Stories: All-New Tales

Fall is the time for spooky stories and this collection suits the season well. Not tales of horror or ghost stories per se, these stories all deliciously skirt along the borderline between reality and unreality, the natural and the supernatural, wonder and horror. Almost all succeed in evoking an eerie dreamlike surrealism in settings ranging from an ancient Celtic island to modern day NYC.

As in any collection of stories, there will be some that appeal more than others. I was going to list some of my favorites, but the list got too long (although Gaiman's The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains is exceptional). The various narrators are each wonderfully suited to and adept at the stories they read.

If you prefer high levels of action and graphic horror, this book is probably not what you're looking for. But if you like stories which could be told around a fire on a stormy fall night and which will leave you with a prickly feeling on your neck, you will find this collection quite to your taste.

Amazing stories with wonderful readers. I recommend it. It has been a wonderful company for lonely times.

i found it pleasant and conforting to be taken on a new journey by new authors, 8/10 were 4 stars or better. this book it setup to last a while, im on the hunt now for more like it.

quite a few of these authors were extremly gifted, the short story format allows some to twist a perfect tale. thanks for organizing these poets neil gamen.

The stories are good. The story by Neil Gaiman is ok. There is another story set in a world similar to American Gods (not by Gaiman) that is very good. I did not like the abrupt ending to most of the stories. I like stories with ending. Heck, I like stories with epilogues that wrap everything up into a nice neat package. If you like stories that leave you thinking about what happened next, you’ll love this collection.

The stories are varied and they're all well acted. There are a lot of stories of varying lengths so there is something for everyone.

My favorite story is about Deel and his return form the war

There are several really good narrators- all gave a really great performance

Moments to Ponder

Highly recommend.

The stories are brand new...really new! A fresh take on "unusual" characters and plots with really good narration.

There is such a varied collection of stories it is difficult to speak of them as a whole but I enjoyed the mystery, humor, sass and the pure creative spirit of this audio book.

There are multiple narrators. These stories uncannily have the right narrator for each one.

Joyce Carol Oates' "Fossil Figures" a story of twins was a favorite as was "Wild Fire in Manhattan" by Joanne Harris, "Juvenal Nicks" by Walter Mosley plus "Catch and Release" by Lawrence Block, Actually too many characters over-all to list.

Lots of listening time. I have listened to these stories multiple times and probably will continue to do so. This is a favorite "travel buddy". Of at lease 25+ audio books, this is the only one to which I repeatedly return.

In my top 3

Well, it is a collection of stories from a variety of authors which makes each a unique and worthwhile listen. There is a wonderful dearth of literary perspective each author presents.

It is a cast reading, and each gave life to the story that he/she was reading.

I would, the name piques curiosity in such a way as to draw the reader in. Besides, each story is different and there is no better unifying title than the name of the collection.

This set of stories is very well narrated, but the actual tales are either not interesting or have no closure. There were 3-4 stories that were captivating, but then I was disappointed when they would stop at some arbitrary point with no real ending. I kept asking "But what happened after THAT??" Neil Gaiman mentions the concept of "what happens next?" as an essential part of a good story, but I also prefer stories that have some sort of ending, even if it is just "They lived happily ever after" or "And he was never seen again..."

Probably not from the authors- definitely not from the narrators

Unknown

Very poor accents that were mostly stereotypical and grated on my nerves.

Most of the stories. There were only a few that were good, and on them the narration was bad.

There were a few good stories, so I kept listening, but most were disappointing and some were really awful!

If you are a Neil Gaiman fan like me, you might have some expectations for these stories, in which case you might be in for a bit of a shock. I have not finished all of this by any means yet - but the first 2 or 3 tales were a bit of a shock - stronger language and subject matter than I was prepared for. I'll come back and say more when I'm done...