The Best Fictional Gifts - Happy Holidays from the Untethered Realms Authors

It's that wonderful time of the year again. Time spent with the family, eating way too much, and gift giving. Since we're always thinking about what ifs, this year we wondered....

What if we lived in a fantasy or sci-fi world...

What fictional gift would be at the top of your list?

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I would love to get a magical Narnia-esque door installed in my studio that, when I walked through it, would take me to another world for a break between my real-life work sprints. It could send me right into my own fictional world, as in my drawing for Fireseed One (left), or to a fantastical pond in a magical forest, or into a Victorian goth scene. Then, with the press of a button, I'd be back, refreshed.

 - Catherine Stine

Like Hagrid of Harry Potter fame, I adore pets. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid wants a dragon so bad that he gets tricked into revealing where the Sorcerer's Stone is hidden. I hope I'm not that gullible, but I get it. If I lived in the magical world, I'd want a dragon too. I got a little glimpse of what it could be like when I visited Harry Potter world last year...

- Gwen Gardner

Ooh, so many things. I don't have enough computer space to write them all down! Yet there is one thing that could give me all the wonderful adventures I crave. A holodeck! If I had one of my own, I don't think I'd ever leave it. I'd be more addicted than Reginald Barclay!

- Christine Rains 

I'm in a fantasy world, and I’m going to go for a magical writer’s notebook. This book has the special property that any location written about within its pages becomes a real place you can visit. Just describe the world you want to explore and step inside. Oh, and the book always comes with you, so you can easily escape the horrors and complications you encounter and escape into the next world...

- Simon Kewin 

I would love a spaceship to have a chance encounter with aliens from another world. Meeting extraterrestrials would be just the thing to enjoy as I continue orbiting the sun in our solar system.

- Jeff Beesler

An ever-filled, ever-chilled beer mug is very tempting. However, I'd have to go with a real, working Stargate. How long ago did that show end? I still dream of going through the Stargate. Can I have a Colonel O'Neill with that?

- M. Pax 

I'm with Mary on this one. I want a working Stargate. However, she can take O'Neill. I want either Dr. Rodney McKay or Colonel John Sheppard.

- Cherie Reich

There are so many options that would be wonderful! Right now, at the end of the semester, I'm wishing I had more time (probably so I could take a nap!). A time-turner would certainly be a lovely thing!!

-Meradeth Houston

Happy holidays from all of us here at Untethered Realms!

Happy Holidays From Untethered Realms

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

(Image from Pixabay)

“It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” ~ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss

We here at Untethered Realms hope to share with you something a little bit more this holiday season. These books are our favorites, near and dear to our hearts. Perhaps you already love them too, or you may find the gift of a new tale to sweep you away.

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M. Pax: My all-time favorites: Man O' War by Walter Farley, A Wrinkle in Time, Winnie the Pooh, Anne of Green Gables, A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dune, The Valor series by Tanya Huff, anything by Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy, and Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. This year, some of my favorite reads were Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult, The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman, Horizon Alpha by D. W. Vogel, Hidden by Linda Berry, The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott, Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn, and World Without End by Ken Follett.

Meradeth Houston: My all-time favorite read is A Wrinkle in Time, but this time of year I remember The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot with quite a lot of fondness. My mom used to read this to my sister and I around the holidays, and as big animal people (we always had some creature or other living/recuperating in the kitchen) this story always hit home.

Christine Rains: I'm with many people when I say I can lose myself in the Harry Potter series again and again and again. But here are a few you might not have heard about. The Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman is such beautiful and dark alien fantasy. For horror fans, The Necromancer's House by Christopher Buehlman is amazing.

Catherine Stine: Wow, I have so many favorite reads... okay, here are a handful: Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (for kids); Paula Brackston's witch novels like Winter Witch; and almost any novel by Don Delillo - for instance Libra or Point Omega.

Cherie Reich: It's hard to narrow down my favorite reads, but let's see if I can. For people who enjoy the classics, I loved reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. For fantasy, my all-time favorite is the Harry Potter series, but I also really enjoyed Rachel Morgan's Creepy Hollow series. For science fiction and thrillers, I love anything by Michael Crichton. For writers, I recommend Story Genius and Wired for Story by Lisa Cron. For mystery and historical, I thoroughly enjoyed John Maddox Roberts' SPQR series.

Gwen Gardner: My all-time favorite Christmas read, hands down, is, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. He knew what he was about when he wrote it. The social aspects of the novel are still valid today. But my favorite line is when Mr. Cratchit tells Mrs. Cratchit what Tiny Tim said in Church: He hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.

Some of my other favorite reads this year were In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear, The Seagull by Ann Cleeves, and Rather Be The Devil, by Ian Rankin. 

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From our family to yours, we wish you a happy holiday season and a fantastic 2018.

Don't forget we're seeking author guests for the new year. If you're interested, please leave a comment below.

Merry Christmas - Goofy, gnarly, and gelastic gifts!

We've all gotten at least one ridiculous gift in our lives. You know, the one from the loony aunt who sews dresses for her cats or the immature thirty-year-old brother who thinks he's hilarious. And he's the only one who thinks that. It's the present that made you furrow your brows, shake your head, and laugh out loud. Or maybe, yeah, you're the one who bestowed such a bizarre bounty upon someone. We're going to share with you our goofy gifts. Please tell us about yours!

M. Pax

When I was 14, I got a plastic hanger. I did my best to smile and be enthusiastic about the gift, but it was hard. My sister and cousin received the same in different colors. We may have been surprised by our odd gifts and laughed about them a lot, but, ya know, we've never forgotten them or the aunt who gave them to us. It did help me organize my scarf thingies-can't remember what they were called, they ended in a knot-purses, and belts. So, thanks Aunt Nancy for a yuletide memory that never fades. This is sort of what it looked like, but in red.

*****

Christine Rains

I had one Grandma (my father's mom) that gave my brother and I bath towels every year for Christmas, and for three years in a row, my mother-in-law gave me scrub pads to wash the dishes. I'm going to tell you a story with a happy ending, though. Every year growing up, my great Auntie Jo would give my brother, cousins, and I knitted Christmas sweaters she made herself. Nowadays, people love to get ugly sweaters, but when you're a kid, they are the worst sort of gift. They itched like crazy and were the worst colors. I remember one year getting a sweater with a misshapen reindeer in maroon. When I was fourteen or fifteen, we stopped receiving gifts from Auntie Jo, and I didn't receive another until my son was born. My son was the first grandchild on my mom's side (my Nana's first who is Auntie Jo's sister). Auntie Jo doesn't have any grandchildren of her own. She handmade a beautiful baby blanket. It's stunning. It made my mom cry. All those years of practicing made Auntie Jo a master. I thank her for all those years of ugly sweaters. I wish I appreciated them more back then, but her baby gift was most treasured and her generosity and talent forever remembered.

Cherie Reich

I was five at the time, and each student in our kindergarten class brought a wrapped gift to exchange. We all had numbers, and I watched other kids open up toys, books, coloring books, and the like. We each had to open our gift in front of each other and say what we got. My anticipation and excitement grew until it was my turn to open my gift. And what did I find? Socks. Adult-sized, pink wool knitted socks with a purple button upon them. Where was the toy? The book? The crayons? I threw the socks onto the desk and mumbled what I received. Socks can be a fine gift, don't get me wrong, but most five-year-olds would prefer anything else. And I, unfortunately, don't have a picture of said socks. I believe they might have slipped into a Goodwill donation bag over the years as they were itchy and uncomfortable.

*****

Julie Flanders

Ever since we decided on this topic for a group post I have been racking my brain trying to think of a suitable entry. Try as I might, I simply can't remember a gift I've ever received that qualifies. So I did some googling for weird gifts and immediately found a favorite that I thought I would share instead. An ugly Christmas sweater made just for guinea pigs. Who could resist it? I want to give a fair warning to everyone I know. If you ever get a guinea pig you are going to find this sweater under your tree. 

Thank you, Petsmart! 

*****

River Fairchild

One year I received the book, The Courtship of Miles Standish. That wouldn't be too catastrophic if I had been an adult, although it would probably sit on my shelf unread for all time. The real issue? I was only nine years old.

*****

Gwen Gardner

I don't remember receiving any strange gifts when I was a child. We always received clothes and then one toy. But as an adult, my new husband gave me something really strange. We used to love to go out dancing, and we were pretty good, too. At least, I thought we were. I thought I was holding up my end as a dancing partner...until he gave me two left shoes for Christmas. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ALL OF US AT UNTETHERED REALMS!