A Peek Inside Tales for Canterbury: Neil Gaiman’s “Inventing Aladdin”
Cashel Mall, in the centre of Christchurch, pre earthquake
As you know, I’ve been running the “peek inside” series for a while now, giving readers a taste of the Tales for Canterbury anthology, out together by Cassie Hart and Anna Caro to raise funds for Christchurch’s earthquake recovery. So it would be wonderful to keep interest in the anthology going and those orders coming in.
Up until now, all the featured stories have been from the “Hope” section of Tales for Canterbury. Today though, I’m breaking the mould and bringing you the first “peek inside” from the “Survival” section of the anthology—Neil Gaiman’s Inventing Aladdin.
"Cashel Mall" now
The photos—well, they’re just to give you an idea of part of what “survival” means in Christchurch right now. Sure, there’s probably lots of worse stuff happening somewhere in the world, maybe a whole lot of places, but this is my city and my community … To orientate yourself, note the position of the Bridge of Remembrance —at the far end of the mall in the first photo, and a whole lot more visible in the second.
But now, without further ado—a peek inside Inventing Aladdin:
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Inventing Aladdin
by Neil Gaiman
In bed with him that night, like every night,
her sister at their feet, she ends her tale,
then waits. Her sister quickly takes her cue,
and says, “I cannot sleep. Another, please?”
Scheherazade takes one small nervous breath
and she begins, “In faraway Peking
there lived a lazy youth with his mama.
His name? Aladdin. His papa was dead…”
.
—
To read the rest of Neil Gaiman’s tale of Scheherazade inventing Aladdin, hie thee to Tales for Canterbury, which may be purchased from Random Static, here.
The other “peek inside” features in the series to date include:
The Unicorn Bell by Karen Healey
Eggs for Dinner by Jay Lake
Juggling Silver by Juliet Marillier
The Daughter of the Khan by Mary Victoria
The Magician by Janis Freegard
Sign of the Tui by Tim Jones
The Fountain by Helen Lowe
Wow. I’d seen Ross Becker’s photos of the Cashel Mall, but I couldn’t quite get my head around what was supposed to be where, even with the Bridge of Remembrance in the background. Combined with your other photo, it makes a lot more sense. Not nice sense, though. It looks like the entire mall is gone.
Wen, I think most of the mall has gone, although there may still be some buildings out of shot on the right hand (northern) side of the “Now” photo; on the visible, left hand side the only two buildings that appear to be left are Ballantynes (out of shot) and the former National Bank building, which is the square white building down by the Bridge of Remembrance arch. Pretty sad stuff.
It really is. It’s so hard to believe it all when you can’t see it for yourself. I think it’s going to be devastating when we’re all actually allowed back in the CBD. The full reality will hit then. I’m coming home for a week in October and a bit nervous about how much will have changed even in the short time I’ve been gone.
It is a weird mix of the same and different in some places, like a mouth missing every other tooth–but I know there are a lot of areas like the Mall where pretty much everything is gone. I think High Street will be the same. And it’s not just old buildings; there’s plenty of rew ones as well–what happens when an earthquake releases energy at something like 180% above predictions (so I heard, anyway)—but the scientists tell us they’re revising their models … [shakes head, grins.]
It’s quite sad looking over the city these days – we have a great view of it from my classrooms at CPIT. It’s so empty now. Kinda hard to look out and figure out where you’re looking at and what street is where with half the major landmarks missing and the other half waiting to come down.
Ella, you must be closer to the action than most, being at CPIT—given uncertainty over when the earthquakes will stop, inability to get insurance etc, I fear Christchurch may be left with an empty/dead centre for quite some time. Or the centre will ‘naturally’ relocate someplace else …
A great idea that I applaud. Also great that Neil Gaiman is involved too, as he was due to arrive in ChCh that day.
I didn’t relaise that about Neil Gaiman, but it is a great project and with many wonderful stories therein, both by other established authors such as Juliet Marillier, Jay Lake, Sean Williams, Jeff vanderMeer and Gwyneth Jones, as well as newer names like Karen Healey, Mary Victoria and myself. And Christchurch does need all the help it can get.