Call me childish, but I love all the nonsense – the snow, the trees, the tinsel, the turkey. I love presents. I love carols and cheesy songs. I just love Christmas™.''It would be a dream come true to be able to celebrate Christmas properly: to wake up to a Stocking™, visit Santa™ and open Presents™ around the Christmas Tree™.

But this is a luxury reserved for those with shares in YuleCo – controllers of this joyful season – who don’t agree that it’s a holiday for one and all.

In this short story, ''Tis the Season, which also features in the collection Looking for Jake and Other Stories, China Miéville’s astonishing imagination allows us a glimpse of how a dystopian Christmas might be.