How to Talk to Girls at Parties

“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is a short story by the prolific author Neil Gaiman, who is widely known for the Sandman series, Coraline, and American Gods. “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” was originally published in Gaiman’s collection Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (2006). The story won the 2007 Locus Award for Best Short Story and was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. In 2016, Dark Horse Comics published a comic book adaptation by N. G. Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, and in 2017, John Cameron Mitchell directed a film adaptation.

Gaiman is known for his quirky, fantastical approach to science fiction, and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” fits that profile. The story, narrated by Enn, now a middle-aged man, opens in 1970 in the south London borough of Croydon. Enn and his friend Vic, both 15 years old, search for a party at which Vic promises there will be girls. Vic has had more experience with girls than Enn, and Enn expects this time will be like every other time, where Vic kisses a pretty girl and Enn spends his time in the kitchen making conversation with someone’s mother.