#262 A Lunar Labyrinth- Neil Gaiman
In the introduction to his newest short story collection
Trigger Warning, Neil Gaiman calls triggers: “those images or words or ideas
that drop like trapdoors beneath us, throwing us out of our safe, sane world
into a place much more dark, and less welcoming. Our hearts skip a ratatat
drumbeat in our chests, and we fights for breath. Blood retreats from our faces
and our fingers, leaving us pale and gasping and shocked.”
This is the legendary story telling of Neil Gaiman. A Lunar
Labyrinth is an homage to a Gene Wolfe short story relatedly titled A Solar
Labyrinth. A man traveling loves to visit local oddities, roadside attractions,
or kitschy things people make. When he comes to visit the Lunar Labyrinth he
learns that is has been burned down.
He still takes the tour to visit the site, learning of the
people that used to walk the labyrinth by the light of the moon. “When the moon
waned, they walked the lunar labyrinth with love…As it waxed they walked with
desire…”
The rosemary bushes (for remembering) has started to grow
back along the path of the maze. It still retains it’s power and mystique:
“There is no killing some things.”
This is a beautiful start to this collection. It has all the
magic and imagination you would expect from Gaiman.
