A Peek Inside Tales for Canterbury: Neil Gaiman's "Inventing Aladdin"

Cashel Mall, in the centre of Christchurch, pre earthquake

As you know, I've been running the "peek inside" series for a while now, giving readers a taste of the Tales for Canterbury anthology, out together by Cassie Hart and Anna Caro to raise funds for Christchurch's earthquake recovery. So it would be wonderful to keep interest in the anthology going and those orders coming in.

Up until now, all the featured stories have been from the "Hope" section of Tales for Canterbury. Today though, I'm breaking the mould and bringing you the first "peek inside" from the "Survival" section of the anthology—Neil Gaiman's Inventing Aladdin.

"Cashel Mall" now

The photos—well, they're just to give you an idea of part of what "survival" means in Christchurch right now. Sure, there's probably lots of worse stuff happening somewhere in the world, maybe a whole lot of places, but this is my city and my community … To orientate yourself, note the position of the Bridge of Remembrance —at the far end of the mall in the first photo, and a whole lot more visible in the second.

But now, without further ado—a peek inside Inventing Aladdin:

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Inventing Aladdin
by Neil Gaiman

In bed with him that night, like every night,

her sister at their feet, she ends her tale,

then waits. Her sister quickly takes her cue,

and says, "I cannot sleep. Another, please?"

Scheherazade takes one small nervous breath

and she begins, "In faraway Peking

there lived a lazy youth with his mama.

His name? Aladdin. His papa was dead…"

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To read the rest of Neil Gaiman's tale of Scheherazade inventing Aladdin, hie thee to Tales for Canterbury, which may be purchased from Random Static, here.