There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
“Lois Lane: A Real Work of Art” by Gwenda Bond (2015, free at Amazon)
The first of two prequel stories for Gwenda Bond’s Lois Lane: Fallout, “A Real Work of Art,” is a quick story in which pre-Metropolis Lois Lane puts her investigatory skills to use at a new school.
January 4th, 2016. Jana Nyman, Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones | Gwenda Bond, Kij Johnson, Neil Gaiman | Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
I never pass up a children’s story written and read by Neil Gaiman. The stories he writes for kids are among his best work and they’re even better when he reads them himself. The audiobook version of Fortunately, the Milk (HarperAudio) would make a great gift for parents who travel with children. Fortunately, the Milk will keep the entire family happily entertained for 1 hour.
In this very amusing story, a boy and his little sister are stuck at home with Dad while Mum is out of town at a conference.
August 19th, 2015. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection (The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, The Wolves in the Walls, Cinnamon, Crazy Hair) by Neil Gaiman
The only thing better than one of Neil Gaiman’s children’s stories is one of Neil Gaiman’s children’s stories read to you by Neil Gaiman. Do not pass these up when you see them. I found these four stories in audio format at my library, both individually and as the cleverly titled The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection.
August 13th, 2015. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, BSFA Award, Children, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Neil Gaiman’s Murder Mysteries adapted for comics by P. Craig Russell
P. Craig Russell’s artwork is stunning in his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Murder Mysteries. And since the story has all the other-worldly hallmarks of a Neil Gaiman Sandman story, Russell really gets a chance to show off his talent as he bounces from the angelic Silver City to the cityscapes of our mundane world.
This graphic novel is based on what was originally a short story by Neil Gaiman (and eventually a radio drama in the spirit of The Shadow);
March 22nd, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Neil Gaiman | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Neil Gaiman+ Lenny Henry = Twice the Entertainment
I like Neil Gaiman’s style — his writing is easy, intelligent, well-edited, dryly humorous, and just plain charming.
Anansi Boys is no exception, and it’s especially charming in audio format, thanks to Lenny Henry, an English stand-up comedian whose deep rich voice and character comedy is absolutely perfect for this novel which is based on the African/Caribbean mythology of the trickster spider god Anansi (introduced in American Gods). Henry’s voices are brilliant (especially the old Caribbean women) and he had me literally smiling nearly all the way through the story.
March 25th, 2008. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Adventures in the Dream Trade by Neil Gaiman
When I first saw Adventures in the Dream Trade, I was genuinely surprised because I never knew it existed. I found it in a specialty bookstore, and was going for a relatively high selling price. Still, thinking that it was a rare Neil Gaiman book, I shelled out the cash for it and I did find out it really was a rare Neil Gaiman book due to its small print-run. And anyone who’s read it will know why.
Adventures in the Dream Trade collects various introductions and essays by Gaiman,
August 12th, 2007. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | Neil Gaiman | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories we’ve read that we wanted you to know about.
“A Recipe for Magic” by Kat Howard and Fran Wilde (2017, free at Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog, free to download for Nook)
“A Recipe for Magic,” co-written by Kat Howard and Fran Wilde, features a curious kind of shop: at the Night and Day Bakery, magic spells are baked directly into pastries and confections,
November 13th, 2017. Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds | Fran Wilde, Kat Howard, Neil Gaiman, Philip K. Dick | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
“The Evaluators: To Trade with Aliens, You Must Adapt” by N.K. Jemisin (2016, free on Wired)
About two hundred years in our future, humanity is engaged in exploring other planets and worlds and meeting alien civilizations. Wei Aiuha is part of a team that is engaging in discussions with a newly discovered alien race, the Manka, to see if humans can develop a relationship with the Manka and engage in some profitable trade with them. Back on earth, Thandiwe Solomon is trying to decipher Aiuha’s personal logs from her meetings with the Manka two years earlier.
July 3rd, 2017. Tadiana Jones and Katie Burton | N.K. Jemisin, Neil Gaiman | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
“Everything that Isn’t Winter” by Margaret Killjoy (Oct. 2016, free at Tor.com, 99c Kindle version)
This piece includes a great range of storytelling in few words. “Everything that Isn’t Winter” is set post-apocalypse in a small community that has carved out a comfortable place in the new world. The setting may sound run-of-the-mill, but what Killjoy does with it makes it come to life.
October 24th, 2016. Skye Walker, Kat Hooper and Tadiana Jones | Neil Gaiman, Terry Bisson | Audio, Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
A Study in Emerald is a Hugo and Locus Award winning short story by Neil Gaiman in which he pays tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.
At first Gaiman’s story appears to be a straight Sherlock Holmes pastiche as a man who appears to be Watson relates how his new friend, a consulting detective who appears to be Holmes, is being asked by Inspector Lestrade to help solve a murder mystery.
June 16th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
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