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摘要
摘要
The author offers a collection of tales, several of them new, of strange inventions, miraculous encounters, and bizarre discoveries.
评论 (3)
出版社周刊评论
Imaginative twists on old legends and frightening glimpses into the impossible combine to form this impressive collection of 30 stories and poems by the author of Neverwhere and co-creator of The Sandman graphic novels. Each entry skirts the edges of a puncture in reality through which something dark and mysterious peeks. Then it moves on and the apparition is hidden away again, but not forgotten. The narratives follow a dream logic: The angel Raguel, the Vengeance of the Lord, can bum a cigarette off a youth in L.A. and tell him the truth behind Lucifer's fall ("Murder Mysteries"), and nonchalant assassins can be found in the Yellow Pages under pest control ("We Can Get Them for You Wholesale"). The bizarre and disturbing essence of the stories is highlighted by their background of absolute normalcy. Their prose is simple yet evocative, and Gaiman's characters are textured with well-defined personalities. Because the characters treat the unreal as ordinary, the eeriness of what unfolds has all the more impact. In "Chivalry," a woman finds the Holy Grail in a secondhand shop, and Galahad must trade something for it that will look just as good on her mantle. Demons take over London in "Cold Colors," because the devil has learned how to network and God can't get "saintware" up and running. The intriguing world behind these pages is indeed smoke and mirrors, just a step or a word or a story away from our own. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
A whopping collection of 30 stories, narrative poems, and unclassifiable briefer pieces from the peerlessly inventive British-born co-editor/creator of The Sandman graphic novel series and last year's terrific fantasy Neverwhere. Gaiman, whos also provided a disarmingly genial introduction, calls these tales ``messages from Looking-Glass Land and pictures in shifting clouds.'' Though they're often derivative of both traditional folk materials and acknowledged favorite writers (such as John Collier, H.P. Lovecraft, and Michael Moorcock), the volume's numerous successes put an engaging spin on even more-than-twice-told tales. ``Nicholas Was,'' for instance, offers in scarcely half a page a hair-raising revisionist look at the benevolent figure of Santa Claus. The poem ``The White Road'' deftly reimagines the English ballad about the innocent virgin fated to be sacrificed to her vulpine fiancé (``Mr. Fox''). ``The Daughter of Owls'' is a fiendishly compact revenge tale told in the manner of (``as by'') 17th-century antiquarian John Aubrey. Elsewhere, Gaiman offers amusingly lurid images of ``swinging'' London in the 70s (``Looking for the Girl''), Hollywood's past and present ``wild days'' (``The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories''), and sex in the age of AIDS (the very erotic ``Tastings''). And, at his best, he makes something daringly new out of the stories we think we know best: ``Baywolf'' memorably combines the narrative and pictorial elements of the real Beowulf and of TV's Baywatch; ``Snowglass, Apples'' retells the story of Snow White from the viewpoint of the exasperated ``evil queen''; and two tales (``Shoggoth's Old Peculiar'' and ``Only the End of the World''), set respectively in the Innsmouth of England and of New England, pay hilarious homage to Lovecraft's Ctulhu Mythos and the conventions of the classic horror film. Gaiman miscalculates only in leading off With ``Chivalry,'' the unforgettable tale of a placid widow who discovers the Holy Grail in a secondhand shop. Nothing later on matches it in a volume thats otherwise an exhilarating display of the work of one of our most entertaining storytellers.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
In 30 prose and verse narratives, dark fantasist Gaiman proves that he knows how to stick to a story's point until it is thrust home. Poe would love him. He lacks Poe's grandiloquence, though, and also H. P. Lovecraft's, which he derides in "Shuggoth's Old Peculiar," one of three Lovecraftian items; the other two, by the way, feature Lawrence Talbot, the wolf man of 1940s horror movies, as a fang for hire, and "Bay Wolf," the verse one of them, mixes up Beowulf and Bay Watchwhat a howl! Other top-flight entries are the Raymond Carver-style "Mouse," which is barely touched by fantasy; "Tastings," a highly erotic psychic vampire sketch; and "Snow, Glass, Apples," a ghastly retelling of "Snow White." Best of show is "Murder Mysteries," in which a young man meets an angel who tells him something John Milton didn't know: what provoked Lucifer to rebel against God. A box of bonbons for dark fantasy fans, and a strong successor to Neverwhere. (Reviewed October 1, 1998)0380973642Ray Olson