7 Holiday-Themed SFF to Help You Celebrate

On a freezing Christmas Eve in 1879, Alexandrina Victoria Pendlebury, a forensic psychic reader is summoned from her Baker Street lodgings to the scene of a very curious death. It's been ruled a suicide, but she's convinced it was actually a murder involving magic and that there are going to be more deaths. 

Turning to her allies, including her caddish cousin James and the handsome Lieutenant Brooks, Alex will have to use all of her abilities—magical and mental—to save Queen and Country. The bodies are piling up, and the only thing standing between justice and chaos is Alex.

’Tis the Season for a whole sack of festive, magic, and slightly macabre tales too bring even more sparkle and mischief to the holiday season. Kevin J. Anderson edits and contributes to this collection, which includes stories by Jonathan Maberry, Mercedes Lackey, Patricia Briggs, and Heather Graham. Expect gingerbread houses, space-age festivities, and more than a few nightmares before Christmas!

In Discworld, things are different but familiar. On December 32nd, the Hogfather brings presents to children, but this year, the celestial bureaucrats at the Auditors of Reality have ordered that he be assassinated. The ruthless Mr. Teatime is given the task and destroys his through the power of the children of Discworld, commanding them to no longer believe in the Hogfather. 

But the Hogfather is also responsible for the sun rising, and without him, chaos will fall across Discworld. So, it's up to Death himself to take on the mantle of Hogswatch and give out presents to kids.

Beloved multi-award-winning sci-fi novelist Connie Willis loves Christmas. In A Lot Like Christmas, she combines her love of the holiday with her exceptional talents as an author for twelve festive tales. These stories delve into the best and worst Christmas traditions, from Secret Santas to office parties to the Rockettes, all with a surprising speculative twist. 

Don't come here looking for cynicism, however. These are heartwarming stories that are designed to affirm the magic and wonder of the Christmas season!

Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas, but things have gotten more complicated and less enjoyable since his dad, the current reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a flashy PR spectacle. Coal wants to get away from the spotlight, but getting caught in a very public drunken make-out session with a hot dude in a bar creates some bad press. 

Now, he's being commanded to do his duty and marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess. Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand: Hex, the swoonish Prince of Halloween and the guy he kissed in the bar! They're supposed to fight for Iris, but really, all they want is one another.

One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses something he can't quite explain: a group of demonic-looking figures chasing a large man in a red suit towards a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Surely he didn't actually see Santa Claus in the flesh? And there's no way he saw Santa's sack fall to earth and into the clutches of the horrifying Yule Lord Krampus? 

Now, Jesse is working for Krampus, and he's finding out that the beloved Santa is a far darker figure than anyone could have foreseen. Half a millennium ago the jolly old saint imprisoned Krampus and stole his magic, and now Krampus wants his revenge. The battle for the true ruler of Yuletide is on.

Knar has been studying the physiology of humans for years in preparation to introduce Earth to the rest of the galaxy and present them as a species ready to join the rest of the universe in unity and progress. He's not supposed to get distracted by minor human drama, but his colleague Leah cannot help but capture his attention. When she asks him to accompany her home for Hanukkah, it seems like a fun opportunity to see the holiday season up close. 

For Leah, she's hoping having her handsome colleague by her side will get her family off her back about her non-existent love life. Knar just has to find a way to be totally normal for a few days, and not let it slip that he's not even from this planet.