Neil Gaiman Books

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Neil Gaiman is a best-selling and award-winning fantasy author that has written fiction and nonfiction. He has also written for television, film, radio, and the theater. Born in 1960 in Portchester, Hampshire, the British author is of Polish-Jewish descent.

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His great-grandfather left Antwerp (Belgium) for the UK in the early 1900s. Gaiman’s grandfather found a home in Portsmouth, England where he nurtured his chain of grocery stores. During those days, Gaiman’s grandfather went by the name ‘Chaiman’.

This was the surname his family carried. However, he eventually changed it to ‘Gaiman’ which the author and his father also use. The son of a pharmacist (mother) and an older brother to two sisters, Neil Gaiman’s history is heavily steeped in Scientology.

Not only did his parents frequent the East Grinstead (West Sussex) Scientology center but his sister eventually landed a job at LA’s Church of Scientology. His sisters have always described themselves as a family of Jewish-Scientologists.

Gaiman agrees with this description. However, he does not associate with Judaism and Scientology. While he agrees that the beliefs stand at the center of his family’s values, he hasn’t embraced them.

Before Gaiman became a bestselling author, he was an avid reader. This made Gaiman a great student. Because he took to reading at the tender age of four, he would always read the textbooks the school handed out to the students at the beginning of the term.

As such, he was far better prepared than most of his classmates. His fascination with fantasy was shaped by Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. He found the first two books in the school library and they took his breath away.

He was fortunate enough to win an Engish Prize at his school because the winnings allowed him to secure the final novel in the LOTR series. Gaiman’s reading habits were further advanced by C.S. Lewis.

Gaiman couldn’t get enough of Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. He was fascinated by the writer’s parenthetical statements and he couldn’t wait to replicate the technique when he became a published author.

As a young adult, Gaiman’s talents took him into journalism. He spent the early 1980s doing interviews and writing for publications like Imagine Magazine and the British Fantasy Society. Gaiman knew that he wanted to write novels, and he hoped that his work as a journalist would afford him the connections he needed to advance in the industry.

But then he stumbled upon a copy of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing as he waited for a train at Victoria Station and everything changed. The issue blew Gaiman’s mind because he did not expect comic books to take such a fresh and exciting approach to storytelling.

It was at that point that the author pivoted into comic books. Some people might remember Gaiman in the 1980s for his Duran Duran biography. But the book was eventually eclipsed by the work he did on titles like ‘Black Orchid’, ‘The Sandman’, and ‘ Swamp Thing’.

It wasn’t until 1996 that Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman’s first novel was published, turning him into the fantasy fiction icon that everyone knows.

Neil Gaiman Awards

Gaiman’s long list of accolades includes World Fantasy, Mythopoeic Fantasy, Bram Stoker, Hugo, Newberry Medal, and Nebula Awards.

Neil Gaiman Books into Movies

Stardust, Gaiman’s 1997 novel, became a 2007 live-action movie starring Charlie Cox and Claire Danes. Coraline, Gaiman’s 2002 novella, became a 2009 stop-motion animated movie of the same name.

American Gods, a 2001 novel, became a 2017 live-action TV show. Good Omens, which Gaiman wrote with Terry Pratchett in 1990 also received a live-action TV adaptation in 2019.

Best Neil Gaiman Books

Gaiman’s dreams of writing fiction were kickstarted by R. A. Lafferty. Gaiman wrote him a letter at the age of nine and Lafferty responded with a highly informative letter filled with literary advice. Some of the best books in Gaiman’s bibliography include:

Coraline: When Coraline’s family moved into their new flat, she noticed that, of the fourteen doors, only thirteen could open. The fourteenth was supposed to lead to a brick wall. But when Coraline opened it one random day, she found a passage leading to another house, one that not only looked like hers but which had a father and a mother who wanted Coraline to stay with them.

What’s more, Coraline found that other children were trapped in mirrors in this bizarre house, and Coraline was their only hope.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane: When a middle-aged man returns home for a funeral, he cannot help but visit the farm at the end of the road. At first, the farm sparks all the right memories, reminding the man of the remarkable girl he met there when he was 7. But then new memories start emerging, terrible memories filled with death and darkness and promises from young, magical Lettie Hempstock.

When Does The Next Neil Gaiman book come out?

The next book by Neil Gaiman is Norse Mythology Volume 3 and will be released on January, 24th 2023. It is the newest book in the Norse Mythology: The Graphic Novels Series.

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