Neil Gaiman’s Click-Clack the Rattlebag is a short campfire-style horror story that sucks you in (no disrespect to Click-Clacks intended) and then at the very end surprises. A young man is spending time with his girlfriend’s much younger brother. The boy asks for a bed-time story that is “a little bit” scary. In describing what he means by this the boy tells the man about Click-Clacks, “the best monsters ever”, that come from the dark when you don’t pay attention. We are left to ponder how the narrator is still around to tell the tale. Themes: fear, awareness.
Original Text / PDF (1,386 words)
Video Version – Reading by the Author
Watch and listen as the author, Neil Gaiman, provides his interpretation as to how this story should be told. Enjoy!
Amazing story. Love the build-up and then the shock-ending! Technically superb.