Thanksgiving, which usually marks the start of the gift-giving season, is still 10 days away, but the race has already begun for one group of books—small-size Christmas stories from veteran bestselling novelists. This is a category of books that sees more entries each year (see Book News, Nov. 4). This week's fiction bestseller chart includes four such titles, with Janet Evanovich's Visions of Sugar Plums leading. She is #2 on the list and St. Martin's reports a 550,000-copy first printing and a People profile due to run before Christmas. John Grisham is in second place with Skipping Christmas, his bestseller from last year; the reissue brings the in-print total to more than 3,235,000 million. David Baldacci takes third place with The Christmas Train. Warner reports about 600,000 copies in print after two trips to press. The author kicked off his tour with a signing abroad an Amtrak train and another at the Book Corner in New York City's Penn Station. Last year, Jan Karon had an excellent run with Mitford Snowmen, selling more than 200,000 copies in the weeks leading to Christmas 2001; back-to-press activity, including a hefty amount in anticipation of Christmas 2002, now brings the in-print total for that one to 587,000. Karon's latest, Esther's Gift (Viking), with a first printing of 500,000, landed on the charts a week earlier than the other new holiday titles. It slips from #7 to #15 this week. It's still too early to predict a winner, though indications point to a good season for all.