January 28th, 2010 | |
Posted in books
Neil Gaiman is one of my most beloved authors, I have read all of his novels (and loved just as many), a decent few of his young adult fiction novels and most of his Sandman series. I am nothing less than a fan boy and I am nothing less than proud to admit myself as so.
That is why it prides me so much to see other publications admiring him as much as I do. As with his prose, I find his interviews interesting – The Times in London said it best; “[he is] the most famous writer you’ve never heard of.”
I was always a fan of comic books, but fell out of the loop after a while. One of the books that got me back into comic books was Gaiman’s fantastic “The Sandman” series; specifically “Preludes & Nocturnes“- I fell in love. Even during my various bouts of financial irresponsibility, I have managed to collect these books.
It is that comic book that got me into his novels, such masterpieces like “Anansi Boys“, “American Gods“, “Neverwhere” and “Good Omens“. I love his worlds and I love where he hides them, I love his characters (Mr. Wednesday, Anansi and his sons, Shadow and Fat Charlie especially) and how they, in the former three stories, sometimes amongst each other.
Comics, science fiction, and fantasy conventions are nowadays something of a hardship for Gaiman—“like being a maggoty log at a woodpecker convention,” he says. A few years ago, he was at a convention with Angelina Jolie, who played Grendel’s mother in the movie “Beowulf,” for which Gaiman co-wrote the screenplay. “When I try to explain that I attracted more attention than she did, people say, ‘Oh, ho, he’s being funny.’ I’m not.” At Worldcon, the international science-fiction convention, where he was the guest of honor in August, people walked around wearing pins that read “Neil Gaiman! Squeeeeeee!”—an expression of hysterical enthusiasm. One woman, when he asked to borrow her program for a moment so that he could see where he needed to be next, crowed, “He’s getting eye tracks all over my program!” Read more...
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comic books,
neil gaiman