书名：Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders易碎品

作者：Neil Gaiman
出版社名称：Harper
出版时间：2010
语种：英文
ISBN：9780060515232
商品尺寸：10.6 x 2.5 x 17.1 cm
包装：简装
页数：400

尼尔·盖曼不愧为奇幻文学界的大师，他笔下的短篇小说中，地狱与天堂只有一线之隔，真实与想象就在一念之间。逗趣、阴郁、诡谲、优雅、感伤、冷硬，不同的气质、跳跃的思维与充满灵气的文字背后，有对生活的爱、对失去的害怕、以及对情感细致入微的观察，让人紧张到后背发凉、温柔到心生暖意、兴奋到心跳加速，情不自禁地跟着他一起在真实的凡间做一场永无止境的梦！

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders《易碎品》收录了尼尔•盖曼包括雨果奖获奖作品A Study in Emerald《绿字的研究》在内的多部诗歌、散文及故事作品，展现了他天马行空的想象力和写作才华。他就像个魔术师，用不可思议的手法营造出绚丽惊奇的幻象，让读者惊喜连连，目不暇接。

易碎品比比皆是，人与心都如此，故事也不例外！

媒体评论：
“盖曼是一座现成的故事宝库，而我们又何其幸运可以通过各种媒介去靠近他。”——斯蒂芬·金

“盖曼堪称作家中的摇滚明星。他的作品，简单说来，就是关于神话与故事、众神与力量。而阅读它们的准则就是，你必须完全相信。”——《多伦多星报》

“当你全身心沉浸到尼尔·盖曼的世界里，你会发现，一切皆有可能……他拥有创造力，他从不遵循一致的规则，他随心所欲，追随梦想而写作。”——《娱乐周刊》

“盖曼的作品将赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯的想象、H.P.洛夫克莱夫特的诡异氛围以及佩勒姆·G.伍德豪斯的幽默智慧结合在一起，他既能让我们的血液凝固，也能让我们仰天大笑。”——《明尼阿波利斯星论坛》

“阅读盖曼，一半乐趣来自他笔下令人轻松愉快的美文，另一半乐趣则来自他匪夷所思的创造力。他的作品无法分类，因为他不仅仅深入了我们共有的无意识领域，还重新构造了属于我们的神话。”——《休斯顿纪事报》

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!

Review
"FRAGILE THINGS is a delightful compendium...[Gaiman] is indeed a national treasure."--Washington Post Book World

"A powerful and oddly unified collection, a perfect introduction to Gaiman's work for new readers and a thrilling reminder to his long-time fans . . . [T]he shorter prose form allows Gaiman a greater freedom of whimsy and provocation than even his graphic work, with stunning results."--Toronto Star

"Readers will be reminded most in these stories of that master craftsman...Ray Bradbury...Gothic tales of high caliber."--Baltimore Sun

"Fiercely playful and very grim, wisps of whimsy and wonder buoyed by the happy heart of a tragic poet."--USA Today

"Those with a taste for inventive idiosyncracy will find themselves fully rewarded."--San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"Strange, or sweet, or eerie, or heartfelt stories… wonderfully peculiar… Gaiman relishes the sacred act of telling stories."--Entertainment Weekly

"Lush prose...and a winning faith in the enchantment of stories. Expect the unexpected. Then savor the chills."--Kirkus Reviews

"A prodigiously imaginative collection...The best of these clever fantasy metafictions explore the mysteries of artistic inspiration."--New York Times Book Review

"One delight after another."--Booklist

在本书中，尼尔·盖曼既将怪诞恐怖的想象融入现实（Keepsakes and Treasures《纪念与珍宝》、Feeders and Eaters《饲者与食者》），又不乏未泯的童心（Good Boys Deserve Favors《大家都爱好孩子》），还把现实与虚幻天衣无缝地结合起来（The Flints of Memory Lane《记忆小径拾零》、Closing Time《打烊时分》），更用想象为童话度上了一层全新的色彩（October in the Chair《椅中的十月》）……
尼尔·盖曼（Neil Gaiman，1960--）是近十年来欧美文坛崛起的耀眼的明星，被视为新一代幻想文学的代表。其创作领域横跨幻想小说、科幻小说、恐怖小说、儿童小说、漫画以及歌词。他的作品不但部部畅销，更获奖无数。恐怖小说大师斯蒂芬·金称赞他是一个“装满了故事的宝库”。《文学传记辞典》将他列为十大后现代作家之一。

Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, and The Graveyard Book. Among his numerous literary awards are the Newbery and Carnegie medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner awards. Originally from England, he now lives in America.

It is the immensity, I believe. The hugeness of things below. The darkness of dreams.

But I am woolgathering. Forgive me. I am not a literary man.
I had been in need of lodgings. That was how I met him. I wanted someone to share the cost of rooms with me. We were introduced by a mutual acquaintance, in the chemical laboratories of St. Bart’s. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive,” that was what he said to me, and my mouth fell open and my eyes opened very wide.
“Astonishing,” I said.
“Not really,” said the stranger in the white lab-coat, who was to become my friend. “From the way you hold your arm, I see you have been wounded, and in a particular way. You have a deep tan. You also have a military bearing, and there are few enough places in the Empire that a military man can be both tanned and, given the nature of the injury to your shoulder and the traditions of the Afghan cave-folk, tortured.”
Put like that, of course, it was absurdly simple. But then, it always was. I had been tanned nut-brown. And I had indeed, as he had observed, been tortured.
The gods and men of Afghanistan were savages, unwilling to be ruled from Whitehall or from Berlin or even from Moscow, and unprepared to see reason. I had been sent into those hills, attached to the Regiment. As long as the fighting remained in the hills and mountains, we fought on an equal footing. When the skirmishes descended into the caves and the darkness then we found ourselves, as it were, out of our depth and in over our heads.
I shall not forget the mirrored surface of the underground lake, nor the thing that emerged from the lake, its eyes opening and closing, and the singing whispers that accompanied it as it rose, wreathing their way about it like the buzzing of flies bigger than worlds.
That I survived was miracle, but survive I did, and I returned to England with my nerves in shreds and tatters. The place that leech-like mouth had touched me was tattooed forever, frog-white, into the skin of my now- withered shoulder. I had once been a crack-shot. Now I had nothing, save a fear of the world-beneath-the-world akin to panic, which meant that I would gladly pay six- pence of my army pension for a Hansom cab rather than a penny to travel underground.