Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman
Menomonie, WI
Born: 1960
Link to Wikipedia Page
Link to Author's Website
Listen to Veronica Rueckert's interview with Gaiman on WPR

Biography:

BEGINNINGS
While Neil Gaiman is, of course, a British author, Wisconsin can claim a connection with the author. Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK, and now has one home in the United States near Menomonie, WI. As a child he discovered his love of books, reading, and stories, devouring the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton. A self-described "feral child who was raised in libraries," Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a life-long love of reading: "I wouldn't be who I am without libraries. I was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a boy were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on their way to work, and I spent the day there. I discovered that librarians actually want to help you: they taught me about interlibrary loans."
EARLY WRITING CAREER
Gaiman began his writing career in England as a journalist. His first book was a Duran Duran biography that took him three months to write, and his second was a biography of Douglas Adams, Don't Panic: The Official Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion. Gaiman describes his early writing: "I was very, very good at taking a voice that already existed and parodying or pastiching it." Violent Cases was the first of many collaborations with artist Dave McKean. This early graphic novel led to their series Black Orchid, published by DC Comics.
The groundbreaking series Sandman followed, collecting a large number of US awards in its 75 issue run, including nine Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards and three Harvey Awards. In 1991, Sandman became the first comic ever to receive a literary award, the 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.
ESTABLISHED WRITER & CREATOR
Neil Gaiman is credited with being one of the creators of modern comics, as well as an author whose work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama.
Gaiman has achieved cult status and attracted increased media attention, with recent profiles in The New Yorker magazine and by CBS News Sunday Morning.
SCI-FI, FANTASY & SOCIAL MEDIA
Audiences for science fiction and fantasy form a substantial part of Gaiman's fan base, and he has continuously used social media to communicate with readers. In 2001, Gaiman became one of the first writers to establish a blog, which now has over a million regular readers.
In 2008, Gaiman joined Twitter as @neilhimself and now has over 1.5 million followers and counting on the micro-blogging site. He won the Twitter category in the inaugural Author Blog Awards, and his adult novel American Gods was the first selection for the One Book, One Twitter (1b1t) book club.
WRITING FOR YOUNG READERS
Neil Gaiman writes books for readers of all ages, including the following collections and picture books for young readers: M is for Magic (2007); Interworld (2007), co-authored with Michael Reaves; The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (1997); The Wolves in the Walls(2003); the Greenaway-shortlisted Crazy Hair (2009), illustrated by Dave McKean; The Dangerous Alphabet (2008), illustrated by Gris Grimly; Blueberry Girl (2009); and Instructions(2010), illustrated by Charles Vess.
Gaiman's books are genre works that refuse to remain true to their genres. Gothic horror was out of fashion in the early 1990s when Gaiman started work on Coraline (2002). Originally considered too frightening for children, Coraline went on to win the British Science Fiction Award, the Hugo, the Nebula, the Bram Stoker, and the American Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla award. Odd and the Frost Giants, originally written for 2009's World Book Day, has gone on to receive worldwide critical acclaim.
The Wolves in the Walls was made into an opera by the Scottish National Theatre in 2006, and Coraline was adapted as a musical by Stephin Merritt in 2009.
WRITING FOR ADULTS
Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Neverwhere (1995), Stardust(1999), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning American Gods (2001), Anansi Boys (2005), andGood Omens (with Terry Pratchett, 1990), as well as the short story collections Smoke and Mirrors (1998) and Fragile Things (2006).
His first collection of short fiction, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, was nominated for the UK's MacMillan Silver Pen Awards as the best short story collection of the year. Most recently, Gaiman was both a contributor to and co-editor with Al Sarrantonio ofStories (2010), and his own story in the volume, The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains, has been nominated for a number of awards.
American Gods has been released in an expanded tenth anniversary edition, and there is an HBO series in the works.
FILM AND TELEVISION
Gaiman wrote the screenplay for the original BBC TV series of Neverwhere (1996); Dave McKean's first feature film, Mirrormask (2005), for the Jim Henson Company; and cowrote the script to Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf. He produced Stardust, Matthew Vaughn's film based on Gaiman's book by the same name.
He has written and directed two films: A Short Film About John Bolton (2002) and Sky Television's Statuesque (2009) starring Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer.
An animated feature film based on Gaiman's Coraline, directed by Henry Selick and released in early 2009, secured a BAFTA for Best Animated Film and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category.
Gaiman's 2011 episode of Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife," caused the Times to describe him as "a hero."
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK
First published in the UK at the end of 2008, The Graveyard Book has won the UK's Booktrust Prize for Teenage Fiction and the Newbery Medal, the highest honor given in US children's literature, as well as the Locus Young Adult Award and the Hugo Best Novel Prize. The awarding of the 2010 UK CILIP Carnegie Medal makes Gaiman the first author ever to win both the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal with the same book. The Graveyard Book, with its illustrations by Chris Riddell, was also shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration -- the first time a book has made both Medal shortlists in 30 years.
"Twenty-three years ago, we lived in a little Sussex town in a tall house across the lane from a graveyard. We didn't have a garden, and our 18-month-old son loved riding a tricycle. If he tried riding in the house he would have died because there were stairs everywhere, so every day I would take him down our precipitous stairs, and he would ride his little tricycle round and round the gravestones. As I watched him happily toddling I would think about how incredibly at home he looked. I thought that I could do something like The Jungle Bookwith that same equation of boy, orphaned, growing up somewhere else, but I could do it in a graveyard. I had that idea when I was 24 years old. I sat down and tried writing it and thought, "This is a really good idea, and this isn't very good writing. I'm not good enough for this yet, and I will put it off until I'm better."

(From the author's website at http://www.neilgaiman.com/)

Works by Neil Gaiman:

Fleetway:
- 2000 AD:
  - The Best of Tharg's Future Shocks (tpb, 160 pages, Rebellion, 2008, includes:
    - "You're Never Alone with a Phone" (with John Hicklenton, in No. 488, 1986)
    - "Conversation Piece" (with Dave Wyatt, in No. 489, 1986)
    - "I'm a Believer " (with Massimo Belardinelli, in No. 536, 1987)
    - "What's in a Name?" (with Steve Yeowell, in No. 538, 1987)
- Judge Dredd Annual '88: "Judge Hershey: Sweet Justice" (text story with illustrations by Lee Baulch, 1987)
- Revolver Horror Special: "Feeders and Eaters" (with Mark Buckingham, one-shot, 1990)
Violent Cases (with Dave McKean, graphic novel, 48 pages, Escape, 1987)
Knockabout:
- Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament (tpb, anthology graphic novel, 64 pages, 1987) includes:
  - "The Book of Judges" (with Mike Matthews)
  - "Jael and Sisera" (with Julie Hollings)
  - "Jephitah and His Daughter" (with Peter Rigg)
  - "Journey to Bethlehem" (with Steve Gibson)
  - "The Prophet Who Came to Dinner" (with Dave McKean)
  - "The Tribe of Benjamin" (with Mike Matthews)
- Seven Deadly Sins: "Sloth" (with Bryan Talbot, 1989)
Blaam! #1: "The Great Cool Challenge" (with Shane Oakley, Willyprods, 1988)
AARGH! #1: "From Homogenous to Honey" (with Bryan Talbot, Mad Love, 1988)
Redfox #20: "Fragments" (with SMS, Valkyrie Press, 1989)
Trident #1: "The Light Brigade" (with Nigel Kitching, Trident, 1989)
Signal to Noise (with Dave McKean, strip in The Face, 1989)
A1 (Atomeka):
- Mister X Archives (hc, 384 pages, Dark Horse, 2008) includes:
  - "Mr. X: Heartsprings and Watchstops" (with Dave McKean, in #1, 1989)
- "Cover Story" (with Kelley Jones, in No. 5, 1991)
Taboo (Spiderbaby Grafix):
- "Babycakes" (with Michael Zulli, in No. 4, 1990)
- "Blood Monster" (with Nancy O'Connor, in No. 6, 1992)
- "Sweeney Todd: Prologue" (with Michael Zulli, in #7, 1992)
It's Dark in London: "The Court" (with Warren Pleece, graphic novel, tpb, 120 pages, Mask Noir, 1996)

DC Comics/VertigoTitles published by DC Comics and its Vertigo imprint include:

Black Orchid #1–3 (with Dave McKean, 1988–1989) collected as Black Orchid
Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? collects:
- "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" (with Andy Kubert, in Batman No. 686 and Detective Comics No. 853, 2009)
- Secret Origins:
  - "Pavane" (with Mark Buckingham, in No. 36, 1989)
  - "Original Sins" (with Mike Hoffman, in Special No. 1, 1989)
  - "When is a Door?" (with Bernie Mireault, in Special No. 1, 1989)
- "A Black and White World" (with Simon Bisley, in Batman: Black and White No. 2, 1996)
The Sandman:
- Volume 1 (hc, 612 pages, 2006) collects:
  - "Preludes and Nocturnes" (with Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, in #1–8, 1989)
  - "The Doll's House" (with Mike Dringenberg, Chris Bachalo and Michael Zulli, in #9–16, 1989–1990)
  - "Dream Country" (with Kelley Jones, Charles Vess and Colleen Doran, in #17–20, 1990)
- Volume 2 (hc, 616 pages, 2007) collects:
  - "Season of Mists" (with Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones and Matt Wagner, in #21–28, 1990–1991)
  - "Distant Mirrors" (with Stan Woch, Bryan Talbot and Shawn McManus, in #29–31, 1991)
  - "A Game of You" (with Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran and Bryan Talbot, in #32–37, 1991–1992)
  - "The Hunt" (with Duncan Eagleson, in No. 38, 1992)
  - "Soft Places" (with John Watkiss, in No. 39, 1992)
  - Vertigo: Winter's Edge #1: "The Flowers of Romance" (with John Bolton, 1998)
  - Sandman: A Gallery of Dreams (with various artists, one-shot, 1994)
- Volume 3 (hc, 616 pages, 2007) collects:
  - "The Parliament of Rooks" (with Jill Thompson, in No. 40, 1992)
  - "Brief Lives" (with Jill Thompson, in #41–49, 1992–1993)
  - "Ramadan" (with P. Craig Russell, in No. 50, 1993)
  - "World's End" (with various artists, in #51–56, 1993)
  - Sandman Special: "The Song of Orpheus" (with Bryan Talbot, 1991)
  - Vertigo Preview: "Fear of Falling" (with Kent Williams, 1992)
  - Vertigo: Winter's Edge #3: "How They Met Themselves" (with Michael Zulli, 2000)
- Volume 4 (hc, 608 pages, 2008 collects:
  - "The Kindly Ones" (with various artists, in #57–69, 1994–1995)
  - "The Wake" (with Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth and Charles Vess, in #70–75, 1995–1996)
  - Vertigo Jam: "The Castle" (with Kevin Nowlan, 1993)
  - The Dreaming #8: "Three 'Lost' Pages from 'The Wake'" (with Michael Zulli, 1997)
- Death (hc, 360 pages, 2009) collects:
  - "The Sound of Her Wings" (with Mike Dringenberg, in #8, 1989)
  - "Facade" (with Colleen Doran, in #20, 1990)
  - "Death Talks About Life" (with Dave McKean, 1993)
  - Death: The High Cost of Living #1–3 (with Chris Bachalo, 1993)
  - A Death Gallery (with various artists, one-shot, 1994)
  - Death: The Time of Your Life #1–3 (with Chris Bachalo, 1996)
  - Vertigo: Winter's Edge #2: "A Winter's Tale" (with Jeffrey Catherine Jones, 1999)
  - 9-11 Volume 2: "The Wheel" (with Chris Bachalo, graphic novel, tpb, 224 pages, 2002)
- Volume 5 (hc, 520 pages, 2011) collects:
  - Endless Nights (hc, 160 pages, 2003):
    - "Death and Venice" (with P. Craig Russell)
    - "What I've Tasted of Desire" (with Milo Manara)
    - "Dream: The Heart of a Star" (with Miguelanxo Prado)
    - "Fifteen Portraits of Despair" (with Barron Storey)
    - "Delirium: Going Inside" (with Bill Sienkiewicz)
    - "Destruction: On the Peninsula" (with Glenn Fabry)
    - "Destiny: Endless Nights" (with Frank Quitely)
  - Midnight Theatre (with Matt Wagner and Teddy Kristiansen, one-shot, 1995)
  - The Dream Hunters (with Yoshitaka Amano, prose novel, 1999)
  - The Dream Hunters #1–4 (with P. Craig Russell, 2008–2009)
- The Sandman: Overture (with J. H. Williams III, #1-6, 2013-2015) collected as The Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition (hc, 224 pages, 2015)
Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days (tpb, 160 pages, 1999) collects:
- "Framing Sequence" (with Sergio Aragones, in Welcome Back to the House of Mystery, 1998)
- "Jack in the Green" (with Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben, a previously unpublished Swamp Thing story)
- "Brothers" (with Mike Hoffman and Richard Piers Rayner, in Swamp Thing Annual No. 5, 1990)
- "Shaggy God Stories" (with Mike Mignola, in Swamp Thing Annual No. 5, 1990)
- "Hold Me" (with Dave McKean, in Hellblazer No. 27, 1990)
- The Sandman: Midnight Theatre (with Matt Wagner and Teddy Kristiansen, one-shot, 1995)
The Books of Magic #1–4 (with John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess and Paul Johnson, 1990–1991) collected as The Books of Magic(tpb, 200 pages, 1993)
The Children's Crusade #1–2 (with Chris Bachalo, Jamie Delano, Alisa Kwitney and Peter Snejbjerg, 1993–1994) collected in The Children's Crusade (hc, 416 pages, 2013)
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch: A Romance (with Dave McKean, graphic novel, hc, 96 pages, 1994)
Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust #1–4 (with Charles Vess, 1997–1998) collected as Stardust (Being a Romance within the Realm of Faerie) (hc, 224 pages, 1998)
Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame (with various artists, one-shot, 2000)
Wednesday Comics #1–12: "Metamorpho" (with Mike Allred, 2009) collected in Wednesday Comics (hc, 200 pages, 2009)

Other US publishers
Titles published by various American publishers include:

Miracleman (with Mark Buckingham, Eclipse):
- The Golden Age (hc, 160 pages, 1992) collects:
  - "The Golden Age" (in #17–22, 1990–1991)
- "Retrieval" (co-feature, in #17–22, 1990–1991)
- "The Silver Age" (in #23–24, 1991)
- Apocrypha (tpb, 1993) includes:
  - "The Library of Olympus" (in Apocrypha #1–3, 1991–1992)
Breakthrough: "Vier Mauern" (with Dave McKean, anthology graphic novel, tpb, 80 pages, Catalan Communications, 1990)
Cerebus #147: "Being an Account of the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolus" (script and art, Aardvark-Vanaheim, 1992)
Clive Barker's Hellraiser #20: "Wordsworth" (with Dave McKean, Epic, 1993)
Image:
- Spawn #9: "Angela" (with Todd McFarlane, 1993) collected in Dark Discoveries (tpb, 120 pages, 1997)
- Angela #1–3 (with Greg Capullo, 1994–1995) collected as Spawn: Angela (tpb, 100 pages, 1995)
- CBLDF Presents: Liberty Comics #2: "100 Words" (with Jim Lee, 2009)
Negative Burn (Caliber):
- "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" (with Joe Pruett and Ken Meyer Jr., in No. 11, 1994)
- "The Old Warlock's Reverie: A Pantoum" (with Guy Davis, in No. 50, 1998)
Marvel:
- The Last Temptation #1–3 (with Michael Zulli, 1994)
- Heroes: "The Song of the Lost" (with Jae Lee, one-shot, 2001)
- Marvel 1602 #1–8 (with Andy Kubert, 2003) collected as Marvel 1602 (hc, 248 pages, 2004)
- Eternals #1–7 (with John Romita Jr., 2007) collected as Eternals (hc, 256 pages, 2007)
- John Romita Jr. 30th Anniversary Special: "Romita – Space Knight" (with Hilary Barta, 2007)
- Miracleman (with Mark Buckingham, 2015-...)
Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #2–3: "Celebrity Rare Bit Fiends" (with Rick Veitch, King Hell, 1994)
Elric: One Life No. 0 (with P. Craig Russell, Topps, 1996) collected in Elric: Stormbringer (tpb, 224 pages, 1998)
Oni Double Feature #6–8: "Only the End of the World Again" (with P. Craig Russell and Troy Nixey, Oni Press, 1998) collected as Neil Gaiman's Only the End of the World Again (tpb, 48 pages, 2000)
The Spirit: The New Adventures #2: "The Return of the Mink Stole" (with Eddie Campbell, Kitchen Sink, 1998) collected in Will Eisner's The Spirit Archives Volume 27 (hc, 200 pages, Dark Horse, 2009)
Cherry Deluxe #1: "The Innkeeper's Soul" (with Larry Welz, Cherry, 1998)
Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated #3: "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch" (with Tony Daniel, Quantum Cat, 1998)
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar (with Jouni Koponen, one-shot, Dream Haven, 1998)
Dark Horse:
- Harlequin Valentine (with John Bolton, graphic novel, hc, 40 pages, 2001)
- Murder Mysteries (with P. Craig Russell, graphic novel, hc, 64 pages, 2002)
- Creatures of the Night (with Michael Zulli, graphic novel, hc, 48 pages, 2004)
Little Walks for Sightseers Volume 16: "A Walking Tour of the Shambles" (with Gene Wolfe and Randy Broecker, graphic novel, tpb, 56 pages,American Fantasy Press, 2002)
The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore: "True Things" (with Mark Buckingham, TwoMorrows, 2003)

Non-fiction

Duran Duran: The First Four Years of the Fab Five (biography of the pop group Duran Duran, Proteus Publishing, 1984)
Ghastly Beyond Belief (bad quotes from sc-fi novels, movies, and advertisements edited by Gaiman and Kim Newman, Arrow, 1985)
Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion (a guide to Douglas Adams' 'trilogy', Titan, 1988)
Make Good Art, William Morrow, 2013)

Novels

Good Omens, 1990 (Hardcover, 354 pages)
Neverwhere, 1996 (Hardcover, 287 pages)
Stardust, 1999 (Hardcover, 256 pages)
American Gods, 2001 (Hardcover, 480 pages)
Coraline, 2002 (Hardcover, 176 pages)
Anansi Boys, 2005 (Hardcover, 352 pages)
InterWorld, 2007 (Hardcover, 256 pages)
The Graveyard Book, 2008 (Hardcover, 320 pages)
The Silver Dream, 2013 (Hardcover, 288 pages)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, 2013 (Hardcover, 192 pages)
Eternity's Wheel, 2015 (Hardcover, 288 pages)

Children's books

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (with illustrations by Dave McKean, hardcover, 64 pages, White Wolf Publishing, 1997)
The Wolves in the Walls (with illustrations by Dave McKean, hardcover, 56 pages, HarperCollins, 2003)
Melinda (with illustrations by Dagmara Matuszak, softcover, 64 pages, Hill House, 2005)
Odd and the Frost Giants (paperback, 112 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008)
The Dangerous Alphabet (with illustrations by Gris Grimly, softcover, 32 pages, HarperCollins, 2008)
Blueberry Girl (with illustrations by Charles Vess, hardcover, 32 pages, HarperCollins, 2009)
Crazy Hair (with illustrations by Dave McKean, hardcover, 40 pages, HarperCollins, 2009)
Instructions (with illustrations by Charles Vess, hardcover, 40 pages, HarperCollins, 2010)
Chu's Day (with illustrations by Adam Rex, hardcover, 32 pages, HarperCollins, 2013)
Fortunately, the Milk (with illustrations by Skottie Young, hardcover, 128 pages, HarperCollins, 2013)
- Fortunately, the Milk... (with illustrations by Chris Riddell, hardcover, 160 pages, Bloomsbury Children's, 2013)
Chu's First Day of School (with illustrations by Adam Rex, hardcover, 32 pages, HarperCollins, 2014)
Hansel and Gretel (with illustrations by Lorenzo Mattotti, hardcover, 56 pages, Bloomsbury, 2014)
The Sleeper and the Spindle (with illustrations by Chris Riddell, Bloomsbury, 2014)

Short Story Collections

Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany (a collection of short stories illustrated by various artists, hardcover, 166 pages, DreamHaven, 1993)
Smoke and Mirrors (a collection of short stories, hardcover, 352 pages, Avon Books, 1998)
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (a collection of short stories, hardcover, 400 pages, William Morrow, 2006,)
M is for Magic (a short story collection containing ten stories from the earlier collections (Angels and Visitations, Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things), with two previously uncollected stories, hardcover, 272 pages, HarperCollins, 2007)
Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Photographic Evidence (with Kyle Cassidy and Beth Hommel, photographic book with related short stories, hardcover, 112 pages, Eight Foot Books, 2009)
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances (William Morrow, 2015)