Curious to see if anyone’s a fan. I liked Sandman quite a lot and have been reading his other stuff as I get around to it.
I’m quite the fan of Neil Gaiman. I’ve got the entire Sandman series, which highly regard.
He co-wrote a book with Terry Pratchett (another demi-god) called Good Omens. If you haven’t read that, run don’t walk to the nearest bookstore and get a copy. Outstanding work.
Smoke and Mirrors is a really good read. I had a modest liking for Neverwhere, and I’m waiting on American Gods to go into paperback before reading it (I could get it from the library, but the waiting list is so fricking long that by the time it’s my turn it will be in paperback).
American Gods just was released in paperback this week.
I met him two weeks ago and got a few items signed, a copy of AG and Neverwhere.
He was in town for the HorrorCon in Chicago so he co wrote a book with Gene Wolfe called " A walking Tour of the Shambles" in the style of those old English walking guidebooks. The Shambles is a nonexistent ( I fervently hope) neighborhood of Chicago where very odd things occur.
Check out www.preserveusfromthehouseofclocks.com for a look into one of the shops in the Shambles
Good Omens is hilarious, surely in my top10. I liked Neverwhere very much, although I have seen mixed feelings on this one by others. Have not got around to his other work yet.
Hot damn!
I’ve added the bookstore to my list of things to do tomorrow.
American Gods is a very good book, although the ‘horror’ in it is pretty lame.
As a rabid Pratchett-fan, this has opened my eyes for Gaiman, and I’m just starting to get his stuff.
I’m definately a fan of Gaiman. An old girlfriend of mine got me started on the Sandman Series and I’ve been hooked ever since. I really liked Neverwhere and I’m reading American Gods right now(I too was waiting for the paperback). American Gods has a lot of Sandman type shit in it, and so far I’m loving it. oh, and Todd McFarlane is Satan.
Don’t know that you’d call me a fan, because I’ve only read two of his books, none of the comics.
I’ve just finished reading American Gods a couple of weeks ago, which I enjoyed (don’t tell me Australia actually got something released before the US? I bought the paperback about three, four weeks ago). The horror wasn’t really that horrifying, but I do like his writing.
And Good Omens is one of the funniest books in print. I can’t read it in public because I giggle insanely and it makes people look at me funny.
Also a fan…in fact, I forgot exactly how much of a fan I was until my honey brought home a copy of American Gods earlier this week. I picked it up and was immediately taken by the story of Shadow and by Gaiman’s writing style. Then I discovered he’d brought the paperback home for a friend who had requested it (he works in a book store; oooh, employee discount…). Drat! 
The Sandman series was my introduction to comics that aren’t whiz-bang and involve lots of spandex, and I was interested to see what Gaiman would be like in a more familiar media (fiction) and thus picked up Neverwhere and was much impressed.
I seemed to have missed reading Smoke and Mirrors and will have to investigate that one!
So, were the rest of you into the Sandman series first or the fiction?
Last week I picked up the paperback American Gods at an airport bookstore as I was flying from SF to Chicago, to go back and see relatives and old friends in Illinois & Wisconsin. I’d flipped through a couple of the sandman books, but never really read anything by him before.
Reading that book while flying there made me feel like I was on drugs. I’ve been (or lived in) most of the places he mentions, at least the midwest ones. Though on this trip, I was unable to get anyone else who wanted to go see the House on the Rock again.
When I got back I went and got Good Omens. I’ll have to check out Smoke and Mirrors next.
Good Omens was supposed to be Terry Gilliam’s next movie. They were set to start filming this summer, supposedly with Robin Williams and Johnny Depp as the leads. However, the financing seems to have fallen through.
I got into Gaiman through Sandman. I used to have a “subscription service” at a local comic shop and I got the first 7 issues of Sandman. The stories seemed okay to me, but nothing great, and I stopped getting them. If I had held on and gotten issue 8 I probably would have kept on subscribing. It wasn’t until the trade paperbacks started coming out that I got back into Sandman. Along the way I sold the first 7 issues for $350, which was nice.
I’ve never met Neil or gotten anything signed by him, thou I would like to.
He has a childrens book called Coraline which will be published in early June and he is also going to be writing a 6 issue mini-series for Marvel Comics, and he plans to direct Death: The High Cost Of Living which is based on the mini-series which he wrote.
There is a message board over at www.neilgaiman.com which used to be pretty good, but has gone down a fair bit. And I’m not saying that just because I was banned. (Well, maybe a little.) The posters there have gotten a bit full of themselves. Anyway, you might care to check it out
If you do go there, it might be interesting to ask about WSLer and see what they say.
Or maybe not.
Am I the only one here who’s read Stardust? It’s an odd book, similar, in ways, to Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon - the style is almost like a children’s fantasy, but the subject matter certainly isn’t. Not as good as his other books, but still worth checking out.
I’m going to have to pick up a copy of American Gods. Thanks for letting me know about the paperback!
I’m big fan of Neil gaiman, both as writer and human being. I’ve read all of his books (mass market, at least) and most of his comics up to the time Sandman ended. I am very excited to hear he has done something with gene wofe–two of the very best writers working in the fantasy genre. I have to say that I found American gods very uneven, probably his weakest prose work, IMO. That doesn’t mean I don’t recommend it, though. Gaiman’s weakest is still better than 90% of the stuff out there. I will also say that I like Stardust very much. I do not consider it a lesser work in any sense.
Sandman was the series that got me into comics; my local ‘alternative’ record store started carrying it. I came in a bit late (don’t remember which issue), got hooked, and went back and got the ones I missed. I’m working on buying all the collected books, but I’m on disability so have to save up–besides, I moved and there’s no comics store here. Stardust was good, Neverwhere fair, Smoke and Mirrors excellent, and Good Omens is on my list of favorite books ever. Haven’t read American Gods yet, though I’m going to order that and Coraline in a few months.
Sandman, though. Gods, what to say about Sandman? A story about stories that contained stories within stories within stories.
So, who’s your favorite Endless, and your favorite non-Endless Sandman character? I have to say Dream for the first and Matthew for the second.
Gaiman is one of the few authors on my hardcover list-I buy his books in hardcover when they come out rather than waiting.
Smoke and Mirrors has some really neat stories- I love " We can get them for you wholesale" and “Nicholas Was…”
My favourite endless character would HAVE to be Death.
I have all of her TPB’s and even have the limited edition statuette ( one of many good things about working in a comic store)
For my fave non-endless character, that would be Mad Hettie, from “Death, the high cost of living”