The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel cover art

The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel

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About this listen

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: "When Steve and I talked about the ideal voice for M, he suggested Holter Graham….because 'Holter’s handling of the Minotaur’s grunt was PERFECT. Exactly what I heard in my head.'"

Five thousand years out of the Labyrinth, the Minotaur finds himself in the American South, living in a trailer park and working as a line cook at a steakhouse. No longer a devourer of human flesh, the Minotaur is a socially inept, lonely creature with very human needs. But over a two-week period, as his life dissolves into chaos, this broken and alienated immortal awakens to the possibility for happiness and to the capacity for love. "Sherrill also insinuates other mythological beasts - the Hermaphroditus, the Medusa - into the story, suggesting how the Southern landscape is shadowed by these myths. The plot centers around the Minotaur's feelings for Kelly, a waitress who is prone to epileptic fits. Does she reciprocate his affections? As the reader might expect, the course of interspecies love never does run smooth." (Publishers Weekly) Steven Sherrill created the artwork used for the audiobook edition of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©2000 Steven Sherrill (P)2011 John F. Blair Publisher
Classics Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Tobacco
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A detailed descriptive novel about a minotaur living a surprisingly ordinary life in recent day times.

Minotaur in an ordinary life

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Not gonna lie, love Gaiman and probably wouldn't of found this without his name appearing. The story could easily be a off-shot story from American God's, or one of Gaimans short stories.

Saying that it stands up in its own rights as a great story and quirky read. I look forward to listening to other books from this author.

An interesting story

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An utterly compelling narrative about the everyday life of a 5000 year old mythological creature who lives in a trailer park in the deep south of America, works in a restaurant and fixes cars.

It's a novel in which not much actually happens but it is the attention to detail, the minutia of the minotaur's life that holds our attention and makes us care. Care so much that, as things grew to a crescendo and the minotaur's world fractures and threatens to split apart, I was almost afraid to continue lest it was indeed rent asunder.

Read with conviction and panache by Holter Graham, this audiobook is an absolute gem.

Taking the bull by the horns

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This is a strange wee tale. The minotaur is still around, he has been for what seems like forever. People take advantage of him and are nasty in the way people are to those who are different. He just wants to carry on with his catering job, and perhaps get to know the waitress a bit better, but could she like someone like him?

Strange but sad

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The narrator brings the story to life. He is absolutely the Perfect choice. Such a great story.

Awesome

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