Smoke and Mirrors

Book cover of Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions

Book description

***This short fiction collection includes 'Chivalry', this year's Radio 4 Neil Gaiman Christmas Day special, starring Glenda Jackson and Kit Harington. This is the story of Mrs Whitaker, who finds the Holy Grail in a charity shop.***

Open your mind to one of the brightest, most brilliant writers of our…

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Surrealism

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Smoke and Mirrors as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Jeff Fleischer

Author

I really enjoy all of Gaiman’s collections, but this one is my favorite. “We Can Get Them for You Wholesale” and “The Price” are two stories I particularly love, one so darkly comic I laughed nonstop the first time I read it and one that gave me a genuine chill.

But it’s a deep collection with lots of great stories spanning genres and emotions, and one I’ve read a few times.

From Jeff's list on collections that show what great modern novelists can do with short fiction.

Matt Durand

Author

I love this collection of short stories for their pure creativity and diversity of the themes and genres explored. Each story exudes the unique and elegant style that has set Neil Gaiman in a class of his own. The story "We Can Get Them For You Wholesale" is one of my favorite short stories ever written. It’s a dark comedy that displays a masterclass in condensed fiction. This book opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of how creative a writer can be.

From Matt's list on blending science fiction, horror, and surrealism.

Curiosity and the Cat

By Martin Treanor,

Book cover of Curiosity and the Cat

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What is my book about?

Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.

Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history.