All Seated On the Ground by Connie Willis – B  I saw this short story mentioned in a thread where posters were saying it was the best of Connie Willis’ short stories so I looked it up. I couldn’t buy the story on its own because geo restrictions, but I found it was available in a library book as part of The Best of Connie Willis and placed a hold so I could read the story.

Meg Yates is a humour columnist who unexpectedly finds herself on a committee trying to communicate with the six Altairi aliens who arrived on the doorsteps of Denver University nine months before. Many experts before her and on the current committee have failed to find a way to break through the Atairi glare of disdain before her but her particular history and a chance encounter with some Christmas music and choir director lead to a breakthrough.

It’s a Christmas story with a theme of peace and goodwill to all men etc and there’s even a little romance (complete with optimistic HFN ending even) thrown in, as well as plenty of humour of the kind found in books such as To Say Nothing of the Dog. It’s not particularly weighty or detailed (so far as world building is concerned, the Altairi remain largely opaque) but it’s enjoyable good fun. I do enjoy Ms. Willis’ humour and I couldn’t help but hear the entire story in Kate Reading’s voice a la Bellwether.

BUY IT:
AMAZON     KOBO     BOOK DEPOSITORY

 

Reviews of these books will be up soon at AudioGals.