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HOME FOR CHRISTMAS:
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, by Andrew M. Greeley. TOR FORGE (www.tor-forge.com), 2009, 192 pp., $14.99. ISBN 978-0-7653-2250-0
I’m Catholic. We tend to have a lot of guilt, so I’m not sure if I’m supposed to feel guilty because I just read a book by Andrew Greeley, or because I never did.
Years ago, I tried reading one of Fr. Greeley’s books that dealt with priests and the priesthood, but I just couldn’t get into it. So why THIS book?
Well, by now you probably realize, I love Christmas books. Who can resist a book with a title, HOME FOR CHRISTMAS and a picture of a door bedecked with a beautiful Christmas wreath? Not yours truly.
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is the story of Petey Pat Kane and Marianna Pia Pellegrino, friends from the first grade on, who grow up seemingly destined to be together forever. But tragedy strikes in senior high and they go their separate ways. Years later, Petey Pat, now Captain Kane, is injured while serving in Iraq. A near-death experience and a trip home force the two to confront their past and the uncertainties of the future.
Will these two reunite? And what will the consequences be? You have to read HOME to find out.
While only 192 pages, HOME wasn’t a “fluffy” read, but an interesting, somewhat complex story in the true spirit of Christmas season.

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CYBERABAD DAYS, by Ian McDonald. Pyr/Prometheus (www.prometheusbooks.com), 2009, 279 pp., $15.00. ISBN 978-1-59102-699-0
Seven stories in CYBERABAD DAYS are set in the year 2047 in India, including a Hugo Award winner and nominee.
THE THIRD SIGN, by Gregory A. Wilson. Five Star/Gale Cengage Learning (www.gale.cengage.com), 2009, 351 pp., $25.95. ISBN 978-1-59414-765-4
Calen Gollnet, resident of the country of Klune, watches as his world goes to war, as the peace made by the king and the arlics has become tenuous at best. But the armies are the least of his concern, as the Soul Wall appears. Prophecies are coming true - and what will the latest portend?
BY BLOOD WE LIVE, ed. by John Joseph Adams. Night Shade Books (www.nightshadebooks.com), 2009, 485 pp., $15.95. ISBN 978-1-59780-156-0
There is a strange craving for these types of stories, felt by mostly teenage girls suddenly feeling the throngs of post-puberty. And there are plenty of authors to accommodate this strangeness, indeed.
TWO EXCELLENT TACHYON ANTHOLOGIES:
THE SECRET HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION, ed. by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. Tachyon (www.tachyonpublications.com), 2009, 381 pp., $14.95. ISBN 978-1-892391-93-3
I remember reading most of these SF classics when they were first published, with seminal work by Thomas M. Disch, Ursula K. LeGuin, Lucius Shepard, Connie Willis, Gene Wolfe, James Patrick Kelly, and many others.
Also:
THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, 60th Anniversary Anthology, ed. by Gordon Van Gelder. Tachyon (www.tachyonpublications.com), 2009, 475 pp., $15.95. ISBN 978-1-892391-91-9
Many of these I read collected in other anthologies, and some I read in the magazine itself. (I have subscribed to F&SF regularly from 1977-2007, and off and on since 2008.) Included are works by Ray Bradbury, Alfred Bester, Theodore Sturgeon, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, Damon Knight, Ursula K. LeGuin, Neil Gaiman, Ted Chiang, and others).
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A Sample Of Our Upcoming Reviews...
GASLIGHT GROTESQUE Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes, ed. by J.R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec. Edge (www.edgewebsite.com), 2009, 311 pp., $16.95. ISBN 978-1-894063-31-9
TESSERACTS THIRTEEN ed. by Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell. Edge (www.edgewebsite.com), 2009, 317 pp., $16.95. ISBN 978-1-894063-25-8
THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR Vol. 1, ed. by Ellen Datlow. Night Shade Books (www.nightshadebooks.com), 2009, 321 pp., $15.95. ISBN 978-1-59780-161-4
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