How To Talk To Girls At Parties
by Neil Gaiman
• Word count: 5097
• Page count: 10
How To Talk To Girls At Parties is another excellent science fiction short story from master story teller Neil Gaiman. It is about a couple of teen-aged boys who go to a party to meet girls, only to find that the girls are much different than they imagined.
Do you remember what it was like being a teenager? Sometimes talking to members of the opposite sex was a huge challenge. In this 2007 short story (which was nominated for the 2007 Hugo award for Best Short Story) a pair of boys discover that girls truly are different than boys - just how much different they never knew. The story follows Enn, a shy boy whose friend encourages him to just talk to girls. While at the party, with his friend away schmoozing girls, Enn talks to three very nice but strange girls. As he focuses on "making a move" on the girls, he learns some amazing things about their lives.
We both attended an all-boys' school in south London. While it would be a lie to say that we had no experience with girls -- Vic seemed to have had many girlfriends, while I had kissed three of my sister's friends -- it would, I think, be perfectly true to say that we both chiefly spoke to, interacted with, and only truly understood, other boys. Well, I did, anyway. It's hard to speak for someone else, and I've not seen Vic for thirty years. I'm not sure that I would know what to say to him now if I did.
Where you can find How To Talk To Girls At Parties:
• How To Talk To Girls At Parties originally appeared in Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders† - a collection of short stories and poetry by Neil Gaiman.
• You can read a nice HTML version online for free at Neil Gaiman's website.
Neil Gaiman is a prolific and widely talented writer. You can learn more about him on Wikipedia.
If you like this story you will probably also like Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald.
† - This is an affiliate link. Learn more on my Privacy & Disclosure page.
(This is a revised version of a post which was originally published on BestScienceFictionStories.com on Jan 27th, 2008.)
