A Written Variety Show - Smoke and Mirrors

I didn’t intend on reading all of “Smoke and Mirrors” by Neil Gaiman. I was just gonna read a few stories until the books I ordered were delivered. It was gonna take a week and I figured that “Smoke and Mirrors” would give me enough reading material for lunch.

The thing is that Gaiman’s easy storytelling, his skill with words, and his ability to weave tales that jump from short poems to sci-fi to Lovecraftian parody to horrific fairy tale caught my imagination just like it did a few years ago when I first read this compilation of short stories. I remembered why I was so excited to read more of his stuff after this sampling, and I realized why I always refer to this collection whenever I talk about Gaiman. Just looking over my blogs for “Stardust”, “Anansi Boys” and “Coraline” I notice that I make reference to his short stories every time.

So what is it about Gaiman’s work in “Smoke and Mirrors” that is so interesting? I have to say that it’s his skill in telling the story, no matter what type of story or what type of format it is in, he pulls you in. He also knows just the right length to make the stories compelling.

One of my favorites is the opening story, “Chivalry” which has a very Monty Python feel to it. It basically tells the story of a kind old woman who happens to find the Holy Grail at an antique store and what happens when she buys it. “The White Road” is a poem that tells a medieval type legend with horrifying loveliness. “Shoggoth’s Old Particular” is a tongue in cheek tale that twists H.P. Lovecraft’s “Shadow Over Innsmouth”. Fans of the horror writer will find a lot of chuckles in this one. “Only the End of the World Again” is a more serious take on Lovecraft and provides an intriguing protagonist. “We Can Get Them For You Wholesale” is a dark piece with a very dry British sense of humor and horror. “Murder Mysteries” combines Catholic mysticism and detective fiction. The finale is the wonderfully black “Snow, Glass, Apples”. People who don’t like to see their fairy tales tainted should avoid this little gem. Anyone who sees the darkness in fairy tales will dive right in.

Any writers looking for a set of short genre fiction stories to examine and inspire should really look no further. Gaiman has a couple stories that could arguably be considered non-genre, but for the most part he works with fantasy, horror and all the shades in between. Even his pure sci-fi stories have a bit of the fantastic about them. I can say that next time I’m feeling at a loss for short story material – I’ll just read a couple of stories from “Smoke and Mirrors” and grab that energy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a short story to work on.

Have you read “Smoke and Mirrors”? What did you think of it? What was your favorite story? Do you have a book you read to recharge your creative inspiration? Do you have a favorite short story compilation?

Threads of the Story – Anansi Boys

I think I mentioned this when I did my blog about “Stardust”, but I really like Neil Gaiman’s concepts for his books. He obviously loves mythology about as much as I do, he seems fascinated with storytelling, and he had no problem mixing the surreal and the humorous together with fantasy and horror. All in all it should be the perfect mix. However all three of his previous novels, “Stardust”, “Neverwhere” and “American Gods” never quite clicked for me. In all three cases it was because of the protagonist. I never connected with the main character and instead kept wanting the book to be about the supporting cast (who were all amazingly colorful.

Well Gaiman bucked his trend in “Anansi Boys”. Not only does he create a leading character that pulled me in, but the entire story was a blast to read. Our hero is a typical sad sack character with the unfortunate name of Fat Charlie. The story starts with an explanation of why Fat Charlie is called Fat Charlie, even though he’s not fat.

The story goes like this, Fat Charlie was given the nickname by his father. We’re told that once his father gives anything a nick name – it sticks forever. So even though Charlie was a little pudgy kid that grew out of his husky state; he remained Fat Charlie to everyone he knew. This little story nugget establishes several key points right off the bat.

First off Fat Charlie didn’t get to pick his name, it was forced upon him. And pretty quickly we see that Fat Charlie has a lot of things in life forced on him. Sometimes he minds, sometimes he doesn’t, but there is nothing he can do about it. Life does things to Charlie and he reacts. And since life seems obsessed with giving him crap, Charlie’s always seems down on his luck or just surviving his existence.

Second we learn that Fat Charlie’s dad has no problem calling his son “fat”, and making sure that everyone else calls him “fat”. Right there you learn enough about the father to understand why Fat Charlie doesn’t like the man. But there is more to the story and it becomes apparent that Fat Charlie’s going to have to come to grips with his father.

The story continues along its merry way, introducing a mysterious sibling, a bit of magic involving spiders, and an ordinary lime that just might save the day. Because we like Charlie and feel bad for the guy (nothing seems to go his way no matter what he tries), the story carries you along, just waiting to see if Charlie is going to manage on the up side of things. Gaiman does a good job with the character and developing him over the course of the novel. Fat Charlie is not the same man at the end of the book, but after all his adventures – I’d be a little different too.

If asked what kind of book this was, I’d find it hard to place. It’s almost like a fantasy tale told in modern times. There is magic, there are gods meddling in human affairs, there’s lost siblings, lost loves and murderous corporate a-holes. You get a little bit of everything. But the book is always entertaining and has quite a few laughs in it. I especially liked the bit about the lime. I’ll never look at that little green citrus the same way again.

So all in all, “Anansi Boys” was a great read and one I’d definitely recommend. It’s my favorite of Gaiman’s novels, and a good place to start if you haven’t read any of his short fiction (which I also recommend). It’s good to see him finally create a protagonist I could connect with and one that I wanted to follow on his journey. Gaiman has never lacked for imagination and skill with creating worlds and supporting characters. This time the whole package is very satisfying.

Have you read “Anansi Boys”? What did you think of it? What did you think of Gaiman’s other work? Do you have a favorite “down on their luck” protagonist?

Just your typical everyday hero - Stardust

I really enjoy the creative mind of Neil Gaiman. I haven't had a chance to read his graphic novel work, but I've enjoyed most of his novels and short story compilations. However, I've noticed something odd about his longer fiction - he seems to use a very plain main character.

Take the hero Tristan Thorn from "Stardust" for example. He's a young man who grew up in a little village. He goes off on an adventure to the Fairy world to find a fallen star. Along the way he runs into all kinds of strange and amazing characters, has some pretty interesting adventures and actually finds the star. The story itself is great.

Tristan is pretty bland. He's naive and while he isn't stupid, he isn't the quickest fellow in the room. Other than that, his personality is pretty vanilla. Now I'm not saying that a main character always has to be quirky or anything, but he has to have a little more depth to him. Luke Skywalker, who isn't the most amazing of main characters, had more personality and drew you to him a bit better than Tristan.

It's possible that Gaiman did this on purpose. Maybe he wants the reader to put themselves into the role of the main character, and to do that, he make the character as neutral as possible (something that also seemed to happen in "American Gods").

In the end, Tristan's low key character was a minus to the overall book. I loved the world and adventures Gaiman created, but I was never really invested in Tristan as a character. As a result, the book never pulled me in completely.

What do you think of Tristan's character? Do you think a bland character can hurt a book? Do you think an bland every-man type character is something a writer does on purpose?