Tuesdays with Snicket

Mr. Lemony Snicket, chronicler of unfortunate events and penner of "The Lump of Coal" and "The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christamas Story," will be doling out holiday advice at Amazon's Omnivoracious on Tuesdays in December. But not just any old advice -- advice in response to your questions.

Readers can submit their questions now, in advance, in the comments of the blog post. Questions like:

Why does it always have to be coal? Why shouldn't a concerned parent give their ill-behaved youngsters something more accessible for modern times, say, a stick of firewood or a dried lump of mud?

What holiday traditions do you hope die with your generation? Which ones would you like to see passed on?

So far, there are only nine questions in total. Sure, that's more than two for each week that he'll be writing, but doesn't a character of Mr. Snicket's estimable talents deserves a plethora of holiday questions? If he doesn't get many more, that would be quite an unfortunate event.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo of "The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming" by onefish2 via Flickr