Christmas Stuff

So, the kids got you up early and the presents have all been opened, what do you do now? Well, if you have a copy of the anthology WORLDS OF WEIRD (the cover of the 1965 edition is to the left; there's a reprint from 1978 that has Margaret Brundage's famous "batwoman" painting on the cover), you can read Seabury Quinn's story "Roads", which is probably my favorite Christmas short story of all time. Quinn is best known for a long series of occult thrillers published in WEIRD TALES starring the insufferable little Frenchman Jules de Grandin. (The de Grandin stories are often maligned these days, but not by me. I like 'em.) Anyway, "Roads" is a classic and probably Quinn's best work. My friend Kurt Shoemaker recommended it to me several years ago, and I've read it several times since. It's the sort of Christmas story that will put a big grin on your face.

We had our family get-together yesterday at my in-laws' house, with lots of family and food and presents, and a fine time was had by all. Today Livia and the girls and I had Christmas morning at home, and of course I have to report on all the good loot I got: an excellent assortment of clothes, a couple of CDs (old Tijuana Brass albums I first bought on vinyl forty years ago -- these will be great music to write by), DVDs of the Roy Rogers TV show and a couple of old movies, David Morrell's recent novel CREEPERS, Gerard Jones's book about the early days of the comic book industry MEN OF TOMORROW, a stack of graphic novels, a pedometer (I've always wanted one of these, and I'm walking for exercise a lot these days), a Far Side wall calender (I keep track of how many pages I've written on these), and a Get Fuzzy desk calender (which will sit right beside my computer -- many's the day my work is jump-started by laughing at Bucky and Satchell's antics).

And of course, another year with Livia, Shayna, and Joanna, the best present of all.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and very best wishes for the New Year.