Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year. Strange Horizons, an online sf zine, is running this techno-thriller Santa Claus in the age of casual militarization:
“Am I dying?” she asks.
Santa says nothing.
“Yes,” I say. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No,” she says. “But maybe Santa can.”
“What can I do?” he asks.
“When I was a little girl,” she says, “I sent you a letter and asked for world peace.”
“I used to get a lot of those,” he says. “Not so much anymore. Most kids want Playstations.”
“I don’t,” she says. “I want world peace.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to go along with what everyone else wants,” Santa says. “That’s the price of freedom. You kids don’t get it, but maybe this war will change that. Had everything handed to you. You’ve got to fight or you get soft.”
(For a fantastic and creepy take on Santa Claus, check out The Claus Effect, a novel by my pals Karl “Permanence” Schroeder and Dave “Edgar Award” Nickle)
(Thanks, Susan!)