Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman

The first point I should make is that I read this on my new (refurb) Palm Z22. It came as a sample book with the eReader software, along with Never Eat Alone and some romance novel. I used to read stuff all the time on my old Palm IIIe, and it’s nice to always have a book or two on me, wherever I go. The interface is greatly improved as well.

Previously, I’ve read a Sandman, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), American Gods and, recently, Neverwhere. Good Omens is much beloved by many and I am no exception. But the other three works, done solo, were just OK by my estimation. I didn’t plan on going out of my way to get another Neil Gaiman piece.

But there it was in the Palm. And I’m glad it was.

I really enjoyed these short stories. In fact, the shorter the better. He had a whole collection of two paragraph stories about vampires that were very funny.

Honestly, though, I skipped most of the “poetry”. If it didn’t grab me in the first couple stanzas, I was off to the next thing. I’m a plebe that way.

There’s a funny story about a woman who finds the Holy Grail in a junk store. And one about a guy who looks for bargain priced assassinations. All very creative and fun.