Monday, October 29, 2007

Short Story Sunday.....on Monday Final Week (for Fragile Things)


Well, this is the final installation of Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. So if you are tired of me blathering on about it, then fear not! I am finished. If you like reading the posts, then hang on till next week. I may start a NEW Neil Gaiman book of Short Stories!!

John, from The Book Mine Set also asked me to host this week's Short Story Monday! So if you read a short story this week, just leave me a link to your review!! That way, we can all enjoy it! (I'd use Mr. Linky, but frankly I just don't feel like the hassle!)

"If you ask me," said the little man to Shadow, "you're something of a monster. Am I right?" And so begins The Monarch in the Glen, the final story in Fragile Things. It is a short Novella, and it features Shadow, from the book American Gods. This story takes place 18 months afterwards. Shadow has been on the road since then, and is now in a small village in Scotland. He was approached by a man called Dr. Gaskell. The little grey man had a proposition for Shadow. He was looking for a big guy, a "monster", to work at a weekend party. He was needed to be a "bouncer" to keep the locals away from the rich, weekend guests. The pay was large for a weekend. And Shadow was chosen for a reason.

The story is filled with fables and tales of Grendel and hulders and Norse Gods. Gaiman has a way of taking legends and making them his own. With this one, he weaves a wonderful tale about a monsters -- and asks the question, Who really is the Monster? Before I read this story, Shadow was one of my favorite literary characters. And he still is!! This was the perfect way to bring Shadow back, and I'm really hoping that some day there will be more to Shadow's story.

That's it for Fragile Things. It was a fantastic book filled with stories about ghosts and legends, monsters and men. It has cemented Neil Gaiman as one of my very favorite authors! If you are looking for short stories that bite, definitely pick this one up!!

Don't forget to leave a link, if you have a short story to add to this week's Short Story Monday!!

9 comments:

Chrisbookarama said...

Great review!

Here's my Short Story link:

http://chris-book-a-rama.blogspot.com/2007/10/dont-look-now-and-other-stories-review.html

Chris said...

Hmm.. Does that work? Maybe this?

Not After Midnight

Stephanie said...

Chris - the link works fine! Thanks for joining in. I'm going to have to read this collection!

kookie said...

A Shadow story? Maybe 'Fragile Things' is exactly what I need to get me out of my slump. I'll see if I can get my hands on it, thanks.

Stephanie said...

Kookie - If you are a fan of American Gods, you have to read it at least for the last story!! And maybe, a few short stories is what you need to get out of a reading slump. There are some really good ones in this collection!

raidergirl3 said...

I just finished Fragile Things but haven't got a review done up yet. Here's a link to a book of short stories I read, it's not quite a story, but it's all I got today. http://raidergirl3-anadventureinreading.blogspot.com/2007/10/book-lost-salt-gift-of-blood-by.html

Stephanie said...

No problem Raidergirl!! Thanks for playing along!

Anonymous said...

I'm about three quarters of the way through FRAGILE THINGS and I must say I'm enjoying myself. I think I have to stop reading it in public though. I can't stop making grossed out faces about every other page. I just finished reading "Feeders and Eaters" and I must say, I'm happy I didn't have to eat right after. Ewww!!

John Mutford said...

Here's my link, it's a zombie tale by Robert McCammon:
http://bookmineset.blogspot.com/2007/10/readers-diary-306-robert-mccammon-eat.html