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Writer's pictureDawn Dalton

A Few of My Favorite Things: Neil Gaiman


I have a huge collection of Neil Gaiman's books and comics. By no means is it everything he's ever written (because that Duran Duran book is stupidly expensive), but I generally buy everything as it comes out.


He's one of the few writers I can say that for. In fact, he is the only writer I follow with such a passion to own some of his books multiple times. Sandman? Almost 5, if you count Audible. American Gods? 3. Neverwhere? 2.


You get the picture.


I was introduced to Neil's work when I was in college. I picked up Stardust and was warned that it was so different from all of his other work that I shouldn't read it first.


Spoiler alert, I read it first and loved it. And then found out that a huge chunk of his work is completely different from the rest of his body of work. So it didn't matter.


Sandman was my first comic and made me fall in love with non-superhero stories. A love I still carry to this day.


My favorite book of all time is American Gods, which is why I have it in original paperback, 10th Anniversary hardcover, and Annotated hardcover. But I hate the show. Not because it diverged from the books, that had to happen because the novel was published in 2001 and there needed to be some updating. But because you can tell when he took his hand off the wheel and let someone who didn't care about it take over so he could work on Good Omens.


I don't fault him for putting his focus on Good Omens over American Gods. I would too if I wanted to honor my co-writer and friend with a faithful adaptation. I fault the network for switching showrunners and all of the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes.


One of the things I love is that Neil's work spans over just about every age range and genre you can think of. A feat very few writers can match. I can easily give a young child Chu's Day while giving their parents Neverwhere. There is pretty much something for everyone.


That includes novels, short stories, TV, movies, and comics. One of my favorite moments when I got to tell my hubby that one of his favorite movies (Princess Mononoke) had the English script written by Neil. Mirror Mask will always be one of my favorite movies by him.


If you are looking for something new to read or watch, check out Neil's work if you haven't already. Do you have a favorite writer you think I would love? Let me know!

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