Abstract
The fantasy novel Santa Course, begins with the main character, Leslie Florence, content, and living in Auckland. He has a good job as a civil pilot, a lovely wife Laura and a lovely son Jack. One evening, Leslie goes out to clear the rubbish. When he attempts to return to his house, the door is locked and the windows are closed. He eventually breaks into but finds his house empty. A stranger called Trinity appears. Trinty informs Leslie that he was knocked down by a car when he went out to clear the rubbish, and that the only thing that Leslie can do now is fly to the magic island Whantanu. Trinity provides him with tickets for the flight and tells Leslie that on the island he will be trained to be the next Santa Claus. Trinity promises Leslie that once he has become a genuine Santa Claus, a meeting with his beloved ones will be arranged. During his year in Whantanu, Leslie makes friends with Lung, another Santa Claus trainee. Together, they learn the many skills necessary to be a Santa Claus. However, overtime it emerges that Santa Claus is in fact a fairy, and that being a fairy involves many rules, regulations and constraints. Flying, for example, involves more energy than swimming. Furthermore, fairies do not enjoy time travelling, they cannot foresee the future, or forecast the results of sports matches for the purposes of gambling. Fairies cannot create bank notes, because this would cause inflation. To complete the course, Leslie and Lung are assigned to an outward bound trip to an island called Nichigetsu where they are unable to practise their magic. They are given a task to find an immortal elixir using only their own ability and strength. In the end, the fairy management board decided to disqualify Lung’s fairyship. Could Leslie complete the task of Santa Claus alone without the help of Lung?
