There is only one phoenix at a time, of course, and while the Natural History Museum was filled with dead things, the phoenix is always alive.) (I was never surprised that they did not have a phoenix on display. (Why was there nothing about werewolves in the Natural History Museum? I wanted to know about werewolves.) There were vampire bats, but none of the better-dressed vampires on display, and no mermaids at all, not one-I looked-and as for griffins or manticores, they were completely out. I was convinced that the Natural History Museum was missing only one thing: a unicorn. It was the best place in the world that I could actually visit. In the same building was the Geological Museum, with meteorites and diamonds and strange and glorious minerals, and just around the corner was the Science Museum, where I could test my hearing, and rejoice in how much higher than an adult I could hear. It was called the Natural History Museum. There were things in bottles that had once been alive, and things in glass boxes that were alive no longer, sorted and catalogued and pinned. There was a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the lobby, and a stuffed replica of a dodo in a dusty case. It was an ornate building, made of colored bricks, and it had-and come to think of it, still has-gargoyles all over the roof: pterodactyls and saber-toothed tigers.
WHEN I WAS A BOY, the best place in the world was in London, a short walk from South Kensington Station. So, while a nice diversion overall, it did not succeed in "selling" me on any one writer (some long since dead, as some stories' were first published a hundred years ago or more). The problem is not the quality of the writing itself but that I need more than one short story by one author to be sure. While some of the stories were memorable I am not sure that any of them make me compelled to race out and find more works by any of the authors. Of course, being an anthology, some I enjoyed more than others. I'm thinking I would like to try his Coraline someday soon.No, discovering that this was not a solely Gaiman collection did not make me throw my iPad across the room - I went ahead and read all the stories. So I will have to keep looking elsewhere to find more of Gaiman. And the one short story actually authored by Gaiman is one that is already in Fragile Things. I had read, and enjoyed, his collection titled Fragile Things, which also happened to be my first exposure to Neil Gaiman.Alas, actually Unnatural Creatures is a short story collection, yes, but an anthology of various authors - edited by Neil Gaiman.
UNNATURAL CREATURES PRISMATICA FREE
When I downloaded this e-book (and I only did so because at the moment, it was either free or ninety-nine cents - I forget which) I mistakenly thought this was another short-story collection by Neil Gaiman. In short, Gaiman has great taste, or at least taste that is very similar to my own, and I'm happy to sit back and let him share some recommendations with me. These stories feel like they could have been written by Conan Doyle, or H.G. This gives the book an old, victorian-era feel that I absolutely adore. One was written over a hundred years ago. many of these stories were written fifty or sixty years ago. Gaiman's story picks are from old authors (some of them deceased) or authors who write in an old-timey style. It's held together by the idea that each story be about an "unnatural creature" though it's also held together by a surprising similarity in style. For this anthology he contributes one of his stories, which also appeared in Fragile Things, and picks a bunch of awesome stories to go along with it.
I loved Gaiman's two short fiction collections, Fragile Things and Smoke & Mirrors. If it's a good author (as Neil Gaiman undoubtedly is) then you'll be in for a treat. In my experience the best anthologies are those by a single author. Many anthologies are nothing more than a hastily cobbled collection of unrelated stories by authors whose names will sell the book. It's hard to keep the momentum going, like you would reading a novel, when you reach a (hopefully) satisfying climax every fifteen to thirty pages and then have to step into the steep learning curve of an entirely new story. I love a good short story more than almost anything, though anthologies are a bit tough to chew on. It's more like a love/apathy relationship. I have a love/hate relationship with short stories.
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