Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions

Love it!!

I have a love-hate relationship with Neil Gaiman. I love his work. His diction is always impeccable, always inspired. But I hate that I somehow lose a day when I start reading one of his books. I get so wrapped up in the story, in the world that he weaves, that I cannot put the book down.I started reading this short story collection thinking that this may be the solution to my love-hate relationship. I could not have been more wrong. Even when the story is a mere hundred words (as is 'Nicholas Was ...'), I simply could not stop reading. After each story, I would pause to shiver or reflect (or, often, both). Occasionally, I would flip back to the beginning to read the introduction where the author discusses each story and how it came about. Then, I would plunge into the next story. I finished the book in less than a day, including flipping back and reading several stories again.This collection of short stories is an excellent introduction to the world of Neil Gaiman. One of the strengths of the author is showing an alternate perspective. You could look at each of these stories (including the one buried in the introduction) as doing just that. The haunting 'Nicholas Was ...' and 'Snow, Glass, Apples' show us that maybe Santa Claus isn't a jolly old man and that maybe Snow White wasn't an innocent pure girl driven out by an evil uncaring stepmother. Individually, each of the stories is an excellent example of what comes off of a gifted writer's pen (or keyboard, as it were). Together, this collection is riveting and engaging. In the years to come, I am sure that I will pull this book off my shelf often to read a story or two (or all of them) again.

Every now and then a reviewer uses the words "every now and then" to start a review. It usually is followed by a glimmering review of a very artsy, very bad book. With this book, though, it is completely appropriate. It is appropriate to say that every now and then a story collection comes along that will, in the end, change the way we read short stories. The last time this happened was, perhaps, King's "Night Shift." Before that, pick any Ray Bradbury collection.But Gaiman's collection is both and more put into one. "Smoke and Mirrors" is absolute masterpiece and seems like it would satisfy almost any avid reader's tastes. There is the humor, social commentary, poetry of all kinds and even a few examples of remarkably tasteful erotica included in this timeless collection. The dark side of the reader is revealed in a reassuring and, at the same time, frightening way. Reading Gaiman is not mere recreation, it is experience. This reviewer did not take long to complete these pages, despite a relatively busy work schedule. When it was over, it leaves disappointment that stems from the fact that the book was over, finished. Yet it is a fulfilling, and wonderful experience. It is not bogged down by "trying to make a point," despite the points it does make on the reader. It is simply telling a story, and the reader takes it as he or she wishes. This, in the end, is the essence of writing, and Gaiman has mastered it perfectly.The stories are diverse; humor and dark, poetry and prose. However, no matter which story you read one thing remains constant: Gaiman's superb ability in the art of storytelling.Writing short stories is an art of the most refined form, and Gaiman has done more than lead the art form or change the art form. He has transcended it and made it his own.Every now and then a story collection comes along that will, in the end, change literature. Here and now, that collection is "Smoke and Mirrors."

I should point out first that (a) I've been Neil's friend for many years, and therefore not without bias, and (b) some of these stories I've read several times before. However, due to various health problems, I have been spending a lot of time in a series of doctor's waiting rooms for months now, and Smoke and Mirrors has been my book of choice for resisting lure of six month old issues of Field and Stream. I have read it from start to finish, resisting the strong temptation to flip forward to the stories I hadn't read, savoring each offering as I would a course in a lavish meal (and considering I'm on a diabetic's diet that's more savoring than I'm allowed in the traditional sense). It's been an unalloyed pleasure. And yesterday, while waiting for my endcrinologist to check me over, I finished the last story. I rationed myself on this book, but you don't have to. If you only know Gaiman from Neverwhere or his Sandman comics, this is a chance to see the full range of his writing chops, which are formidable. I defy anyone to find me a better story this side of Nathaniel West about the mythical land of Hollywood than "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories." I cannot think of a more bizarre marriage than the melding of epic poetry and bikini bimbos that is Baywolf. I heard the ghost of Peter Cook at my ear in "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar." I took inordinate pleasure in reading "Snow, Glass, Apples" aloud to a group of my son's friends, and watching them laugh uneasily.There is a wealth of fine storytelling here, a veritable trove of style and substance, passion and pastiche, wit and bite and vision and venom. The art of the short story is in excellent hands.

I bought this book because of the review on SFSITE, at www.sfsite.com where the readers poll picked it as the best book of the year. After reading it I can see why. The stories range from funny to scary to sad to just plain strange.This is what it said at SFSITE. "He made it on the SF Site Editor's Best of 1998 list in the # 2 spot with Smoke and Mirrors. Last year he topped the Best of 1997 list with his first solo novel, Neverwhere -- which grabbed the #4 spot this year in paperback. Is there any doubt at all that we like Neil Gaiman? Gaiman's rep as a modern spinner of fairy tales is well deserved. But Smoke and Mirrors gave him an opportunity to perform on a variety of stages, and prove to his audience that he's far more than just the author of The Sandman comic, or even just a gifted fantasist. This collection of thirty short stories and poems (some of which were previously published in the small print-run volume Angels and Visitations) was the first opportunity he's had to demonstrate his true range, and he didn't waste it. The collection opens with "Chivalry," the story of a widow who discovers the Holy Grail in a secondhand shop; other tales include "Nicholas Was," a disturbing look at the legend of Santa Claus. For Lovecraft fans there's "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" and "Only the End of the World", both of which pay hilarious tribute to both the Cthulhu Mythos and classic horror film conventions. The poems include "Bay Wolf," which manages to mix Beowulf and Baywatch. All in all, Smoke and Mirrors is perhaps the most surprising and rewarding book of the year - one to be savoured and treasured."Warning: I don't think you would like this book if you have no imagination or sense of wonder.

People tend to get snide when you mention Neil Gaiman used to write comic books. Infidels. If your friends mock you and your fascination with the worlds Gaiman creates, just give them a copy of this book and tell them to shut up. It's the best introduction I can think of to everything Neil.Some stories are undoubtedly stronger and more inspired than others, but the collection on the whole is astoundingly good, and makes Stephen King look pathetic, though it's hard to compare the two. Gaiman doesn't write horror stories, he writes magical ones -- stories that wrap you up in what your parents told you for years was impossible or unreal. "Snow, Glass, Apples" -- this is not your grandmother's Snow White, and Gaiman himself states that he hopes the reader will not read the original faery tale the same way ever again. He succeeds. This story is worth the price of the book alone."Chivalry" -- a brilliant, extremely funny look into the mind of an elderly woman who's found the Holy Grail in a secondhand store and think it's just a fabulous mantel pice, never mind that Arthurian knight who keep bothering her for it. I made my dad read this one."Nicholas Was..." -- ever wonder how Christmas in the Gaiman household is? Dark, haunting, and achingly beautiful. Possibly my favorite, despite its (sadly) short length."The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories" -- the longest, and one of the best hands down, stories in this book. Neil takes the big hypodermic needle of writing and instead of sucking the life right out of what could have been a boring story, injects it with a subtle shadow and oodles of glitter. Very touching."The Sweeper of Dreams" -- one word: There's not only stories, but poetry as well, and if I could go door to door and beg people to buy and read this book, I would. Not everyone appreciates Gaiman's mission of reintroducing magic into our world, but I, for one, plan on doing every little bit I can do to help.Smoke and mirrors and illusions...