''Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions'' is a collection of short stories and

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

. It was first published in the United States in 1998, and in the United Kingdom in 1999. The UK edition included five stories not in the US edition, four of which were included in the US edition of

Fragile Things ''Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders'' is a collection of short stories and poetry by English author Neil Gaiman. It was published in the US and UK in 2006 by HarperCollins and Headline Review. Most of the stories in this book are repr ...

. Many of the stories in this book are reprints from other sources, such as magazines,

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

, and collections (including ten stories and poems from Gaiman's earlier small press miscellany ''

Angels and Visitations ''Angels and Visitations'' is a collection of short fiction and nonfiction by Neil Gaiman. It was first published in the United States in 1993 by DreamHaven Books. It is illustrated by Steve Bissette, Randy Broecker, Dave McKean, P. Craig Russell, ...

'').

The included stories and poems are different between some of the editions. The US, UK, and eBook editions have some differences in the stories they contain (see notes): * Reading the Entrails - A Rondel about the pleasures and perils of fortune-telling * The Wedding Present - A story included in the introduction * Chivalry - A story about the

Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...

written for an anthology by Martin H. Greenberg * Nicholas Was... - A very short story (100 words) used for a Christmas card * The Price - on the subject of cats, angels, and an unwanted visitor * Troll Bridge - An adult retelling of ''

The Three Billy Goats Gruff "Three Billy Goats Gruff" ( no, De tre bukkene Bruse) is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their ''Norske Folkeeventyr'', first published between 1841 and 1844. It has an Aarne-Thompson type of 122 ...

'' written for the anthology '' Snow White, Blood Red'' by Ellen Datlow and

Terri Windling Terri Windling (born December 3, 1958 in Fort Dix, New Jersey) is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoke ...

* Don't Ask Jack - Inspired by a demonic jack-in-the-box sculpture by

Lisa Snellings Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), ...

* The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories - A brief reflection on a certain pool containing a trio of goldfish * Eaten (Scenes from a Moving picture) * The White Road - A narrative poem retelling some old English folktales * Queen of Knives - A narrative poem about stage magic * The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch - A story about how a visit to an underground circus led to an unexpected change * Changes - written for Lisa Tuttle about gender reflection * The Daughter of Owls - Written in the style of John Aubrey * Shoggoth's Old Peculiar - A pastiche of H.P. Lovecraft in which a visitor arrives at a pub and partakes in a jovially mysterious conversation and an eldritch concoction * Virus - Written for the anthology ''

Digital Dreams Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

'' by David Barrett about computer fiction * Looking for the Girl - Commissioned by ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'' for their 20th anniversary issue * Only the End of the World Again * Bay Wolf - A story poem retelling ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

'' as a futuristic episode of '' Baywatch'' * Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot - A series of short stories titled by each card of the

Major Arcana The Major Arcana are the named or numbered cards in a cartomantic tarot pack, the name being originally given by occultists to the trump cards of a normal tarot pack used for playing card games. There are usually 22 such cards in a standard 78-car ...

* We Can Get Them For You Wholesale - An assassin's tale * One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock - Written for an anthology of Elric stories by Michael Moorcock * Cold Colors - Inspired by computers and black magic * The Sweeper of Dreams - Inspired by a

statue * Foreign Parts * Vampire Sestina - A poem originally published in ''

Fantasy Tales Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and dra ...

'' and later reprinted in the ''

Mammoth Book of Vampires A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

'' by Stephen Jones * Mouse - A short story inspired by Raymond Carver and written for ''

Touch Wood Knocking on wood (also phrased touching wood) is an apotropaic tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating that one is doing or intending to do so, in order to avoid "tempting fate" after making a favorable pre ...

'', edited by Pete Crowther * The Sea Change * How Do You Think It Feels? - A man recalls his first sexual encounter with a supernatural twist * When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11¼ - A brief short told from the point-of-view of a young child at what might be the last picnic her family will ever have * Desert Wind - Written for

Robin Anders Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest ro ...

of Boiled in Lead to accompany one of his tracks * Tastings - Included in the anthology of erotic fantasy stories, ''Sirens'' by Ellen Datlow and

* In the End - A reversal of the story of the

Genesis creation narrative The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity. The narrative is made up of two stories, roughly equivalent to the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. In the first, Elohim (the Hebrew generic word ...

* Babycakes - Written to include in a benefit for

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

Murder Mysteries "Murder Mysteries" is a fantasy short story by Neil Gaiman first published in the 1992 anthology ''Midnight Graffiti'' and later collected in his collections ''Angels and Visitations'' and ''Smoke and Mirrors''. Plot The narrator, a young Engl ...

- A detective story written for the anthology Midnight Graffiti by Jessie Horsting *

Snow, Glass, Apples "Snow, Glass, Apples" is a 1994 short story written by Neil Gaiman. It was originally released as a benefit book for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and was reprinted in the anthology ''Love in Vein II'', edited by Poppy Z. Brite. Plot The stor ...

- A familiar story told from a different perspective

Translations

*''Dym i lustra'' (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

), * Дым и Зеркала ym i Zerkala( Russian) *''Fumaça e Espelhos'' ( Portuguese), *''Tükör és Füst'' ( Hungarian), *''Die Messerkönigin'' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

), (named after the translated title of the included short story Queen of Knives); also released a 3-disc audio-book of the same title (containing 6 of the short stories), *''עשן ומראות'' shan VeMar'ot(

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

)

Notes

References

{{Neil Gaiman 1998 short story collections Short story collections by Neil Gaiman

Contents

Translations

Notes

References