"Stories are, in one way or another, mirrors. We use them to explain to ourselves how the world works or how it doesn't work. Like mirrors, stories prepare us for the day to come. They distract us from the things in the darkness."
Smoke and Mirrors is Neil Gaiman's first collection of short stories, or as he subtitles the book: Short Fictions and Illusions. This book was perfect! It was just the book that I've been waiting for after the reading slump that I've been in. I knew that I wouldn't be disappointed with Neil Gaiman, but I was even more pleased with these than I thought I would be.
As I read through these stories, I found myself continually amazed by the scope of Neil Gaiman's work. The man has an endless array of the most unique, far-fetched, bizarre, fully entertaining, haunting, and genius ideas and he writes them all so well. Put in the wrong hands, some of these story ideas could turn out really awful, but Gaiman makes them true literature (I'd love to hear what our Once Upon a Time basher blogger friend has to say about that sentence!). I have no doubt that Gaiman will live on as one of the great fantasy/horror writers of our time...he's already secured the title for himself in my book and in many others'.
Smoke and Mirrors starts off with a wonderful introduction that includes one of my favorite stories in the book "The Wedding Present". He then goes on to give a little history behind each short story in the collection which I absolutely loved. One very cool thing that I noticed from the intro is that 3 of the stories in this collection are based on sculptures by Lisa Snellings-Clark. He also mentions a sculpture of hers that he has sitting on his mantelpiece that he "suspects is a novel"....I'd be curious to know if that will see the light of day.
I enjoyed nearly every story in this collection, and counting "The Wedding Present", you get 31 stories in this book! Some of my favorites were:
Chivalry: about a woman who buys the Holy Grail at a thrift store
The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories: about a man who flies to L.A. to meet with Hollywood execs who are interested in a screenplay he has written. While there, he meets a very interesting janitor who holds age old secrets of the hotel he is staying at.
Troll Bridge: a young boy runs into a troll under a bridge and makes a deal that his life will be spared until the next time he crosses.
Changes: A man invents a cure for cancer that also changes the gender of the person who uses the drug...the drug soon gains a street value.
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A tourist happens upon an English pub and meets a couple of strangers who buy him a couple of drinks....a strange night ensues.
Looking for the Girl: A man spends the better part of his life looking for a girl that continually pops up in Penthouse as a nineteen year old model.
Bay Wolf: Modern take on an ancient epic.
We Can Get Them For You Wholesale: I really liked this one. A man decides to put a hit out on one person and decides that he can't pass up a bargain....
One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock: Another favorite, this one was nostalgic...about a few young boys at school, their favorite author and the problems of life.
Foreign Parts: Alien STDs...
When We Went to See the End of the World: Written by an "11 1/4 year old", a tale of a young girl who goes with her parents for a drive to the end of the world. Very sad at times...deals with issues of abuse.
Babycakes: Very disturbing, but meaningful story about animal cruelty.
Murder Mysteries: The investigation of a fallen angel's death
Snow, Glass, Apples: Another absolute favorite, Neil's much darker telling of Snow White. The kiddies won't like this one ;)
OK, so I should've just given a summarization of all of them :p This was such a great collection and I can't wait to read Fragile Things now! I'm very excited to have another collection of his short stories waiting for me. I just can't believe I waited this long to get to this one. If you're looking for a book for the RIP challenge in September (right around the corner) this is a definite winner.
