Short Story Monday - Smoke and Mirrors Part III

I know. You are waiting anxiously for this week's edition of Short Story Monday. It is week III of Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. It's a wonder that I can actually put this book down each Monday morning, and not pick it up again until Sunday night. But that is the way of the short story, isn't it? Reading short stories isn't like reading a novel.....I don't have to keep reading till late in the night to find out what happens at the end. Because the end shows up much quicker. I can get the beginning, the middle, AND the end all taken care of in one sitting. Actually a few stories in one sitting. Maybe I will become a short story aficionado yet!!

Changes is a really strange little story. It's about a man named Rajit who invents a cure for cancer. Sounds like a wonderful thing, doesn't it?? But as with most "cures" these days, there always seem to be side effects. And Reboot certainly has side effects. So much so, that a black market is out there for people that want the side effect as much as the cure.

The Daughter of Owls is a tale? fable? legend? written in Olde English, as if by John Aubrey, a 17th-Century Historian and writer. It's about a baby girl that was left on the steps of the convent. In her hand was the pellet of a Hoot Owl. Or so the story goes....

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar is a rather comic tale of a young American boy taking a hiking tour of the British Coastline, all the while following a rather meaningless written guide. He happens upon a town called Innsmouth and finds a little pub called The Book of Dead Names. In this pub, he befriends a couple of locals (who look amazingly like frogs!) and learns the story of Great Cthulhu.

Virus is a poem about computer games....and how they get under your skin. And in your brain. And are all-consuming.

Looking for the Girl is one of the first short stories Gaiman ever wrote (for publication). A young man buys his first Penthouse magazine and falls in love with one of the models. She was nineteen at the time (the same as the boy) and her name was Charlotte. As the years went by, this boy never forgot about Charlotte. And then, he sees her picture again. In Penthouse. And she was still only nineteen.....

I know this is going to sound like a broken record, but I am just amazed at the way Gaiman writes!! Each story is different than the previous one. And I haven't read one yet that has failed to entertain me!! Some I like more than others (and this week I think it was Shoggoth's Old Peculiar), but I always enjoy them. It's like having a box of Belgium chocolates. Each one is different, but they are all meant to be savored!!

Until next week.......