Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions
Description
The astonishing and impressive first collection of short stories from New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman
An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat in a second-hand store . . .
A stray cat fights and refights a nightly battle to protect his adoptive family from an unimagiable evil . . .
A young couple receives a wedding gift that will reveal a chilling alternate history of their marriage . . .
Beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks, a frightened little boy bargains for his life with a most persistent troll . . .
Such miraculous inventions and more await within Neil Gaiman’s first collection of short fiction, a gift of wonder and delight from one of the most unique literary artists of our day. In his capable hands, magic is no mere illusion, but a powerful means to reveal the nature of our humanity obscured in the smoke of our fears and anxieties . . . and reflected in the funhouse mirrors of our dreams.
Praise for Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions
“Readers will find echoes of H.P. Lovecraft, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, but the voice is all Gaiman . . . highly imaginative.”
— Dallas Morning News
“I read [Smoke and Mirrors] while adjectives like glorious, magical and weird-but-fascinating leapt through my head, then gave up, outclassed . . . [Gaiman’s] artful ruminations stretch from dreamlike folktales to darkly futuristic science fiction . . . a fine introduction to his varied work.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Superb . . . haunting in a disturbing way and often witty and perversely humorous at the same time.”
— Richmond Times-Dispatch
“An exhilarating display of the work of one of our most entertaining storytellers.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred)
