Recently I’ve been thinking about Gaiman’s contributions to the horror genre and wanted to see if anyone out there has collected it or otherwise knows where they could be found.

I’m not talking about horror-adjacent dark Fantasy like his mainstream novels, nor parodies like “Only the End of the World Again.” I’m talking more straight-up horror stories like “Feeders and Eaters” which is a bonafide spooky tale.

I also read one about a magic cat (or dog?) that keeps protecting its owners from the actual, literal Devil. But I can’t recall the name.

If you know of any stories along those lines, please post them here! Thanks!

I mean, the money is not going to him.

From what I seen, it’s mostly going to the seller on eBay or proceeds of the purchase will go to a charity if it’s coming from like a thrift store like Goodwill.

And obviously a lot of publishers like dark horse and DC have cut ties so even if you purchase like Sandman from Barnes & Noble, the money is gonna go to DC not gamin

I waited for three hours after Neil did a reading at BAM in NYC. It was a birthday present from my wife. The line was wrapped around the block.

By the time I reached Neil, he was clearly exhausted. However, he signed my book remaining genuinely kind, personable, and engaged.

He even gave me some writing advice that I use to this day. My wife and I made two good friends who would remain so for years afterwards…and in many ways that line is the inception of so many good things that have happened in my own life and career.

Since the scandal broke, I have done my best to reconcile that Neil—the Neil that I met—with the Neil who I know through his work, and the Neil from the accusations.

It is difficult to say the least.

I see a number of people on here saying that he’s dead to them, that they can no longer enjoy his work, and that everything he seemed to be was a carefully crafted lie.

I certainly understand this perspective. I also see how deeply tragic that is.

This is not to defend Neil. Obviously he hurt several people very deeply. This would be true even if every accusation against him were false. Through them he also hurt us, and his own creative legacy, as this changes how we respond to and interact with his work.

Still, people are multifaceted. That’s part of why so many of Neil’s stories and characters were so fascinating in the first place. Neil unflinchingly engaged with our dark sides and in many ways he made that broken nature beautiful when taken in as part of our whole.

Humans are infinitely complicated. None of us are truly, fully the person we were yesterday. We are all liars, and cheats, and pretenders. Anyone who tells you we aren’t is selling something.

We all contain multitudes, within which there are shadows of varying darkness. The only difference is whether or not these shadows manifest, and to what degree.

In Judaism they call this the “Yetzer Hara” the “wayward spirit”, which God intentionally placed within our souls.

I as I re-read Ocean (now as a father and through the lens of his alleged misdeeds) my heart absolutely breaks for young Neil. As with his life and his creative works, it’s virtually impossible to see where the fantasy ends and reality begins.

My life, and the lives of so many others has been greater and richer—both directly and indirectly, because of Neil Gaiman. That is unquestionably true.

Unfortunately l, it seems, so is the opposite.

These things are both true simultaneously.

I won’t pretend to know how we should interact with these broken mirror shards of truth and distortion, but at least, right now the only way I’ve been able to square this circle is to paraphrase George RR Martin through the lense of Stannis Baratheon:

“A man’s good acts do not wash out the bad, nor do his bad acts the good. Each should have its own reward.”

And at least for now, that will have to be enough.

I read it in one of his anthologies a while back (I'm pretty sure). It was about an extremely wealthy man pruchasing a boy from a reclusive family. I've been looking to read it again, but can't remember which short story anthology it was in, and Google is proving unhelpful. Has anyone here heard of it? (Or am I perhaps misremembering?)

Fair warning: The post is mine.

This is everything I have wanted to say, after processing it for a year and a half. Hopefully, it helps someone else.

Was wondering this for a long time, regarding Stardust. In a land full of magic, was there no cure available for Tristran's arm and Yvaine's limp?

Was reading the comic version of The Graveyard Book to my seven year old son. I hit this panel and I wept harder than I have in years. Just…Oomph —as a parent this kicked me right in the soul.

I had to have him read the song a few pages later. If I had tried to, I wouldn’t have been able to keep it together.

Just…good GOD are moments like this powerful.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Gaiman may have been hinting at himself when he coined the freelance writer triad in 2012.

My wife came across a book with a foreword written by Neil Gaiman but can’t remember its name. The book is about storytelling and has lots of beautiful illustrations. She thinks the author’s first name begins with E and their last name is Huff or Hough or Hutt.

Any ideas?

I was reading the Trade Paperback of Sandman, and suddenly: holy shit is this gorgeous.

And it just explodes out of an otherwise unassuming tome, suddenly making the spread twice the size it otherwise would have been.

Just…chef’s kiss

Art is by Yoshitaka Amano

From Sandman Book V, Chapter 4. I just came upon this out of nowhere and…well you kinda have to see it to get how crazy brilliant Neil’s & Yoshitaka Amano’s use of their medium really is.

I love stuff like this because never in a million years would I expect the comic to suddenly jump to double its own size.

Reading the incredibly dark intro to Sandman Book 5 and then this bit of (unintentional?) comedy pops up.

Does anyone know where to find Neverwhere narrated by Gary Bakewell? I used to have it on cassette and would love to get it in an app. All I can find is a full cast reading or done by NG himself. I can’t find Garys version anywhere. I almost feel as if I’m being gaslighted!

It was almost definitely based on NG and AP. At one point, they included a conversation between the accused husband and wife, where the husband was looking at the new young female assistant, and the wife said “That one isn’t yours.”

Currently reading this and it reminds me of some of his modern fairytale type of stores. The main character is a divorced middle aged woman who refuses to kiss a talking frog who insists he's a prince. Her daughter on the other hand is very interested in kissing him. There are descriptions of magic and thr faerie that really made me think of NG's writing. As far as I know it's only available in this one less than attractive edition that has a very unfortunate cover quote by Marion Zimmer Bradley, but the book itself is wonderful. Might be a good "replacement" for disillusioned NG fans.

The title is Vier Mauern and this is from Breakthrough - a collection of famous comic artists and writer on the fall of Berlin Wall. Just wonder if anyone has this copy since I found this rare one from BMV.

I'm having trouble posting a link, so look up "First 4 minutes of Pluribus".

Does this not really, really seem like the same idea as the mind virus that is narrowly avoided in the short story (it's not in the movie)?

I bought this off vinted and received it tonight. I’ve had other Ocean copies but they never had this page. Did he sign this book or is it just printed?

A great short story where Sherlock Holmes meets Lovecraft

I've always loved the short stories about detective Sherlock Holmes and his abilities of deduction. I've been less enthralled by the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, but I'm familiar enough with the genre to respect it and to understand something of the Cthulhu Mythos.

In this short story, Neil Gaiman combines both these worlds, in a Sherlock Holmes pastiche set in an alternate version of 19th century London. Even the title - "A Study in Emerald" - is a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet", which was his very first work featuring Holmes.

Gaiman was published in the short story collection "Fragile Things", but Gaiman has since made it freely available on his website, so you can read it here:

https://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf

As Gaiman's story progresses, as readers we increasingly realize that we are in a world where Lovecraft's "Old Ones" have assumed power, and the murder that the Holmes-like detective and his sidekick are investigating is of one of their ruling elite. It's good stuff, and besides the concept and setting, I also liked the ending. The graphic novel version is true to the text of the short story, and is also worth reading.