All I Want for Christmas by Graeme

[Nigel Gordon]

A delightful story with an interesting twist at the end. Well written and well worth reading. You can find it here:

http://awesomedude.com/graeme/all-i-want-for-christmas/all-i-want-for-christmas.htm

[Nick Deverill]

I will confess I sussed the twist very early on, but it does not detract from the enjoyment of what is a charming tale. Just the right length too, no bits missing and no spurious frills.

[Rutabaga]

I will confess I sussed the twist very early on . . .

I had the same experience. I found myself wondering why Isaac's sister didn't catch on right away, during the initial conversation over coffee. It seems like the clues were there.

R

[Chris James]

A very clever story...and anything I say after that will be a spoiler. Graeme plays with our preconceived notions of marriage, children and family relationships, and if you follow that line of thinking you would be wrong. Love the twist at the end. Well done.

[Cole Parker]

Very nice little Christmas story. Pleasure to read. Pleasure to work out the details. Well done, Graeme.

C

[Graeme]

Thank you, everyone!

I had the same experience. I found myself wondering why Isaac's sister didn't catch on right away, during the initial conversation over coffee. It seems like the clues were there.

R

The readers have the advantage of knowing that this is a story, which gives them an unfair advantage in spotting clues.

[Rutabaga]

Thank you, everyone!

The readers have the advantage of knowing that this is a story, which gives them an unfair advantage in spotting clues.

It could also be argued that Isaac's sister wouldn't pick up on clues that were foreign to her world view. She obviously classified Joshua as a "normal" heterosexual father and it would not have occurred to her to connect the dots -- when Joshua said that her brother was raising a daughter -- that she might be looking at it.

R

[Merkin]

I think Rutabaga is quite correct in his 'world view' argument. Most writers of short fiction must depend upon establishing characters whose characteristics are referenced to stereotypes and what we, as readers, already "know" about people. Otherwise Graeme would have had a novel on his hands!

I am intrigued (and pleased) at Graeme's choice to use an array of somewhat traditional biblical names for his characters, in this era of Masons and Justins and Ashers and Bruces...

[Graeme]

I am intrigued (and pleased) at Graeme's choice to use an array of somewhat traditional biblical names for his characters, in this era of Masons and Justins and Ashers and Bruces...

That was deliberate. I always like my characters to have reasons for their actions. Even if it's not spelt out, the father needed a reason for his homophobia. The one I came up with is that they're all from a traditional religious community. Hence why all the children have biblical names. That doesn't mean all of the community are homophobic, but it would explain why some of them are.

[ken84050]

I will confess I sussed the twist very early on ....

I didn't, but I wasn't really trying. It was enough just to relax and be carried along with the story. One thing that was evident early, was that the climax would crucially involve Isaac. The story centred around Isaac, but he didn't actually appear until near the end. All very enjoyably crafted. Thank you, Graeme.