I love Neil Gaiman but so far I’ve only ever read novels, Sandman and his children’s stories. When I saw this short story collection I jumped at buying it.
I have a way of working short story collections. If there is an author specific reason I bought it- I start there. If not I read shortest first, then go with what seems like the most interesting and then power through the longer. The best part of Trigger Warning is the Introduction which includes a description of each story in the book. That made that a lot easier.
What can I say?
It’s Gaiman you know? There’s a lot of weird crap and like a lot of short story collections tales that go absolutely nowhere and just leave you wondering about the point. Sleeper and Spindle is an interesting twist on the Sleeping Beauty story. I quite liked the story about the Uninventor who thinks he’s done with his work until he’s sitting in a café and everyone ignores him to check their IPhones- then he knows he has one last job.
There’s a Sherlock Holmes story involving bees that had kind of interesting implications and my favorite story- Nothing O’ Clock. A Doctor Who related tale that brought me back to the good old days when I could still bear to watch Doctor Who. And one about a guy who invented a fake girlfriend when he was in high school only to find out years later that she’s looking for him.
There was nothing that threw me off or I needed a trigger warning for- it’s Gaiman so of course there’s some weird stuff. A questionable landlady, a creepy fairy tale, strange places, strange people who don’t always get what they want. It’s a strange dream world these stories live in but there’s nothing that kept me up at night and honestly it’s pretty easy to get under my skin.
Recommend: I always enjoy Gaiman’s writing and his world. If you are a fan you’ve maybe read some or all of the stories before but this is an excellent introduction to his work if you’re trying to make a fan out of a friend. So I would recommend the book and say share it!
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