Smoke and Mirrors

by Neil Gaiman | Mystery & Thrillers |
ISBN: 0755322835 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Flambard of Horsham, West Sussex United Kingdom on 3/2/2008
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4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Flambard from Horsham, West Sussex United Kingdom on Sunday, March 2, 2008
Bravo bravissimo! Another fantastic book by Mr Gaiman. Alternatively sick and sexy, but always surreal. I just loved the last two stories - a heavenly whodunnit and Snow White as you have never thought of her before! More more more!

Journal Entry 2 by Flambard at Via Mail in RABCK, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, March 8, 2008

Released 16 yrs ago (3/8/2008 UTC) at Via Mail in RABCK, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases

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Journal Entry 3 by Guinneth from Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Thank you SO much for sending this to me, flambard. I've greatly enjoyed a couple of Gaiman's novels and I *love* short stories, so I'm really looking forward to this!

Journal Entry 4 by Guinneth from Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, August 24, 2008
This is a supurb collection of short stories; if I hadn't been a Gaiman fan before reading it, I'd certainly be one now.

My favorites:
Chivalry. What a brilliant, funny, endearing little story this is.

The Price. I understand cats, and can actually envision some version of this being true. :-)

Don't Ask Jack. This is an extremely creepy (and subtle) tale about a horrific child's toy.

Murder Mysteries. I thought about this for quite a while after reading it.

Snow, Glass, Apples. My new favorite version of 'Snow White'.

The above stories resonated the most, but really there were only one or two offerings here that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. I also found that Gaiman's brief introductory paragraphs added a great deal to my enjoyment, which is not always the case when writers (or editors) include them. Another bonus: I was delighted to discover the art of Lisa Snellings thanks to the intro for Don't Ask Jack.

I'd like very much to keep this a while, unless flambard has some objection in which case I know just the BCer to send it to. :-)

Journal Entry 5 by Guinneth from Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I'm going to see if GoryDetails wants to read this!

Journal Entry 6 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Yes, GoryDetails does want to read this {grin}. Thanks so much!

Journal Entry 7 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, October 31, 2008
{blush} It turns out I HAD read this one - another case of being faked out by a different cover {wry grin}. But it was well worth revisiting!

Enhancing this fine collection of stories is Gaiman's introduction, in which he includes little blurbs about each story and where it came from; some of these anecdotes are worth the price of the book all by themselves. For example, I was delighted to learn, in relation to the story "Only the End of the World Again," that not only was its main character based on Larry (my favorite wolfman) Talbot and set in H. P. Lovecraft's Innsmouth, but that Gaiman had based part of it on the same real-life trial that had influenced one of my favorite Saki stories. "A number of things coming together": as Gaiman says, "that's where we writers Get Our Ideas, in case you were wondering."

I enjoyed nearly all of these stories, though some were definite favorites. There's some humor, some horror, and a lot of shades of grey... "Changes" deals with the possible societal ramifications of a drug that cures cancer - but that also changes the patient's sex. Some people would rather die than switch, apparently, while others want to use the drug recreationally - him today, her tomorrow. It's not a long story - Gaiman's intro says it was more of a series of ideas around which a novel has not yet appeared - but it covers a lot of ground. Then there's "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar," in which a traveler has a few drinks with some pop-eyed denizens of an Innsmouth bar, and "after that it all got a bit odd" {grin}.

The story/poem "Virus" is about a computer game and the havoc it wreaks; too true for comfort when watching a teenager embed himself in a game. There's "One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock," a lovely coming-of-age-via-fantasy-heroes tale which I'd previously seen in illustrated form in a graphic-novel version of Elric of Melnibone; a lovely vignette called "The Sweeper of Dreams" - lovely, but with a kick. And Murder Mysteries, which I'd also seen in graphic novel form; it works well both ways, though the visual clues vs. the text ones seemed to change the focus a bit. [A couple of the other stories have also appeared in graphic-novel format: "The Price" and "Daughter of Owls" in Creatures of the Night, and, most recently, "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch".] And "Snow, Glass, Apples" is a wonderfully bleak take on Snow White.

Thanks for sharing this one!

Journal Entry 8 by wingGoryDetailswing at Morrisville, North Carolina USA on Monday, November 17, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (11/17/2008 UTC) at Morrisville, North Carolina USA

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I'm sending this book to BCer Vysion in NC, to fulfil a wishlist item. Hope you enjoy it!

Journal Entry 9 by Vysion from Cary, North Carolina USA on Friday, November 21, 2008
I received this in the mail today. I am surprised to receive it as I'm not the best at getting a Bookcrossing book back out into the wild quickly, but I shall attempt to do so. Thanks to flambard for setting it free, to Guinneth for continuing the chain and lastly to GoryDetails for thinking of me and my wishlist. I really look forward to eating up this Neil Gaiman short story collection.

Journal Entry 10 by Vysion from Cary, North Carolina USA on Thursday, May 20, 2010
I finished reading it last month but forgot to make any notes. I'll only share a few thoughts on selected stories. I avoided or disliked several due to graphic sexual elements.

First off, don't skip the introduction as a worthwhile tale "The Wedding Present" is included, squeezed within those pages. The road not traveled, or perhaps the life that could have been.

"Chivalry" is a delightful tale of what one might occur with that perfect thrift store find. The characterization had me smiling. Probably the best in the book.

Some stories ["The Price", "Troll Bridge"] were eerie and unsettling. I wouldn't want to reread them but feel it was worth the experience once for the new path they tread.

There was a wicked fun sense within the shortest tales "Nicholas Was...." and "Babycakes" for which I was glad to have read.

I so wanted to recommend the final two tales, "Murder Mysteries" and "Snow, Glass, Apples". Conceptually the former was an excellent angelic mystery and the latter a fine tale with familiar elements from a fairy tale. However there were factors that negated my doing so, especially the adult elements that had me skipping sections.

So the book in its entirety started off strong, dropped far off and climbed high in the end but tripped in that final execution. However that's solely my opinion. I want to firmly state Gaiman has a superb mind for short storytelling concepts.

Anyway thanks to those before me for sharing the book. One friend already has a copy or I'd direct it their way. It'll most likely be placed on the free table at work for another to take.

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