Customer Reviews

Roads

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4 star:		(1)
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_Roads_ is the best Christmas story since the original one. Had I been the first reviewer, I would have only given clues toward the ending, where Klaus the Barbarian becomes Claus the good, because it is meant as a surprise ending. But this is a book I wish I could read in a church Christmas festival to show doubters how "Santa" - St Nicholas, who even if he wasn't real, should have been - is a symbol of Christ, and good; loving, giving and caring, not an anagram of "Satan".

Even if you cannot afford the Arkham edition, it was republished in a paperback collection of the _Best of Weird Tales_, and may be again someday. This story deserves the same kind of wide renown and affection as Richard Paul Evans' _The Christmas Box_ and O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi". Rankin-Bass's animation is cute, but this is the kind of fiction that ought to be true.... Santa SHOULD be real, and this SHOULD be his story.

I first met Seabury Quinn through "Weird Tales" in the early 1930s and was lucky enough to meet and to know both him and his wife when I was stationed at the Pentagon during the Korean War. We stayed in touch and every year or so we got together at his apartment near Dupont Circle or in downtown Washington for drinks, good food and great conversation. I valued his friendship. We were both in the intelligence business, Seabury with the Air Force and I with the Army. I was saddened when the hostess at the Dupont Plaza where we often met for dinner called to tell me of my friend's death. I cherish his memory as I do the signed copy of "Roads" he gave my mother for Christmas when it was published. Many Christmas eves have come and gone since I first opened "Roads' and savored the tale and its completely fresh look at an old and well loved Yuletide legend. Dickens set the scene and Seabury Quinn came along to tell a story with a cast of characters to touch hearts young and old. Ebenezer Scrooge shows how we can keep Christmas well. Klaus, the man from the Northland who once saw a child in Egypt and years later watched the death of a mon on a hill called Golgotha shows why we keep it in our hearts today. From Amahl and his Night Visitors to that Other Wise Man the simple yet powerful story of "Roads" has already taken its place up there with the best.

Roads is a facsimile reproduction of the 1948 first edition, Roads is a fantasy novel by pulp fiction pioneer Seabury Quinn. First published in the January 1938 issue of "Weird Tales", Roads is an "adult Christmas story" that offers a daring re-interpretation of the legend and tradition of Santa Claus, drawn heavily from the inspiration of original Christian legends. Renowned fantasy artist Virgil Finlay illustrated the 1948 edition, in this gorgeous reproduction that is the next best thing to owning the original. "Roads" comes packaged in a stiff cardboard box, and retains its classic and timeless charm, as well as a sense of wonder and imagination to look beyond boundaries. Highly recommended.

The editor of the anthology in which I first read this story says that Quinn intended it as a Christmas card to his friends. I like to think that I might have been one. My copy burned on Christmas 1993. Since then, I have combed through numerous stacks trying to locate it. No matter what you have been raised to think, this story will change forever how you view the miracle of life, and the pagentry of the Christmas season.

A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS STORY THAT EVERY ADULT NEEDS TO READ. THE WAY MR. QUINN WAS ABLE TO TIE TOGETHER THE FACTS CONCERNING JESUS AND THE LEGENDS OF SANTA ARE SIMPLY PHENOMENAL.

Back in the 1920's and 30's, Seabury Quinn wrote stories for Weird Tales (WT) about an "occult detective" Jules de Grandin (note: Mr Quinn's middle name was Grandin). His stories were often paraded on the covers of WT; perhaps largely because he managed to work a "Brundage-bait" scene into most of them involved a scantily clad lady and/or whipping, to be lovingly illustrated most likely by Margaret Brundage in glorious pastels. By way of contrast, Robert E Howard got a fair few covers, while HP Lovecraft got none - I guess damsels in distress weren't really part of his vibe. Ms Brundage could really draw. So could Virgil Finlay, who also did a lot of WT covers back in the day, but was perhaps at his best doing interior B&W work in his unmistakable style.

Anyway, fast forward to 1937 and Mr Quinn heads out to write Roads, presumably taking time off from his day job teaching mortuary law to funeral directors, and has it publihsed in Weird Tales in January 1938. Ten years later, Arkham House prints it up as a book, together with some (beautiful) line art by Finlay. Which leads me (finally) to the subject of the review, as it is a facsimile reprint of that book that Red Jacket Press has put together, and added a protective box and some notes.

It's OK, even good. It's not great, I think: its definitely not for young children, but nicely aimed at teenagers and up. It dabbles (or perhaps indulges) in religious and racial stereotypes in places which are jarring today but presumably were acceptable in 1938. It's a bit talky, I suppose, and the real problem is that it is over all too soon: there are only 100-odd pages, and not a lot of print on each one. But for what it is - the transformation of a man into a legend - it works pretty well. It has the potential to offend both the pious and impious: but it's a Christmas story with both Christ and a northern barbarian who swears by Odin, so what did you expect?

One thing is for sure: I will never look at the jolly fat man in quite the same way again.

This is a luxury good, a gift, not a necessity. But then again, isn't giving what Christmas is all about?

This delightful short story, first published in the January 1938 issue of Weird Tales magazine, follows the life of Klaus, a norse gladiator in King Herod the Great's court, as he saves the life of the baby Jesus and is told he is fated to help children as long as Jesus' birth is celebrated on the solstice. This is a wonderfully touching tale of the "true" origin of Santa Claus, but it definitely carries a PG rating due to violence and partial nudity.