Julian: A Christmas Story
Julian: A Christmas Story is a dystopian science fiction novella by Robert Charles Wilson, first published in 2006 by PS Publishing. The hardcover edition has 86 pages and cover art by Edward Miller (an online edition is about 50 pages).
The story is told by a teenage narrator, Adam Hazzard, in the year 2172 in the rural town of Williams Ford, in Athabaska—a region imagined as part of the United States in this world. After oil runs out, technology has regressed to 19th‑century levels, and the Church of the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth holds all political power.
Adam’s friend Julian Comstock, who will later be known as Julian Conqueror or Julian the Agnostic, is an aristocratic boy with radical ideas about God, science, and evolution. He questions the church’s beliefs and promotes notions about DNA and the Moon Landings. Julian is the president’s nephew, Deklan Comstock, and there are rumors that he may be drafted to fight in the Labrador War against European powers to quiet dissent.
The novella follows Adam and Julian as they try to survive and avoid the draft in a theocratic society that resists change. The story was later expanded into a full-length novel, Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America. Critics have noted Wilson’s use of old-fashioned speech and diction, which adds a nostalgic feel to the world he creates.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:28 (CET).