Question One:
EDGE: Are you more of a Santa or a Scrooge?
Michael R. Colangelo: I probably missed the point, but I thought that Scrooge was either a total jerk or a weepy chump in that film. Nobody wants to be that guy. So Santa... by default.
Suzanne Church: I am definitely more of a Santa. I love this time of year: the lights, the decorations on the tree, the music, even the snow. And when I shop, I tend to over-spend and agonize over getting the perfect present for everyone.
Catherine MacLeod: Santa. I enjoy Christmas. I'm one of those annoying people who sings carols along with the muzak at the mall.
Patrick Johanneson: From October 31st till about December 14th, I must confess to being a Scrooge. Only once we're deep enough into December do I start to feel a little Christmassy. (If that's a word.)
Matt Moore:
Interesting question. Let's see:
* Both are old. I am not. RESULT: Neither
* Santa is fond of bright colours in his clothing, but Scrooge prefers more practical attire, as do I. RESULT: Scrooge
* Santa's mid-section resembles jelly. Scrooge is rather gaunt. I try to stay in shape, so RESULT: Scrooge
* Santa hangs around with elves; Scrooge hangs around with ghost. I do not associate with supernatural creatures of any sort. RESULT: Neither
* Santa works with his hands; Scrooge in an office. I work in an office, so RESULT: Scrooge
* Santa is generous and works for the good of all. Scrooge insists on working on Christmas Day for the sake of profits. I enjoy my job since it allows me to help others, so RESULT: Santa
* Santa is full of good cheer and other such misguided nonsense. On the other hand, Scrooge is a shrewd pragmatist, which I admire. RESULT: Scrooge
So, I am more Scrooge-like than Santa-like.
==============================================
EDGE Countdown to Christmas Question # 2
Do you have anything unique or special thing you do to celebrate the holiday season?
Michael R. Colangelo: Not really. I get a tree sometimes and forget to water it. The cats like to eat the needles and get sick.
Suzanne Church: Christmas is definitely about food! I tend to do Christmas baking, then on Christmas day, it’s a decadent event, usually involving eggs Benedict for breakfast and turkey for dinner. But I tend to over-spend at the grocery store, buying lots of treats from chocolate to cheese, and from pies to Yule-log-cakes. Yum.
Catherine MacLeod: For me it doesn't feel like Christmas until I've seen "A Christmas Carol"--the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.
Matt Moore: I am originally from New England, where we normally don't use coloured Christmas lights or large Christmas displays. In general, a wreath on the door, *maybe* some white icicle lights, but the main thing is (electric) candles in every window. It is a simple, but very pretty tradition that I miss around Christmas.
Patrick Johanneson: I try to make sure to watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" every year before Christmas. The other thing I enjoy is listening to French carols, which is a rare treat given that all the radio stations around here are English. I have a CD I made years ago with some favourites, though -- "Ca bergers" and "Les anges dans nos campagnes" and "Il est né". It comes from going to a French immersion school, I guess.
===============================================
EDGE Countdown to Christmas Question # 3
What is the strangest Christmas present you have ever received?
Catherine MacLeod: The strangest Christmas present I've ever received was also one of my favourites. A friend bought a big white garbage can and painted black skyscrapers around the inside. Then she made a plaster model of King Kong and glued him on the bottom, so it looked as if he'd just fallen from the Empire State Building. I kept that can for years, until the plaster rotted. But I never had the heart to throw garbage in it.
Michael R. Colangelo: Growing up in rural Ontario, nowhere near the water, somebody thought I might like a surfboard one year for Christmas. I broke bones and the board trying to surf the dirty snow piles beside the highway near the house less than a week later.
Matt Moore: Most of my gifts have been pretty tame, so nothing comes to mind.
Suzanne Church: My grandmother used to make a somewhat unpleasant stuffing for her holiday celebration dinner. Most of us pretended to like it, because she was wonderful and we didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I remember one year, as the stuffing was being passed around, my uncle said, “I don’t want any stuffing. I don’t like it,” to which his wife, my aunt, said, “No one likes it, but you have to eat it like the rest of us, and pretend to like it.” He did.
Patrick Johanneson: One year I got a knife switch, along with a bunch of other electronics hardware. At that point I was quite the little budding scientist -- I had the Radio Shack 201 Electronic Projects kit, and a chemistry set, etc. I managed to not burn the house down.
Another year I got the third volume in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I'd waited years for it to be published, and now I had it in my hands. I read it in two days, only to discover a huge cliffhanger
at the end. (And it was almost five years, I seem to recall, before Volume IV was published.)
===================================================
EDGE Countdown to Christmas Question # 4
What is your favorite holiday treat (sweet or otherwise)?
Michael R. Colangelo: Cigarettes?
Catherine MacLeod: Stollen, a lightly-sweetened bread stuffed with cherries, raisins, currants, and almond paste. It goes down especially well with a cup of hot tea.
Suzanne Church: Chocolate bombs – which are chocolate squares made with crunchy peanut butter and mini marshmallows. Yummy AND easy to make.
Matt Moore: Eggnog, with or without rum. I could drink a liter of it in a sitting. That, or a snuggle from my wife.
Patrick Johanneson: Every year, my Welsh grandmother made trifle. Now I have the recipe
and a trifle bowl, I make my own, but I still usually reserve it for Christmastime. Whatever genius thought of combining cake, custard, fruit, and whipped cream deserves a Nobel prize or an Oscar or something.
==================================================
EDGE Countdown to Christmas Question # 5 (optional)
If a character in your book/story was celebrating Christmas how would they do it?
Michael R. Colangelo: It would probably be a pretty sorry Christmas since death and/or madness conclude both stories. I don't know how it would go, precisely, but it wouldn't be very festive, I'm guessing. Some sort of murder to celebrate, probably. If they could be bothered.
Suzanne Church: My story’s main characters were immersed in a war. I think they would celebrate by having a day of peace where they could relax and not worry about being shot or captured.
Catherine MacLeod: Since Reann Zanberger admits she has a sweet tooth, there would be chocolate, for sure. I like to think she'd trim a small tree, find one special present for her husband, and plan something naughty for Christmas night.
Patrick Johanneson: At sea, or possibly on the island of Farfelu, deep in the tropics. But they'd be wary, since they've got a ghost among them...
EDGE: Thanks for joining us on EDGE's Countdown to Christmas!
Patrick Johanneson, Catherine MacLeod, Michael R. Colangelo, Suzanne Church, and Matt Moore are all featured authors in Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories, edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory.
No comments:
Post a Comment