The Twelve Ways of Christmas

This collection showcases twelve stories, each inspired by a line from the traditional Christmas carol. Odell’s efforts range from hard SF (“Home for Christmas,” “Re: Peter”) to horror (“A Milk of Human Kindness”) with stops in steampunk (“To Speak of Metal Men and Birds of War”) and fantasy (“Goosed!”). The collection’s strength is its variety: every offering has its own voice, setting, and style. The humorous “A Free-Range Panic at Alanda Farms,” which shows farm produce taking control of its own destiny, differs completely from the sweetly sad “Swan Song,” about soldiers dealing with the transition between life and death, yet both fit their particular verse. Occasionally the connection between lyric and story is stretched thin, as when “A Milk of Human Kindness” turns the “maids a-milking” into ghostly rescuers of abused wives, but that strikes one of the few false notes in an otherwise bewitching enterprise. (Dec.)