'Smoke and Mirrors' – Neil Gaiman (Headline)

For whatever reason (I work in IT but I have no idea how computers work or why they work) my work laptop has taken it upon itself to do loads of restarts just recently. Every time it happens, my work day pauses while I wait for all my documents to come back... That's ok though, my copy of 'Smoke and Mirrors' made it to the top of a TBR pile (there is more than one, much more...) and I've been reading through it while my laptop does its thing...

An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat. A stray cat fights and refights a terrible nightly battle to protect his unwary adoptive family from unimaginable evil. A young couple receives a wedding gift that reveals a chilling alternative history of their marriage...

These tales and much more await in this extraordinary book, revealing one of our most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers.

I've been putting this post off for ages because, well... I'm a little bit in awe of this book and how it's like a conveyor belt of unsettling, dark and sometimes hopeful short stories. Every single story here comes off that production line and hits the spot, even after as many re-reads as I've been through. I don't know how Gaiman does it, and that's part of the magic, but every time I read these stories, it's like I'm reading them for the first time, the emotions that they inspire are still as potent as they were way back when. It wouldn't be far from the mark to say that I love reading short stories because of this book. You know when you discover something special and then try and recreate that feeling with other stuff? That's me and this book.

Which is why this post isn't a review, not at all. If my tiny little flat is a library (of sorts), 'Smoke and Mirrors' is one of a few books (not many) that have a special shelf of their own. Formative books if you like. 'Smoke and Mirrors' is the book that made me realise that your prose can be polished as you like but if you can't tell a story then it's all for nothing. Gaiman proves here that his prose is great and more importantly, he is the kind of storyteller that you have to stop and listen to. Whether it's the final lines in 'The Price' or his words, in 'One Life, Furnished in Early Moorock', that speak to the awkward, bookish person in all of us; Gaiman plays his stories like musical instruments and that song speaks to you.

Every single story and poem here should be read and savoured (and it's not often that you hear me say that about poems...) but I'll be honest and say that I do have my favourites. I've mentioned a couple already but if you're thinking of taking 'Smoke and Mirrors' down from the shelf, give 'Chivalry' a read, it's not the story you think it is and watching that story unfold is always special. Sad but special.

And when you're done with 'Chivalry', read 'We Can Get Them for You Wholesale', a cautionary tale about the perils of saving a penny and how tempting a special offer can be . I love how Gaiman takes a fairly out there concept and treats it with respect, taking it as far as it can go and seeming to just know when the best time is to drop the payoff on us. It's a great story but it's also a lesson on how to leave the reader hanging, even after you have dropped the conclusion on them.

Like I said though, you could pick anything from the contents page and be assured of a a solid read at the very least, more often than not you'll get much more than that though. I love 'Smoke and Mirrors' and I suspect that you do too. If you haven't read it though...Do something about it, you won't regret it.