An Off-White Christmas features a dozen stories all set on or around Christmas, though with little to no clear religious emphasis. Instead, these stories explore life changes and choices and chaos in times of heightened drama, when family and friends and life partners merge to form cohesive units, happy or otherwise. The stories range from a gambling spree in Las Vegas to a caravan traveling to Baraboo; from a teepee hotel in Kentucky to a retro movie theatre in Arizona; from a jolly Santa lookalike to a frustrated Dickensian actor; from students to retirees. Christmas, in these stories, is a character as much as a setting—it acts upon and with plot to create tension, but each story is unique. It’s hardly all sugar plums and pure white flakes, but always there’s that hope. Just as the notion of a “white Christmas” evokes well worn traditions of the holiday, these dozen “un-white Christmas” stories introduce potential traditions that could expand and augment the Christmas spirit.
We recently got a chance to have a chat with author Donald G. Evans about this exciting project.
EP: “An Off-White Christmas” is a collection of short stories that revolve around the Christmas season, but they really aren’t religious stories. Is that why you chose the title?
Don: An Off-White Christmas comes from a line in the title story, but it resonates, I hope, throughout the collection. The white, or tainted white, does not refer to a virgin quality, or anything Biblical. Rather, it suggest the imperfections inherent in the various characters and settings as they try to orchestrate or participate in a holiday that is hyped as something it could never live up to. Plus, I think it’s funny, which is always, in my mind, gives it bonus points.
EP: One of my favorite things about this book is that it features stories from all around the country. Why did you choose these locations, and are the stories based in any way on real life events?
Don: I’m familiar with all the settings, some more intimately than others. Las Vegas and Casa Grande were both places in which my parents lived. Syracuse is where I went to graduate school and return frequently to visit relatives. My wife and I lived in South Amana, Iowa for several years. We visited Lanesboro, Minnesota for a weekend. And so forth. So I chose the settings in part because I had observed them, and knew enough to incorporate the wheres with the whos and whats. I believe that settings should be integral to the story, not mere backdrop. And, yes, I stole anecdotes or episodes from my experiences or the experiences of others. But in the end, these experiences, in terms of the places and people and events, act merely as launching pads to an exploration of worlds that in the end are largely created, even if the details mirror real life. There is a difference between telling a good story while you drink at the bar and writing a good story. Well, lots of differences. Stories as they happen to you refuse to capture any larger sense of drama or meaning, and the actions and reactions therein often pale in comparison with the possibilities. Writing fiction gives an author license to reinvent those scenes and make the story live up to its possibilities. Experiences often don’t make sense to me at the time, but writing them, even in a fictionalized form, enables me to understand my life and the life of those around me better.
EP: The illustrations in “An Off-White Christmas” are fantastic. How did you get hooked up with illustrator Hannah Jennings, and what was your guidance to her for creating illustrations to match the stories?
Don: I met Hannah through Margot McMahon, the fabulous sculptor. She recommended Hannah when the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame was looking for a designer to redo our website, in part to include a literary map of Chicago. Hannah’s work on the website, in tandem with her partner Rich Kono, who is the technical expert, was fantastic. Over the course of working with Hannah on the website, we became friends, and I got to knew her work as an illustrator and artist. I love her work–the colors, the subject matter, the texture–and so when I started thinking about the way this collection should look I broached the subject with her.
EP: There’s also a very special limited edition hard cover version of this book–and it’s beautiful. Why did you choose to go this route?
Don: I collect books, especially Chicago books. The book as an object is important to me, and well made books lend themselves to a permanence that cheaply made books do not. I own several sets of Folio Society books, as well as Easton Press books, and they look awesome on my bookshelves. There are two Folio Society sets–one is the Sherlock Holmes stories, and the other the Sherlock Holmes novels. The spines on one make a silhouette of Holmes; the spines of the others make a silhouette of Watson. I’m never getting rid of those books, even if I don’t read them again. I want, first and foremost, for my book to look just as awesome on my own shelf, and secondly to look just as awesome in scattered shelves throughout the country. I want people to say, “Oh, you have to see this one!”
EP: People may not realize that you are also the Founding Executive Director of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, which keeps you incredibly busy. Has it been difficult to find time to continue to write?
Don: Yes, sure. Every responsibility you accept naturally takes time away from writing, and running the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame is a big responsibility. I’ve had difficulty finding a balance between my own writing and everything else since probably my son Dusty was born. I was the stay-at-home dad, and priorities shifted. Nothing seemed as important as anything having to do with Dusty, and it’s mostly still that way. With the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame I’m consistently advocating for other writers, and collaborating with a variety of scholars, authors, organizations, artists, and so forth. I think it’s my natural bent to do things for others rather than myself. That said, I’ve been trying for a while to recapture that time and place in which my own writing is sacred and I tell all my other responsibilities to fuck off until, say, ten o’clock. I’m not there, yet, but now that Dusty is in high school it’s certainly possible. Like I lot of things, I have to do it now, which is always harder than being able to do it.
EP: You’re scheduled to be out and about quite a bit to promote this book. What are a few of your upcoming appearances if people would like to meet you or hear more about you?
Don: Well, the event schedule is on my website, and I’m always updating it. I’m going to stick around Chicago because I don’t much feel like going on the road and it doesn’t make sound financial sense. The Oak Park Festival Theatre is going to do a staged reading of one or two of my stories, possibly with the backdrop of A Christmas Carol set; I’m looking forward to that one, but we’re trying to nail down the date and venue. The launch at Cliff Dwellers should be a lot of fun–great place, spectacular view, and a club I like a lot. There will be a series of private house parties–I like parties and I think I’ll like parties at which everyone buys my book even better. If anybody wants to go to one of the private parties, they should just email me; it’s not that we’re trying to be exclusive with these, just that we cannot just open the doors and go from there. In other words, we need to know who’s coming in advance, but within reason everybody is welcome.
Leave a Comment