Faye (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
said_scarlett) wrote2004-10-19 01:24 pm
said_scarlett) wrote2004-10-19 01:24 pm
*Pulls self out from depths*
Forgive my long absence, but I've been a bit under the weather recently.
Banished to my bed yet again, I spent the morning curled up with Neil Gaiman. I got Smoke and Mirrors out of the library, and have been tearing it through it like a madman for the past two days. (I finished Going Postal in a day and a half.)
I'm enjoying it, I suppose. The one thing that strikes me most is that, through this anthology at least, Neil Gaiman doesn't have a style. And I remembered reading the introduction that he himself mentioned that only one of the stories therein actually felt - to him - as though it was written in his voice, and not attempting to write like someone else.
It's just disconcerting and what sticks in my mind the most. When I read an Andre Norton anthology, I can tell that all the stories are by Andre Norton. When I read a Mercedes Lackey anthology, I can tell all the stories are by Mercedes Lackey. When I read a Stephen King anthology, I can tell all the stories are by Stephen King. Reading a Neil Gaiman anthology is like reading a hodge-podge. One story reads like Harlan Ellison, one reads like Ray Bradbury, one reads like a Lovecraft knock off. (Though, to be fair, you hit some Stephen King stuff in the same vein, and two of the stories in this collection are based off of Lovecraft.)
I enjoy his graphic novels, but what I've read of his books and short stories just haven't really impressed me all that much.
Banished to my bed yet again, I spent the morning curled up with Neil Gaiman. I got Smoke and Mirrors out of the library, and have been tearing it through it like a madman for the past two days. (I finished Going Postal in a day and a half.)
I'm enjoying it, I suppose. The one thing that strikes me most is that, through this anthology at least, Neil Gaiman doesn't have a style. And I remembered reading the introduction that he himself mentioned that only one of the stories therein actually felt - to him - as though it was written in his voice, and not attempting to write like someone else.
It's just disconcerting and what sticks in my mind the most. When I read an Andre Norton anthology, I can tell that all the stories are by Andre Norton. When I read a Mercedes Lackey anthology, I can tell all the stories are by Mercedes Lackey. When I read a Stephen King anthology, I can tell all the stories are by Stephen King. Reading a Neil Gaiman anthology is like reading a hodge-podge. One story reads like Harlan Ellison, one reads like Ray Bradbury, one reads like a Lovecraft knock off. (Though, to be fair, you hit some Stephen King stuff in the same vein, and two of the stories in this collection are based off of Lovecraft.)
I enjoy his graphic novels, but what I've read of his books and short stories just haven't really impressed me all that much.
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I did enjoy the ideas and the concept of Neverwhere quite a bit, and I would like to see the BBC mini-series at some point. (The script of which, I believe was actually finished before the book.)
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have you read stephen king's gunslinger series? i'm in love with it, if you haven't i recommend it.
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but evidently the fan pressure/pissed-offness got to him because he announced two years ago that he would in fact finish, and the second to last one came out last year (wolves of callah), and the last one came out earlier this fall.
my best friend was thrilled because he waited almost ten years for these to come out.
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