With publication of the darkly comic “Santa Steps Out: A Fairy Tale For Grown-ups,” Denver-area writer Robert Devereaux (“Deadweight”) earned his stripes as one of literature’s most twisted authors.
Exploring the lineage of gods and goddesses, Devereaux cobbled up one of the funniest, scariest, most revolting and insightful comedies ever printed between two covers. It involved a mad affair between Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy (lovers in their former, pagan, incarnations) and the chaos that ensues as a result.
Santa, the Tooth Fairy and candy canes can’t be looked at in quite the same way. So news of a sequel being published eight years later is cause for fans of Devereaux’s twisted vision of the world to cheer with joy. Unfortunately, “Santa Claus Conquers the Homophobes” doesn’t quite pack the punch of its predecessor.
This sequel finds Santa living happily with his two wives, Rachel, his once mortal lover, and Anya, Mrs. Claus to the unfamiliar, and his stepdaughter Wendy. Little things like Santa’s polygamous marriage lend Devereaux’s new Santa novel the edge it sorely needs (God is constantly arguing about the state of things with “the Son,” sometimes at the expense of his creations, which he ignores. A nice touch).
The core of the plot is revealed when Wendy (who can foresee the future), reveals a particularly terrible prediction to Santa. It seems that Jamie Stratton is gay and that his parents, pastor and peers all think he is an abomination. His future holds only pain, suffering and death.
Determined to help Jamie — and his stepdaughter — at all costs, Santa sets about achieving the impossible by changing the gestalt mind (the overriding feelings of humanity in general) regarding homosexuality. Working against the often saccharine duo is our favorite bad girl, the Tooth Fairy.
All the elements for yet another bang-up, no-holds-barred tale of irreverent holiday shenanigans are here, but this time out, Devereaux has tempered his delivery. And it’s not just the total lack of bawdy sex — which permeated the first tome — it’s the addition of sometimes treacle-laden passages in which Santa and Wendy exchange sweet words of succor to each other.
Devereaux does throw in some chapters and passages to balance out the Figgie-pudding- sweetness of it all, but not quite enough. Even the Easter Bunny, a crazed, sometimes violent peeping Tom in the first novel, has lost his edge. And while Tooth Fairy has her share of scary moments, in “Santa Claus Conquers the Homophobes,” she comes off like a dull-edged knife.
Charles Dickens is notorious for sentimentality in his novels, and the classic “A Christmas Carol” has one of the more sentimental endings ever. But curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge is so powerful readers need the sweet moments to even things out. That’s what is needed, and missing, in this new Santa novel: Devereaux should have once again unleashed the Tooth Fairy in all of her erotic madness.
Kudos to Devereaux for this Christmas tale that preaches against homophobia, a much needed viewpoint in these intolerant times. But that very strength becomes a weakness in the narrative drive of “Santa Claus Conquers the Homophobes,” lending it a Tony Robbins/New Age-religion vibe in the sweeter, less edgy passages.
While grownups and teenagers can pick up Devereaux’s new novel with the certainty of entertaining reading, it’s a fair bet at least some of his naughtier fans will be wishing for a little more lust (and little less sweetness) next Christmas.
Dorman T. Shindler is a freelance writer in Melbourne, Australia.
Fiction
Santa Claus Conquers the Homophobes, by Robert Devereaux, $17.95
