Customer Reviews
Beautiful and Dangerous - By: Ms. E. K. Harris, 26 Nov 2008 
Dark & edgy. This collection boarders on nightmareish horror at times but still retains beautyin Gaiman's writing. I think I prefer Gaimanin the short story form, his wonderfully lyrical writing seems all the more preciousin small doses. This book is worth it for Murder Mysteries alone which I keep coming back to - something about it seems to call to my imagination & it lingers at the back of my consciousness inbetween readings.
A great place to begin - By: Lark, 21 Sep 2008 
If you've not read this author before this is a really great place to begin, not all the stories featured are writtenin the same style or for the same purpose, there are stories from magazines & athologies & the author provides a short description on the choice of featured stories too.
However running through them all is a sort of content which is unmistakeably Gaiman, the fantastic & spellbinding is ever present, however people are often motivated by pretty human, sometimes base, instincts.
My favourite stories are the one the knight who has ranged across time looking for an artifact which an old lady has uncovered at a junk shop. I really had a sense of chivalryin the character & conduct of the knight, its all made extraordinary because its so removed from what you would imagine is its context, time & place.
The story writtenin tribute of a Moorcock's writing is fantastic & very evocative of the joys of reading, particularly when the central character decides that all the books, different genres of sci fi & fantasy are all of a kind because they are all by the same author & the style survives throughout them all. I was startled by this story tooin that it features some pretty disturbing revelations between friendsin a kind of "that's how things are" way. It made me think about whether it was a fantasy story or a kind horror story.
There's also a story about a photographer which deals with the nature of obsession which I've found totally unforgetable too & had all the usual elements of unease, disturbance & fantasy allin a very everyday matter of fact retellingin the first person.
This is an excellent place to start with this author, lots of shorter & medium length stories which you can read & digest before deciding whether or not you want to get involved with one of his full length works. I had this bookin my car for a couple of weeks & read it any time I got a chance, I could see it being a really great book to read on train journeys or when commuting.
The Good The Bad and the Crappy - By: B. J. Crossley, 19 Mar 2008 
the story with the terrorized cat was good, another about -very short this one- JACK was its name, that was good. Another which starts out being about Venereal disease but has a twist. that one was good. A lady who picks up the holy grail was good too. The rest were either bad or very bad.
Spellbinding - By: C. L. Askew, 20 Jul 2007 Just fabulous.
It was this book that first pitched me headlong into the strange & scary world of Neil Gaiman's writing -- now I am a huge fan. I would recommend this to anyone, whether you like fantasy/sci fi or not, because Neil Gaiman's writing has more to do with how fantasy imitates real life than how it deviates from it.
The people who "didn't get" this book were obviouslyin the bathroom when the imagination van came around.
Upon Reflection - A Little Disappointing - By: Mr. John Frank Herbert, 30 Jun 2007 
Reading the good reviews I thought to myself - at last some short stories with teeth!
How wrong could they be? Many of the tales begin OK, & build up nicely, only to let us down at the end with a "non-ending" - which I hate. You know the ones - they just leave you hanging nowhere, unfinished, & you silently mouth the words "AND?"!!!
It was an interesting mix of poetry etc, & the introduction, showing us how he wrote each tale, was quite novel.
Where oh where has the satisfying short story gone?
