Fragile Things

[Malus Black]

So I just finished Neil Gaiman's newest short story collection Fragile Things, and it's quite wonderful. Being a short story collection (with a few small poems) it is, of course, varied, but on the whole I really enjoyed it. Some highlights are A Study in Emerald (Sherlock holmes meets the Mythos, available online here), October in the Chair (where the months of the year come to life and tell stories), Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire (which, obviously, parodizes the gothic novel), Bitter Grounds (pure Gaiman weirdness with zombies and voodoo), How to Talk to Girls at Parties (wonderfully dark Science Fiction story), Sunbird (in which a club wishes to sample a taste of everything edible and, in the end, go after something called the Sunbird) and The Monarch of the Glen, which catches up with Shadow from American Gods two years down the road. All the stories are filled with the weird darkness and bizarre fantasy you've come to expect from Gaiman.

[Jack of Tears]

>>A Study in Emerald (Sherlock holmes meets the Mythos, available online here)<<


This story is also features in an anthology entitled "Shadows Over Baker Stree; more tales of terror" (apparently there were two printings, the second adds the Gaiman story, from what I understand) This entire collection is fantastic; (though, naturally some are better than others) a "What if Sherlock Holmes ran into the world of H.P.Lovecraft" concept.

I got sidetracked by the Baker Street anthology while reading Fragile Things (basically, "A Study in Emerald" got me itching to read more alternate Holmes/Lovecraft stories) but certainly intend to get back to it - Gaiman being one of those authors whose works I'll buy without a second thought. (though, mind you, some of his stuff isn't as good as the rest)

[Malus Black]

This story is also features in an anthology entitled "Shadows Over Baker Stree; more tales of terror"

Yeah, most, if not all, of the stories in Fragile Things have been published elsewhere.

Also, in the spirit of the season, Gaiman's written a Halloween story for the New York Times, titled Ghosts in the Machines.