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Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman (view source)
Revision as of 12:43, 4 February 2014
, 12:43, 4 February 2014no edit summary
''I wished I could visit a Museum of Unnatural History, but even so, I was glad there wasn't one... If someone actually caught a werewolf, or a dragon, if they tamed a manticore or stabled a unicorn, put them in bottles, dissected them, then they could be only one thing, and they would no longer live in the shadowy places between the things I knew and the world of the impossible, which was, I was certain, the only place that mattered.''
So says Neil Gaiman in the introduction to this anthology of sixteen ''unnatural creatures'' (to capitalise or not to capitalise, that is the question). It's a collection of tales from various authors, not Gaiman himself, although he does write an introduction to each one. You'll find griffins, sunbirds, manticores, unicorns. You'll find old stories. You'll find young stories. But everything you find will be impossible. I loved them. They're all great fun and utterly fantastical. Some work slightly better than others but that's to be expected in an anthology of this kind. And you will probably choose different favourites than mine. But here are a couple of my own highlights:
Fans of Gaiman should note that ''Sunbird'' is a new story from the man himself. Neil first came across the sunbird in the works of the wonderful E Nesbit but he has written the story in the style of American author RA Lafferty. Members of the Epicurean Society have eaten every type of animal on Earth. Or have they? It's delightful!