Short Story Sunday.....on Monday Part III

Yes...it's that time again. Time for another installment of short stories from Neil Gaiman. Fragile Things, as you all know is the title of this compilation of stories. Last week, most of the stories I read were ghost stories. Not so much this week. How to categorize them? I really can't answer that. But they were all good. (maybe not as good as before, but still definitely worth reading!)

Bitter Grounds tells the story of a man who was driving to the store one day...and just kept driving. The first line of the story pretty much tells it all: "In every way that counted, I was dead". Pretty nifty opening line, wouldn't you say? On his journey, he meets a man in need of a ride. "People come into your life for a reason." It's a premise that follows him around the entire story. A story that takes him to New Orleans, involves him in discussions with a High Priestess of Santeria, and introduces him to the Zombie coffee girls. It's a strange little tale with a strange little ending.

Other People is a mere few pages and seems to me to be Gaiman's personal definition of what Hell really is.

Keepsakes and Treasures is one of those short stories that left me wanting more. I want to know more about these people. Mr. Smith and Mr. Alice. Or at least that's what they are called today. Mr. Smith was taken in by Mr. Alice at an early age. Mr. Smith was born to a woman in an asylum. He was placed in an orphanage, where most of the little boys were abused and used for the personal gratification of the director. The director that incidentally committed "suicide" when Mr. Smith was 12 years old. Mr. Alice requested a meeting with the boy, and realized the potential he had....the potential of a sociopath. The story itself describes only snippets of a much larger story, a story that Gaiman needs to write.

Good Boys Deserve Favors is a story of an uninspired young boy that joins the school orchestra. Does he ever gain inspiration? Maybe. Was it magic that he played the way he did when he was asked to one day? Only you can be the judge of that.

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch was probably my favorite of this week's readings. When a group of people go to the Theater of Night's Dreaming circus, not everyone comes back. In an eerie turn of events, Miss Finch is "chosen" from the audience to gain her desires from the "Cabinet of Wishes Fulfill'd". Who knew the outcome of her desires would end in such a strange fashion??

And finally, Strange Little Girls is basically the liner notes that Gaiman wrote for Tori Amos to use in her cd. Although I'm a huge fan of Tori Amos, the addition of this to Fragile Things just seemed a little out of place and basically just a few pages of filler.

Although, I wasn't nearly as thrilled with this week's readings, I am still impressed with Gaiman's ability to catch a reader in just a few sentences or pages. He really has the knack for writing short stories, because the grip he holds on the reader is immediate. I'm looking forward to next week's installation already!