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Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman: when I was in high school I read the most amazing short story ever that was about a murdered angel. It was in this great little anthology that I somehow misplaced and was never able to find again. About five years ago I came across the short story again in one of the ever-excellent Years Best Fantasy and Horror collections. Over the years the story has stayed with me, though never the name or the author. Imagine my delight when, while coming to the end of this amazing collection, I find it contained within.
Neil Gaiman has always been a favorite of mine through both his short stories and his novels (especially American Gods), so I can't describe how happy it made me that he wrote one of the best short stories that I have ever read (the title, by the way, is Murder Mysteries).
I simply can not recommend Gaiman, especially this collection, highly enough. Everything that he writes is pure magic. There's heartbreak, there's happiness, there's sorrow, and there's joy, but the most important this is that his stories always ring true.
Pick this up as soon as you can. It is not to be missed. Forgive me if this review seems a bit disjointed, but I am so excited that the title of that missing anthology was mentioned and I have been able to find it again.
Favorite stories of mine from this collection are Chivalry, The Price, Don't Ask Jack, The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories, Queen of Knives, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, Bay Wolf, Mouse, Desert Wind, Babycakes, the aforementioned Murder Mysteries, and Snow, Glass, Apples.
(Finished on August 14, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)
.: Posted August 14, 2003 02:43 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :."; echo "Trackbacks on this post: ", $count, ""; $pingarray = "SELECT p.tbping_source_url, p.tbping_blog_name, p.tbping_created_on, p.tbping_excerpt, p.tbping_tb_id, t.trackback_id, t.trackback_entry_id FROM mt_tbping p, mt_trackback t WHERE (p.tbping_blog_id = $blogid) and (t.trackback_entry_id = $entry_id) and (t.trackback_id = p.tbping_tb_id)"; $resultping = mysql_query($pingarray) or die (mysql_error()); while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($resultping)) { //set up the variables being used - the date can be configured below $url = ($row['tbping_source_url']); $blog = ($row['tbping_blog_name']); $date = date("F d, Y g:i A", strtotime($row['tbping_created_on'])); $excerpt = ($row['tbping_excerpt']); echo "
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Comments
I'm reading American Gods right now - my first Gaiman. The premise is fantastic and it really sucked me in quickly. But I'm halfway through and finding the novelty of the idea wearing thin, and struggling to get past the hump. I hope it gets better from here.
I also purchased Neverwhere last weekend, so eventually I'll get to that. It looks like a quick read.
.: Jeff Coon said on August 14, 2003 08:46 AM :: link it :.the only gaiman book I have yet to read! nice review, I think i'll pick it up soon!
.: craig said on August 14, 2003 05:42 PM :: link it :.First one I read was Neverwhere and I loved it. I also picked up the BBC series on DVD. Have since read American Gods and Good Omens, both excellent.
.: john said on August 15, 2003 04:07 PM :: link it :.You're too early! Come back at August 14, 2003 02:43 AM to see this post.
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