Neil Richard Gaiman

Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series ''The Sandman'' and novels '' Stardust'', ''American Gods'', ''Coraline'', and ''The Graveyard Book''. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, ''The Graveyard Book'' (2008). In 2013, ''The Ocean at the End of the Lane'' was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London, England that ''The Independent'' called "...theatre at its best".

Early life

Gaiman's family is of Polish-Jewish and other Eastern European Jewish origins. His great-grandfather emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium, to the UK before 1914 and his grandfather eventually settled in Portsmouth and established a chain of grocery stores. Gaiman's grandfather changed his original family name of Chaiman to Gaiman. His father, David Bernard Gaiman, worked in the same chain of stores; his mother, Sheila Gaiman (née Goldman), was a pharmacist. He has two younger sisters, Claire and Lizzy.

After living for a period in the nearby town of Portchester, Hampshire, where Neil was born in 1960, the Gaimans moved in 1965 to the West Sussex town of East Grinstead, where his parents studied Dianetics at the Scientology centre in the town; one of Gaiman's sisters works for the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles. His other sister, Lizzy Calcioli, has said, "Most of our social activities were involved with Scientology or our Jewish family. It would get very confusing when people would ask my religion as a kid. I'd say, 'I'm a Jewish Scientologist. Gaiman says that he is not a Scientologist, and that like Judaism, Scientology is his family's religion. About his personal views, Gaiman has stated, "I think we can say that God exists in the DC Universe. I would not stand up and beat the drum for the existence of God in this universe. I don't know, I think there's probably a 50/50 chance. It doesn't really matter to me."

Gaiman was able to read at the age of four. He said, "I was a reader. I loved reading. Reading things gave me pleasure. I was very good at most subjects in school, not because I had any particular aptitude in them, but because normally on the first day of school they'd hand out schoolbooks, and I'd read them—which would mean that I'd know what was coming up, because I'd read it." When he was about ten years old, he read his way through the works of Dennis Wheatley, where especially ''The Ka of Gifford Hillary'' and ''The Haunting of Toby Jugg'' made an impact on him.

One work that made a particular impression on him was J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' from his school library. Although the library only had the first two of the novel's three volumes, Gaiman consistently checked them out and read them. He later won the school English prize and the school reading prize, enabling him to finally acquire the third volume.

For his seventh birthday, Gaiman received C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series. He later recalled that "I admired his use of parenthetical statements to the reader, where he would just talk to you ... I'd think, 'Oh, my gosh, that is so cool! I want to do that! When I become an author, I want to be able to do things in parentheses.' I liked the power of putting things in brackets." ''Narnia'' also introduced him to literary awards, specifically the 1956 Carnegie Medal won by the concluding volume. When Gaiman won the 2010 Medal himself, the press reported him recalling, "it had to be the most important literary award there ever was" and observing, "if you can make yourself aged seven happy, you're really doing well – it's like writing a letter to yourself aged seven."

Lewis Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' was another childhood favourite, and "a favourite forever. Alice was default reading to the point where I knew it by heart." He also enjoyed Batman comics as a child.

Gaiman was educated at several Church of England schools, including Fonthill School in East Grinstead, Ardingly College (1970–1974), and Whitgift School in Croydon (1974–1977). His father's position as a public relations official of the Church of Scientology was the cause of the seven-year-old Gaiman being forced to withdraw from Fonthill School and return to the school which he had previously attended. He lived in East Grinstead for many years, from 1965 to 1980 and again from 1984 to 1987.

He met his first wife, Mary McGrath, while she was studying Scientology and living in a house in East Grinstead that was owned by his father. The couple were married in 1985 after having their first child, Michael.

Career

Journalism, early writings, and literary influences

Writers that Gaiman has mentioned as significant influences include C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Dave Sim, Alan Moore, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, Lord Dunsany, and G. K. Chesterton.Abbey p. 68 A lifetime fan of the Monty Python comedy troupe, as a teenager he owned a copy of ''Monty Python's Big Red Book''. During a trip to France when he was 13, Gaiman became fascinated with the visually fantastic world in the stories of ''Metal Hurlant'', even though he could not understand the words.

When he was 19 or 20 years old, he contacted his favourite science fiction writer, R. A. Lafferty, whom he discovered when he was nine, and asked for advice on becoming an author along with a Lafferty pastiche he had written. The writer sent Gaiman an encouraging and informative letter back, along with literary advice.

Gaiman has said Roger Zelazny was the author who influenced him the most,"Of Meetings and Partings" by Neil Gaiman, introduction to ''This Mortal Mountain: Volume 3 of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny'', NESFA Press, edited by David G. Grubbs, Christopher S. Kovacs, and Ann Crimmins, 2009, page 12. with this influence particularly seen in Gaiman's literary style and the topics he writes about. Other authors Gaiman says "furnished the inside of my mind and set me to writing" include Samuel R. Delany and Angela Carter. Gaiman takes inspiration from the folk tales tradition, citing Otta F Swire's book on the legends of the Isle of Skye as his inspiration for ''The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains''.

In the early 1980s, Gaiman pursued journalism, conducting interviews and writing book reviews, as a means to learn about the world and to make connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published. He wrote and reviewed extensively for the British Fantasy Society. His first professional short story publication was "Featherquest", a fantasy story, in '' Imagine Magazine'' in May 1984.

When waiting for a train at London's Victoria Station in 1984, Gaiman noticed a copy of ''Swamp Thing'' written by Alan Moore, and carefully read it. Moore's fresh and vigorous approach to comics had such an impact on Gaiman that he later wrote "that was the final straw, what was left of my resistance crumbled. I proceeded to make regular and frequent visits to London's Forbidden Planet shop to buy comics".

In 1984, he wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran, as well as '' Ghastly Beyond Belief'', a book of quotations, with Kim Newman. Although Gaiman thought he had done a terrible job, the book's first edition sold out very quickly. When he went to relinquish his rights to the book, he discovered the publisher had gone bankrupt. After this, he was offered a job by ''Penthouse''. He refused the offer.

He also wrote interviews and articles for many British magazines, including '' Knave.'' During this he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms, including Gerry Musgrave, Richard Grey, and "a couple of house names". Gaiman has said he ended his journalism career in 1987 because British newspapers regularly publish untruths as fact.
In the late 1980s, he wrote '' Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion'' in what he calls a "classic English humour" style.

Following this, he wrote the opening of what became his collaboration with fellow English author Terry Pratchett on the comic novel ''Good Omens'' about the impending apocalypse.

Comics

After forming a friendship with comic-book writer Alan Moore, who taught him how to write comic scripts, Gaiman started writing comic books and picked up '' Miracleman'' after Moore finished his run on the series. He continued his professional relationship with Moore by contributing quotations for the supplemental materials in the ''Watchmen'' comic book series.

Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham collaborated on several issues of the series before its publisher, Eclipse Comics, collapsed, leaving the series unfinished. His first published comic strips were four short ''Future Shocks'' for '' 2000 AD'' in 1986–87. He wrote three graphic novels with his favorite collaborator and long-time friend Dave McKean: ''Violent Cases'', '' Signal to Noise'', and '' The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch''. Impressed with his work, DC Comics hired him in February 1987, and he wrote the limited series '' Black Orchid''. Karen Berger, who later became head of DC Comics's Vertigo, read ''Black Orchid'' and offered Gaiman a job: to re-write an old character, The Sandman, but to put his own spin on him.

''The Sandman'' tells the tale of the ageless, anthropomorphic personification of Dream that is known by many names, including Morpheus. The series began in January 1989 and concluded in March 1996. In the eighth issue of ''The Sandman'', Gaiman and artist Mike Dringenberg introduced Death, the older sister of Dream, who became as popular as the series' title character. The limited series '' Death: The High Cost of Living'' launched DC's Vertigo line in 1993. The 75 issues of the regular series, along with an illustrated prose text and a special containing seven short stories, have been collected into 12 volumes that remain in print, 14 if the ''Death: The High Cost of Living'' and '' Death: The Time of Your Life'' spin-offs are included. Artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel and Michael Zulli, lettering by Todd Klein, colours by Daniel Vozzo, and covers by Dave McKean. The series became one of DC's top selling titles, eclipsing even ''Batman'' and ''Superman''. Comics historian Les Daniels called Gaiman's work "astonishing" and noted that ''The Sandman'' was "a mixture of fantasy, horror, and ironic humor such as comic books had never seen before". DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "''The Sandman'' became the first extraordinary success as a series of graphic novel collections, reaching out and converting new readers to the medium, particularly young women on college campuses, and making Gaiman himself into an iconic cultural figure."

Gaiman and Jamie Delano were to become co-writers of the ''Swamp Thing'' series following Rick Veitch. An editorial decision by DC to censor Veitch's final storyline caused both Gaiman and Delano to withdraw from the title.

Gaiman produced two stories for DC's ''Secret Origins'' series in 1989. A Poison Ivy tale drawn by Mark Buckingham and a Riddler story illustrated by Bernie Mireault and Matt Wagner. A story that Gaiman originally wrote for ''Action Comics Weekly'' in 1989 was shelved due to editorial concerns but it was finally published in 2000 as '' Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame''.

In 1990, Gaiman wrote ''The Books of Magic'', a four-part mini-series that provided a tour of the mythological and magical parts of the DC Universe through a frame story about an English teenager who discovers that he is destined to be the world's greatest wizard. The miniseries was popular, and sired an ongoing series written by John Ney Rieber.

Gaiman's adaptation of ''Sweeney Todd'', illustrated by Michael Zulli for Stephen R. Bissette's publication ''Taboo'', was stopped when the anthology itself was discontinued.

In the mid-1990s, he also created a number of new characters and a setting that was to be featured in a title published by Tekno Comix. The concepts were then altered and split between three titles set in the same continuity: ''Lady Justice'', ''Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man'', and '' Teknophage'', and tie-ins. Although Gaiman's name appeared prominently as creator of the characters, he was not involved in writing any of the above-mentioned books.

Gaiman wrote a semi-autobiographical story about a boy's fascination with Michael Moorcock's anti-hero Elric of Melniboné for Ed Kramer's anthology ''Tales of the White Wolf.'' In 1996, Gaiman and Ed Kramer co-edited '' The Sandman: Book of Dreams''. Nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the original fiction anthology featured stories and contributions by Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Gene Wolfe, Tad Williams, and others.

Asked why he likes comics more than other forms of storytelling, Gaiman said:

Gaiman wrote two series for Marvel Comics. ''Marvel 1602'' was an eight-issue limited series published from November 2003 to June 2004 with art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove. ''The Eternals'' was a seven-issue limited series drawn by John Romita Jr., which was published from August 2006 to March 2007.

In 2009, Gaiman wrote a two-part Batman story for DC Comics to follow '' Batman R.I.P.'' titled " Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" a play-off of the classic Superman story " Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by Alan Moore. He contributed a twelve-part Metamorpho serial drawn by Mike Allred for ''Wednesday Comics'', a weekly newspaper-style series. Gaiman and Paul Cornell co-wrote ''Action Comics'' #894 (December 2010), which featured an appearance by Death. In October 2013, DC Comics released '' The Sandman: Overture'' with art by J. H. Williams III. Gaiman's Angela character was introduced into the Marvel Universe in the last issue of the ''Age of Ultron'' miniseries in 2013.

Gaiman oversaw '' The Sandman Universe'', a line of comic books published by Vertigo. The four series — ''House of Whispers'', ''Lucifer'', ''The Books of Magic'', and ''The Dreaming'' — were written by new creative teams. The line launched on 8 August 2018.

Novels

In a collaboration with author Terry Pratchett, best known for his series of ''Discworld'' novels, Gaiman's first novel ''Good Omens'' was published in 1990. In 2011 Pratchett said that while the entire novel was a collaborative effort and most of the ideas could be credited to both of them, Pratchett did a larger portion of writing and editing if for no other reason than Gaiman's scheduled involvement with ''Sandman''.

The 1996 novelisation of Gaiman's teleplay for the BBC mini-series ''Neverwhere'' was his first solo novel. The novel was released in tandem with the television series though it presents some notable differences from the television series. Gaiman has since revised the novel twice, the first time for an American audience unfamiliar with the London Underground, the second time because he felt unsatisfied with the originals.

In 1999, first printings of his fantasy novel '' Stardust'' were released. The novel has been released both as a standard novel and in an illustrated text edition. This novel was highly influenced by Victorian fairytales and culture.

''American Gods'' became one of Gaiman's best-selling and multi-award-winning novels upon its release in 2001. A special 10th Anniversary edition was released, with the "author's preferred text" 12,000 words longer than the original mass-market editions.

Gaiman has not written a direct sequel to ''American Gods'' but he has revisited the characters. A glimpse at Shadow's travels in Europe is found in a short story which finds him in Scotland, applying the same concepts developed in ''American Gods'' to the story of ''Beowulf''. The 2005 novel ''Anansi Boys'' deals with Anansi ('Mr. Nancy'), tracing the relationship of his two sons, one semi-divine and the other an unassuming bookkeeper, as they explore their common heritage. It debuted at number one on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.

In late 2008, Gaiman released a new children's book, ''The Graveyard Book''. It follows the adventures of a boy named Bod after his family is murdered and he is left to be brought up by a graveyard. It is heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book''. , it had been on ''The New York Times'' Bestseller children's list for fifteen weeks.

In 2013, ''The Ocean at the End of the Lane'' was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. The novel follows an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and remembers events that began forty years earlier. Themes include the search for self-identity and the "disconnect between childhood and adulthood".

In September 2016, Neil Gaiman announced that he had been working for some years on retellings of Norse mythology. ''Norse Mythology'' was released in February 2017.

Several of his novels have been published as paperbacks with retro covers by artist Robert McGinnis.

Film and screenwriting

Gaiman wrote the 1996 BBC
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