Trigger Warning

The genius that lies behind the best collections of short stories, like Neil Gaiman's stories in "Trigger Warning," relies on a developing theme in the stories that is inherently dependent upon the reader's response.

As the title suggests, the stories in "Trigger Warning" are designed to "trigger" a response from the reader in terms of what claims are "things that upset us."

Gaiman says that the triggers are "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… show more.

Virtuoso, that’s the only way I can describe this authorial performance!

Gaiman’s inventive range defies description. It’s not just that the imaginative conceits of each story are so shockingly diverse, nor that the plots are so totally different, nor even that almost every mood known to humankind is reflected here. It’s that the literary style of each work is unique; you would almost think each story was written by a different author (and I sincerely hope they weren’t.) You might also think Gaiman was showing off, except that he just seems to be having loads of fun.

Neil Gaiman’s selection of short stories is based on the premise that there are “little triggers” or things that upset us embedded in each of his stories. Gaiman draws on myths and legends as well as fairy tales to reach those triggers that serve to both frighten us and illuminate some part of our subconscious self.

As a student of Carl Gustav Jung and the study of the symbols and archetypes found in our unconscious, which stories “triggered” me, and which really had no effect was part of the fascination of reading these tales. Moreover, my interest in mythology being… show more.