Recommendations based on Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusionsby Neil Gaiman

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Neverwhere

    by Neil Gaiman
    A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.

    Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders

    by Neil Gaiman
    Collection of short stories blending fantasy, horror and science fiction.

    This is an alternate cover edition for, ISBN 0060515236 (ISBN13: 9780060515232)., Fragile Things is Neil Gaiman's second collection of short fiction. A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one ... (Goodreads)

  3. Stardust

    by Neil Gaiman
    A fantastical journey of discovery, romance and adventure in a magical world.

    On the outskirts of Wall, a small town in rural England, the Faerie Market is held every nine years on the other side of the wall dividing Faerie — a mystical realm of magic — from our world and for ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    by Susanna Clarke
    A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.

    The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere

    by Mike Carey
    A journey of magical realism through the hidden world of London Below.

    Graphic adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere collects all nine issues of the Vertigo maxiseries. An ordinary Londoner stops to help an enigmatic girl and joins a battle to save the strange ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

    by Douglas Adams
    An eccentric space adventure filled with comedic misadventures and cosmic revelations.

    At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five novels from Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker series. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a ... (Goodreads)

  7. Snow Crash

    by Neal Stephenson
    A hacker's quest in a futuristic America dealing with a mysterious computer virus.

    Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier ( courier ) who refers to herself in the third person , during ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Thief of Time

    by Terry Pratchett
    A humorous fantasy adventure to save time from being stolen.

    The Auditors hire young clockmaker Jeremy Clockson to build a perfect glass clock, without telling him that this will stop time and thereby eliminate human unpredictability from the universe. Death ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Going Postal

    by Terry Pratchett
    An eccentric postman's humorous journey to restore order to a chaotic post office.

    As with many of the Discworld novels, the story takes place in Ankh-Morpork , a powerful city-state based on the historical and modern settings of various metropolises like London or New York City. ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Perdido Street Station

    by China Miéville
    A thrilling adventure through a captivating and unique city, filled with danger and magic.

    Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is a scientist living in the city of New Crobuzon. He is approached by Yagharek, a member of a birdlike species known as garuda , who has had his wings removed as a ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Changes

    by Jim Butcher
    Harry Dresden, wizard detective, faces new challenges as he navigates the dangerous world of the supernatural in Chicago.

    Susan Rodriguez contacts Dresden to tell him they have a daughter, Margaret Angelica ("Maggie" for short), who has been kidnapped by the Duchess Arianna, the widow of a Red Court duke that Ebenezar ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Name of the Rose

    by Umberto Eco
    A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.

    In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Fifth Elephant

    by Terry Pratchett
    An unlikely hero embarks on a madcap mission, uncovering sinister secrets along the way.

    The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is expanding; there is now a Traffic department with traffic cameras implemented using iconograph technomancy and a wheel clamping team, and the clacks are beginning to ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Life, the Universe and Everything

    by Douglas Adams
    An intergalactic quest to find the answer to the ultimate question of life.

    After being stranded on pre-historic Earth after the events in, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, , Arthur Dent is met by his old friend Ford Prefect , who drags him into a space-time eddy , ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Truth

    by Stephen Briggs
    A man's quest to uncover secrets of his family's past, uncovering truths that will change his life.

    William de Worde is the black sheep of an influential Ankh-Morpork family, scraping out a humble lifestyle as a common scribe and making extra pocket money by producing a gossipy newsletter for ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The Martian Chronicles

    by Ray Bradbury
    Human colonists struggle for survival on Mars, facing the challenges of a new world.

    The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection. The Martian Chronicles tells the story of ... (Goodreads)

  17. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

    by Christopher Moore
    A retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, told through the eyes of his childhood best friend.

    Biff is resurrected in the 20th Century to complete missing parts of the Bible , under the inefficient supervision of Raziel ; wherefore Biff narrates that he and Joshua (by Biff's account, the ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

    by Douglas Adams
    Quirky sci-fi adventure following a group of time travelers seeking to save the future.

    Arthur Dent , Ford Prefect , Trillian , and Zaphod Beeblebrox leave the planet Magrathea on the Heart of Gold . A Vogon ship attacks them, and Arthur's attempt to have the ship's computer make him a ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Soulless

    by Gail Carriger
    A Victorian England-set adventure featuring vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures.

    Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a ... (Goodreads)

  20. Neuromancer

    by William Gibson
    A hacker's journey through a dystopian cyberpunk world, searching for a way to survive.

    Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City , Japan. Once a talented computer hacker , Case was caught stealing from his employer. As punishment for his theft, ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Cloud Atlas

    by David Mitchell
    A dynamic narrative spanning centuries, exploring the interconnectedness of humanity.

    The book consists of six nested stories; each is read or observed by a main character of the next, thus they progress in time through the central sixth story. The first five stories are each ... (Wikipedia)

  22. V for Vendetta

    by Alan Moore
    A dystopian future, where a mysterious vigilante fights for freedom and justice.

    On Guy Fawkes Night in London in 1997, a young girl goes to see her boss after curfew when she is sexually attacked by three men who are actually members of the state secret police , called "The ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Kafka on the Shore

    by Haruki Murakami
    A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the boundaries between the real and surreal.

    Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The City & the City

    by China Miéville
    Two cities that exist in the same space, but with different laws, cultures and regulations.

    When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the ... (Goodreads)

  25. High Fidelity

    by Nick Hornby
    A man reflects on his past relationships while trying to understand the nature of love.

    Rob Fleming is a 35-year-old man who owns a record shop in London called Championship Vinyl. His lawyer girlfriend, Laura, has just left him and now he's going through a crisis. At his record shop, ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Turn Coat

    by Jim Butcher
    Wizard detective must uncover a traitor within the magical community to save his life.

    Nearly a year and a half after the events in, Small Favor, , a wounded Warden Morgan shows up at Dresden's apartment, asking for protection from the other Wardens. Morgan reveals that he was drugged ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Howl’s Moving Castle

    by Diana Wynne Jones
    A young woman embarks on an adventure to break a curse and reclaim her identity in a magical world.

    18-year-old Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three sisters living in Market Chipping, a town in the magical kingdom of Ingary, where fairytale tropes are accepted ways of life, including that the ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1

    by Alan Moore
    A band of Victorian-era misfits join forces to protect the British Empire.

    In 1898, one year after her encounter with Dracula , Mina Murray has divorced her husband and now works for the British government. She meets with MI5 agent Campion Bond (the grandfather of James ... (Wikipedia)

  29. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

    by Max Brooks
    A collection of interviews recounting tales of the zombie apocalypse.

    It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device ... (Wikipedia)

  30. The Dark Tower

    by Stephen King
    Epic fantasy quest to save the world by reaching the mysterious Dark Tower.

    The seventh and final installment of Stephen King's The Dark Tower saga is perhaps the most anticipated book in the author's long career. King began this epic tale about the last gunslinger in the ... (Goodreads)