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  #1  
Old 05-26-2006, 03:29 PM
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Smoke and Mirrors / Neil Gaiman

Ive been reading this, slowly but surely, for awhile now. It's a collection of short stories for anyone that might not know.

Ive read about half of them, and so far they're all very good. Highly recomended.
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Old 05-26-2006, 06:33 PM
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Gaiman's short fiction is always great, but for some reason, I do not like his long form work at all. I find it (with the notable exception of Neverwhere) to be annoyingly precious and cute.
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Old 05-26-2006, 06:36 PM
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Neverwhere is actually the only long fiction Ive read of Gaiman's, and I also enjoyed it.

Have you seen the BBC mini-series of Neverwhere? Ive been wanting to check it out but Ive never got around to it.
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Old 05-27-2006, 10:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by The_Return
Have you seen the BBC mini-series of Neverwhere? Ive been wanting to check it out but Ive never got around to it.
I just got the second part of this series through Netflix today. I like it. Its low budget, weird music, but entertaining. Give it a shot if you can.
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Snow falling and night falling fast, oh fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All the animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness incluces me unawares.

And lonely as it is, that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

Desert Places--Robert Frost
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Old 08-21-2006, 07:23 PM
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Ok, so I just finished it. For the most part it was very good, I liked it.

Murder Mysteries was probably my favourite story in the book. Really original plot (well not really...really original twist on a REALLY old plot)

I didnt really like Shoggoth's Old Peculiar though....alot of his stuff refrences Lovecraft, but this one just goes way overboard IMO. Kinda like Scream, only with Lovecraft as fodder rather than slasher movies. A big ol' wink to the fans the whole way through...got on my nerves.

Snow, Glass, Apples was really good too, I love it when people do twists on classic stories, and this was one of the better.
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Old 08-21-2006, 08:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by noctuary
Gaiman's short fiction is always great, but for some reason, I do not like his long form work at all. I find it (with the notable exception of Neverwhere) to be annoyingly precious and cute.
American Gods was good and not cute. The book he did with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, was decent. More of a funny book then serious.
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yes, i know so much is so ordinary, so coarse, and so vulgar. but survival is simply not enough. nowhere near.
what's the point of surviving? survive what? don't you realize you're going to die? f*ck your missions, your crusade.
i demand and expect quality.
right now, once and for all.
quality time.
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Old 08-22-2006, 03:45 AM
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gaiman junkie

Came across American Gods at a discount store last December and quite enjoyed it for just being different. Then went on a binge and read everything else by Gaiman.

- Good Omens - bloody hillarious, if u can put your thinking brain on hold while u read
- Neverwhere - surreal and cute
- Stardust - a modern fairytale-like story that's just plain fun to read, quite refreshing
- Smoke and Mirrors - a 50-50 thingy. Some meandered on too long with old english, poetry and Lovecraftian rants, but the shorter ones were best. His take on St Nick & Snow White are priceless. And stuff like Babycakes, Murder Mysteries and the hidden story in the foreword is just brilliant.
- Anansi Boys - sequel to American Gods, but more in vein of Good Omens/Stardust in hilarity. A riot from start to end.

Searching shelves for more of his books
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Old 08-23-2006, 06:28 AM
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i only have stardust and neverwhere.

cool thing about neverwhere is that it's an advance reading copy.
if this guy continues to grow in popularity it might be worth something some day.
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Old 08-23-2006, 03:31 PM
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I have a signed and numbered copy of Violent Cases.
If you can find it anywhere-it's well worth your time-very early stuff by Neil and Dave.

Also:
The Dream Hunters is just about my most prized material object I have ever owned, and it's just a reprinted ,large mass edition,nothing special, a really good story and Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations are breathtaking.

@ The Return: I am in the minorty of people that actually liked the BBC Neverwhere TV series, so it's a 50/50 shot you might like it.


@urge: Anansi Boys, American Gods and Good Omens are all steller IMO.
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Old 08-23-2006, 05:43 PM
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tough to find used though ..

good sign for the author - people hang onto the books.
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