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"Christmas On Ganymede"
 
1942
Science Fiction Story
0
 

Santa Claus visits non-human "intelligences" on the Jovian moon.

When I first read this at age 14, I thought it was funny. I wince now. Like Asimov’s other early attempts at humor (such as "The Magnificent Possession"), it’s really painful to reread. And like "The Callistan Menace", it’s painful to see how ludicrous the astronomy is. Bad, bad, bad.

(Actually, the non-humans are rather interesting, so it isn’t quite a total loss. A later and more skillful Asimov might have been able to reset it somewhere other than Ganymede and do something with it, but the Asimov of the early 1940’s could not.)

Contents
32
The Early Asimov
 
Review copyright © 1995–2002 by John H. Jenkins. All rights reserved.
Last updated: JHJ