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For the last several years one of my favorite Christmas traditions is to do some sort of fun blog post for Christmas Eve with my friend Kailana. Here is what we came up with this year…

Twas the night before Christmas…or to be more accurate, ‘Tis the day before Christmas. No doubt most of us are familiar with some version of the story of the jolly old elf who delivers wished for and asked for things round the world on this one special night. It may be just a story, but it is one very timely example of the impact that storytelling has on our lives.

We all love stories, be they told in the pages of books we read, or unveiled as we push buttons on our keyboards or console controls, or shown on screens big and small through film and television. Stories inspire us, excite us, and entertain us.

In the spirit of Christmas and with the idea of stories in mind, let us each dust off our imaginations and reveal a little about the stories that have impacted us with this simple exercise:

You have been given a great gift. Jolly ol’ St. Nick has given you a list of questions so that he can make up for all the years you didn’t quite get what you wanted. The answers to these questions should come from the stories you love. If, for example, the question was “If you are guaranteed a safe return, which fictional locales would you want to visit on an all-expenses paid vacation?”, you might answer “Pemberley from Pride and Prejudice“, or “Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, in Robert Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky“, or “The World’s End inn in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman“.

Kailana and I were asked to lend a hand in the question development department, and here is the final Santa-approved list. After the jump you will see the entire list of questions for you to cut and paste on your blog, on Facebook, or in the comments section of our blogs. In the spirit of three wishes, from another familiar story, you can give up to three choices for each question. Remember, this is YOUR list to Santa. Make sure to ask for what you want! After the questions you will see my answers to these questions, and a visit to Kailana’s blog will reveal hers.

Remember, up to three answers for every question. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to post your answers in the comments section.

1. What story-inspired item(s) do you want to be unwrapping on Christmas morning?
2. If you could visit a place, real or imaginary, from your favorite story and suffer no harmful effects, where would you go?
3. Santa promised to bring you the yet-unwritten sequel novel you’ve long been waiting for. What will these novels be a sequel to?
4. Santa has a direct line into the afterlife and will ask an author to finish an uncompleted novel or write a completely new one. What author and what book are you hoping for?
5. Your favorite film maker has agreed to make a film of your favorite novel or series of novels. What films are we going to be seeing in the coming year?
6. A novel, film, game or television show can only reveal so many details about the events contained therein. If you could spend the day with characters from a story and have them tell you all the details not contained in the story, who would be coming to visit?
7. Just like those popular car commercials, Santa is going to have a vehicle with a bow on it in your driveway come Christmas morning. What will your neighbors see when they look out the window?
8. Admit it, you always hoped that one of the gifts under your tree would be a live animal. What new pet(s) is Santa bringing you this year?
9. Santa has found your dream job. What kind of work will you be doing and where will you be doing it?
10. The elves have figured out Tron technology and can transport you into any film or game you want. Where to?

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1. What story-inspired item(s) do you want to be unwrapping on Christmas morning?

a. Anduril, Flame of the West, forged from the shards of Narsil. from The Lord of the Rings.

b. The magical book from The Never-ending Story

c. Han Solo’s blaster.

2. If you could visit a place, real or imaginary, from your favorite story and suffer no harmful effects, where would you go?

a. The 100-acre Wood with Pooh, Piglet and company.

It is one of those idyllic places that seems much more attractive to me as an adult than it ever did as a child. I want to adventure where Milne’s characters made their home.

b. Ampridatvir, the city from the story Ulan Dhor in Jack Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth.

It makes no sense that I would want to visit a once great city that has gone to ruin in the far future during the waning days of Earth’s sun, but this kind of story thrills me and I think it would be fascinating to see our world from that perspective.

c. Lower North Aufzoo Street from The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater

This street, discovered by Walter Galt and Winston Bongo during their late night “snarking out” adventures is the kind of eclectic place I would love to visit during the wee hours of the morning with its late-night dives and strange cast of characters.

3. Santa promised to bring you the yet-unwritten sequel novel you’ve long been waiting for. What will these novels be a sequel to?

a. The direct sequel to Neverwhere, picking up right where Gaiman’s wonderful novel left off. I want to see how Richard and Door’s relationship proceeds and find out if they ever find her sister.

b. Having just read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers and seeing a comment by her that she may not revisit this world (notwithstanding the stand-alone sequel), I want to find out what happens to all the characters on the Wayfarer. Makes me feel incredibly sad to think that I might not be able to read any more adventures with this crew.

c. A stand-alone novel in the same world of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

4. Santa has a direct line into the afterlife and will ask an author to finish an uncompleted novel or write a completely new one. What author and what book are you hoping for?

a. A novel set during the time when it was just Slippery Jim DiGriz and Angelina, before the kids, written by Harry Harrison from my favorite Stainless Steel Rat series. And let me specify, a good novel. As he revisited the series in his older years he was not as good a story teller.

b. I would ask for another Cordwainer Smith novel. His short stories are excellent, and his one novel, Norstrilia, is even better. I would love to know more of the story of C’Mell and the Instrumentality.

c. I would ask that Bram Stoker write another engaging novel like Dracula or The Mystery of the Sea. Not a sequel to these or anything containing the same characters or tropes, something new but just as skillfully crafted.

5. Your favorite film maker has agreed to make a film of your favorite novel or series of novels. What films are we going to be seeing in the coming year?

a. The first would have to be Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I enjoy the Doctor-Who-ish television series that inspired the novel, but I would like to see a proper film with skilled, as yet unknown, actors and top-notch special effects.

b. Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh. I think it would be fascinating to see a creative team render the parts of the novel that take place in the minds of those people who are frozen and I like the characters in this story so much that I think it would make an interesting film. And the special effects would be amazing.

c. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I would want this to be a television series though. The novel gave me such a Firefly vibe that I would want more than just a film.

6. A novel, film, game or television show can only reveal so many details about the events contained therein. If you could spend the day with characters from a story and have them tell you all the details not contained in the story, who would be coming to visit?

a. Samwise Gamgee. I know he would have much more detail about not only his portion of the adventures of the destruction of the One Ring, but stories he gathered from others in the years after their success.

b. Mr. Tumnus from C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. I would want to visit him at his house, as I’ve always imagined it to be a cozy, wonderful little place, and I’m sure he would have many stories to tell about the land of Narnia before, during and after the visits of the Pevensies.

c. Yvaine from Neil Gaiman’s novel Stardust. The novel indicates that not only did they have more adventures we know about during their quest, but then she and Tristran had many more after they left the kingdom to go wandering the land. I would love to know about those adventures.

7. Just like those popular car commercials, Santa is going to have a vehicle with a bow on it in your driveway come Christmas morning. What will your neighbors see when they look out the window?

a. The Millennium Falcon (was there any doubt?)

b. The Tardis (because who wouldn’t want to time travel)

c. The Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit.

8. Admit it, you always hoped that one of the gifts under your tree would be a live animal. What new pet(s) is Santa bringing you this year?

a. Woola from the John Carter novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs (as envisioned in the film version of John Carter).

b. A dragon from Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series (though this may be cheating because they aren’t really “pets”).

c. Ferdinand the duck from the Babe films.

9. Santa has found your dream job. What kind of work will you be doing and where will you be doing it?

a. A member of the diplomatic core working with Marianne on the planet with the Rejoicers from from Janet Kagan’s wonderful novella, The Nutcracker Coup. These aliens are so interesting and every time I read this story I want to go there.

b. A pilot in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden Universe stories. I would get to fly space ships to interesting places, would meet very interesting people, and would be able to learn the cool hand communication the pilots use to communicate with one another on a different level while also communicating verbally.

c. A book dealer at the Fairy Market in Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. I would be surrounded by books, would interact with others interested in buying books, and would hear all kinds of interesting tales from the other vendors and the people visiting the market.

10. The elves have figured out Tron technology and can transport you into any film or game you want. Where to?

a. I would want to go inside the world of Fallout, particularly Fallout 4. I would love to adventure in the Commonwealth, and further into the Wasteland, all from the multi-story home base I’ve built now that I’ve started modding the game. Collecting caps, trading, meeting interesting companions, exploring new-to-me places.

b. I would want to visit Coruscant from the time period of the Star Wars prequel movies, if not before. Those are far from my favorite films, but that city-covered planet would be an amazing place to visit. The technology would be unbelievable, you could no doubt find anything there, you would meet a ton of different aliens and learn about their culture, eat all kinds of incredible food, and to travel you would have flying vehicles. I’m off!

c. I would want to go and stay at Rivendell, as envisioned by Peter Jackson, from The Lord of the Rings films. It is such a beautiful, enchanting place and the elves could tell so many stories from the time before the rediscovery of the One Ring.
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There you have it, our annual tradition is alive and well.

I wish everyone the very merriest of Christmases. I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating, remembering fondly those who are no longer with us, and cherishing those who are still in our lives.