Julian: A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson

“Julian: A Christmas Story” is a 2006 science fiction novella by Robert Charles Wilson. It is about a 17 year old boy who gets caught up in the deadly political games of his uncle – the president of the United States.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Adam Hazzard’s father is the stable master at the elite Duncan and Crowley Estate, which is fortunate because it has allowed Adam to become friends with Julian Comstock – the nephew of the current president of the United States. They spend their time hunting, reading and debating Julian’s strange ideas – things like DNA, evolution and men walking on the moon. Even though Adam’s parents aren’t too happy with the situation, the friendship is good for both boys and causes them to stretch their mental capacities. But their carefree days are about to come to an end when poll-takers and cavalrymen show up to count the vote and then conscript the citizens. Yikes! As Adam and Julian try to escape they begin to discover what they are truly made of.

And yet we were friends, and had been friends for three years, since we met by chance in the forested hills west of the Duncan and Crowley Estate, where we had gone to hunt, Julian with his fine Porter & Earle cassette rifle and me with a simple muzzle-loader. We both loved books, especially the boys’ books written in those days by an author named Charles Curtis Easton. I had been carrying a copy of Easton’s Against the Brazilians, illicitly borrowed from the Estate library; Julian had recognized the title, but refrained from ratting on me, since he loved the book as much as I did and longed to discuss it with a fellow enthusiast (of which there were precious few among his aristo relations)—in short, he did me an unbegged favor, and we became fast friends despite our differences.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• It is easy to tell that Robert Charles Wilson is a professional writer. “Julian: A Christmas Story” is very well written, and was a pleasure to read!
• Adam is a very interesting character, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed learning about his life and the things he did.
• I really liked the post-apocalyptic / retro-19th-century setting. The combination of those two things, as well as the overall feeling of religious and political oppression, helped set an amazing tone for this story.

• The bad:

• There wasn’t a whole lot of science fiction elements in “Julian: A Christmas Story”. Sure, it takes place in a very intriguing future, but most of the story felt like I was reading a 19th century short story.
• Like other Robert Charles Wilson stories I’ve read, this is just a “slice-in-the-life” type of story – meaning that it feels like you are reading a small part of a much bigger story. It would have been nice to learn more about how things turned out.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 50
• Word Count: 21,217
• “Julian: A Christmas Story” garnered the following awards:

• It was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
• It placed 8th in the 2007 Locus Poll.
• It was shortlisted for the 2007 Sturgeon award.

Where you can find “Julian: A Christmas Story”:

• This novella was first published independently in December 2006 by PS Publishing.
• “Julian: A Christmas Story” is included in Gardner Dozois’s excellent collection of 2006 stories: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection.
• You can download a free (and legal) pdf version of this story from kith.org.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Robert Charles Wilson was born in California, but now lives in Canada? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author on Wikipedia.
• It looks like Robert Charles Wilson is publishing a full length novel based on this story (Hooray!) – be sure to check out Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Green Leopard Plague, about a genetically altered mermaid who is researching why the founder of her modern society went missing for three weeks, by Walter Jon Williams.

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