Description: Good. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2001-07-01
ISBN-13:9780060934705ISBN:0060934700
Description: Very Good. No names, no marks, no stickers. Binding is tight and square. No creases in cover or spine. Text is clean, bright and unmarked. Slight edge wear on bottom. We recommend EXPEDITED MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Description: Fine. 0061450162 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black ink mark on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Avon
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780380789023ISBN:0380789027
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: William Morrow & Company, New York
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780380973644ISBN:0380973642
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. (8-07) Advance review Trade Paperback copy had dampness at upper right corner, some pgs slightly wavey, but no dsticking or discoloration, otherwise excellent. Trade Paperback. With dust jacket. 352 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Trade Paperback. First Printing. Black Pen Remainder Slash to the Bottom Edge of the Book, Otherwise a Tight Bright Attractive Copy With No Markings To The Book. ISBN 0-06-093470-0. Copy number two. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Perennial
Date Published: 2008-02-01
ISBN-13:9780061450167ISBN:0061450162
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780061450167. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial, New York
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780060934705ISBN:0060934700
Description: J. K. Potter; Very Good. 8vo. (ix) 339 pp. First Thus. Lightly rubbed on the corners with a flat uncreased spine; no interior markings. Cover by J. K. Potter. This anthology contains: Reading the Entrails: A Rondel; Chivalry; Nicholas Was; The Price; Troll Bridge; Don't Ask Jack; The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories; The White Road; Queen of Knives; The Daughter of Owls; Shoggoth's Old Peculiar; Virus; Looking for the Girl; Only the End of the World Again; Bay Wolf; We Can Get Them for You ... read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Avon Books, New York
Date Published: 1998
Description: Near Fine in Fine jacket. Octavo 6" x 9" [SF]. 339 pp. Hardcover, bound in boards with dustjacket. The first few pages corners corner-creased. Promotional materials for the author laid in. read more
Edition: First Edition/First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Avon Books, New York
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780380973644ISBN:0380973642
Description: N-Fine in N-Fine jacket. Collection A square solid tight carefully read copy. This copy has some light pagedge soil. The 24.00 jacket has some light rubbing wear, minor edgewear. read more
"A collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman, a 'taster pack' if you will of his writing style. As I read through it, I will add comments for each story.
Chivalry: An old lady buys the Holy Grail from Oxfam, and a knight comes along asking for it. Cutely quaint, almost doddering in writing style, but perhaps a little dry.
Nichlas was...: An 100-word dark Christmas drabble which leaves you feeling quite sorry for Santa.
The Price: A black cat appears on their doorstep, sustains mysterious wounds every night. This has a colloquial feel, although halfway through sidesteps into a flight of fancy that is initially a little jarring but does add a sense of mystique.
The Troll Bridge: Quite depressing, it's strength is in the beginning, when the narrator is a child of 7. The story then flashes forward to 15, then to an indeterminate middle-age. I think the most striking moment is when the troll looks all sad and lonely.
Don't Ask Jack: Not the best of the lot, short and creepy and unsatisfying.
The Daughter of Owls: This has a fable-like feel, but written in ye olde style English, full of odd spellings which some readers may find distracting."
"There are some really great stories here. The only reason this didn't get more stars is simply because this is a collected fictions and I didn't love all of them. The ones I did love were too short! Ha."
"'Smoke and Mirrors' is the first of two short story collections written by Neil Gaiman. This title was first published in 1998, while 'Fragile Things' came out in 2006. Having read 'Fragile Things' mere months ago I was doing quite a bit of comparison between the two as I worked my way through 'Smoke and Mirrors'. While there are a lot of similarities between the two, there are also many differences.
Both collections involve Gaiman doing what he does best, that is taking our own myths, fables, and folklore, tweaking them to better resonate with our modern culture, and handing them back to us complete with the grit and gristle that were absent from the versions that we received as children. While this seems to be an over-arching theme to most of the stories in 'Fragile Things', it still shows up occasionally in 'Smoke and Mirrors' along with so much else.
Gaiman takes the reader to so many places throughout these stories. These include a couple of nods to writers that surely influenced him along the way (Lovecraft and Moorcock, specifically), a writer struggling through a screenplay that has been watered down by the movie studio discovering the legendary Hollywood of old, and political intrigue amongst the angels in heaven. Lawrence Talbot also makes an appearance in a tale involving the Wolf Man. Gaiman's books are usually shelved in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section at the average bookstore, which I think is a bit of a disservice as these stories are so much more diverse than the typical view of the Fantasy genre that involves touchy-feely knights riding around on horses and tends to prejudice the typical reader to that genre negatively.
A tip to any readers who are in the habit of skipping book introductions: Gaiman actually hides a story within the introduction of this book as a payoff to those who religiously read the introduction. That sort of cleverness suckers me in every time.
It may be unwise to compare the stories in 'Smoke and Mirrors' to each other and to 'Fragile Things' as both books represent more of a compilation of Gaiman stories that appeared in other publications over a particular period of his writing career versus something that was put together as an intentional, unified collection. However, as it is great fun to wildly speculate, I believe that the stories in 'Smoke and Mirrors' are bolder than the ones in the later collection. As most of these stories were written around the time that 'Sandman' was finishing its run, I'm wondering if the reason for this was to prove to any naysayers that Gaiman was a serious writer and not just "that comic book guy."
These stories may not be something that would be discussed in a college level literature class with the austere professor that lives and dies by the canon, but I don't think that is Gaiman's intention as a writer. He comes from the storyteller tradition, and I feel that such a thing is just as important in feeding one's imagination and intellect as the heavy literature now and again."
"Tant d'étagères, pour un recueil de nouvelles absolument splendide, maîtrisé et qui boursouflerait d'envie n'importe quel soufflet au fromage se prenant pour un auteur. C'est à la fois tout, dans tous les sens et à la fois il en émane une unité, une cohérence, de structure, d'idée, qui vous mène là où vous ne le vouliez pas.
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