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    Stories: All-New Tales
    Stories: All-New Tales
    Stories: All-New Tales
    Audiobook18 hours

    Stories: All-New Tales

    Written by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

    Narrated by Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Peter Francis James and

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    This astonishing collection of all-new tales by some of the most acclaimed writers at work today is called, simply, Stories. Edited by Neil Gaiman (Sandman, The Graveyard Book, Anansi Boys, Coraline) and Al Sarrantonio (award-winning author of forty books and editor of numerous collections), Stories presents never before published short works from a veritable Who’s Who of contemporary literature—breathtaking inventions from the likes of Lawrence Block, Roddy Doyle, Joanne Harris, Joe Hill, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, Stewart O’Nan, Chuck Palahniuk, Carolyn Parkhurst, Jodi Picoult, Peter Straub…and, of course, the inimitable Neil Gaiman himself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 6, 2010
    ISBN9780061988790
    Author

    Neil Gaiman

    Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning author and creator of many beloved books, graphic novels, short stories, film, television and theatre for all ages. He is the recipient of the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, and many Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. Neil has adapted many of his works to television series, including Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett) and The Sandman. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and Professor in the Arts at Bard College. For a lot more about his work, please visit: https://www.neilgaiman.com/

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    Reviews for Stories

    3.5/5

    309 ratings43 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Glory, hallelujah, I'm so glad I'm finished with this monster and can put it behind me. It took a year of chugging through this collection, in between reading other novels, to get it finished. Paraphrasing Jewel from Bravo's "Platinum Hit" -- [Short story]-writing is hit or miss, and this was a miss.There were some good stories, but they were very few. As I read on, the mediocre stories made me appreciate the good ones more, and the awful stories made me appreciate the atrocious stories more. For me, the highlights were "Blood," "Wildfire in Manhattan," "The Stars Are Falling," and "Weights and Measures." The atrocious ones that I hated reading were, "Fossil-Figures," "Juvenal Nyx," and pretty much anything towards the end of the collection. The title story, "Stories," was pretty damn bad. It was a classic "and then" story. And this happened, and that happened, and then this happened, and that happened. As I look at the table of contents, there are some stories that I have no recollection of at all. And some of them are ones I read within the past few weeks, as opposed to almost a year ago. Some of them just felt so thrown together and didn't leave an impression on me at all. I'm just glad it's over.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      The book jacket says that this anthology “reinvigorates, expands and redefines the limits of imaginative fiction”. The book hosts some huge names in fiction: Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Carroll, Neil Gaiman, Richard Adams, Walter Mosley, Chuck Palahniuk and many others. Serial killers, Santa, a bizarre case of sibling rivalry that extends beyond the grave, vengeance are some of the weave through this book. Some of the stories are brilliant. Sadly, some are not.Any anthology is uneven. It’s just the nature of a collection. But this one ranges from marvelous to a couple I could barely get through. That surprised me, because I expected, with the list of authors this book has, that they would all be stellar. The book is definitely worth reading, but take this advice- if the story seems bad in the first few paragraphs, give up and go to the next one. The good ones start good; the bad ones don’t get any better.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Supernatural themed anthology. Generally very good, a few uninteresting ones, and some really memorable ones
    • 4/5
      Stories - All New Tales is a collection of short stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. The collection features stories by well known writers like Jodi Picoult, Jeffery Deaver, Joe Hill, Chuck Palahniuk and many more.When it comes to writing and fiction, the editors are most interested by the following four words: ".........and then what happened?" Quoting from the introduction, these are 'The four words that children ask, when you pause, telling them a story. The four words you hear at the end of a chapter. The four words, spoken or unspoken, that show you, as a storyteller, that people care.'So they put the word out and writers started submitting their short stories. The stories cover science fiction, fantasy and horror genres, which make for an engrossing collection.I found it an interesting collection and I enjoyed most of the stories. Weights and Measures by Jodi Picoult made me shed a tear, which hasn't happened while reading a book in many many years, which was enough reason alone to read this collection.The Therapist by Jeffery Deaver was a real thriller with a supernatural theme, and The Cult of the Nose by Al Sarrantonio was creepy and had me wishing for more! I thoroughly enjoyed Human Intelligence by Kurt Andersen, which was about a being from another planet who had been living on earth and documenting our existence for fifteen hundred years before his identity was discovered.However, it was Michael Marshall Smith's Unbelief that had me completely stupefied. The story is only seven pages long, but took me 45 mins to figure it out. When I finally figured it out, it was such a huge relief! I gave it to someone else to read and said: "here, it took me 45 mins to figure this one out, see what you think". Predictably he had it sussed from the first page, argh!It was refreshing to read a collection of short stories in between my regular reading schedule and this is a very fine collection and a terrific way to gain exposure to new authors.
    • 4/5
      I got this on audiobook, and I only stopped reading it before I finished it because I kept feeling compelled to turn it off every time the children walked into the room where I was listening to it. And then it was due back at the library and I could no longer renew it and, well, I'll probably check it out again. Some of the stories were hits and some were misses, but I enjoyed them all quite a like. Walter Mosley's "Juvenal Nyx" was a very satisfying vampire story, and one that I had to turn off multiple times when my little pitchers came on the scene. Lawrence Block's "Catch and Release" was disturbing, and I kind of wish it had ended a lot earlier and left more to the imagination. I loved Neil Gaiman's "The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains," which was haunting and tightly crafted. I made it to about the halfway point in the book and I really liked it, but if I keep getting it on audiobook, it might take me a very long time to finish it. Headphones might help. Or perhaps I should stay up late listening to these stories while I crochet baby clothes for friends. I love incongruous entertainment while I craft tiny sweaters and bootees.
    • 3/5
      I like Neil Gaiman, and love his writing and imagination. It is possible that I would have enjoyed more to read a full book he wrote rather than this anthology.
      Anthologies are tricky, because you always get a mixed bag. There is the good story, the passable one, and the absolute snoozer. This one is no different. I also feel sometimes that when reading short stories, the time you invest in getting into them is sometimes more than the payback you get from the unfolding story, and sometimes the ending is too abrupt for pleasure.

      My favourites in this collection were: Fossil Figures, by Joyce Carol Oates; The Turth is a Cave in the Black Mountain by Neil Gaiman; The Stars are Falling, Joe R Lansdale; Unwell, by Carolyn Parkhurst; The Therapist by Jeffrey Deaver; The Cult of the Nose by Al Sarrantonio; Human Intelligence by Kurt Anderson; and Parallel Lined by Tim Powers.
      I felt some were pointless like Polka Dots and Moonbeams by Jeffrey Ford. At least one was funny: Samantha's Diary by Diana Wynne Jones. And the absolute snoozer was Stories by Michael Moorcock (somehow I felt it lost its energy and got lost between fact and fiction).

      I listened to the Audiobook version and had to download the Table of Content to get the titles of the stories. And even after such a shot time some titles already mean nothing to me. I have no clue what they were. Note to self: If I ever write a short story I will make sure the title is catchy and relates clearly and unambiguously to something in that particular story.
    • 4/5
      the characters, the settings, the road trip, everyone's relationships to one another and to regret, and time and accident, and to what might have been, i loved the ebb and flow of all of it.
    • 1/5
      I have a theory that the more well known an author is, the less he gets edited. Here is what a good editor would have said to him: "Neil, I know these stories are by your buddies and are an homage to your genre. But most of these stories are poorly written, boring, unoriginal and lack any true emotion. Some are even down right embarrassing. The best are mediocre. This book would never have gotten published without your name on the cover."

      I forced myself to finish the book, hoping in the name of Gaiman to find at least one gem in the collection. I suffered through this, so you my dear friends, might be spared. Skip this book.
    • 3/5
      "And then what happened."...the four words that every storyteller longs to hear. That child-like impulse is the essence of what Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio wanted to evoke with this collection. On that basis, they were largely successful. These diverse stories, written by an impressive array of writers, kept me turning the pages and, yes, wondering what would happen next.

      In some cases, I didn't have to wonder long. The stories range in length from a mere three pages to an impressive 48. Despite his name appearing in 72-point font on the book's cover, Mr. Gaiman contributes only one story in addition to his introduction. So, die-hard Gaiman fans, don't be disappointed. Instead, revel in the embarrassment of riches that have been brought together. This story collection features contributors who are among the best in genre fiction (Gene Wolfe, Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Swanwick, Peter Straub), literary fiction (Stuart O'Nan, Joyce Carol Oates, Walter Mosley, Roddy Doyle), and popular fiction (Jeffrey Deaver, Jodi Picoult, Joe Hill, Chuck Palahniuk). Honestly, I barely brushed the surface of all the big-name contributors, so very many of whom are long-time favorites of mine.

      I'll be honest, not every single story is a slam dunk, but not one was a stinker. The overall quality of contributions is high. Whether you're looking for quick palate cleansers between longer works, or you're looking forward to reading this collection cover to cover, I feel confident in asserting that there's something for everyone to be found within these pages.
    • 4/5
      An excellent collection of short stories ranging from spooky/creepy to bittersweet and curious. Definitely a worthy read.
    • 3/5
      Like most short story collections, this is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the tales are fantastic, while others are just weird and kind of boring. My favorites are probably Samantha's Diary by Diana Wynne Jones (hilarious), The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon by Elizabeth Hand (compelling), and Catch and Release by Lawrence Block (terrible in all the right ways). Some other notables: Unwell by Carolyn Parkhurst was both disturbing and amusing; Loser by Chuck Palahniuk spoke in a voice all too familiar; Juvenal Nyx by Walter Mosley was an interesting take on a classic trope. Most anthologies are uneven in quality, and this was no exception, but there were enough gems to make it worth reading overall. I think it helps that I knew to expect weird, but realistic and coherent weird, since that's the sort of stories Gaiman writes (I'm not familiar with Sarrantonio's work). If you don't like that kind of writing, you probably won't like these stories. If you do, it's still not guaranteed, but it's certainly a volume worth flipping through.
    • 3/5
      Some of these stories are amazing, others disappointing. Those who can weave a short story really shine in this anthology.
    • 4/5
      A typical mixed bag of short stories. A few excellent, lots of average and 1 or 2 simply bad. That's it. The hungarian cover of the book is dreadful.
    • 5/5
      A mostly excellent collection of short stories. Normally I'm not a fan of short story collections when it's a book of a hodge-podge of writers (not normally a fan of "Best of' ... " series), but this one stands out. It truly is a collection of stories that will keep you asking " ... and then what happened?" as you read. There are a few misses here, but only a few, and this has expanded my repertoire of writers to keep reading. Always a good thing.

      I've changed this to five stars. It got a new short story out of me, and anything that does that deserves top accolades.
    • 4/5
      Every year for the past, oh, twenty years or so, I have looked forward to the anthology The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. Alas, that annual anthology is no more. The choice of stories in this anthology are very similar--a few authors you'd expect from fantasy and horror, and then some unexpected ones. Most of the stories in the anthology lean toward dark fantasy or horror.
      Stories is a good, interesting mix of stories, but I really don't think it is "groundbreaking" as the flyleaf calls it.My favorites: the introduction (by Neil Gaiman); The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains (also by Gaiman), Juvenal Nyx by Walter Mosley and The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon by Elizabeth Hand. Most of the rest of the tales were good & I enjoyed reading them. One that I didn't care for was Jodi Picoult's Weights and Measures. It starts out good, but the magical realism/fantasy element just didn't work for me.
    • 3/5

      Reviewing an anthology is not an easy task; almost no anthology is perfect. It's like that hackneyed proverbial box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get when you start a new story. In this particular collection it's even more so, because it's all over the place, thematically speaking. It's not classic Tolkien-style "fantasy," but it's not really Gaiman-style "fantasy" either. In fact, towards the end, some of the pieces don't really have any fantastical elements at all, and feel more like classic literature than anything else.


      The book starts off strong with stories that are engaging and imaginative, each a unique gem. It continues well up until the middle, but sadly, loses its vigor somewhere around the 70% mark. Kurt Andersen's Human Intelligence, page 363, is the last good story in the volume. It's followed by a trio of unfortunately tedious tales, including The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon, which is as pointless a short story as I've ever read. Not to dwell on the negative though -- this is really the tail end of the book, and what precedes it is mostly great.


      In other words, do read this book, but save yourself the tedium that follows Andersen's beautiful tale. Up until that point, I'd warmly recommend this anthology.


    • 3/5
      I was looking forward to this as I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan and a lot of the included authors come well recommended.

      However I was disappointed in the end result. The theme behind the collection is supposed to be "...and what happened next?". For most of the stories my reaction was "...and who cares?". Mostly the stories were boring and never really engaged me enough that I just had to keep reading and wanting to know more.

      This isn't to say there weren't some gems in amongst the manure. The stand-outs for me were the short stories by Joanne Harris, Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Swanick, Lawrence Block, Diana Wynne Jones, Jeffrey Deaver, Al Sarrantonio and Elizabeth Hand. So that's a third of the short stories. I'd say another third were ok and the final third I disliked.

      I know the odds are good that I'll never like every story in a short story collection, especially with so many different authors and styles, but I was hoping for more than a third. I'd recommend some of the stories but I can't recommend the whole book just to read them.
    • 3/5
      Many excellent short story writers contributed to this collection, including Joyce Carol Oates and Neil Gaiman himself, but not all best-selling novelists can write a great short story.Since I picked this audiobook out mainly because a couple of my favorite audiobook narrators read stories on it, I still enjoyed listening to Stories, though. Even the stories that weren’t as great as the others were still read very engagingly by star-quality audiobook narrators Katherine Kellgren and Jonathan Davis, along with two actor/narrators who were new to me on audio, but also excellent – Peter Francis James and Euan Morton.All 27 stories have a fantastical element to them, and there’s a good representation of fantasy, s/f, and horror writers as well as authors like Carolyn Parkhurst, Jodi Picoult, and Chuck Palahniuk, and Stewart O’Nan, who aren’t known for writing in those genres.Read complete review at Bay State Reader's Advisory blog.
    • 4/5
      Anthologies are difficult for me to rate, since it's the rare anthology where I like every story. This collection was no exception, but the proportion was much higher than usual.This collection was not just a collection on stories, but rather a collection of stories about stories. I don't mean that they were literally about stories, although that was literally true in the case of one, helpfully named "Stories." They had to do with awareness of narrative momentum, of understanding how stories shape our lives, of learning from stories and teaching them to others.Many of the stories had some element of the fantastical about them, although most were more on the literary rather than the genre side. The result is an approach to each story that suspends disbelief and allows us to get lost within the universe glimpsed in each.Recommendation: If you like any of the authors in the collection, give it a try. If not, take a chance and give it a try anyway.
    • 4/5
      These stories weren’t really connected they had no common theme except life. I tried my best to figure out who narrated each story and I may be wrong on some if anyone can correct me I would be happy to change the narrator so I can give credit where credit is due. Some of these stories were very odd and most didn’t have a pat ending, some I enjoyed way more than others and I tried to say a little something about each of them.About the narration- I am now a fan of Euan Morton and I believe her will be added to my “Will listen to them read the phonebook list” so I think I will finally be listening to some Christopher Moore!Katherine Kellgren was as always great, I just wish she had narrated more stories.Anne Bobby showed her range in these stories and I enjoyed her narration and would listen to her again.The two I had a hard time figuring out who narrated which were Jonathan Davis and Peter Francis James because they both have voices like butter I have been a fan of Jonathan since listening to Shadow of the Wind but Peter was a new to me narrator and in the one story Juvenal Nyx he sounded like Dion Graham and that is never a bad comparison I will look for more from this narrator.The introduction by Neil Gaiman was a great story all on its own and of course it’s narrated by Neil so what else can I say. Blood by, Roddy Doyle narrated by, Euan Morton Really liked the narrator of this one but it was a very odd story.Fossil Figures by, Joyce Carol Oates narrated by, Ann Bobby was a creepy but interesting story I liked itWildfire in Manhattan- by, Joanne Harris narrated by, Jonathan Davis this was a story about gods/elements living in Manhattan it was interestingThe Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountain by, Neil Gaiman narrated by, Euan Morton was wonderful! And great narration even after I was a little disappointed it wasn’t Neil himself. Unbelief by, Michael Marshall Smith narrated by, Peter Francis James it was just ok still trying to figure out if he was with his family at the end or if he was dead/a ghostThe Stars are Falling by Joe R. Lansdale maybe narrated by, Jonathan Davis…was a really good story I liked it a lot this was one of my favorite storiesJuvenal Nyx by, Walter Mosley was a very different story, not what I expected from this author narrated by, Peter Francis James who I thought sounded a lot like Dion Graham and did a very good job at the narrationThe Knife by, Richard Adams narrated by Euen Morton Was a very short odd story that really made no senseWeights and Measurements by, Jodi Picoult narrated by, Anne Bobby odd story about losing a child I think it was a metaphor about how you lose a part of yourself but done very oddly.Goblin Lake by, Michael Swanwick narrated by, Jonathan Davis Was a very interesting story that I liked very much begs the question does a character in a book know they are a character?Mallon the Guru by, Peter Straub narrated by, Peter Francis James was another odd story about life and deathCatch and Release by, Lawrence Block narrated by, Jonathan Davis was a really superb story very suspenseful and I could see an entire mystery novel written about this character.Polka dots and moonbeams by, Jeffery Ford narrated by, Peter Francis James? Didn’t really make much sense to me just mehLoser by, Chuck Palahniuk narrated by, Jonathan Davis? Was just meh didn’t really seem to have a pointSamantha’s Diary by, Diana Wynne Jones narrated by, Katherine Kellgren of course I didn’t have to look this one up to try to figure out who the narrator was and really with these two names could the story go wrong? A futuristic take on the 12 days of Christmas that was very funny!Land of the Lost by, Stewart O’Nan narrated by, Anne Bobby Wish there would have been more of this oneLeif in the Wind by, Gene Wolf narrated by, Katherine Kellgren good Sci-Fi story, Would have liked more of this one tooUnwell by, Carolyn Parkhurst narrated by, Anne Bobby crazy old lady and her sister kind of funny kind of sadA Life in Fiction by, Kat Howard narrated by, Katherine Kellgren if someone writes a character slightly based on you are you real or do you become the fiction… interesting storyLet the past begin by, Jonathan Carroll narrated by, Jonathan Davis very odd story that I didn’t quite getThe Therapist by, Jeffery Deaver narrated by, Peter Francis James kind of a murder mystery, psychological thriller, with a touch of the supernatural, and conspiracy a good story… well it is Deaver after all Parallel Lines by, Tim Powers narrated by, Anne Bobby didn’t really get this storyThe Cult of the Nose by, Al Sarrantonio narrated by, Peter Francis James just plain weirdHuman Intelligence by, Kurt Anderson narrated by, Katy Kellgren an alien story with a heck of twist haha this was a good one!Stories by, Michael Moorlock narrated by, Euan Morton A look at the life of a group of writers interesting storyThe Maiden Flight of McCauley’s by, Elizabeth Hand narrated by, Jonathan Davis sort of sci fi another kind of odd one that lost me The Devil on the Staircase by, Joe Hill narrated by, Peter Francis James kind of a Daniel Webster story3 ½ stars
    • 4/5
      This is a collection of 27 short stories by some very well known authors. Who would of thought that Gene Wolfe would be sharing book space with Joyce Carol Oates or Chuck Palahniuk with Jodi Picoult. The work page details all the contributors and so I'm not going to go through them all especially as most of them were only fair to middling in accordance with my taste. I'll just give a few details on my favourites from the collection.The stand-out story for me was Neil Gaiman's own, The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains which has a dwarf searching for a legendary cave of gold but he may have ulterior motives. The two closing stories were also very good. The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon by Elizabeth Hand details an attempt to recreate a lost film of a pre-Wright Brothers flight as a tribute to a dying past love and The Devil on the Staircase by Joe Hill looks at the evil that man is capable of committing to get what he wants or to stop others from having it instead. The former of these is the longest story of the book while the latter employs different formatting to represent the stairs the main character traverses as he recounts his tale.I also enjoyed Human Intelligence by Kurt Andersen which tells of a visitor sent to spy on planet Earth who has seemingly been forgotten by those who sent him and the Arctic explorer who finally discovers his existence. Jeffrey Deaver's The Therapist and Lawrence Block's Catch and Release take a look at the dark side of humanity while Samantha's Diary by Diana Wynne Jones is a light-hearted take on the 12 days of Christmas. Meanwhile, Walter Mosely offers up a different kind of vampire tale with Juvenal Nyx.I'm surprised I didn't enjoy more of the inclusions considering there was hardly any of the authors that I hadn't at least heard of before and was somewhat disappointed by quite a few. I'm sure others will find different stories more to their taste than mine but I will be surprised if many enjoy all of this collection.
    • 4/5
      When I saw this book, I was delighted because, it's an anthology of short stories by unknown writers (at least that's what I think) and Neil Gaiman. I just love short stories and "Stories: All-New Tales" doesn't disappoint. After spending some time reading this superb book, I have to say, this is a good read before bedtime or you can't stand reading draggy long-winded stories. Most of the stories here fall in the category of witty, innovative and satisfying. The short stories can be of 4 or 5 pages minimum or even a 30 page (which I hated) but overall, young adults and above will enjoy this read. I'll give this title a 4 out 5 stars, which means, it's a recommended reading! :)
    • 4/5
      An anthology of short stories is by its very definition variable. Thus the stories in this aptly named volume vary in length and strength, and in style and genre. Of course, this means that if there isn't quite something here for everyone, there is certainly enough variation for most people to find something they like. As for myself, I found the stories herein all of high quality, found reading the entire volume through a pleasure, and enjoyed finding writers who I'd not read before, whose stories made me ask "what happened next?"
    • 4/5
      I think it will always be hard for a collection of stories from multiple authors to get five stars from me; there's always some that I don't like. Ironically, it was some of the stories from my favorite authors that I didn't care for here.Overall, one of the more satisfying collections of short story anthologies that I've read for a while; however, many of the stories, especially toward the beginning, were so painful (even if good) that I could only read one at a time before switching to something else.My favorites:The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains, by Neil GaimanGoblin Lake, by Michael SwanwickCatch and Release, by Lawrence Block (this is the one that's stuck with me the strongest)Unwell, Carolyn ParkhurstA Life in Fictions, Kat HowardThe Cult of the Nose, Al Sarrantonio (loved this Borgesian thing until the very end, then siiiigh.)Stories, Michael Moorcock (the most interesting story about not much at all)The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellepheron, Liz Hand
    • 3/5
      I admit, the first thing that attracted me to this collecting was Gaiman's name on the cover. I'm a fan. But I looked further and saw a list of big names and figured it was a sure bet. I was wrong. This collection was really hit and miss, but with more miss than hit. A few stories made me uneasy and a few were really good. Not sure if it was intentional, but I thought the best story was the last one in the collection and I'm blanking on the author at the moment.
    • 4/5
      Stories, an anthology edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, takes as starting point their love for good stories and good writing, and 4 words: ...and then what happened? I had my eyes on this book ever since it came out – short stories, some great authors (even if the combination of some seemed strange at first), and a cute cover.Stories starts with Blood by Roddy Doyle, that is quite upbeat and funny, even if slightly disturbing – I enjoyed it but the ending didn't quite work for me. But the second story, Fossil-Figures by Joyce Carol Oates, more than made up for it. Fossil-Figures is a story of twins, different from what usually is done, poignant and dark – but what really captivated me was the writing, that conveyed the feelings of both the characters so well. I admit never having heard of Joyce Carol Oates, but it won't be the last I'll read something of this author.The next three stories (Joanne Harris's Wildfire in Manhattan, Neil Gaiman's The truth is a cave in the Black Mountains and Michael Marshall Smith's Unbelief) could have been part of American Gods, and if that is forgiveable in the case of Neil Gaiman, with the other two not so much. Joanne Harris story was still enjoyable for the movie(or TV-series)-like quality of it, fun, with action and a hint of romance. Neil Gaiman's didn't really convince me more because of the writing than the story itself. Unbelief is a cutesy story, with a twist towards the end that made me smile a bit, but not much more than that.The stars are falling by Joe R. Lansdale is a strange case, because although I can't say I specially liked it, it was memorable enough to still have me thinking about it (more than a month after reading it). It's dark and sad, like many of the stories in this book, but strangely uplifting in the end, despite the grimness of it.Walter Mosley's Juvenal Nyx starts really slow and boring, and once it starts to be interesting to me, it pick ups the pace and finishes in a flash. As a vampire story it is different from usual, and had it been more like the ending part, it could have been phenomenal.After Richard Adams's story The Knife I think I am ready to give up on this author, neither writing nor story were to my liking, and the only plus side was that it was extremely short.I was surprised to see Jodi Picoult in the list of the authors, the few names that I was acquainted with screamed Fantasy and Science Fiction to me, Jodi's didn't. But I'm glad she was included, her story Weights and measures was extremely sad, but extremely well written. About the death of child and the grief of parents, I didn't expect to enjoy it, and certainly not as much as I have.Michael Swanwick's The Goblin Lake was fairy tale like at first, jumping into metafiction later on. But it never really convinced me, and to tell the truth, the new-comer Kat Howard manages much better the metaficiton in her story A Life in Fictions, which was really good.Mallon the guru by Peter Straub was another story that didn't work out for me, the same with Stewart O'Nan's Land of the Lost, Carolyn Parkhurst's Unwell and Tim Powers's Parallel Lines (these last two with some similarities, as well as with Fossil-Figures that had already stole my heart).Lawrence Block's Catch and Release and Jeffery Deaver's The Therapist were both rather good, both showing the darker side of human nature. In the first we share the thoughts of a serial killer that has somehow changed his modus operandi, never giving up the chase of prey. In the second story it takes awhile to realize how dark it is, and since there is an element of fantasy there, the reader is doesn't quite know what to believe.Jeffrey Ford's Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Chuck Palahniuk's Loser and Jonathan Carroll's Let the Past Begin were nice stories, with some degree of craziness and surrealism, which is always a bonus for me, but not exactly memorable.Samantha's Diary by Diana Wynne Jones was my favourite story in the book – a retelling of the popular 12 Days of Christmas, set in a futuristic world were such song is almost forgotten. This one made me laugh out loud (I swear, true story). I wish there was a bit more to its ending, but anyway, it is a brilliant story.Leif in the wind by Gene Wolfe was another poignant story, a science fiction one, and I enjoyed it immensely. Al Sarrantonio's The Cult of the Nose is another slightly surreal one, that had the power to actually make me believe in the conspiracies and secret society that the main character was involved on. The ending was also quite twisty, leaving it open to the reader to believe in either side of the story.Human intelligence by Kurt Andersen was another science fiction one, and with quite a big twist in the end that left me with a smile in my face (a much bigger one than in Unbelief). I rather liked it.Stories by Michael Moorcock was tremendously strange to me, because it didn't feel like a story to me – just the author talking about the past and people that I always felt I was supposed to know who they were but I had no idea who they could be. For the most part it made me feel stupid, because surely these should be really famous authors and magazines and what-not. But slowly I became somewhat invested in the characters, especially the one we know from the beginning what will happen – I guess I want to know how he got there.Elizabeth Hand's The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon was a nice one as well, rather long, which made me feel it could have been a novel. I wish there was a better explanation to some of the events, but overall it was good.The Devil on the Staircase by Joe Hill is the closing story of this book, with a different kind of layout. As the main character goes up and down the many stairs of his village, so does the text resemble them. It made it a bit hard to follow the story, but it was nice all the same.My overall opinion of Stories was that it was somewhat of a disappointment: even if there were stories that I loved, they were few and the ones that didn't interest me one bit far too many. Regarding the central point of ...and then what happened? of all the stories, I felt the great majority of cases that I was asking that because the story had an unfinished feel to it, not because I really wanted to know more about it.Also at Spoilers and Nuts
    • 4/5
      Incredibly diverse in both it's authors and themes, the quality of all the stories leaves something to be desired. While there are a handful of great stories and a handful of rather dull ones, most were enjoyable while not necessarily exceptional. Nevertheless, this compilation is worthwhile, especially for Neil Gaiman fans who appreciate fiction in all it's forms.
    • 3/5
      Best stories: "The Stars Are Falling" by Joe R. Landsdale, "Catch and Release" by Lawrence Block, "The Devil on the Stairs" by Joe Hill. Most of the stories here are good, but I skipped over a few. Nothing really blew me away, alas. I expect more from a book with Neil's name on the cover. He says in the introduction that stories should inspire the reader to say, "and then what happened?" More often than I care to admit, I found myself saying, "I hope this gets better soon."
    • 3/5
      Glory, hallelujah, I'm so glad I'm finished with this monster and can put it behind me. It took a year of chugging through this collection, in between reading other novels, to get it finished. Paraphrasing Jewel from Bravo's "Platinum Hit" -- [Short story]-writing is hit or miss, and this was a miss.There were some good stories, but they were very few. As I read on, the mediocre stories made me appreciate the good ones more, and the awful stories made me appreciate the atrocious stories more. For me, the highlights were "Blood," "Wildfire in Manhattan," "The Stars Are Falling," and "Weights and Measures." The atrocious ones that I hated reading were, "Fossil-Figures," "Juvenal Nyx," and pretty much anything towards the end of the collection. The title story, "Stories," was pretty damn bad. It was a classic "and then" story. And this happened, and that happened, and then this happened, and that happened. As I look at the table of contents, there are some stories that I have no recollection of at all. And some of them are ones I read within the past few weeks, as opposed to almost a year ago. Some of them just felt so thrown together and didn't leave an impression on me at all. I'm just glad it's over.
    • 3/5
      This dully-titled anthology features an incredible breadth of talent, ranging from chick-lit writers like Jodi Picoult to thriller writers like Jeffrey Deaver to Booker-prize winners like Roddy Doyle. This is part of the reason I bought it, but I suspect it actually ended up being a weakness rather than a strength - for every story I read tailored to my liking, I had to read several in genres I didn't care for. Despite Gaiman's declaration in the introduction that he wanted to make an anthology of fantastic fiction (i.e. fantasy in the sense that the impossible can happen, not Tolkien-derivative fantasy), most authors paid only lip service to this notion and still wrote firmly within the genres they were comfortable with - Jodi Picoult wrote a story wringing every scrap of emotion she could out of the loss of a child (confirming my suspicion that she's the kind of woman - yes, not author, but woman - who thrives on heartbreak and sadness), Jeffrey Deaver wrote a ham-fisted story about a murder and a court case, and in many cases the authors ignored Gaiman's wish and didn't even insert the token fantasy contributions that Picoult and Deaver did.And in spite of all that - because I'm not actually genre-prejudiced, and don't care whether the stories contained an element of "fantasy" or not provided they were good - this collection still falls short of the mark. There were only a handful of stories I really enjoyed: Joe R. Lansdale's "The Stars Are Falling," about a soldier returning home after World War I, "The Devil On The Staircase" by Joe Hill, and - surprisingly, given I wasn't a fan of much of his previous work - "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains," by Gaiman himself. (Speaking of Gaiman, two of the stories - Joanne Harris' "Wildfire In Manhattan" and Michael Marshall Smith's "Unbelief" - were heavily derivative of Gaiman's novel American Gods, and I'm surprised he even considered them, let alone accepted them.)Overall I was fairly disappointed. It's not a bad collection - I was never exactly bored while reading it - but it did fail to match the expectations I had for an anthology from such a huge array of famous names.