Indiana Christmas

Bryan Furuness is author of The Lost Episodes of Revie Bryson and Do Not Go On. In addition to this anthology, he is editor of My Name was Never Frankenstein: And Other Classic Adventure Tales Remixed and (with Michael Martone) Winesburg, Indiana. He grew up in the Region (Schererville), went to college in Bloomington, and currently lives in Indianapolis, where he teaches at Butler University.

• PrefaceEarthbound / Barbara ShoupWinter Scene, Past Midnight / Matthew BrennanThe Fable of the Cut-up Who Came Very Near Losing His Ticket, But Who Turned Defeat into Victory / George AdeMaking Pierogi on Christmas Eve / Karen KovacikKeeping Christmas Our Way / Gene Stratton-PorterDigging and Grousing / Ernie PyleThe farm wife finds grace in her empty barn / Shari WagnerThe farm wife makes her Christmas list / Shari WagnerIndiana Winter / Susan NeveilleHome for the Holidays / Liz WhiteacreA Reversible Santa Claus / Meredith NicholsonTwo Pieces / Ambrose BierceShepherds, Why This Jubilee? / Bryan FurunessPictures from a Clapboard House / Jessamyn WestToo Cold / Jayne MarekWinter Runes / Jayne MarekTrifles / Lori Rader-DayDecember Barns of Darkness / George KalamarasIn Sunset and Moonlight, What Gathered Our Thoughts Was the Adhesive Dark / George KalamarasNanny Anne and the Christmas Story / Karen Joy FowlerBlessed rancor of music / Curtis L. CrislerWealth / Scott Russell SandersThe Christmas Long Ago / James Whitcomb RileyA Feel in the Christmas Air / James Whitcomb RileyA Song for Christmas / James Whitcomb RileyBaby Alive / Melissa FraterrigoSanta Claus, Indiana/ Bryan FurunessHoward Garfield, Balladeer / Edward PorterThe Five Little Sykeses, from Mr. Bingle / George Barr McCutcheonThe Schneebrunzer / Norbert KrapfThe Myth of the Perfect Christmas Photo Family / Kelsey TimmermanTreasure! / Eliza Tudorfrom "December" in Abe Martin's Almanack / Frank McKinney HubbardBeasley's Christmas Party / Booth Tarkingtonfrom In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash / Jean Parker Shepherd Jr.While Mortals Sleep / Kurt Vonnegut

"Having spent every Christmas of my life in Indiana, I can safely say An Indiana Christmas captures not only the spirit of Indiana, but the magic of Christmas. A gift of a book!"—Philip Gulley, Indiana writer"You will find the spirit of Christmas in frozen fields, candle-lit faces, and wood-burning stoves; it's there on chicken farms, in barns where suspended dust looks holy, and in songs echoing alleluias. The spirit sits before us at extended dining room tables snug with family, friends, casseroles, crockpots, and plates stamped with holly. In these stories, essays, and poems, some of our best Indiana authors gift us with writing that glimmers, shining a light on who we were and who we are. An Indiana Christmas is a curl-up book you'll savor year after year."—Margaret McMullan, author of Where the Angels Lived"An Indiana Christmas is more than just a nostalgic parade of the old Hoosier masters—the clever plotting of Meredith Nicholson, the homey sweetness of Gene Stratton Porter or Jessamyn West, George Ade's hilarious smart-ass style, James Whitcomb Riley's classic quaintness. This collection's newer authors, like Kurt Vonnegut, Barbara Shoup, and Susan Neville, show us that Indiana remains a bottomless gift bag of good literature."—James Alexander Thom, bestselling author"An Indiana Christmas is a real treat, a guest list for the ideal Hoosier literary Yuletide dinner party . . . old friends sharing the table with charming new company. Any home in the state would do itself proud to have this delightful book placed above the hearth, at the ready for aloud sampling throughout the holiday season."—Nathan Montoya, Proprietor, Village Lights Bookstore"A grand and thrilling selection of Hoosier writing presented through the fraught lens of Christmas. Both the new voices and the Pulitzer Prize winners here remind us of the dangers of nostalgia while also giving license to the deepest pleasures of memory. This is a fascinating and utterly enjoyable read, and I'm sure I'll pick it up again over many Christmases to come."—Michael Dahlie, author of A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living"The stories, poems, and essays in An Indiana Christmas will stay with you long after reading, no matter the season. The anthology brings to life all manner of Hoosiers: bearing casseroles, pierogi, and trifles; snowblowing neighbors' driveways just because; losing and finding religion; and posing as Santa or his grinchy counterpart. You'll see yourself in this book made by, for, and about people searching for identity in a place as complex as any."—Sarah Layden, author of Trip Through Your Wires"In this anthology, Furuness has successfully captured both the uniqueness and the universality of an Indiana Christmas. Some experiences—like a child's wish for a Red Ryder BB gun—transcend time, age, and circumstance; others—like Susan Neville's depiction of a country Christmas party—remind longtime Hoosiers of holiday gatherings as reprieves from dark, cold nights in a "landlocked state." The collection brings Indiana's great writers—past and present—into conversation with each other, exploring the way in which this special time of year connects us with community and, ultimately, brings us home."—Megan Telligman, Program Manager, Indiana Humanities"Indiana's deep literary heritage is celebrated in a new anthology with a seasonal theme. . . . In all this collection covers a variety of emotions and literary styles. All are crisply written, and most are just a few pages, which makes this book admirable Advent reading, covering just one or two entries a day during the holiday season."—Rich Gotshall, Daily Journal, Franklin, IN"Bryan Furuness delivers three dozen views of An Indiana Christmas in this new compendium of stories, poems, essays, bits of thought, personal scenes enlarged and condensed, poignant moments crystalized and timelessness upended, all spinning from that whirl on a plastic chair Barbara Shoup relates in the opening offering. . . . An Indiana Christmas invites us inside ourselves: our motivations, our challenges, our ability to connect with the call to care about this planet—our home universally in need of repair."—Rita Kohn, Nuvo