Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders. Neil Gaiman

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders



Download Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders



Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders Neil Gaiman. epub ebook
Publisher: William Morrow
Language: English
Page: 400
ISBN: 0060515228, 9780060515225

From Publishers Weekly

Hot off the critical success of Anansi Boys, Gaiman offers this largely disappointing medley that feels like a collection of idea seeds that have yet to mature. Among the ground covered: an old woman eats her cat alive, slowly; two teenage boys fumble through a house party attended by preternaturally attractive aliens; a raven convinces a writer attempting realism to give way to fantastical inclinations. A few poems, heartfelt or playfully musical, pockmark the collection. At his best, Gaiman has a deft touch for surprise and inventiveness, and there are inspired moments, including one story that brings the months of the year to life and imagines them having a board meeting. (September is an "elegant creature of mock solicitude," while April is sensitive but cruel; they don't get along), but most of these stories rely too heavily on the stock-in-trade of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Gaiman only once or twice gives himself the space necessary to lock the reader's attention.150,000 announced first printing.(Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—In this collection of stories (and a few poems), storytellers and the act of storytelling have prominent roles. The anthropomorphized months of the year swap tales at their annual board meeting: a half-eaten man recounts how he made the acquaintance of his beloved cannibal; and even Scheherazade, surely the greatest storyteller of all, receives a tribute with a poem. The stories are by turns horrifying and fanciful, often blending the two with a little sex, violence, and humor. An introduction offers the genesis of each selection, itself a stealthy way of initiating teens into the art of writing short stories, and to some of the important authors of the genre. Gaiman cites his influences, and readers may readily see the inflection of H. P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury in many of the tales. Horror and fantasy are forms of literature wrought with clichés, but Gaiman usually comes up with an interesting new angle. This collection is more poetic and more restrained than Stephen King's short stories and more expertly written than China Mieville's Looking for Jake (Ballantine, 2005). Gaiman skips along the edge of many adolescent fascinations-life, death, the living dead, and the occult-and teens with a taste for the weird will enjoy this book—Emma Coleman, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.



MORE EBOOKS:
Download Ghosts in the Bedroom: A Guide for the Partners of Incest Survivors pdf
The Construction of the Assyrian Empire: A Historical Study of the Inscriptions of Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.) Relating to His Campaigns in the West (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East) pdf download
The Puritan-Provincial Vision: Scottish and American Literature in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) pdf download







Tags: Download Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook pdf
Download Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook djvu
Download Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook chm
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders download book
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook pdf
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook djvu
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders ebook chm
Neil Gaiman ebooks