Neil Richard Gaiman was born on November 10, 1960 in Portchester, England. He is the author of numerous science fiction and fantasy works, including many comic books. As of 2002, he lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. After being rejected many times by publishers, Gaiman pursued journalism as a means to learn about the world and make connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published.
During this time he wrote his first book, a now sought-after throwaway biography of the band Duran Duran, and a large number of articles for Knave magazine. In the late 1980s he wrote Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion in what he calls a “classic English humorist” style; in his opinion the book is what lead to his collaboration with Terry Pratchett on the comic novel Good Omens.
He also wrote two British graphic novels with his favorite collaborator and long time friend Dave McKean: Violent Cases and Signal to Noise. His hard work finally paid off, and he landed a job with DC Comics, which resulted in the series Black Orchid. He has written a multitude of comics for several publishers, but his best-known work is the comics series The Sandman, which chronicles the adventures of Morpheus, the personification of Dream. (See Endless) All 75 issues of the regular series have been collected into 10 volumes that are still in print and selling well.
In 1991, Gaiman published 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 has a destiny as the world’s greatest wizard. The miniseries was popular, and spun off an ongoing series, also called The Books of Magic, written by John Ney Reiber. Many people have noted similarities between series protagonist Tim Hunter and the later and more famous Harry Potter; when referring to this similarity, Gaiman indicates that the young man as sorcerer has precedent in literature.
Gaiman also writes songs, poems and novels, and wrote the BBC dark fantasy television series Neverwhere, which he later adapted into a book. In addition, he wrote the English language script to the anime movie Princess Mononoke.
Gaiman is a Board Member as well as an active supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and he regularly participates in fundraisers for the group including creating materials such as the original Snow, Glass, Apples (the CBLDF owns the copyright).
Gaiman received a World Fantasy Award for short fiction in 1991 for the Sandman issue, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (see Dream Country). He received the 2002 Hugo Award for outstanding novel for American Gods, which also won the 2002 Nebula Award. In 2003 Coraline won the best novella award.
Novels
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Description: The story of an ex-con who is offered a job as a bodyguard for Mr. Wednesday, a trickster and a rogue. Shadow soon learns that his role in the man’s schemes are far more dangerous and dark than he could have ever imagined.
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Description: When Charles Nancy calls the U.S. to invite his estranged father to his wedding, he learns that the man just died. Charlie not only discovers a brother he didn’t know he had, but also learns that his father was the West African trickster god, Anansi.
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Description: When a girl moves into an old house, she finds a door leading to a world that eerily mimics her own, but with sinister differences.
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Description: According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter–the world’s only totally reliable guide to the future–the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea…
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Description: Nobody Owens is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.
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Description: At nearly fifteen years of age, Joey Harker learns that he is a Walker, able to travel between dimensions.
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Description: Richard Mayhew ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below, a shadow city of lost and forgotten people, places, and times.
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Description: An unlucky twelve-year-old Norwegian boy named Odd leads the Norse gods Loki, Thor, and Odin in an attempt to outwit evil Frost Giants who have taken over Asgard.
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Description: Tristran Thorn falls in love and makes the girl a foolish promise: he says that he’ll go find the falling star they both watched streak across the night sky.
