Spent most of the day at Pinewood, watching Stardust stuff being filmed, and signing books for the crew. I wrote four short stories in 2002, and this was, I suspect, the best of the lot, although it won no awards. It was written for my friend Nalo Hopkinson’s anthology Mojo: Conjure Stories. OTHER PEOPLE In this collection of stories (and a few poems), storytellers and the act of storytelling have prominent roles. The anthropomorphized months of the year swap tales at their annual board meeting: a half-eaten man recounts how he made the acquaintance of his beloved cannibal; and even Scheherazade, surely the greatest storyteller of all, receives a tribute with a poem. The stories are by turns horrifying and fanciful, often blending the two with a little sex, violence, and humor. An introduction offers the genesis of each selection, itself a stealthy way of initiating teens into the art of writing short stories, and to some of the important authors of the genre. Gaiman cites his influences, and readers may readily see the inflection of H. P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury in many of the tales. Horror and fantasy are forms of literature wrought with clichés, but Gaiman usually comes up with an interesting new angle. This collection is more poetic and more restrained than Stephen King's short stories and more expertly written than China Mieville's Looking for Jake (Ballantine, 2005). Gaiman skips along the edge of many adolescent fascinations-life, death, the living dead, and the occult-and teens with a taste for the weird will enjoy this book

The Flints of Memory Lane – a real life ghost story has no resolution I'm not happy that a Romani woman is again presented as someone people should be afraid of. There are too many stories like that (3 stars) A powerful and oddly unified collection, a perfect introduction to Gaiman’s work for new readers and a thrilling reminder to his long-time fans . . . [T]he shorter prose form allows Gaiman a greater freedom of whimsy and provocation than even his graphic work, with stunning results. Toronto Star It is recorded that the emperor died in his sleep, and that is true, as far as it goes—although it could be remarked that his death was not entirely unassisted; and his oldest son, who became emperor in his turn, had little interest in maps or mapmaking. October in the Chair" (5 stars)-This was a great story involving the months as we know them coming to life and telling stories. Strange, or sweet, or eerie, or heartfelt stories . . . wonderfully peculiar . . . Gaiman relishes the sacred act of telling stories. Entertainment Weekly

Written as a joint effort by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens is the book on this list with the biggest cult following. People who like this book really, really love it (myself included, of course). Maybe the real world has made me too cynical or jaded, but what is meant to be scary or sinister seems here to be instead pathetic and old. What should be mysterious is merely another plot for a reality TV show. The writing itself is not that good, and uses an awful lot of cliches, in a kind of casual, isn't this amusing? way. If Gaiman is trying to parody pop culture, it falls flat for me. It's just not different or new or clever enough. The "Flints of Memory Lane" and "Closing Time" are two ghost stories that are claimed to be true, in which young boys witness something strange but never really find out the cause of it. "Good Boys Deserve Favors" also claims to be a true story, about a boy who mysteriously plays beautiful music on a double bass, before it breaks and he is never able to play it again. "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch" is another supposedly true story, in which the socially awkward Miss Finch is granted a wish by a magical cabinet in a circus, and disappears into a jungle world forever. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-04-05 13:09:51 Autocrop_version 0.0.10_books-20210916-0.1 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA40419510 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

A wodwo, or wodwose, was a wild man of the woods. This was written for Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow’s anthology The Green Man. BITTER GROUNDS The Mapmaker – originally written for American Gods, this short story is a cautionary tale about disregarding the needs of others while chasing ones desires and chasing immortality by keeping records a.k.a that map (3 stars)Lccn 2006048135 Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9633 Ocr_module_version 0.0.15 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA14387 Openlibrary_edition Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" by Neil Gaiman (2005) And Gaiman’s stories are full of possibilities. They are all so random and based upon chance encounters, and that’s what drives them forward: I just didn’t know what to expect from story to story. A man can walk into a diner and bump into a man he hasn’t seen for ten years who has a very dark and twisted tale to share. A boy can walk down the street and see a ghost in the lamplight or another can wake up and find himself in hell. There’s just no filter to the possibilities. They can go anywhere and be anything So in terms of entertainment value (and the ability to keep things fresh and interesting across pieces) this scores very highly. No two stories are the same and none really follow a particular pattern or system. The idea of grouping them under a title seems a little absurd. A few of them, though, did feel like they belonged in the same world as American Gods. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if he wrote some of them at the same time as working on his magnum-opus; there are certainly parallels.