Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances in What's the Name of That Book???

Jan 16, 2015 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: short-stories, own

I discovered Neil Gaiman as a teen, thanks to the Science Fiction Book Club. The selection of the month one month was GOOD OMENS, by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and their glowing and hilarious review made me order it immediately. It didn't disappoint, and remains one of my favorite books. Then I found STARDUST. Different, strange, but still wonderful. The next thing I read was SMOKE & MIRRORS, and there my growing love for Neil Gaiman ran into a bit of a hitch. I didn't like most of the stories. I discovered Neil Gaiman as a teen, thanks to the Science Fiction Book Club. The selection of the month one month was GOOD OMENS, by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and their glowing and hilarious review made me order it immediately. It didn't disappoint, and remains one of my favorite books. Then I found STARDUST. Different, strange, but still wonderful. The next thing I read was SMOKE & MIRRORS, and there my growing love for Neil Gaiman ran into a bit of a hitch. I didn't like most of the stories. And I realized, then and now, that I was probably too young for them. I remember being disturbed by a couple of the stories for years. I still have my copy, but I've never opened the book again. And for a while I felt like maybe there was something wrong with me. Like maybe I was too immature, and now as an adult, am I being an old fuddy-duddy for not thinking they are all genius and racing to reread them? But no. I contend that I'm not. It's interesting, because we are so caught up, as parents, as a reading culture, in urging more and more advanced books on readers, because they can handle the vocabulary, because it's important that kids know that Things Happen. Death. Divorce. Violence. Drugs. But I think we fail to see that you can tell a kid the nuts and bolts of sex or violence, but reading about it in fiction is still going to be rough for them, that emotionally they weren't ready. And I like to think, having read this, that Neil Gaiman would actually agree with me.

So the title of this collection is TRIGGER WARNING. And he talks in the introduction (which is wonderful) about why it's called that. And he mentions that growing up he read a lot of books that were beyond him, and some he just didn't understand, and some he wished he hadn't read. And I thought Yes. See. I have things I wish I hadn't read. Or that I had read later in my life, which is the case with SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

But is not the case here.

Now that my digression about emotional maturity and books is done, I can tell you: I loved this collection. I think this was overall his strongest collection of stories. Usually anthologies are a mixed bag, and one or two at the very least is awful, and/or forgettable. But there isn't a bum story in the bunch. Every one is a shining gem, a delight to behold, and I loved them all. What shocked me about his earlier collection, and continued on in FRAGILE THINGS as well, was that so many of the stories were just . . . grim. STARDUST and NEVERWHERE get pretty dark, yet I still think of them as having a playful tone overall. I see them as being written with love, and a certain sense of whimsy that is lacking in so many of Gaiman's shorter pieces. Even in ANANSI BOYS, which gets darkity-dark-dark, there's the whole bit about Fat Charlie and the lime. So what pleased me about these new stories is that the sense of playfulness was back. Some of the stories were freakin' creepy, but the memory of them still makes me smile, if that makes sense.

If you're looking to discover Neil Gaiman, you could do worse than read this. I would also recommend his M IS FOR MAGIC, which contains his stories suitable for children, including my two favorites, "Chivalry" and "Sunbird." Also, if you are a fan of AMERICAN GODS, which I most assuredly am, the last story is a novella about Shadow, which made me endlessly happy.

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Feb 16, 2015 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, horror, fantasy, dark, 2015

A collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman is always an event for me. I mean, sure, any Neil Gaiman release is an event for me, but the short stories are always the most fun. They remind me of the time when I had a collection of Ray Bradbury stories (the huge one; you know which one I'm talking about), and I could open up to any one of them and find some hidden treasure inside. One of the things I liked about his stories is that I could depend on them to give me just the right amount of wonder A collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman is always an event for me. I mean, sure, any Neil Gaiman release is an event for me, but the short stories are always the most fun. They remind me of the time when I had a collection of Ray Bradbury stories (the huge one; you know which one I'm talking about), and I could open up to any one of them and find some hidden treasure inside. One of the things I liked about his stories is that I could depend on them to give me just the right amount of wonder and chills in equal measure, without being graphic and without being long-winded. Novels can be spooky, but tend to lose impact the longer they go, as the reader becomes insulated by the reassurance that the heroes will win in the end. Short stories offer no reassurances; oftentimes, they end horribly for the main character. Usually the stories ends at a shock, leaving you to wonder what the long-term story around it would be.

The first story in the collection, "The Lunar Labyrinth," is a perfect example of that kind of story. One could cover the entire plot of the story, giving everything away, but the reading of the story would still be effective because of the way Gaiman ends it. In a novel, this story would be an opening scene, which would trigger the remaining 300 pages, where we could see the full trial of the protagonist over the course of the narrative. In a short story, though, we're presented with an opening scene and then asked to take it to its logical conclusion. Without the lengthy exposition and development of a novel, sometimes that logical conclusion takes us to bad places.

Not all of Gaiman's stories end that way, but, like Bradbury's, many of them do. The stories are ones of revenge and darkness, underworlds and secrets, fantasies and mysteries, and stories like that aren't without their own little spooks and twists. It's no surprise that there's an homage to Ray Bradbury hidden among the stories, and now that I think about it, having been such a fan of Bradbury as a child, it's no wonder I like Neil Gaiman as much as I do. The similarities in style, voice, and theme are hard to miss once you make that connection.

Trigger Warning isn't strictly a collection of scary stories, but neither were any of Bradbury's collections. Consider "The Veldt" or "Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed"; those stories weren't really horror stories, but that little spook was a large part of making them effective. Many of the stories in Trigger Warning fall into that same category. ...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Ellen added it

Shelves: dnf

Not in the mood right now for this one.

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Mar 09, 2016 Leslie rated it it was amazing

A living master. And his reading of his own work is marvelous (listened to this as an audio book).

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Jun 27, 2016 Kristen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-ebooks, 2016, short-stories

I have mixed feelings about this anthology. I really enjoyed it and the writing was phenomenal, but I wasn't scared or disturbed. With a title like Trigger Warning and the into from Gaiman, I expected more. The stories were off-beat and quirky, but didn't require any sort of warning in my opinion. Maybe I'm broken or the general reading public is weak, I don't know. What I do know is that I will be reading more from Mr. Gaiman. ...more

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Mar 12, 2015 Holly rated it liked it

A bit of a mixed bag, with some very good and creepy tales and some that were more what I think of as Standard Gaiman--good stories, but not necessarily outstanding.

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