Much of the modern-day vision of Santa Claus is owed to the Clement Moore poem "The Night Before Christmas." His description of Saint Nicholas personified the "jolly old elf" known to millions of children throughout the world. However, far from being the offshoot of Saint Nicholas of Turkey, Santa Claus is the last of a long line of what scholars call "Wild Men" who were worshipped in ancient European fertility rites and came to America through Pennsylvania's Germans. This pagan creature is described from prehistoric times through his various forms--Robin Hood, The Fool, Harlequin, Satan and Robin Goodfellow--into today's carnival and Christmas scenes. In this thoroughly researched work, the origins of Santa Claus are found to stretch back over 50,000 years, jolting the foundation of Christian myths about the jolly old elf.
Presents the plot of the movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," explains what political and social events prompted the film, and describes other movies that have similar themes.
Open your heart to the holidays with these stories of unexpected love . . . A BABY FOR CHRISTMAS * Lisa Jackson The uneventful Christmas Annie McFarlane expected is suddenly anything but. First, there’s the adorable baby left on the snowy doorstep of her Oregon cabin. Second, there’s the extremely attractive, yet extremely angry man claiming to be the father. Liam O’Shaughnessy may be intimidating, but this is one precious gift Annie isn’t giving up so easily . . . WHAT THE COWBOY WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS * Maisey Yates When Meg O’Neill’s longtime boyfriend lets her down, again, on Christmas no less, she braves an Oregon blizzard to get to her best friend Noah’s comforting arms. But this time Noah’s not telling her what she wants to hear—he’s telling her the truth, from his heart . . . SNOWED IN * Stacy Finz Rachel Johnson has found the perfect spot for her second Tart Me Up bakery in Glory Junction, California. Except she’s in fierce competition with hunky bar owner Boden Farmer. Worse, while the icy rivals await the city’s decision, they end up catering the same Christmas Eve mountaintop wedding—and getting snowed in . . . A COWBOY WEDDING FOR CHRISTMAS * Nicole Helm Big city art teacher Lindsay Tyler isn’t just back home in Colorado for her brother’s wedding at the Barton Christmas Tree Farm and Ranch. She’s back for good. She just hasn’t told anyone yet—including Cal Barton, the ex-boyfriend she left behind . . .
A hired gun delivers frontier justice on a colony world in this exciting novel from “an imaginative writer with a director’s eye” (Aaron Allston, New York Times–bestselling author of Mercy Kill: Star Wars Legends). The man called Twelve is a hired gun, taking his laser pistol from planet to planet, renting his services out to the highest bidder. He finds himself on Glycon-Prime, a new colony at the edge of space. On the hunt for work, Twelve blows into a small frontier town—only to find a massacre. The survivors? A trio of young children, devastated by the murder of their families. They are hellbent on hiring the gunslinger to get revenge on the leader of the vicious mutants responsible—the man known only as The Serpent’s Head . . .