In the opening lines of Santa Steps Out: A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups, we learn that God the Father had to "cut His vacation short" and is in a "towering rage" about it. It appears that while the archangel Michael was running things, the world got pretty screwed up. "Michael... you know that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are never to cross paths. It's one of our Father's most solemn injunctions." Ah, that Tooth Fairy. She's also got her hooks into the Easter Bunny.

Robert Devereaux is a master of vivid scene setting, especially gory scenes and sex scenes. There is a lot of sex in this book--mostly happy, lubricious sex that is sometimes downright amazing. Prepare for a strange and stimulating ride when you hop in the sleigh with Santa and witness all his adventures. Prepare to see childhood figures--figures known principally for delivering gifts in the night--in a whole new light. Devereaux is exuberantly polytheistic and well-grounded in Greek mythology, so along with the horror and humping, you'll be entertained by some notions about where all these immortals may have come from in the first place.

This signed, limited edition is a beauty to own: it has a full-color dust jacket by acclaimed artist Alan Clark, six full-page illustrations by Clark, a foreword ("Robert Devereaux Boldly Goes...") by David G. Hartwell about how the novel came into being, another foreword ("You Hold a Dangerous Book in Your Hands") by Patrick LoBrutto, and an afterword by the author. --Fiona Webster

Genre: Horror