3 posts tagged “scifi”
Oh Laura. Pls to be my president.
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Movie > book.
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Title: Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Publishing Info: William Morrow (September 26, 2006)
List Price: $26.95
ISBN: 0060515228
BINC: 8417156
Page Count: 400
Summary:
31 short works by Nail Gaiman, starting with a Sherlock Holmes meets Lovecraft tale and ending with a novella following Shadow's exploits in Scotland 2 years after the events of American Gods. Filled with ghosts, a talking raven, zombies, mistaken identies, and did I mention zombies?
Best Bit:
I was expecting the novella based off American Gods to be my favorite, but I wasn't expecting the Sherlock Holmes tale at all. If Neil Gaiman were to write some more Holmes, I would be more than ok with that. Other standouts include "Goliath," a story based in the world of The Matrix, and a short poem "The Day The Saucers Came."
Quick Review:
If you like Gaiman's other works, you're going to like Fragile Things. People who are uncomfortable with the unique feeling he manages in his sort of genre-crossing works tend to be disappointed. But if you like an author who plays with the concepts of reality, fantasy, and escapism, sometimes outwardly stating so, it's a very pleasurable read. Largely, these "short fictions" really are quite short, which means it's easy to pick up, read one or two, and go back to something else. I will say that reading the short story "Closing Time" at 4 am in the almost dark was a terrible idea: even though Gaiman never *really* crosses that line into horror, he certainly can be a master of unsettling you with a deft sentence describing the smallest nuance of a scene, and suddenly you find yourself huddling under the covers, a bit more anxious than you were before.
Final Grade: A
Pages Read: 637
Next Up: Still Foucault's Archeology of Knowledge. This was a bit faster to read, naturally.
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Publishing Info: William Morrow (September 26, 2006)
List Price: $26.95
ISBN: 0060515228
BINC: 8417156
Page Count: 400
Summary:
31 short works by Nail Gaiman, starting with a Sherlock Holmes meets Lovecraft tale and ending with a novella following Shadow's exploits in Scotland 2 years after the events of American Gods. Filled with ghosts, a talking raven, zombies, mistaken identies, and did I mention zombies?
Best Bit:
I was expecting the novella based off American Gods to be my favorite, but I wasn't expecting the Sherlock Holmes tale at all. If Neil Gaiman were to write some more Holmes, I would be more than ok with that. Other standouts include "Goliath," a story based in the world of The Matrix, and a short poem "The Day The Saucers Came."
Quick Review:
If you like Gaiman's other works, you're going to like Fragile Things. People who are uncomfortable with the unique feeling he manages in his sort of genre-crossing works tend to be disappointed. But if you like an author who plays with the concepts of reality, fantasy, and escapism, sometimes outwardly stating so, it's a very pleasurable read. Largely, these "short fictions" really are quite short, which means it's easy to pick up, read one or two, and go back to something else. I will say that reading the short story "Closing Time" at 4 am in the almost dark was a terrible idea: even though Gaiman never *really* crosses that line into horror, he certainly can be a master of unsettling you with a deft sentence describing the smallest nuance of a scene, and suddenly you find yourself huddling under the covers, a bit more anxious than you were before.
Final Grade: A
Pages Read: 637
Next Up: Still Foucault's Archeology of Knowledge. This was a bit faster to read, naturally.
