This definitive collection of Neil Gaiman's short fiction will haunt your imagination and move you to the very depths of your soul.
An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat. A stray cat fights and refights a terrible nightly battle to protect his unwary adoptive family from unimaginable evil. A young couple receives a wedding gift that reveals a chilling alternative history of their marriage. These tales and much more await in this extraordinary book, revealing one of our most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers.
Includes extra material exclusive to this Headline Review edition.
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusions
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Amazon Review
Best known for his Sandman graphic novels about Morpheus, Lord of Dreams, Neil Gaiman has also written the standalone books Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Never Where from his BBC TV series revealing a fantastic realm under London, and Star Dust, a poignant fairy tale. His shorter fantasies are regularly picked for Year's Best collections. Smoke and Mirrors assembles 36 of his favourite stories, prose poems, and verse pieces. Among the imaginative inventions here are a murder mystery set among angels in heaven; the discovery of the Holy Grail at Oxfam; warped retellings of fairy tales and folklore, including a Snow White that's black beyond belief; several clever variations on vampirism; a firm of contract killers with a very remarkable discount scheme; homages to Michael Moorcock and H.P. Lovecraft (one splendidly funny) that avoid mere pastiche; an SF world of rapid and reversible sex changes; Beowulf retold as a Baywatch episode; a tasty amalgamation of computers and black magic; a new final book of the Bible; and the grim wedding present that's simply a manuscript telling a bleakly different story of the recipients' unfolding marriage. SF/fantasy professionals themselves envy Gaiman's perpetual flow of new ideas and ability to put a fresh spin on old ones. Smoke and Mirrors is a dazzlingly varied and rewarding collection. --David Langford
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'A very fine and imaginative writer'
(The Sunday Times )'Exuberantly inventive'
(Kirkus Reviews )
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By kehs
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Neil Gaiman is a master story teller, IMHO, and this selection of short stories by him is the perfect showcase for his talents. An incredible assortment of tales awaits the reader in this marvelous book - an old lady that finds the Holy Grail in an Oxfam shop for 30p - a little boy that meets a troll - the shortest but most haunting Xmas story I've ever read - the Jack-in-the-box that no-one played with......oh, so many and all are pure genius. My personal favourite is the very last in the book, which is a re-telling of Snow White and because of N G's version I will never think of her in the same light again. I feel that several of these stories have the potential of becoming full length novels one day - I'll just have to wait and see. One warning, if you haven't read any of Gaiman's work before you will soon become addicted after reading this book.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Migratory
Format:Paperback
This is a collection of some of Neil Gaiman's short works. You could say there were poems and stories in the book, but saying there is prose, a rondel, long verse, short verse and some peculiar mixtures of obscure types of writing would be a better description.
A few of the stories are the conventional type but many of them are not. Most of the stories have a fairly dark subject matter - indeed some of them are truly horrible - but all are marvellously written, and most extremely original.
There's also a long introduction to the book with a small commentary on each piece plus an extra bonus story.
This isn't a book I'd buy as a present for someone unless I knew their tastes extremely well. It's not the type of book that everyone would enjoy - there are sexual stories, there are dark deeds and just the layouts of some of the pieces make them more different than some people would feel happy with - but I thought it was brilliant. Not every piece will hit the mark, but it's not the type of fluffy read you'll wonder why you bothered with. It's full of stories that stay with you for a long time.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There is something so absolutely compelling about everything that Neil Gaiman seems to write. I don't know quite how he does it, but I always find myself picking up one of his books and being drawn into regardless of my own freewill or choice. Here in this collection of Short stories stands a fine example of something that many writers these days do not always succeed in - Gaiman shows us how a story should be told. These tales may be short but each of them is complete in their own way, and even at their darkest they can be amusing, and totally engrossing.
I would recomend to anybody with a few hours to kill that picking up this volume would be a couple of hours very well spent. Right from his introduction Gaiman makes the reader feel a part of these little worlds he's created and somehow you just have to read them all. If you haven't discovered this guy yet - it's about time you did.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 118 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a 'Feel Good Read'
This was reviewed as a 'feel good read'. but was far from it. I read only four stories and every one seemed to be be odder and more fanciful than the one before. Read more
Published 2 months ago by patB
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some great stories, some average
I love Neil Gaiman's books and was excited to get this collection of short stories (to read on the train to work). Some of them really pull you in and I couldn't put them down. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Natanya
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Stories
Interesting stories that kept me reading. Neil Gaiman is a great writer and this is just another one of his books I enjoyed.
Published 4 months ago by Cheri Watts
4.0 out of 5 stars
Speaking in Tongues
A curious collection of stories inasmuch as the style is so variable and unilateral only their 'gothickness'. Read more
Published 5 months ago by PenFriend
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review
An excellent compendium of short stories from this masterly storyteller.
Full of his ready humour,dark forebodings and his ability to not take his reputaion too... Read more
Full of his ready humour,dark forebodings and his ability to not take his reputaion too... Read more
Published 14 months ago by B.Graham
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not great...
I know an awful lot of people love Neil Gaiman's work, and I started reading this really wanting to like it, but it's so twee and self-consciously 'kooky' it almost defies you to... Read more
Published 15 months ago by stilllovereading
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for fairy tale fans
Enjoyed this, although it wasn't consistently amazing anyone who loves fairy tale inspired stories will enjoy the ones that fit into that category a lot. Read more
Published 17 months ago by ANV
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grrreat
Really nice collection of stories with various themes and characters, all of them a kind of dark but its totally Gaiman's style. Read more
Published 18 months ago by AJW
1.0 out of 5 stars
Shoddy and Boring
Certainly not up to Gaiman's usual standard. I agree with other comments that this looks suspiciously like a money-making potboiler of a book; the stories are poorly written,... Read more
Published 19 months ago by TPD
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
This was the first NG book I read. It has great short stories.
After reading it I decided to buy more books from the author.
After reading it I decided to buy more books from the author.
Published on 22 Oct 2010 by JRocha
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
