An Indiana Christmas

by Bryan Furuness (Editor)

Overview

Imagine a moonlit railroad track, a rural road and barn covered with just a dusting of snow, a hound dog asleep by the woodstove, and a Red Ryder BB gun hidden behind the tinseled tree—all the makings of an unforgettable Indiana Christmas. In An Indiana Christmas, editor Bryan Furuness brings together timeless short stories, poems, plays, and letters to help you get into the holiday spirit. Lose yourself in classics like "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd, which inspired the beloved movie A Christmas Story, and "A Feel in the Christmas Air" by James Whitcomb Riley, along with more recent literary works like "The Myth of the Perfect Christmas Photo Family" by Kelsey Timmerman and "While Mortals Sleep" by famed Indiana writer Kurt Vonnegut. To achieve the perfect combination of Christmas nostalgia and cheer, Furuness has curated Hoosier stories that allow you to experience an idyllic holiday gathering in "Indiana Winter" by Susan Neville, feel the excitement of a child on Christmas Eve with "Earthbound" by Barbara Shoup, and face the loneliness of a drifter on Christmas night in "Howard Garfield, Balladeer" by Edward Porter. The collection even offers the chance to read a Christmas war dispatch from the late, great Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle. Heartfelt and unique, An Indiana Christmas paints a picture of what Hoosiers truly hold dear. Family, love, giving, hope, and faith shine through these poignant stories, which are sure to put you in good spirits for the holidays.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253050281
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	10/06/2020
Pages:	242
Sales rank:	1,071,885
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bryan Furuness is author of The Lost Episodes of Revie Bryson and Do Not Go On. In addition to this anthology, he is editor of My Name was Never Frankenstein: And Other Classic Adventure Tales Remixed and (with Michael Martone) Winesburg, Indiana. He grew up in the Region (Schererville), went to college in Bloomington, and currently lives in Indianapolis, where he teaches at Butler University.

Table of Contents

Preface

Earthbound / Barbara Shoup
Winter Scene, Past Midnight / Matthew Brennan
The Fable of the Cut-up Who Came Very Near Losing His Ticket, But Who Turned Defeat into Victory / George Ade
Making Pierogi on Christmas Eve / Karen Kovacik
Keeping Christmas Our Way / Gene Stratton-Porter
Digging and Grousing / Ernie Pyle
The farm wife finds grace in her empty barn / Shari Wagner
The farm wife makes her Christmas list / Shari Wagner
Indiana Winter / Susan Neveille
Home for the Holidays / Liz Whiteacre
A Reversible Santa Claus / Meredith Nicholson
Two Pieces / Ambrose Bierce
Shepherds, Why This Jubilee? / Bryan Furuness
Pictures from a Clapboard House / Jessamyn West
Too Cold / Jayne Marek
Winter Runes / Jayne Marek
Trifles / Lori Rader-Day
December Barns of Darkness / George Kalamaras
In Sunset and Moonlight, What Gathered Our Thoughts Was the Adhesive Dark / George Kalamaras
Nanny Anne and the Christmas Story / Karen Joy Fowler
Blessed rancor of music / Curtis L. Crisler
Wealth / Scott Russell Sanders
The Christmas Long Ago / James Whitcomb Riley
A Feel in the Christmas Air / James Whitcomb Riley
A Song for Christmas / James Whitcomb Riley
Baby Alive / Melissa Fraterrigo
Santa Claus, Indiana/ Bryan Furuness
Howard Garfield, Balladeer / Edward Porter
The Five Little Sykeses, from Mr. Bingle / George Barr McCutcheon
The Schneebrunzer / Norbert Krapf
The Myth of the Perfect Christmas Photo Family / Kelsey Timmerman
Treasure! / Eliza Tudor
from "December" in Abe Martin's Almanack / Frank McKinney Hubbard
Beasley's Christmas Party / Booth Tarkington
from In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash / Jean Parker Shepherd Jr.
While Mortals Sleep / Kurt Vonnegut

What People are Saying About This

Nathan Montoya

An Indiana Christmas is a real treat, a guest list for the ideal Hoosier literary Yuletide dinner party . . . old friends sharing the table with charming new company. Any home in the state would do itself proud to have this delightful book placed above the hearth, at the ready for aloud sampling throughout the holiday season.

Michael Dahlie]]>

A grand and thrilling selection of Hoosier writing presented through the fraught lens of Christmas. Both the new voices and the Pulitzer Prize winners here remind us of the dangers of nostalgia while also giving license to the deepest pleasures of memory. This is a fascinating and utterly enjoyable read, and I'm sure I'll pick it up again over many Christmases to come.

Philip Gulley

Having spent every Christmas of my life in Indiana, I can safely say An Indiana Christmas captures not only the spirit of Indiana, but the magic of Christmas. A gift of a book!

Nathan Montoya]]>

An Indiana Christmas is a real treat, a guest list for the ideal Hoosier literary Yuletide dinner party . . . old friends sharing the table with charming new company. Any home in the state would do itself proud to have this delightful book placed above the hearth, at the ready for aloud sampling throughout the holiday season.

Megan Telligman

In this anthology, Furuness has successfully captured both the uniqueness and the universality of an Indiana Christmas. Some experiences—like a child's wish for a Red Ryder BB gun—transcend time, age, and circumstance; others—like Susan Neville's depiction of a country Christmas party—remind longtime Hoosiers of holiday gatherings as reprieves from dark, cold nights in a "landlocked state." The collection brings Indiana's great writers—past and present—into conversation with each other, exploring the way in which this special time of year connects us with community and, ultimately, brings us home.

Sarah Layden

The stories, poems, and essays in An Indiana Christmas will stay with you long after reading, no matter the season. The anthology brings to life all manner of Hoosiers: bearing casseroles, pierogi, and trifles; snowblowing neighbors' driveways just because; losing and finding religion; and posing as Santa or his grinchy counterpart. You'll see yourself in this book made by, for, and about people searching for identity in a place as complex as any.

James Alexander Thom]]>

An Indiana Christmas is more than just a nostalgic parade of the old Hoosier masters—the clever plotting of Meredith Nicholson, the homey sweetness of Gene Stratton Porter or Jessamyn West, George Ade's hilarious smart-ass style, James Whitcomb Riley's classic quaintness. This collection's newer authors, like Kurt Vonnegut, Barbara Shoup, and Susan Neville, show us that Indiana remains a bottomless gift bag of good literature.

Sarah Layden]]>

The stories, poems, and essays in An Indiana Christmas will stay with you long after reading, no matter the season. The anthology brings to life all manner of Hoosiers: bearing casseroles, pierogi, and trifles; snowblowing neighbors' driveways just because; losing and finding religion; and posing as Santa or his grinchy counterpart. You'll see yourself in this book made by, for, and about people searching for identity in a place as complex as any.

James Alexander Thom

An Indiana Christmas is more than just a nostalgic parade of the old Hoosier masters—the clever plotting of Meredith Nicholson, the homey sweetness of Gene Stratton Porter or Jessamyn West, George Ade's hilarious smart-ass style, James Whitcomb Riley's classic quaintness. This collection's newer authors, like Kurt Vonnegut, Barbara Shoup, and Susan Neville, show us that Indiana remains a bottomless gift bag of good literature.

Margaret McMullan

You will find the spirit of Christmas in frozen fields, candle-lit faces, and wood-burning stoves; it's there on chicken farms, in barns where suspended dust looks holy, and in songs echoing alleluias. The spirit sits before us at extended dining room tables snug with family, friends, casseroles, crockpots, and plates stamped with holly. In these stories, essays, and poems, some of our best Indiana authors gift us with writing that glimmers, shining a light on who we were and who we are. An Indiana Christmas is a curl-up book you'll savor year after year.

Philip Gulley]]>

Having spent every Christmas of my life in Indiana, I can safely say An Indiana Christmas captures not only the spirit of Indiana, but the magic of Christmas. A gift of a book!

Michael Dahlie

A grand and thrilling selection of Hoosier writing presented through the fraught lens of Christmas. Both the new voices and the Pulitzer Prize winners here remind us of the dangers of nostalgia while also giving license to the deepest pleasures of memory. This is a fascinating and utterly enjoyable read, and I'm sure I'll pick it up again over many Christmases to come.

Megan Telligman]]>

In this anthology, Furuness has successfully captured both the uniqueness and the universality of an Indiana Christmas. Some experiences—like a child's wish for a Red Ryder BB gun—transcend time, age, and circumstance; others—like Susan Neville's depiction of a country Christmas party—remind longtime Hoosiers of holiday gatherings as reprieves from dark, cold nights in a "landlocked state." The collection brings Indiana's great writers—past and present—into conversation with each other, exploring the way in which this special time of year connects us with community and, ultimately, brings us home.

Margaret McMullan]]>

You will find the spirit of Christmas in frozen fields, candle-lit faces, and wood-burning stoves; it's there on chicken farms, in barns where suspended dust looks holy, and in songs echoing alleluias. The spirit sits before us at extended dining room tables snug with family, friends, casseroles, crockpots, and plates stamped with holly. In these stories, essays, and poems, some of our best Indiana authors gift us with writing that glimmers, shining a light on who we were and who we are. An Indiana Christmas is a curl-up book you'll savor year after year.

Editorial Reviews

"Having spent every Christmas of my life in Indiana, I can safely say An Indiana Christmas captures not only the spirit of Indiana, but the magic of Christmas. A gift of a book!"—Philip Gulley, Indiana writer

"You will find the spirit of Christmas in frozen fields, candle-lit faces, and wood-burning stoves; it's there on chicken farms, in barns where suspended dust looks holy, and in songs echoing alleluias. The spirit sits before us at extended dining room tables snug with family, friends, casseroles, crockpots, and plates stamped with holly. In these stories, essays, and poems, some of our best Indiana authors gift us with writing that glimmers, shining a light on who we were and who we are. An Indiana Christmas is a curl-up book you'll savor year after year."—Margaret McMullan, author of Where the Angels Lived

"An Indiana Christmas is more than just a nostalgic parade of the old Hoosier masters—the clever plotting of Meredith Nicholson, the homey sweetness of Gene Stratton Porter or Jessamyn West, George Ade's hilarious smart-ass style, James Whitcomb Riley's classic quaintness. This collection's newer authors, like Kurt Vonnegut, Barbara Shoup, and Susan Neville, show us that Indiana remains a bottomless gift bag of good literature."—James Alexander Thom, bestselling author

"An Indiana Christmas is a real treat, a guest list for the ideal Hoosier literary Yuletide dinner party . . . old friends sharing the table with charming new company. Any home in the state would do itself proud to have this delightful book placed above the hearth, at the ready for aloud sampling throughout the holiday season."—Nathan Montoya, Proprietor, Village Lights Bookstore

"A grand and thrilling selection of Hoosier writing presented through the fraught lens of Christmas. Both the new voices and the Pulitzer Prize winners here remind us of the dangers of nostalgia while also giving license to the deepest pleasures of memory. This is a fascinating and utterly enjoyable read, and I'm sure I'll pick it up again over many Christmases to come."—Michael Dahlie, author of A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living

"The stories, poems, and essays in An Indiana Christmas will stay with you long after reading, no matter the season. The anthology brings to life all manner of Hoosiers: bearing casseroles, pierogi, and trifles; snowblowing neighbors' driveways just because; losing and finding religion; and posing as Santa or his grinchy counterpart. You'll see yourself in this book made by, for, and about people searching for identity in a place as complex as any."—Sarah Layden, author of Trip Through Your Wires

"In this anthology, Furuness has successfully captured both the uniqueness and the universality of an Indiana Christmas. Some experiences—like a child's wish for a Red Ryder BB gun—transcend time, age, and circumstance; others—like Susan Neville's depiction of a country Christmas party—remind longtime Hoosiers of holiday gatherings as reprieves from dark, cold nights in a "landlocked state." The collection brings Indiana's great writers—past and present—into conversation with each other, exploring the way in which this special time of year connects us with community and, ultimately, brings us home."—Megan Telligman, Program Manager, Indiana Humanities

"Indiana's deep literary heritage is celebrated in a new anthology with a seasonal theme. . . . In all this collection covers a variety of emotions and literary styles. All are crisply written, and most are just a few pages, which makes this book admirable Advent reading, covering just one or two entries a day during the holiday season."—Rich Gotshall, Daily Journal, Franklin, IN

"Bryan Furuness delivers three dozen views of An Indiana Christmas in this new compendium of stories, poems, essays, bits of thought, personal scenes enlarged and condensed, poignant moments crystalized and timelessness upended, all spinning from that whirl on a plastic chair Barbara Shoup relates in the opening offering. . . . An Indiana Christmas invites us inside ourselves: our motivations, our challenges, our ability to connect with the call to care about this planet—our home universally in need of repair."—Rita Kohn, Nuvo

From the Publisher

Bryan Furuness delivers three dozen views of An Indiana Christmas in this new compendium of stories, poems, essays, bits of thought, personal scenes enlarged and condensed, poignant moments crystalized and timelessness upended, all spinning from that whirl on a plastic chair Barbara Shoup relates in the opening offering. . . . An Indiana Christmas invites us inside ourselves: our motivations, our challenges, our ability to connect with the call to care about this planet—our home universally in need of repair.

Nuvo - Rita Kohn

Indiana's deep literary heritage is celebrated in a new anthology with a seasonal theme. . . . In all this collection covers a variety of emotions and literary styles. All are crisply written, and most are just a few pages, which makes this book admirable Advent reading, covering just one or two entries a day during the holiday season.

Daily Journal, Franklin, IN - Rich Gotshall