Stardust

I took a break from gorging on Michael Stackpole books to cleanse my palate by reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Actually, it wasn't truly to cleanse my palate. In reality I was hunting for gay sky pirates.

See, I read Stardust a few years ago. This and Neverwhere convinced me to read more Gaiman. I was thrilled to hear that the book was being adapted into a movie. But for the life of me, I couldn't remember any gay sky pirates in the book. Not a single one (although to be fair, a gay sky pirate in a Gaiman novel wouldn't exactly stand out of the crowd).

So off I went through the hole at Wall and into the land of Faerie, traveling with Tristran Thorn as he searched for the fallen star to bring back to the lovely Victoria Forester. And I tagged along looking for ... well, I shan't repeat myself again.

And I remembered why I loved this book.

Gaiman has a gift for words, one that I covet (I know... bad pastor, bad!). Coupled with his wild imagination, Gaiman creates unique worlds with every story he weaves. And while Stardust is short, it's an excellent outing through a miraculous world where stars fall from the sky, old witches eat hearts to stay young, and getting your heart's desire doesn't necessarily mean getting the girl.

And hey, I even found my gay sky pirate. Truth be told, I think my literary gay-dar is on the fritz because I didn't think the guy seemed that gay. Maybe I should just chalk it up to dramatic license on the part of the movie and move on.

Speaking of which, I have yet to see the movie adaptation. I'm hoping it's half as magical as the book.