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Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances
Écrit par Neil Gaiman
Raconté par Neil Gaiman
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Multiple award winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to dazzle, captivate, haunt, and entertain with this third collection of short fiction following Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things—which includes a never-before published American Gods story, “Black Dog,” written exclusively for this volume.
In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction—stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013—as well “Black Dog,” a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.
Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In Adventure Story—a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane—Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience A Calendar of Tales are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year—stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother’s Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale The Case of Death and Honey. And Click-Clack the Rattlebag explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we’re all alone in the darkness.
A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.
Actions du livre
Commencer à écouterInformations sur le livre
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances
Écrit par Neil Gaiman
Raconté par Neil Gaiman
Description
Multiple award winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to dazzle, captivate, haunt, and entertain with this third collection of short fiction following Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things—which includes a never-before published American Gods story, “Black Dog,” written exclusively for this volume.
In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction—stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013—as well “Black Dog,” a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.
Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In Adventure Story—a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane—Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience A Calendar of Tales are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year—stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother’s Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale The Case of Death and Honey. And Click-Clack the Rattlebag explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we’re all alone in the darkness.
A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.
À propos de l'auteur
Avis
"Trigger Warning" is a fun collection of short stories from Neil Gaiman that I mostly enjoyed. There are a few stories in it, as in any long collection of stories, that I did not particularly enjoy, but those are more than made up for by the ones in which I thoroughly lost myself. The stories themselves are from several related genres: horror, fantasy, dystopian fiction, etc. and Gaiman's remarkable imagination and writing talent makes all of them, even the ones I enjoyed least, at least interesting.I suspect there is something here for just about every reader, and that if you don't expect to like 100% of the stories, you will be pretty happy with "Trigger Warning."
I found it a bit uneven, with a few great stories and others not so much. But is is a good introduction into Gaiman's weird, wonderful and scary worlds.
This book is that uneasy feeling of visiting an abandoned building. It's the knowledge that there are dark things waiting for you to fall, anytime, any place. It's the folk tale that refuses to go away despite the multiple attacks from reason and common sense. It's the legend that declares the end of all things, and the prophecy that led a man to an early grave.It's a book by Neil Gaiman. With all the wonderful and terrible things that come from his head.
Gaiman is a terrific, and exciting writer. In his novels, he is a pro at world building and full immersion. Through his short stories, he is able to use new voices, different techniques. They are much, much different than his books and refreshing because of it. Standouts: The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains... and Orange.
An interesting collection of short stories from one of my favorite authors. I can't say that I liked all of the stories, but that's the nature of a short story collection. However, there were enough wonderful and great stories here - those with nice plot twists, or well known characters, that I still thoroughly enjoyed this collection.
While Neil Gaiman is widely known for his comic book writing and novels, Gaiman's story telling skills are often at their best in his short fiction. Offering up everything from poetry to fairy tale re-tellings, Trigger Warning continues the grand tradition of his previous short story collections. This is a set of tales to pick up and spend a few moments with, to stretch out and enjoy over time, and revisit again and again.
4 stars. I enjoyed most of the stories.
I won my copy of this book free through a Goodreads giveaway.
I took forever to finish reading this book because I knew when I finished it I would be giving it to my sister. But, it's her birthday, and I know I can't hoard this book away forever unfinished. So, I finished it.
If you have enjoyed anything by Gaiman you will probably also enjoy at least some, probably all of these stories. There's a story that's a post-American Gods glimpse at what adventures Shadow found for himself after that book. There's a Doctor Who adventure with Amy Pond and some creepy aliens that are trying once again to take over the Earth. There are poems, and creepy stories, and mostly-nice stories. There are a couple retold fairy tales, too, and some new stories that read like fairy tales.
Basically, you should read this book, if you haven't yet.
I took forever to finish reading this book because I knew when I finished it I would be giving it to my sister. But, it's her birthday, and I know I can't hoard this book away forever unfinished. So, I finished it.
If you have enjoyed anything by Gaiman you will probably also enjoy at least some, probably all of these stories. There's a story that's a post-American Gods glimpse at what adventures Shadow found for himself after that book. There's a Doctor Who adventure with Amy Pond and some creepy aliens that are trying once again to take over the Earth. There are poems, and creepy stories, and mostly-nice stories. There are a couple retold fairy tales, too, and some new stories that read like fairy tales.
Basically, you should read this book, if you haven't yet.
This is an anthology of Gaiman's own short stories (and poems), spanning the last decade, with an introduction, one original story and an interview in the appendix; the introduction gives some general information on the title and specific information on each of the subsequent stories and how they came into being, all of it quite illuminating. Some are merely meh, a few more are good, and less than a handful are outstanding, but even those that I didn't get on with have the ability to intrude into your thoughts when you're not expecting it. The outstanding stories for me were 'Click-Clack the Rattlebag' (very creepy!), 'Nothing O'Clock' (a clever Doctor Who story that feels authentic to the programme), 'The Sleeper and the Spindle' (a twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale) and 'Black Dog' (an eerie tale featuring the main character from American Gods, Baldur 'Shadow' Moon). Expect the unexpected or, paraphrasing Neil Gaiman himself, walk alone into the mist to discover where the story is going.
Overall I enjoyed the stories, some more than others. My favorites being Click clack the rattle bag, and Black Dog. With "the twist" being one of the most common mechanics in storytelling it is sometimes hard to find a story in which the ending is not an obvious one. However in those 2 short stories I can honestly say that I was surprised by the endings. The more I read of Gaiman's work the more in love with it I find myself.
This review is based on an e-galley received from the publisher. It did not include "Black Dog," the new American Gods story.It's difficult to come up with anything to say about a Neil Gaiman collection other than "Go read this right now. No, really, right now. Why are you still reading this? Oh, yes, because it isn't out for another week." In his introduction, Gaiman talks about the influences of Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison, which is appropriate, since those three authors are in my mind the best demonstration that fantasy/speculative fiction absolutely can simultaneously be literary fiction.I don't remember having read any of these pieces before, but I had heard a couple of them read on "Selected Shorts." One of these, "The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury," had been read on the program by Denis O'Hare, one of my favorite actors. I'm happy to say that it is equally beautiful in both the reading and the listening.The collection also includes "The Spindle and the Sleeper," which has been released on its own in an illustrated edition in the UK and which attracted its share of attention. It is not the story that you might be expecting if all you know of it is the picture that most recently accompanied those discussions, but it is a fine adventure story on its own.On a whole this collection is often beautiful, often startling, and always engrossing.Overall: A
Decent, predictable.
This is another solid book by Neil Gaiman. I enjoyed most of the stories. Unfortunately none of these short stories really grabbed my imagination or really stood out for me.
A collection of short stories and poems that range from weird and creepy to quite scary to beautiful prose. I particularly enjoyed "A Calendar of Tales" and "Nothing O'Clock".
In typical Gaiman fashion these were a little creepy, a little sweet, and a little fairy tale-ish. I enjoyed them, I usually do enjoy his works, though there was one (a Doctor Who story) I wound up skipping. One of my favorites was actually the last story, the new Shadow story from American Gods. I had forgotten I need to reread that, I'll have to get to that this year. Additionally Neil does a great job at narrating the story. He's great at voices, and makes each story distinct with slight accents or different pitches to his voice.
Finished Neil Gaiman's collection of short fiction Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances which I very much enjoyed. As the title promises, these stories are mostly dark, but all sparkle with wit and originality even when dealing with such well-known characters as Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes, iconic fairy tale princesses, or Shadow from Gaiman's own American Gods. Gaiman never fails to surprise with a twist. Highly recommended.He includes a lengthy excerpt from his first novel Neverwhere which he is reissuing in an "author's preferred version." Time for a reread!
Reviewing short story collections can be difficult, and I find myself stumbling with this one. I love Neil Gaiman's storytelling style. He is gifted with his ability to capture and portray characters. And I'm always fascinated by the way he weaves subtleties into his writing, provoking thought far beyond the specifics of the story.Then there's the content of the individual stories, which, as with many short story collections, was hit and miss for my personal taste. Some held me captivated, while a few others didn't hold my interest long enough to get through them. There is a lot of fantasy here, of course, some with more of a contemporary feel than others. And we have a little bit of experimental type of fiction that I found hard to connect with. Taken as a whole, this is a fun jaunt through the extremes of Neil Gaiman's imagination. *I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*
A collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman, mostly sf or fantasy with some horror elements thrown in. I didn't find most of these all that memorable, except for a great tale of Snow White going to save Sleeping Beauty.
A collection of short stories, poems, and miscellany by Neil Gaiman. Since I listened on audio and it was read by him, it was quite lovely.
A collection of short stories (and a handful of poems) consisting of various fantasies, fairy tales, and snippets of strangeness, some dark, some silly, some both at once. Including a Sherlock Holmes story for the Holmes fans, a Doctor Who story for the Doctor Who fans (although if you don't happen to be one of those, a sentence or two in the introduction outlines all you need to know for it), and, for fans of Gaiman's other work, a story featuring Shadow from American Gods.Gaiman himself calls it a kind of hodge-podge his introduction, and offers an apology for this. I started out thinking he was kind of right, that the collection lacked a certain coherence. Then I stopped caring, because the stories themselves are so good, ranging from interesting curiosities to glittering little gems. Then I starting thinking, no, he's wrong, that there are complicated recurring themes woven throughout the whole collection that do make them feel as if they all fit together somehow, after all.But, really, my main thought about this book is that I can't believe it took me this long to get around to reading it, knowing that Gaiman pretty much never disappoints.
Hit or miss, as all story collections are, but more misses this time than I'm used to from a Neil Gaiman collection. I'd seen quite a few of these stories before; of the ones that were new to me, I liked "Feminine Endings" (a good combination of sweet and creepy) and "The Sleeper and the Spindle" (a nice twist on fairy tales) the best. "The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains" is still fantastic, but I like it better with the illustrations. The Doctor Who story, "Nothing O'Clock," was pretty good.
This is a very good collection. The quality is consistent, but the theme is not. A wide variety of work of various kinds, some appropriate for children, some that might easily upset adults, some fantasy, some mystery. I'm very glad I read it.
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman is a diverse, very highly recommended collection of short stories.
Gaiman says, "We are all wearing masks. That is what makes us interesting. These are stories about those masks, and the people we are underneath them."
The diversity and wide range of genres represented in these extremely well written short stories is what compels me to give Trigger Warning my highest recommendation. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and have to say that I wanted more when it was done. Gaiman stories include such a wide variety of stories in various lengths that most readers should find several that appeal to them. I really thought this whole collection was extraordinary. The selections include stories about Sherlock Holmes, a Dr. Who story written for the 50th anniversary of the series in 2013, and an original tale that revisits the world of American Gods. In the introduction Gaiman includes a little back ground information on each story, if the reader is interested.
He tells us about his stories:
"There are things that upset us. That's not quite what we're talking about here, though. I'm thinking about those images or words or ideas that drop like trapdoors beneath us, throwing us out of our safe, sane world into a place much more dark and less welcoming. Our hearts skip a ratatat drumbeat in our chests, and we fight for breath. Blood retreats from our faces and our fingers, leaving us pale and gasping and shocked. And what we learn about ourselves in those moments, where the trigger has been squeezed, is this: the past is not dead. There are things that wait for us, patiently, in the dark corridors of our lives. We think we have moved on, put them out of mind, left them to desiccate and shrivel and blow away; but we are wrong. They have been waiting there in the darkness, working out, practicing their most vicious blows, their sharp hard thoughtless punches into the gut, killing time until we came back that way. The monsters in our cupboards and our minds."
CONTENTS
Introduction
Making a Chair
A Lunar Labyrinth
The Thing About Cassandra
Down to a Sunless Sea
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains...
My Last Landlady
Adventure Story
ORANGE
A Calendar of Tales
The Case of Death and Honey
The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury
Jerusalem
Click-Clack the Rattlebag
An Invocation of Incuriosity
"And Weep, Like Alexander"
Nothing O'Clock
Pearls: A Fairy Tale
Kether to Malkuth
Feminine Endings
Observing the Formalities
The Sleeper and the Spindle
Witch Work
In Relig Odhrain
Black Dog
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes.
Gaiman says, "We are all wearing masks. That is what makes us interesting. These are stories about those masks, and the people we are underneath them."
The diversity and wide range of genres represented in these extremely well written short stories is what compels me to give Trigger Warning my highest recommendation. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and have to say that I wanted more when it was done. Gaiman stories include such a wide variety of stories in various lengths that most readers should find several that appeal to them. I really thought this whole collection was extraordinary. The selections include stories about Sherlock Holmes, a Dr. Who story written for the 50th anniversary of the series in 2013, and an original tale that revisits the world of American Gods. In the introduction Gaiman includes a little back ground information on each story, if the reader is interested.
He tells us about his stories:
"There are things that upset us. That's not quite what we're talking about here, though. I'm thinking about those images or words or ideas that drop like trapdoors beneath us, throwing us out of our safe, sane world into a place much more dark and less welcoming. Our hearts skip a ratatat drumbeat in our chests, and we fight for breath. Blood retreats from our faces and our fingers, leaving us pale and gasping and shocked. And what we learn about ourselves in those moments, where the trigger has been squeezed, is this: the past is not dead. There are things that wait for us, patiently, in the dark corridors of our lives. We think we have moved on, put them out of mind, left them to desiccate and shrivel and blow away; but we are wrong. They have been waiting there in the darkness, working out, practicing their most vicious blows, their sharp hard thoughtless punches into the gut, killing time until we came back that way. The monsters in our cupboards and our minds."
CONTENTS
Introduction
Making a Chair
A Lunar Labyrinth
The Thing About Cassandra
Down to a Sunless Sea
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains...
My Last Landlady
Adventure Story
ORANGE
A Calendar of Tales
The Case of Death and Honey
The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury
Jerusalem
Click-Clack the Rattlebag
An Invocation of Incuriosity
"And Weep, Like Alexander"
Nothing O'Clock
Pearls: A Fairy Tale
Kether to Malkuth
Feminine Endings
Observing the Formalities
The Sleeper and the Spindle
Witch Work
In Relig Odhrain
Black Dog
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes.
Some of the pieces are five star-worthy, most are high fours and a couple are (for this reader, at least) three star, so I'm averaging it all out to four. Definitely a keeper shelf book, though. There are pieces here I'll want to revisit--like 'Orange', which I've read before, but enjoyed as much (maybe more) the second time around. If you're a fan, you probably already know you're going to read this ASAP. For anyone new to Gaiman's work, I've always found his short story collections to be an excellent introduction to his style, and this is no exception.
Gain an is a favorite author in my family. Both of my sons read this collection of short stories before I could. We all agree the "Black Dog" tale -or should we say tail?- was a favorite. This collection definitely showcases Gaiman's breadth and depth of writing talent.
There are a lot of short stories in this collection. Some are substantial, providing reasonable sustenance for the omnivorous reader. One appears to have been the basis for the recent movie, "Mr. Holmes," in which we see Sherlock tending bees in the later part of his life. Another is a Doctor Who story, for the 11th Doctor. A few stories are little more than "amuse bouche" tales - short, picante, awakening the mind without too much commitment. Most have the twist at the end that one has come to expect of these kind of short stories. And even knowing that a twist, or another perspective, would occur - it's form was hard to impossible to predict. I enjoyed the stories, and savored them, a few at a time, over several weeks' time. I recommend them to you.
A short story collection that might trigger your fancy.
I am normally not the type of person that enjoys reading a collection of short story. I prefer to immerse myself in the world of the characters. I like backstories. I like the building up of tension. I like the feeling of the book hangover. How in the world could reading be any better than that? With that said, I did my utmost best to enjoy Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories in Trigger Warning as best I could.
Some stories stood out more than others, as can be expected in a collection of short stories. Some of my favorites include "The Thing About Cassandra," "A Calendar of Tales,""Nothing O'Clock," and "The Sleeper and the Spindle." In particular, I was quite enraptured by the tale of "Nothing O'Clock," which is really a short Doctor Who story. Having never ever watched the TV show, I really loved Gaiman's take on the series. It was approachable for someone like me who has never watched the show.
I was actually expecting something little darker than what I actually read. It was more of an 'off the beaten path' and 'oddly imaginative' rather than 'triggering your darkest fears' type of read. So for those of you looking for a goofy and odd collection of stories, this one might just hit the spot.
I am normally not the type of person that enjoys reading a collection of short story. I prefer to immerse myself in the world of the characters. I like backstories. I like the building up of tension. I like the feeling of the book hangover. How in the world could reading be any better than that? With that said, I did my utmost best to enjoy Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories in Trigger Warning as best I could.
Some stories stood out more than others, as can be expected in a collection of short stories. Some of my favorites include "The Thing About Cassandra," "A Calendar of Tales,""Nothing O'Clock," and "The Sleeper and the Spindle." In particular, I was quite enraptured by the tale of "Nothing O'Clock," which is really a short Doctor Who story. Having never ever watched the TV show, I really loved Gaiman's take on the series. It was approachable for someone like me who has never watched the show.
I was actually expecting something little darker than what I actually read. It was more of an 'off the beaten path' and 'oddly imaginative' rather than 'triggering your darkest fears' type of read. So for those of you looking for a goofy and odd collection of stories, this one might just hit the spot.
In a lengthy prologue, Gaiman provides some context and backstory for all of the short stories in this volume. I really, really wish these would have directly preceded the stories -- listening to the audio book, I didn't really have the luxury to flip back and forth and I think I would have enjoyed the stories themselves a little better with Gaiman's introduction.Gaiman is fantastic reader and while his stories often fail to resonate with me (no surprise given his basis in the comic world), I love listening to him read. Consider a bonus star added for that alone. The short stories themselves were a little uneven in quality. Many of them bring the reader to a eureka moment, only to have the story end there, the conflict itself unresolved. Fans of Twilight Zone will like this.
I've been a fan of Neil Gaiman's since the 1990's, when I discovered The Sandman comics. Since then, I've read nearly everything he's published, from short story collections like Fragile Things, to novels, poems, and books for children. Gaiman has a singular style, but to me, his greatest talent is incorporating mythology into modern settings, bringing together the very oldest of our stories with the very youngest. Trigger Warning is no exception. I found the stories inventive and intriguing, engaging and poignant. A good bet for any fan of Gaiman's, as well as anyone who loves myth and folklore.
I liked this book fine, but it wasn't my favorite. That said, I'm not a big short story reader & appreciator. I think I'd prefer a whole book from him. It was very imaginative and inventive, and if you know Neil Gaiman, I think it will be what you expect from him -- lots of science fiction, fairytales, and magic!