Book Beginnings: TRIGGER WARNING by Neil Gaiman

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

Trigger Warning: Short Fiction and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman
Published February 3, 2015 William Morrow
Genre: poetry, short stories

Book beginning:

Introduction
I. Little Triggers 

There are things that upset us. That's not quite what we're talking about here, though. I'm thinking rather about those images or words or ideas that drop like trapdoors beneath us, thrown 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 fight for breath. Blood retreats from our faces and our fingers leaving us pale and gasping and shocked.  

And what we learn about ourselves in those moments, where the trigger has been squeezed, is this: the past is not dead. 

page 56:

I said, "There are many for whom the lure of gold outweighs the beauty of a rainbow."
"Me, when young, for one. You, now, for another."

Book description:

"Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well "Black Dog," a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.
Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion." (publisher)

My comments: The basis of the book seems to rest on the idea that there are little words, incidents, events, or images that can trigger memories in us, welcome or not. Sometimes without warning. Books fall into this category for Gaiman as well as for me, a reader. I am eager to get into his stories and his thoughts written in prose and verse.

Thanks to William Morrow for a review/feature copy of this book.