A silk hat turns snow into life and a chance at love for a man with little hope of either. Two men with a connection sparked in passing attempt to withstand everything the tumultuous Toronto of 1981 throws their way, with their only remaining hope being Christmas Eve itself. A much-maligned queen of the snow teaches a young boy how to use his magic to find others of his kind. And a reindeer shines a light of its own, and with the help of the daughter of Father Time, brings gifts—and hope—to all those usually left behind.
Holiday magic connects these tales and more—tales heard and seen and sung before, familiar and joyous, or tender and bittersweet—all to the last told upon the midnight queer.
Comment: December arrived, it's already more than half way and the TBR Challenge is dedicated to the theme "celebration". I planned right away to choose something Christmas oriented, as it has been the usual choice for the past years, and decided to go with an anthology I saw being recommended last year, which I've saved specifically for this prompt. I think it suits for it's not only related to Christmas celebrations, but it is, on itself, a celebration of queer characters.
I will say I liked all the stories for what they aimed for. All are meant to "teach a lesson" and all have inclusion somehow, but I will be very honest and say the majority has this weirdly depressing vibe whoch affected my perspective of them. I mean, I can see why some content would not lead to a funny atmosphere, considering the emotions the characters show us, but it has been quite a trend in some Christmas stories that they don't feel happy or don't give away those vibes for the most part. This has happened to me in regards to several Christmas set books I have read (usually for this challenge) and in this book too. Of all the stories, the only one I could feel stronger emotions than sadness was the last.
The majority of the stories feature settings/characters based on fairy tales or other Christmas themed stories, for instance there is a story based on Jack Frost, another based on the Nutcracker... ad all these stories have this magical/whimsical vibe, in the sense that some kind of special situation/element is related to the characters and their lives. The stories focus on queer characters who might be rewritten by the author as such or they interact with the most known characters in a secondary role. In some stories, I could see the inspiration right away, in others not so much.
All stories have a goal, which is to showcase how unfair and punishing it is to be queer in (often) conservative situations/communities and how that affected those who were treated differently. In this regard, I can see how the tone suited the situations depicted, but since the stories are short, the author didn't really waste time setting up secondary scenarios and this meant that, to me, or the characters don't feel as fleshed out or the development seemed rushed. A frequent issue one finds in short stories, of course.
All those whimsical tales were more a slice of life, a little story with a lesson to teach and not exactly a full plotted possibility. Those are the stories which are certainly based on the original work and we can definitely see the source. Well, mostly, for there were two or three stories I could not fully place. I liked these stories but yes, some weren't as enjoyable apart from what they aimed to be. They were a bit too sad or had sad situations which, for me, took over the seasonal happy setting.
The last two stories were different, one is set in 1981 and the other at a later, more recently close date. The 1981 one also has a certain sad tone for it references the terrible era where AIDS was causing so much death among the LGBT community. But it's still a story of hope, with missed opportunities between two men who always seem to meet at the wrong time, until they finally have the chance. I liked this one in general.
The last story was the one that appealed the most to my personal preferences. It's a contemporary setting featuring a lonely man who is taking care and raising his nephew and nieces, although he has the help of a neighbor he likes but who seems indifferent to him. I liked many things about this one and probably could even be developed into a full length plot too. To me it was the one where the holiday season really felt like a happy occasion and I also think it was a perfect way to finish the book.
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