Science Fictional Thanksgiving Grace” – ★★★★ – A tongue-in-check prayer thanking the Lord for not yet plunging us into any scifi movie plots, including alien invasions, AI overlords, and dinosaurs. Short and hilarious.

“I think that those cranberries might have fermented on you.”


“A Bitter November” – ★★★★ – November, personified, complains about December barreling in on its month. Quick and silly.

“Ayn Rand’s A Selfish Christmas (1951)”


“The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time” – ★★★ – Descriptions of various “holiday special!!” takes on various books and TV shows, from War of the Worlds to Ayn Rand to Star Trek (where Spock is mistaken as one of Santa’s elves). Interesting concept, but most of them missed the mark for me.

“Santa doesn’t judge people for their kinks, but he does expect them to pay for them.”


“An Interview with Santa’s Lawyer” – ★★★★ – Like the title says, it’s an interview with one of Santa’s lawyers, covering everything from unionized elves to how Santa gets flight clearance to his data gathering practices.

“Jingle! Jangle! Gerbils!”


“A Personal Top 10 of Things That Are Not Titles to Christmas Songs and/or Lifetime Holiday Movies and Honestly I Don’t Understand Why” – ★★★ – The title is almost longer than the list!

“That’s the thing about gifts, Major Collier. They’re not obligations. They’re a kindness.”


“Christmas in July” – ★★★★★ – The first actual short story in the collection, this was sweet, lovely and the epitome of the Christmas spirit (while also still being hilarious).

“Why not reindeer?”


“Interview with Santa’s Reindeer Wrangler” – ★★★★ – Another interview, but this one exploring all the fun bits of reindeer, including how they fly, how they’re recruited, and several very bad cheese jokes.

“Little Public Relations Intern Boy”


“8 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Favorite Holiday Music” – ★★★★ – Another list, much like the holiday specials one. Possibly because I’m much more familiar with the source material, but I found the fictional backstories of Christmas favorites – like “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “Silent Night” – absolutely hilarious.

“Jackie loved Christmas more than most girls and boys
For one simple reason: Because of the toys!”


“Jackie Jones and Melrose Mandy” – ★★ – This poem, while a nice change in format, was simply too preachy for me (there’s more to Christmas than toys!!!), and it didn’t scan well for me.

“You’ve settled on a plan of driving down Santa’s popularity, then.”


“An Interview with the Christmas Bunny” – ★★★ – Another interview! This one was… interesting to say the least.

“You can’t go around drugging people, Jangle.”


“Jangle the Elf Grants Wishes” – ★★★★ – An elf tasked with granting non-material wishes takes things a little too far. Mostly three star, but adding an extra star for the last few lines.

“They are future ninjas for Christ.”


“Script Notes on the Birth of Jesus” – ★★★★ – As if a producer was returning notes on the story of the birth of Jesus from Matthew and Luke. Irreverent and silly, but time traveling ninjas get the nod from me every time.

“It’s nice to be a baby, and know how much you’re loved.”


“Sarah’s Sister” – ★★★★ – At the hospital on Christmas Eve while her mother is in labor, ten-year-old Sarah is still ambivalent about whether she wants a baby sister. Definitely a tear jerker along the lines of It’s a Wonderful Life.

“So your baby is born, and the first thing you do is put him in an open container filled with grain and covered in oxen drool?”


“An Interview with the Nativity Innkeeper” – ★★★ – Like the title says. Irreverent and silly.

“running from murderous drones is SUPER cardio”


“Resolutions for the New Year: A Bullet Point List” – ★★★★★ – Finishing out this anthology with a bang. I found this ridiculously hilarious, but perhaps not for those who are lactose intolerant.

Overall, what do I think? Well, I already went ahead and purchased the hardcover version. While this definitely doesn’t have year-round appeal, it’s definitely a book that I can see revisiting next Christmas when I need a bit of a pick-me-up.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Over the years John Scalzi, known primarily for his best-selling science fiction work but almost as much for his snarky blog and social media presence, has written short little Christmas bits for his blog readers. Now they're collected, along with a few new ones, and everyond can see what his blog readers already knew:

John Scalzi is seriously messed up. In a good way.

There are interviews with Santa's lawyer, the Christmas Bunny (it's a franchise, it gets complicated), and the innkeeper who rejected Mary and Joseph and stil doesn't understand why they put the baby in the animals' food trough, lists such as the 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time, some studio notes on punching up the birth of Jesus, and more whimsical ruminations on the holiday season. Plus a tear-jerking emotional story that would seem out of place here except all of his works have heart, somewhere in there. I particularly liked the interview with November, who is really tired of December creeping in sooner and sooner every year.

Scalzi writes with irreverent, silly charm and this collection of Christmas writings will make your yuletide ring, if that's something you're into.

A Very Scalzi Christmas has fifteen takes on the holidays with short stories and poems. This is a humorous and entertaining collection that is well written.

A fun collection of holiday stories. A few were hilarious and had me in stitches - a Thanksgiving prayer of gratitude, a conversation with November who is feeling crowded out by December's festivities, an interview with Santa's reindeer wrangler, and a list of "script notes" on the Birth of Jesus to "Matt and Luke."

There are only a handful of authors whose work I will go out and buy as soon as I am aware of a new published work. John Scalzi has become one of those authors for me.

If you're familiar with Scalzi you can probably already imagine that a book titled <em>A Very Scalzi Christmas</em> is going to be irreverent and sarcastic and full of humor. And you'd be right. Scalzi's wit is in full force here.

One of the main features of this collection are a series of 'interviews.' We have interviews with Santa's lawyer, Santa's reindeer wrangler, the Christmas bunny, and the Nativity innkeeper. Each of these has a moment or two that will likely make you snort with a burst of laughter.

There are some short short stories and other oddball tidbits, each usually good for a Christmas snort. Sometimes the humor is pretty apparent before you even read the piece. In "Script Notes on The Birth of Jesus" for instance, we Scalzi goes with the obvious choice of having Hollywood producers suggesting improvements on the Birth of Jesus story - from adding slapstick to the pregnancy situations, and keeping spin-offs in mind.

My favorite section was "The Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time." Scalzi is at his most creative here, I think, and even though each of these are only a couple of paragraphs long, I was in full belly-laugh mode. Of course I loved "The Lost Star Trek Christmas Episode: "A Most Illogical Holiday.""

If you're a Scalzi follower you should note that most of these pieces first appeared on his blog and have been collected for this special edition book. But of course, if you're a Scalzi follower, you probably want the book anyway.

Looking for a good book? A Very Scalzi Christmas by John Scalzi is a lot of fun and I can imagine reading these as a Christmas tradition.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

If you want a stocking-stuffer guaranteed to produce roughly an hour or two of amusement and giggles for any of your family members, this book is for you. At just 144 pages, this is a quick read that will feel even quicker because you’re just enjoying it so much. Because this is a mini book, I think it’s fitting to give it just a mini-review, so here’s what you need to know:

John Scalzi has written a lot of humorous pieces about Christmas, and here, he has decided to gather them all in one place. Interspersed between the wacky and satirical narratives are “interviews” with Christmas-related figures, including Santa’s lawyer, Santa’s reindeer wrangler, the Christmas Bunny (a franchise of the same group that owns the Easter Bunny), and the nativity innkeeper, as well as some quick lists including “The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time” and “A Personal Top 10 of Things That Are Not Titles to Christmas Songs and/or Lifetime Holiday Movies and Honestly I Don’t Understand Why.” Nothing is off-limits, and he lambastes both the religious and the commercial elements of the holiday season, creating a wickedly funny treat of a book that is just plain fun, without being too silly. Well, okay, sometimes it’s pretty silly.

“Santa doesn’t judge people for their kinks, but he does expect them to pay for them.”

As a whole, Scalzi’s writing is witty and highly readable. From absurd premises, he manages to wring both heart and humor, and it kept me emotionally engaged on every page. I do have to give him credit for including one particular tale near the end of the collection, entitled “Sarah’s Sister,” that was less about making jokes and more about love, capturing a child’s feelings of both joy and sorrow when a new sibling is about to enter their life, with a dash of a Christmas miracle.

Plus, the stories and interviews are filled with delightful lines like this one, on a certain Christmas carol:

Davis’ archives at Wellesley College feature early drafts entitled “Little Trumpet Boy,” “Little Ocarina Boy,” “Little Digeridoo Boy,” “Little Mime Boy,” “Little Public Relations Intern Boy,” “Little Gastroenterologist Boy,” and “Little Kid Who Just Wandered By and Was Confusingly Pushed Into a Barn Boy.”

Or this one, on Jesus being born in a manger:

“And then someone says, look, the animals, they are adoring the baby. And I say, adoring, hell. They’re wondering why there’s a baby in their food.”

Quick blurbs on each title, for your benefit…
Science Fictional Thanksgiving Grace – hilarious (and oddly specific) list of sci-fi horrors that we can thank God for not causing to happen this year. Definitely one of my favorites in this collection.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that moistening aliens was not on the agenda for any of us at this table. Thank you, Lord, for sparing us that duty.”

A Bitter November – the month of November personified, telling us how it really feels about December. (Hint: it’s not very happy.)

Christmas in July – when Santa shows up early, the government has to get involved. Because, you know, Christmas and national security go hand in hand.

Jackie Jones and Melrose Mandy – honestly the weakest point of this book. It’s sort of in rhyme but the meter doesn’t always work, and it’s cute I guess, but feels kind of cliche. Not too funny, but not too heartwarming either.

Jangle the Elf Grants Wishes – the elf who fulfills abstract wishes tends to forget that actions have consequences…

Script Notes on The Birth of Jesus – think of all the ways people could obnoxiously commercialize a film about the classic biblical story. Now multiply by a thousand, and then run that concept through the mind of a young marketing intern, and you get this story.

Sarah’s Sister – static electricity, babies, and miracles. Actually a really touching tale.

Resolutions for the New Year: A Bullet Point List – I love when a bunch of lists can tell a complete narrative, and in this one, Scalzi nails it. Also, dammit Chuck.

In short:
Do your loved ones a favor: get them a gift they’re sure to love (and more likely to read, since it’s pretty short!). Get them this book.

Thank you to Subterranean Press for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

John Scalzi has gathered his short fiction that is related to the Christmas season and folded, spindled, and mutilated them to fit between the covers of one book. Of course they are going to try to escape and spread the message that John Scalzi is a crazy dude! I mean Bitter November will really jazz it up with Santa's lawyer and the Christmas Bunny. A SF Thanksgiving blessing leads directly into a list of the least successful holiday specials, and things you did not know about his favorite holiday music. And then there are the stories! "Christmas in July" was interesting, "Jangle the Elf Grants Wishes" was LOL, almost RoFL worthy, while "Sarah's Sister" is definitely the story he wrote to make his mother-in-law cry. A very fun way to get in my quota of Christmas cheer that I can dip in through out the year! Read and enjoy, but remember, you have been warned!

I wish to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Small, mostly enjoyable morsels for the die hard Scalzi fan

I love John Scalzi’s writing. I have read all of his novels. I read Whatever religiously. I am eagerly awaiting the third novel in his Interdependency series and hope that he writes more in the Lock-In universe. So I am sad to say that this collection of holiday stories is basically just okay.

Now, I’ve read most of them before. Many of them are not “stories” per se, but imagined interviews with characters like Santa’s attorney or the innkeeper in Bethlehem. People have often criticized Scalzi’s work for being heavy on the dialogue and light on the description, but these pieces are all dialogue. Which is fine! Often clever, if not actually laugh-out-loud funny.

Some of them are actual stories. Those vary in quality. Like a box of chocolates, you shouldn’t devour them all at once - if you do, their similarities will make them all less enjoyable.

Most of the stories are fine, with the exception of “Sarah’s Sister”, which was downright unpleasant and painful to read. The author really should have gotten himself a perinatal bereavement sensitivity reader. SPOILER ALERT: magically resurrecting a stillborn child with static electricity on Christmas morning isn’t a good look, and every character in the story’s reactions were completely unrealistic. I expect better from John Scalzi, especially considering his family’s own history of miscarriages as he wrote about on his blog.

Aside from that story, no other duds, thankfully. But this collection is only for the most devout Scalzi completionists.

This book was funny and heart-warming and a great start to the holiday season! It was so adorable and fun. I loved it so much. I laughed and I cried!

A Very Scalzi Christmas is a collection of holiday-themed short stories, interviews, and poems. From the comical interview with the Christmas Bunny to the heart-warming story about a Christmas Eve baby, this book is such a fun addition to the holiday repertoire of yearly fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end! (Also the audiobook is amazing!)

A fun and festive celebration of the holidays through a series of short form stories and other articles. Something for everybody in this collection.

A Very Scalzi Christmas is a collection of 15 short pieces by John Scalzi. Due out 30th Nov 2019 from Subterranean Press, it's 144 pages and will be available in a signed limited hardback format. According to the author's website, there -will- be ebook and audio versions for sale at some point.

This is a mixed box. There are 3 short stories, a number of conversational blog type entries (some collected here from his online blog or other outlet), some freeform commentary, a couple of 'interviews' with important seasonal people (Santa's reindeed wrangler, and lawyer, specifically), and assorted other pieces. The book is pure Scalzi: snarky, humorous, surprising, poignant.

This would be an excellent selection for Scalzi fans. I personally am a fan of Scalzi's work, and more than half the book left me satisfied and entertained. What I enjoyed almost as much as the written content was the wonderful artwork by Natalie Metzger. She has a clean and whimsically wonky style which suits the writing very well. It reminds me a little bit of Rick Geary in some ways. Anyhow, it really works in the context of this book.

Four stars; an entertaining short read with lots of illustrations.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book is positively delightful! As a long time fan of Scalzi, I knew it would be charming but this little themed work is just next-level fun. Every chapter is stand alone and entirely different - poems, short stories, interviews with the reindeer manager - but they are all chock full of satire and playful twists on classic Christmas themes. I'm not even Christian and it brought a smile my face. Thanks for giving me a little holiday cheer!

Thank you for the opportunity to review A Very Scalzi Christmas, by John Scalzi. Honestly, I knew going in that I was going to love this one. I've read nearly the entirety of Scalzi's catalog, and eagerly await more. Something about his style and humor resonates with me, and I always enjoy his work. AVSC is no different. Scalzi takes on the holiday season... what more could I want? Short snippets, easily digestible in moments stolen from other tasks (or while hiding from Aunt Edna during family gatherings!). It's exactly what I wanted to read this week. :-)