Fragile Things
Published by HarperAudio
Description
A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it.
In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters.
In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder.
Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares.
In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an exclusive epicurean club lament that they've eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird.
Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this extraordinary collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most unique writers of our time.
Reviews
What people think about Fragile Things
4.2Reader reviews
- (3/5)A thematic set of short stories that focuses on intimate and revealing moments. The collection is full of so many conflicting feelings, expectations, results, disturbing details, and effluence. It's Gaiman attempting to reach for something literary-- and that is always to be commended.
3.5 - (4/5)Definite high points and low points, but even the low points were good. Worth re-reading.
- (5/5)Some excellent shorts. My favorites was shadows.
- (4/5)Another pick-up-put-down-pick-up-again collection of short stories.....
- (4/5)Love it, love it, love it.
- (4/5)I really just love listening to Neil Gaiman read, whether I'm actually paying attention to the story or not. Short stories have never been my favorite medium, but there were several interesting ones in here, and combined with Neil's performance, I enjoyed this. My biggest problem in looking back at the list of stories is not really being able to say which ones were my favorites, because I'm not entirely sure which ones they were! lol! I'm pretty sure that Bitter Grounds was one with an Anthropology/Voodoo/Missing Person spin. Also there was another that had a Matrix-esque premise of the world you feel is real actually being a simulation that I liked quite a bit.
I think at some point I would like to read this physically, since I retain them better when I'm reading visually than when I'm listening, but I will always listen to Neil reading, always. :)
I'm counting this in for Award Winning Challenge as a couple of the stories in this collection are award winners or mentions.
Study in Emerald
short story : 2004 Hugo W
novelette : 2004 Locus W
The Monarch of the Glen
novelette : 2004 Locus/2