# Neil Gaiman! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029 "2003-08-09T15:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/21 "2003-09-20T03:14:33Z")
jeanster - the artist who did that portion also did 2 tie-in books: The Little Endless Storybook, and Death: At Death’s Door (which is a retelling of Season of Mists from Death’s POV) - I haven’t found the first, but I really highly reccomend the second. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/22 "2003-09-20T03:49:16Z")
I have a copy of Preludes & Nocturnes and plan to get the rest when I have the money… though last time I said that I bought Death: The High Cost of Living instead of The Doll’s House 😛 I first learned about Neil from a friend who lent me Neverwhere… from there I’ve been reading whatever I can get my hands on which isn’t a whole lot or at prices I can really afford now. (I need to feed my reading habit!) I’m lucky enough that the library has a few of his graphic novels! So I should be getting Doll’s House to read soon… As to American God’s I found it a pretty interesting read. Different from his usual stuff that I’d already read. Just good stuff in general I think. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/23 "2003-09-20T03:58:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Einmon \* > \*\*Neil Gaiman’s blog is the reason I found the SDMB 🙂 \*\* Eh? Does this mean that Mr Gaiman is a memeber? ---
**Author:** ![Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/24 "2003-09-20T04:15:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > \*\*“Preludes & Nocturnes” is actually nowhere near as genius as the rest: it feels like more of a conventional DC comic, but it leads into some really, really incredible stuff. \*\* Gaiman has admitted that for the first 6 or 7 issues of **The Sandman** that he was trying to find his way and that he didn’t want to get started on an extended story arc in case the book was canceled. He talks about this in **The Sandman Companion** by Hy Bender, which is well worth picking up. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/25 "2003-09-20T04:32:57Z")
I read Sandman when it was being published in the individual issues. I continued that way all the way up until The Wake which I bought as a grahic novel. The only one of his books I didn’t care for was Stardust. Not sure why, just didn’t get into it. Has anyone seen the Neverwhere series for BBC? I bought it over Ebay a few months ago. It’s good, but you don’t get as much back story as you get in the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/26 "2003-09-20T04:49:18Z")
I get to meet Neil on Monday (at a signing in Ft. Lauderdale!) I’m pretty stoked, as he is one of my favorite comic book writers (and that American Gods was pretty good too.) I’ll report back afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/27 "2003-09-20T15:22:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tengu \* > \*\*jeanster - the artist who did that portion also did 2 tie-in books: The Little Endless Storybook, and Death: At Death’s Door (which is a retelling of Season of Mists from Death’s POV) - I haven’t found the first, but I really highly reccomend the second. \*\* Oooh, thanks for the recommendation, **Tengu**. I’ll look into getting those. **Obsidian Flutterby** , check your local public library. I found out after I ordered my copies that the teen fiction section carries the Sandman series as well as other comic book trade paperbacks. But I didn’t see Book 3 “Dream Country” on the shelf. I suspect that’s because of the particular violent nature that takes place in it. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/28 "2003-09-20T16:52:45Z")
I just finished placing my order for the following Gaiman books: 1. Death: At Death’s Door 2. The Day I Swapped My Dad for 2 Goldfish 3. Good Omens 4. Sandman: The Dream Hunters 5. The Sandman: Endless Nights (The Sandman, 12) It was not clear to me if Sandman: The Dream Hunters is the 11th book in the series while I searched through [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). Does anyone here know if that is indeed the 11th Sandman volume? [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) does not have The Little Endless Storybook, so I’ll search elsewhere for that. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/29 "2003-09-20T17:13:07Z")
The Dream Hunters is not the 11th volume, but rather a stand-alone story based on a Japanese folk tale, that could take place any time during the series. It is not a traditional comic book, but rather has full-page paintings (by the wonderful Yoshitaka Amano) with text. The Sandman series ended with #75, “The Tempest,” the last story in Volume 10 (“The Wake”). ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/30 "2003-09-20T18:18:40Z")
So what IS the 11th volume of Sandman? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/31 "2003-09-20T19:03:15Z")
There are only ten “official” volumes, ten trade paperbacks that reprint the 75 issues: 1. Preludes and Nocturnes 2. The Doll’s House 3. Dream Country 4. Season of Mists 5. A Game Of You 6. Fables and Reflections 7. Brief Lives 8. World’s End 9. The Kindly Ones 10. The Wake There are other related works such as the two Death miniseries, Dream Hunters, and Endless Nights, but all of those fall outside of the actual Sandman series. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/32 "2003-09-20T19:10:34Z")
Thanks, **Big Bad Voodoo Lou**. I wonder why [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) has it listed like this: The Sandman: Endless Nights (The Sandman, 12) It leads one to believe there must be an eleventh volume of The Sandman. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/33 "2003-09-20T20:34:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tengu \* > \*\*jeanster - the artist who did that portion also did 2 tie-in books: The Little Endless Storybook, and Death: At Death’s Door (which is a retelling of Season of Mists from Death’s POV) - I haven’t found the first, but I really highly reccomend the second. \*\* Still searching for a way to purchase a copy of Jill Thompson’s The Little Endless Storybook. Meanwhile, you can see two of the pictures [here](http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/june01/thompson_2.shtml), plus one of the Scary Godmother. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/34 "2003-09-20T20:59:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jeanster \* > **Obsidian Flutterby** , check your local public library. I found out after I ordered my copies that the teen fiction section carries the Sandman series as well as other comic book trade paperbacks. But I didn’t see Book 3 “Dream Country” on the shelf. I suspect that’s because of the particular violent nature that takes place in it. _rereads her post again_ Yep I did put that in there… I am waiting for Doll’s House from my library right now! 😛 Right now I sit at #5 on the list to get it so probably a couple months. Hopefully _before_ I move away from this city. I don’t know if the library where I am moving to has it. The local also has Dream Country but none of the others after that. Not on the shelf because of violent nature in it? Maybe it was just out? Or it coulda been stolen too… I know our library used to carry several RPG guides but they got stolen so they didn’t bother to order more as they always went missing. Too much money to drop into books that always disappear. I still want to buy the comics though, just because I’ve never owned my own comics beyond Archie and Veronica and I really like these 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/35 "2003-09-20T21:05:56Z")
What about [The Dreaming: Beyond the Shores of Night"](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563893932/102-2381002-3718556?v=glance)? Not strictly part of the **Sandman** series in that Morpheus never appears, but we get two Cain and Abel stories (one starring Goldie, one introducing the third brother, Seth) and a Mad Hettie story (a minor character appearing in the second issue (IIRC)). I sort of enjoyed _Smoke and Mirrors_, his collection of short stories. The stories are uneven in quality – some are pretty rough while others are very good indeed. In particular I recommend “We Can Get Them For You Wholesale” which gave me a few minor nightmares, and “Shuggoth’s Old Peculiar” which made me laugh (and is particularly funny if you’re fans of both Pete & Dud and the Lovecraft books). Overall it’s worth a read, but check out your local library first. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/36 "2003-09-20T21:38:13Z")
Well, I am having no luck finding an online store that has Jill Thompson’s Little Endless Storybook available. I’ll try the public library, but I’ll be very surprised if they have it. And I’ll call my local comic book store in case they have it or know where I can buy a copy. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/37 "2003-09-20T22:05:40Z")
**jeanster** , I located you a copy of the Little Endless Storybook online, at Lone Star Comics: [http://www.mycomicshop.com/megastore/search.cfm?pcat=Comics-All&til=15854](http://www.mycomicshop.com/megastore/search.cfm?pcat=Comics%2DAll&til=15854) They have it for $8, which I guess isn’t terrible if you’ve exhausted your other search options. I’ve never ordered from this company, but I know they have a fantastic reputation from those who do. Good luck, and I hope this helped. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/38 "2003-09-20T22:46:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou \* > \*\ ***jeanster** , I located you a copy of the Little Endless Storybook online, at Lone Star Comics: > > [http://www.mycomicshop.com/megastore/search.cfm?pcat=Comics-All&til=15854](http://www.mycomicshop.com/megastore/search.cfm?pcat=Comics%2DAll&til=15854) > > They have it for $8, which I guess isn’t terrible if you’ve exhausted your other search options. I’ve never ordered from this company, but I know they have a fantastic reputation from those who do. Good luck, and I hope this helped. \*\* \*\*Big Bad Voodoo Lou \*\*, you are my new friend for life! I just placed my order. I’ll let you all know how I like the book after I’ve read it. Thanks a million! ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/39 "2003-09-20T23:07:34Z")
[Here](http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/library/resources/sandman_spinoffs.html) is a list of the Sandman spinoffs. I eventually plan to read The Thessaliad and Lucifer. ---
**Author:** ![Abby215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@Abby215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby215)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029/40 "2003-09-21T00:23:45Z")
I saw this amazing man again today and by the time I got to him he had to leave in half an hour ago so I didn’t get to spend that much time with him. However, I did get Sandman: Endless Nights (which is volume 11) signed and a cool poster of the Endless signed. I was the first one to ask him to sign that particular poster so besides wishing me ‘endless wishes’ he also wrote #1 so I would remember I was first. Wheeeeeee! Neil Gaiman is cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman/194029.md?page=3)