I am a fan of Neil Gaiman. If you’ve been around this blog for any length of time, that much is obvious. But I am a fan of him because of his work, not a fan of his work simply because it is written by Neil Gaiman. That is an important distinction. There is (gasp!) work that Neil Gaiman has done that I am not a fan of, for one reason or another. His collaboration with Michael Reaves, Interworld, comes to mind. As do some of the short stories in his collections Angels and Visitations, Smoke and Mirrors, and this one too.
While I do not understand it when anyone says that Neil Gaiman is a “bad writer” (a position I find indefensible) I do understand completely when people say that they cannot connect with him or his stories. I understand that when I read some of his short stories that do nothing for me. I understand it even more when his short stories make me angry (you’ll have to wait for a coming week to find out about that). This week’s selections are far from my favorites. I will readily admit that in my normal re-readings of Fragile Things I often skip these altogether. I am truly hoping I am a rare exception in this and that some of you liked these and will talk them up. If not, please know that the collection does turn around. There are great stories to come. And if you did like these, don’t be shy, tell us all why that is the case.
Do I have to remind you that there might be spoilers ahead? Yes I do, because I want to be a conscientious blogger.
And here we go.
