Humble Bundle – Neil Gaiman Rarities
Sep. 23rd, 2015 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroI may be slightly addicted to Humble Bundles. So much cool stuff for so little money! And it’s all digital, so it doesn’t really take up space! Which is for the best, really, because a lot of it ends up not really being worth the space paper books would take up. This was a collection of Gaiman’s lesser-known / lesser-republished stuff, including a 24-hour comic, a biography of Duran Duran, a bunch of one-off collections, and some advice guides on writing and publishing.
Among other things, this was an excuse to re-read Angels & Visitations, which I last read something like 15 years ago. (I know this because I read an ex-girlfriend’s copy when we were dating.) I barely remembered half the stories, and there was an entire level to “Murder Mysteries” (specifically, the actions and role of the narrator) that I either completely forgot or missed the first time around.
Not everything an author—even a really good author—produces is going to be great. “Foreign Parts” in Angels & Visitations sticks out for me as one of those cases: It’s very clearly two separate ideas that he couldn’t get to work independently, so he tried to mash them together into a single story.
For that matter, a lot of the bits and bobs included in this bundle are rarities because they’re either random short bits in collections (that are middling at best), and stuff that he tossed off quickly for the paycheck. Which is not to say they aren’t fun or there aren’t some good ideas, but this was more a set for completionist fans than something I’d actively recommend to new readers.
Among other things, this was an excuse to re-read Angels & Visitations, which I last read something like 15 years ago. (I know this because I read an ex-girlfriend’s copy when we were dating.) I barely remembered half the stories, and there was an entire level to “Murder Mysteries” (specifically, the actions and role of the narrator) that I either completely forgot or missed the first time around.
Not everything an author—even a really good author—produces is going to be great. “Foreign Parts” in Angels & Visitations sticks out for me as one of those cases: It’s very clearly two separate ideas that he couldn’t get to work independently, so he tried to mash them together into a single story.
For that matter, a lot of the bits and bobs included in this bundle are rarities because they’re either random short bits in collections (that are middling at best), and stuff that he tossed off quickly for the paycheck. Which is not to say they aren’t fun or there aren’t some good ideas, but this was more a set for completionist fans than something I’d actively recommend to new readers.
