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    Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six: A Short Fiction
    Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six: A Short Fiction
    Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six: A Short Fiction
    Ebook73 pages1 hour

    Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six: A Short Fiction

    By Neil Gaiman

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    About this ebook

    “A prodigiously imaginative collection.”

    —New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice

     

    “Dazzling tales from a master of the fantastic.”
    —Washington Post Book World

     

    Fragile Things is a sterling collection of exceptional tales from Neil Gaiman, multiple award-winning (the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Newberry, and Eisner Awards, to name just a few), #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Graveyard Book, Anansi Boys, Coraline, and the groundbreaking Sandman graphic novel series. A uniquely imaginative creator of wonders whose unique storytelling genius has been acclaimed by a host of literary luminaries from Norman Mailer to Stephen King, Gaiman’s astonishing powers are on glorious displays in Fragile Things. Enter and be amazed!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 3, 2009
    ISBN9780061848759
    Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six: A Short Fiction
    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 Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six

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    • 5/5
      Another Gaiman. I am slowly working my way through them all. I was over halfway through this book of short stories when I got the audio book and started over. There's something about the author reading his own words that makes them more meaningful. Plus, I'm a sucker for British male narrators.

      Anyways, this collection is very diverse, with poems and funny ones and mystery ones and ones I'd never read before, and everything with that little (or huge) twist I've come to expect. There are some, like "The Problem of Susan" that I'm not very happy about, but I know they will stick with me as only the best sci-fi short stories can. You know that creepy way Bradbury or Twilight Zone stories come back to haunt you every time you hear about virtual reality or fly on an airplane? Only this one is about children's books. There are some, like the novella featuring Shadow, the main character from American Gods, that are just plain good stories. They hit all the right buttons and leave you with a feeling that something amazing just happened but you missed how the magic trick happened. If I ever have a long road trip, I'm putting this back in the queue for sure.
    • 5/5
      Some excellent shorts. My favorites was shadows.
    • 4/5
      Another pick-up-put-down-pick-up-again collection of short stories.....
    • 4/5
      Love it, love it, love it.
    • 3/5
      Didn't like too many of these short stories or poems which surprised me since I do enjoy Neil Gaimen's books.
    • 4/5
      A splendid collection from one of my authors. Will give mini-synopses/reviews of the stories.

      A Study in Emerald - Wow! I don't know if I've ever read a better short story in my life. Written for an anthology of stories where the world of Sherlock Holmes meets the world of H.P. Lovecraft, Gaiman's take gives The Ancient Ones the sanity-crumbling horror I'm used to and gives Holmes the brilliant see-everything-at-once deductive skills that we expect. A best-of-both-worlds story that's scary, thrilling, and surprising.

      The Fairy Reel -

      October in the Chair

      The Hidden Chamber

      Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire

      The Flints of Memory Lane

      Closing Time

      Going Wodwo

      Bitter Grounds

      Other People

      Keepsakes and Treasures

      Good Boys Deserve Favors

      The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch

      Strange Little Girls

      Harlequin Valentine

      Locks

      The Problem of Susan

      Instructions

      How Do You Think It Feels?

      My Life

      Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot

      Feeders and Eaters

      Diseasemaker's Croup

      In the End

      Goliath

      Pages from a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Louisville, Kentucky

      How to Talk to Girls at Parties

      The Day the Saucers Came

      Sunbird

      Inventing Aladdin

      The Monarch of the Glen
    • 4/5
      A bunch of short stories and poems which concludes with a novella. I don't tend to read a lot of short fiction but have been picking at this one for quite a while. For me it was quite a mixed bag so far as quality goes but you can't argue with the quantity as there are nearly 30 entries included in this collection.. There are also introductions to each piece located in a separate section at the beginning of the book. My favourites were Monarch of the Glen (the novella which features Shadow from American Gods), Sunbird (a club set on sampling all the world's gastronomic delights), Bitter Grounds (Ghost story with voodoo element), Keepsakes and Treasures (Introduces a couple of villains who also appear in the novella) and The Hidden Chamber (possibly the creepiest poem I've ever read). Most of the rest were at least enjoyable to a certain extent even if some were instantly forgettable.
    • 4/5
      I really just love listening to Neil Gaiman read, whether I'm actually paying attention to the story or not. Short stories have never been my favorite medium, but there were several interesting ones in here, and combined with Neil's performance, I enjoyed this. My biggest problem in looking back at the list of stories is not really being able to say which ones were my favorites, because I'm not entirely sure which ones they were! lol! I'm pretty sure that Bitter Grounds was one with an Anthropology/Voodoo/Missing Person spin. Also there was another that had a Matrix-esque premise of the world you feel is real actually being a simulation that I liked quite a bit.

      I think at some point I would like to read this physically, since I retain them better when I'm reading visually than when I'm listening, but I will always listen to Neil reading, always. :)

      I'm counting this in for Award Winning Challenge as a couple of the stories in this collection are award winners or mentions.

      Study in Emerald
      short story : 2004 Hugo W
      novelette : 2004 Locus W

      The Monarch of the Glen
      novelette : 2004 Locus/2

    • 5/5
      Loved it!Proper review to follow.Why did I read it? Well, I had listened to two other books by Neil Gaiman: one being a collaboration with Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"; and the other being the 10th anniversary edition of "American Gods", which I truly enjoyed. Given this was a selection of short stories, and prose, I thought it would be entertaining for my commute. And, so it was!What's it about? Bizarre tales, short stories, the odd poem, and, finally, a little epilogue to "American Gods". A rather odd collection, though nicely set out, which I imagine can be dipped in an out of at random (if you have the hard copy, and aren't listening to Neil Gaiman narrate them himself). Tales of mythical creatures, legends, and some snatched from fragments of folklore. Included are stories from Neil Gaiman's early writings revised, edited and included here; one is a birthday gift to his daughter; and each is a wonder tale.What did I like? Every, single story, and poem. Really, I did! This collection kept me engaged, wanting to listen to every word, and not miss a moment. Neil Gaiman is a writer of the odd, the unusual, the supernatural, the otherworlds and so his tales have twists not found in other stories, but once found in the myths of old.There is a sense of humour to be found in the works, as well. Sometimes authors forget to include this in darker tales, but life, or indeed fantasy, is not just one dimensional - or shouldn't be. Neil Gaiman incorporates the whole of life, death, and everything in between in these tales.Neil Gaiman is also rather good at narrating his own work. This author knows how to bring a story to life, and doesn't seem to falter in his delivery. It's kind of refreshing to hear an author read his own words, even if you will never hear him do so live.The audio version, provided by Audible, was clear, and without fault.What didn't I like? Nope. Can't think of anything.Would I recommend it? Oh yes! To anyone who has read Neil Gaiman's other works, or even those of Terry Pratchett. If you want to read something a little different, this is it. I'll definitely be listening again.
    • 4/5
      fantasy fiction horror anthology favorites
    • 4/5
      I tend to prefer my supernatural fiction "vintage", by which I understand that it should be written before 1950 and/or in the style of the classic ghost, gothic or horror story. Nevertheless, I do enjoy the occasional foray into the "New Weird". In December 2014 I had read with pleasure China Mieville's "Looking for Jake and Other Stories". Over Christmas this year I opted for another anthology of short fiction: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. I can't say I know these two authors well enough to compare them but, if forced to do so, I'd say Mieville strikes me as grittier and more politically committed, his style owing as much to noir and thriller genres as to the tradition of supernatural fiction. On the other hand, Gaiman seems more fascinated by the world of faerie, folk tale and myth; by the sometimes subtle, sometimes shocking intrusion of the weird into everyday life. Another recurrent inspiration in this collection appears to be the act of "writing" and "creating" itself. Not only is the anthology preceded by an introduction in which Gaiman explains the genesis of each of the pieces, but some of the stories themselves are either *about* writing, writers and storytellers, or else reinterpret known literary works. For instance, in the opening story - "A Study in Emerald" - the worlds of Conan Doyle and Lovecraft combine as Sherlock Holmes is placed in an alternative 19th Century ruled by "Old One" Queen Victoria. It's the sort of divertissement which shouldn't work but ultimately does. "The Problem of Susan" presents a more disturbing and abstruse reinterpretation of characters from the Chronicles of Narnia. "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" veers between parody and pastiche and features an author living in a typical candle-lit Gothic world of crumbling castles and stormy nights who is suffering from a particularly acute case of writer's block. A critic described this tale as "facetious nonsense" (which it probably is), but it is hilarious - after all, parody has always been an element of the Gothic tradition. A highlight of the collection is "October in the Chair", in which, at a story-telling reunion between the months of the year, October relates the tale of a bullied boy who befriends a ghost. A prototype for The Graveyard Book , it is touching and unsettling at the same time.In other tales we meet child zombies, haunted playrooms, beautiful aliens and magical instruments. There is a return of "Shadow" from "American Gods" in the novella "Monarch of the Glen", where the protagonist finds himself pitted against a Grendel-like monster of old. In this story there is also a cameo appearance by the repulsive "Mr Smith and Mr Alice", who also get their own story - "Keepsakes and Treasures" is violent, quite revolting but strangely fascinating.With such a varied anthology there will be entries which do not work for you. In my case, I didn't particularly like the poetry and there were stories which lost me because they seemed to lack an internal logic. Gaiman points out that supernatural tales are rarely "story-shaped", so others may actually relish the feeling of being "bewildered" by a seemingly illogical tale. I don't.I must make a mental note to venture into "New Weird" more often - possibly starting with some of Gaiman's and Mieville's full-length novels.
    • 5/5
      Fragile Things is a diverse collection of stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. Showcasing his ability to write in a wide variety of voices, genres and styles, one doesn't get bored with this collection. There were several stories and poems here that made an impression on me:A Study in Emerald is a mash-up of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. In Gaiman's hands it works extraordinarily well - he even throws in some great twists. This is a very strong story, one of my favourites.October in the Chair features the months of the year telling stories. October's story is about a little boy who is picked on by his older brothers and runs away from home, only to befriend a ghost. This is a theme that has appeared in Gaiman's other work - The Graveyard Book, and one of the Sandman stories. This is a great tale, though sad.The Hidden Chamber is a poem about a modern Bluebeard who's empty house still holds dark secrets.Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire is a very funny story about a frustrated writer. He is determined to write great, literary fiction that reflects life, but the world he lives in seems to be straight out of a supernatural Gothic horror story. His secret passion is for fantasy fiction - stories that tell of such escapist fantasies as stockbrokers, taxis and soap commercials. Closing Time is a story that gives me the chills every time I read it. I first read it several years ago and it has stuck stubbornly in my head ever since. Four little boys find an abandoned playhouse with a demonic imp knocker . . . Bitter Grounds starts off as the story of a man trying to escape his life. He assumes the life of an anthropology professor on his way to a convention in New Orleans, to present his paper on the Haitian coffee girls - who may have been Voodoo zombies. Keepsakes and Treasures is a disturbing story, to say the least, but it certainly leaves an impression. Here, Gaiman writes in the voice of a thoroughly unlikeable character - a mobster and pedophile who works for a very, very rich man known as "Mr. Alice." Mr. Alice wants the most beautiful man in the world for his lover - a mythical being called the "Treasure of the Shahinai." The Shahinai themselves are a legendary race who's only evidence for existence is a few lines in ancient writings, but what Mr. Alice wants, he gets. I wouldn't say this is one of my favourite stories, but the imagery and the mythology in it stuck in my head.The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch features a mysterious and occult circus. A group of friends go there, trying to entertain a stern and unfriendly guest, but the show becomes steadily more fantastic and bizarre. Not everyone in their group goes home after the show is done.In Harlequin's Valentine the Harlequin pines for his Columbine and nails his bleeding heart to Missy's door, but she turns the tables on him in a surprising and satisfying way.The Problem of Susan - another of Gaiman's short stories that stuck in my head very strongly for years after the first time I read it - The Problem of Susan revisits C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia from an adult perspective. For those who don't know/remember, in the final Narnia book, The Last Battle, the character Susan is excluded from the 'happily-ever-after' in Narnia that all the other young heroes get to enjoy. Gaiman has the guts to write a dark!Aslan - an amazing and powerful story. Goliath was originally written as a companion for the first Matrix movie, but regardless of whether you have seen the movie or not, this is a very good science fiction story. I thought Gaiman did an amazing job weaving in the world of the Matrix films and bringing them to life. The collection closes with a novella-length sequel to American Gods, titled The Monarch of the Glen which features Shadow traveling in Scotland where he is hired by a mysterious little man to act as a bouncer for a strange private party.
    • 4/5
      Another great collection of short stories from Neil Gaiman. I was a bit underwhelmed by "The Problem with Susan," possibly just because I've heard it praised so highly, but even average Gaiman is beautifully crafted.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book, though not as much as Smoke & Mirrors. It was interesting to read the history of how each story had been conceived (or at least, for what purpose it was written).The stories were all of good quality, but none really stood out.Recommended for fans of Neil Gaiman.
    • 4/5
      Oshit! I didn't even know this existed 'til I was wikisurfing and came across a reference to The Monarch of the Glen! Sealed the deal rather quickly.
    • 4/5
      Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (short stories) - some better than others from good to very good

      Ah, it seemed such a good idea when I was wandering round Penicuik Library: two books by two of my favourite authors. Only when I got home did I realise that both were Short Stories. Now I like short stories, but you can't sit and read them continuously, you need to read a novel for that. So, this took me some time to finish.

      As you would expect with Neil Gaiman, each of the stories was quirky and interesting, some appealed more than others, all were worth reading. Of course, all lacked depth/substance because some of them were only a few pages long. I particularly enjoyed the return of Shadow from American Gods: it was nice to see how he progressed post novel! It was also one of the longer stories and therefore had time to develop. In fact I think the ones I enjoyed the most were the longer stories for that very reason. Having said that, I did enjoy the poems.

      In general, this is one of the collections that proves Pauline's dislike of the genre. some interesting ideas, but not enough development to really capture the imagination.
    • 4/5
      I love short fiction and I love Neil Gaiman. What an unbeatable combination this book provides.
    • 4/5
      A very enjoyable collection, although a number of the pieces aren't really stories, just atmospheric literary pieces. I most enjoyed "Feeders and Eaters", "Goliath", and "How to Talk to Girls at Parties"
    • 4/5
      Excellent collection, though I wish that the American Gods novella had come first. It's my little OCD that I have to read everything in order. I also enjoyed the explinations at the beginning of how each story or poem came to be. "The Problem of Susan" spurred me on to re-read the entire Narnia series, though I'm already so irritated I don't know if I'll make it. (See review on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe)
    • 4/5
      Fragile Things is a collection of short works of fiction and poems by Neil Gaiman, most of which have been previously published elsewhere. This is the fourth work by Gaiman that I have read; previously, I have read Coraline, Odd and the Frost Giants, and The Graveyard Book, all of which I was enchanted with. So, I must admit that as I was reading Fragile Things, I found myself a bit disappointed because I was having the most difficult time getting into the text.

      However, it wasn't really Gaiman's writing that the problem. I think the problem solely lies with the fact that I'm not a huge fan of short story collections. I do like short stories as a genre of writing, but I think when you collect them into a single text, they seem to lose some of their charm for me. Perhaps this is because I was trying to read the collection like you would a novel and simply could not get into a reading rhythm. I also found myself searching for a clear connection between one story to the next story of poem, and wasn't really finding any, which I think is part of what made getting into a reading rhythm more difficult. I found that when I picked up another book to read and would take longer breaks between the stories in Fragile Things that I actually enjoyed the book more.

      Some of the short stories were just okay for me, while some of them I absolutely loved, especially "October in the Chair", a story in which the months of the year are personified, "Bitter Grounds", "Strange Little Girls", and "Pages of a Journal Found in a Shoebox...". Overall, I enjoyed the poetry more than I did the stories as a whole. "The Fairy Reel" was, I think, my favorite poem. I say "I think" because it's difficult to choose which poem I actually liked the most. What I found with all of the writing is that Gaiman is a master of word play, and that there are little bits and snippets of every story or poem that are little jewel-like treasures that keep singing through my head at the most mundane moments of my day (i.e. washing dishes or loading the washing machine.) I think I'll have to go back and reread this collection again soon.

      Two of the parts of the book that I also enjoyed were the introduction to the text and the "Conversation with Neil Gaiman" that came at the end of my edition. Introductions are tricky little elements, I think. Often, I read an introduction to a text and wonder "Why did I bother?". But that wasn't the case with the introduction to Fragile Things. I found myself really interested in Gaiman's explanations of how each piece came to be or why it was written. "Strange Little Girls", for instance, was originally written to accompany Tori Amos' CD Strange Little Girls. So, this collection of 12 very short stories appeared as lines scattered throughout the CD booklet. "Harlequin Valentine" was a story inspired by the ticket-seller in a piece, a Ferris wheel, by Lisa Snellings-Clark and sculptor and artist.

      The "Conversation with Neil Gaiman" included at the end of my edition was also equally interesting as Gaiman addressed questions such as which of the pieces in this collection was his favorite and further explored how some of the pieces were written in addition to answering some questions about his writing and writing process in general.
    • 3/5
      A very enjoyable read, except for two of the stories which I found rather distasteful. An Audible book which was read very capably by the author.
    • 5/5
      I can't help but pick a favorite here, which is "Keepsakes and Treasures." Mr. Smith and Mr. Alice are possibly the most two practical evil characters I've run across in fiction. There were many others I loved, too. Many of these stories felt like Gaiman was experimenting and stretching a bit.
    • 5/5
      A great collection of shorts by one of my favorite authors. Both skirting and combining such disparate genres as fairy tales, vampire stories (based on the tarot--how ingenious!), young adult fiction, poetry, horror, science fiction, and detective tales, all told from new, inventive directions.

      I really like how even the most distasteful, obnoxious characters have incredibly poignant moments in his stories. This was a fast, fun read.
    • 3/5
      I have never read anything by Gaiman before and probably will not try again. I liked the first story in the book, which is a Sherlock Holmes story, very much in style of the new Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The stories are written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, though, I just looked it up. I read two or three more, but then I stopped, because they were not at all speaking to me. I may go back to them and read on later though.
    • 3/5
      some great stories...some very strange, it is gaiman of course. i may have to reread some of this at a later date...
    • 4/5
      Ahhh, Gaiman... you just can't go wrong there!
    • 4/5
      I could have done a more detailed review if I'd read this book more quickly (I actually listened to it on Audio over about two-months of bathroom floor fixing), but here's what I remember:

      An enjoyable collection of stories. I like Neil Gaiman, and I like short stories. These are the first of his short stories I've read, and I think I enjoyed every one of them.

      The ones that stick out in my memory include:

      Bitter Grounds: probably my favorite in the collection. There seemed to be SO much to it. I need to go back and reread it in actual book-form so I can properly wrap my head around everything it contained. I feel like it was a very tight and deep story. Neat.

      A Study in Emerald: Sherlock Holmes meets Chthulu. Ha! Why not? I love Sherlock Holmes, and this story brought him into a very strange world without sacrificing any of the logic and brilliance you expect from him.

      Sunbird: Another tight story, less deep but more fun than Bitter Grounds, with a satisfying conclusion.

      The American Gods novella was pretty good too.

      I won't comment on the less-strong contributions, because they've already completely slipped my mind. So! Short stories: yay!
    • 3/5
      I find myself really wanting to like Neil Gaiman -- he has so many loyal fans out there -- but I just can't say that I do. Granted, after reading other reviews, I don't think I've come upon his best works yet, and for that reason, I'll probably keep giving him a try before I completely give up. I've previously read The Anansi Boys (which was okay in my opinion) and now this short story collection. I'm not typically a huge fan of short stories, so this probably wasn't the best choice as a follow-up, but I had access to it on audio, so I went for it. As an audiobook itself, I had mixed feelings. Gaiman did do a superb job narrating his own stories. He has the type of voice that's made for audio. But I found my mind frequently wandering during these stories, and the formatting on audio was just a bit confusing. In this case, I may actually have enjoyed Fragile Things more in writing than on audio. So many of the stories just seemed to end suddenly, leaving the reader with a "Wha...??" feeling, and I assume that's part of Gaiman's style, but it just didn't work for me. I think I'll seek out Neverwhere, and if I can't appreciate that one, I'll move on. But like I said, I'm not quite ready to give up on Gaiman yet.
    • 4/5
      Not only is this the first time I've read Neil Gaiman, it has also been a long time since I've read anything like what he wrote that is included in this short story collection. So, there were a lot of times when I'd read something to the end, and think "What the h--- was that?!" and backtrack and re-read it. A lot of these stories really stuck with me. This collection has a bit of everything: there's horror, paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy -- in some stories, there's more than one of these elements present. There's also some poems, mainly light verse, which didn't do much for me. The final piece in this collection is billed as a novella, but really is more like a long short story. The novella was quite good.I definitely am going to seek out his other writings although I think some would work better for me than others."...--I had to go to the store, I had decided, to bring back some apples--and I went past the store that sold apples and I kept driving, and driving. I was going south, and west, because if I went north or east I would run out of world too soon." (p. 85, from the short story "Bitter Grounds")
    • 3/5
      I'm a little up in the air on this collection of short stories. Some I really enjoyed; some were just odd; some I did not even understand. Maybe the last was because I was listening to it on audio and not always completely focused on it. It left me wondering if I would want to read more Gaiman.

    Book preview

    Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Six - Neil Gaiman

    THE MONARCH OF THE GLEN

    An American Gods Novella

    She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the windows of her eyes and that is very frightening.

    ANGELA CARTER,

    The Lady of the House of Love

    I

    If you ask me, said the little man to Shadow, you’re something of a monster. Am I right?

    They were the only two people, apart from the barmaid, in the bar of a hotel in a town on the north coast of Scotland. Shadow had been sitting there on his own, drinking a lager, when the man came over and sat at his table. It was late summer, and it seemed to Shadow that everything was cold and small and damp. He had a small book of Pleasant Local Walks in front of him, and was studying the walk he planned to do tomorrow, along the coast, toward Cape Wrath.

    He closed the book.

    I’m American, said Shadow, if that’s what you mean.

    The little man cocked his head to one side, and he winked, theatrically. He had steel gray hair, and a gray face, and a gray coat, and he looked like a small-town lawyer. Well, perhaps that is what I mean, at that, he said. Shadow had had problems understanding Scottish accents in his short time in the country, all rich burrs and strange words and trills, but he had no trouble understanding this man. Everything the little man said was small and crisp, each word so perfectly enunciated that it made Shadow feel like he himself was talking with a mouthful of oatmeal.

    The little man sipped his drink and said, So you’re American. Oversexed, overpaid, and over here. Eh? D’you work on the rigs?

    Sorry?

    An oilman? Out on the big metal platforms. We get oil people up here, from time to time.

    No. I’m not from the rigs.

    The little man took out a pipe from his pocket, and a small penknife, and began to remove the dottle from the bowl. Then he tapped it out into the ashtray. They have oil in Texas, you know, he said, after a while, as if he were confiding a great secret. That’s in America.

    Yes, said Shadow.

    He thought about saying something about Texans believing that Texas was actually in Texas, but he suspected that he’d have to start explaining what he meant, so he said nothing.

    Shadow had been away from America for the better part of two years. He had been away when the towers fell. He told himself sometimes that he did not care if he ever went back, and sometimes he almost came close to believing himself. He had reached the Scottish mainland two days ago, landed in Thurso on the ferry from the Orkneys, and had traveled to the town he was staying in by bus.

    The little man was talking. So there’s a Texas oilman, down in Aberdeen, he’s talking to an old fellow he meets in a pub, much like you and me meeting actually, and they get talking, and the Texan, he says, Back in Texas I get up in the morning, I get into my car—I won’t try to do the accent, if you don’t mind—I’ll turn the key in the ignition, and put my foot down on the accelerator, what you call the, the—

    Gas pedal, said Shadow, helpfully.

    Right. Put my foot down on the gas pedal at breakfast, and by lunchtime I still won’t have reached the edge of my property. And the canny old Scot, he just nods and says, Aye, well, I used to have a car like that myself.

    The little man laughed raucously, to show that the joke was done. Shadow smiled and nodded to show that he knew it was a joke.

    What are you drinking? Lager? Same again over here, Jennie love. Mine’s a Lagavulin. The little man tamped tobacco from a pouch into his pipe. Did you know that Scotland’s bigger than America?

    There had been no one in the hotel bar when Shadow came downstairs that evening, just the thin barmaid, reading a newspaper and smoking her cigarette. He’d come down to sit by the open fire, as his bedroom was cold, and the metal radiators on the bedroom wall were colder than the room. He hadn’t expected company.

    No, said Shadow, always willing to play straight man. I didn’t. How’d you reckon that?

    It’s all fractal, said the little man. The smaller you look, the more things unpack. It could take you as long to drive across America as it would to drive across Scotland, if you did it the right way. It’s like, you look on a map, and the coastlines are solid lines. But when you walk them, they’re all over the place. I saw a whole program on it on the telly the other night. Great stuff.

    Okay, said Shadow.

    The little man’s pipe lighter flamed, and he sucked and puffed and sucked and puffed until he was satisfied that the pipe was burning well, then he put the lighter, the pouch, and the penknife back into

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