Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the short story....

"A Lunar Labyrinth" by Neil Gaiman

From the anthology Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman. See Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.

I have to admit I didn't really "get" this one. I got where it was headed but it was so straightforward and vanilla compared to most of the other stories that I was disappointed. I couldn't help but feel I missed something.

I agree, Donald. I kept waiting for something to happen, a big twist. I thought I missed something since I was listening to it in audio. Gaiman's voice is very soothing & I can get busy sometimes. Good to see I'm not the only one who didn't get it.

According to the introduction this was Gaiman expressing his appreciation for the works of Gene Wolfe. I haven't read any Wolfe - if I had maybe it would have been more interesting? I thought this was the weakest in the collection (so far).

So we need those doing the Gene Wolf group read this month to chime in

I'm wondering if I missed something as well... so there's a werewolf in a labyrinth. I'm assuming the locals burned the labyrinth to kill it? Why does the narrator go there on a full moon night?

Sorry for chiming in on an old discussion. I love Gene Wolfe and one of his most frustrating but addictive traits is he is very sparse with his cues. It can be one mention of a shadow cast, to the point that sometimes I'm wondering if I'm over-extending. Gene was also very fond of the unreliable narrator ;)

In this homage by Gaiman, I think it's not just what lurks during the full moon, it's the narrator himself and who he is: he explains himself as being attracted to (tacky) manmade attractions, and refers to how he expects the owners to accept him for what he is. My first interpretation, perhaps the initial preferred reading, was that he's a slight eccentric, a loner...

But then there's that line, "No one will ever miss him." Gene was fantastic with adding one line that casts a different light on things, made you double back. Is the narrator perhaps a hunter who, in an ironic twist, gets hunted? Was he seeking a victim that night? I assume he knew there would be no one else around from the reading he said he done about the place, it would be just him and the guide. The rest of the story tantalisingly flirts with this possibility - the clever old story the narrator tries to tell that gets an alternative, nastier ending from the guide about a more recent story. This may be echoing the twist of the larger tale. Towards the end, there's also something about the moon accepting his little gifts and thus would not betray him - what 'gifts' are brought to the moon?