Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman Neil G

English science fiction writer and screenwriter Neil Gaiman, author of numerous graphic novels and comics. Gaiman's most famous works are Stardust, American Gods, Coraline. Many of the writer's works have been filmed. Neil Gaiman is also the recipient of the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker and other literary awards.

Biography of Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard McKinnon Gaiman Born November 10, 1960 in the English city of Portsmouth, in a family of Polish origin. The father of the future writer was a businessman, and his mother was a pharmacist. Neil Gaiman is the eldest of three children in the family, he has younger sisters Claire and Lizzie. He learned to read early, as a child his favorite works were Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. Among other favorite authors of the writer are Ursula le Guin, Edgar Alan Poe, Roger Zelazny, Robert Heinlein, R. Kipling and others.

In 1977, Neil Gaiman graduated from high school and decided to pursue a career in journalism. He translated interviews and wrote book reviews, and Neil's first professional publication was the fantasy story Featherquest, published in 1984 in Imagine Magazine.

That same year, Neil Gaiman wrote his first book: a biography of Duran Duran. The first edition was sold out rather quickly, although the author himself was not too pleased with his work. Soon after, his book Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion was published, an excellent study of writer Douglas Adams and his book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 1987, Neil Gaiman decided to end his career as a journalist. He explained this by the fact that British newspapers too often pass off fiction as truth.

Neil Gaiman's writing career

Neil Gaiman became friends with Alan Moore, a writer known for his work in comics. Gaiman also began creating graphic novels for several publishers. One of the most successful works was the series The Sandman, awarded World Fantasy Award.

In 1990, he co-wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchet, which spent 17 weeks on the bestseller list. In 1996, the novel in the genre of urban fantasy "The Door" was published, which became the author's first "solo" book.

Neil Gaiman's most famous work was American Gods, published in 2001. The book has won several prestigious literary awards, including the Hugo and the Nebula. Later, Neil Gaiman published the novels Coraline, Anansi's Children, and The Graveyard Story. In 2008, in collaboration with Michael Reeves, the book "Interworld" was written.

Many of the author's books are reflected in the cinema. In addition, several times Neil Gaiman worked directly on the scripts. In 2007, the film Stardust was released, based on the writer's novel of the same name. In 2009, the animated film Coraline in the Land of Nightmares was filmed, based on the 2002 book Coraline. In 2011, information appeared about the upcoming film adaptation of the novel American Gods. The film is scheduled for release in 2013.

Neil Gaiman's personal life

Since 1992 the writer lives in the USA. He moved to America to be near his first wife, Mary McGrath. In marriage, the couple had three children - Michael, Holly and Madeleine. Later, the union of the writer and his wife broke up.

Neil Gaiman is currently married to singer and actress Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the Dresden Dolls. In 2015, the couple had a son, Anthony. Neil and Amanda call their marriage “open”, which means the legal opportunity for both spouses to have additional sexual relations with other people.

Bibliography of Neil Gaiman

Novels
"Good Omens" (Good Omens, 1990) co-written with Terry Pratchett
"Behind the door" (Neverwhere, 1996, novelization of own script)
"Stardust" (stardust, 1998)
"American Gods" (American Gods, 2001)
Coraline (Coraline, 2002)
"Children of Anansi" (Anansi Boys, 2005)
Interworld (2008) co-written with Michael Reeves
"The Graveyard Story" (The Graveyard Book, 2008)

Filmography of Neil Gaiman

• Sandman
• History of the cemetery
• Hansel and Gretel
• The Thing About Cassandra
• Good Omens (mini-series, 2019 - ...)
• American Gods (TV series 2017 - ...)
• The Plausible Stories of Neil Gaiman (mini-series 2016)
• Lucifer (TV series 2015 - ...)
• Marvel Knights: Eternals (TV series 2014 - ...)
• Marvel Knights: Eternals (Video 2014)
• A Dream of Flying (2013)
• Neil Gaiman's We Can Get Them for You Wholesale (2013)
• A Calendar of Tales: February Tale (2013)
• A Calendar of Tales: October Tale (2013)
• The Lingerer (2012)
• Nicholas Was (2010)
• 82nd Academy Awards (TV Movie 2010)
• The 82nd Annual Academy Awards
• Statuesque (TV Movie 2009)
• Ten Minute Stories (TV series 2009)
• It Was a Dark and Silly Night (2008)
• Beowulf (2007)
• Stardust (2007)
• Doctor Who (TV series 2005 - ...)
• Mirror Mask (2005)
• A Short Film About John Bolton (2003)
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
• Doorway (mini-series, 1996)
• Babylon 5 (TV series 1994–1998)

And other talented individuals.

But do not forget that when you go to a bookstore, and on a modern shelf you can find something interesting and bewitching, not all writers present boring stories to the audience using hackneyed clichés.

In 2001, Neil Gaiman surprised literary critics and book lovers with the release of his landmark work, American Gods. This book brings together concepts from all of Neil's previous writings. The book introduces the reader to an outsider named Shadow. The protagonist of the manuscript is released from prison and learns the terrible news - his wife Laura and friend Robbie died in an accident.

Thrown to the sidelines of life, the Shadow tries to start life from scratch and contacts Mr. Wednesday, who is the incarnation of the god Odin. Ultimately, the protagonist learns that the gods of the Old World inhabit America, but since people do not believe in them, they have lost their former power. Odin's main goal is to gather all the "old" gods in order to fight the "new" ones - the Internet, mass media and other manifestations of technology. It is noteworthy that Neil Gaiman received the Hugo (2002) and Nebula (2002) awards for this book.

In 2002, the children's story Coraline was released, based on which the box-office cartoon Coraline in Nightmare Land (directed by Henry Selick) was released.

Six years later, Neil Gaiman wrote another children's book (The Graveyard Story) without losing his zest: the literary genius once again endowed his character with an original name, this time a boy named Nobody Owens came to the attention of readers. The main character's parents are killed, and the boy is left alone: ​​Nobody escaped because he crawled into the cemetery and hid from the criminals.

But the family of ghosts living near the graves could not remain indifferent to the fate of the baby, so the ghosts of Mr. and Mrs. Owens took Nick under guardianship. Also, an extravagant vampire named Siles took care of the child. By the way, this idea came to Neil Gaiman spontaneously: one day he thought that he could write something similar to The Jungle Book, moving the scene to the land of eternal rest.

Neil Gaiman published the collections of short stories Smoke and Mirrors (1998), Fragile Things (2006), and worked as a screenwriter for famous TV shows. He wrote two episodes of the TV series Doctor Who, and also wrote the script for the films Beowulf (2007) and Mirror Mask (2005).

Personal life

Neil does not like to share the details of his personal life with journalists, according to media reports, the master of the word was married twice. Little is said about the first marriage with Mary McGrath, but it is known that the writer has three children from Mary.

Neil's second chosen one was the singer and poet Amanda Palmer, who participated in the musical group The Dresden Dolls. The lovers signed in the winter of 2011, and in 2015 they gave birth to their first child, son Anthony.

Neil Gaiman is known to be a big fan of the social network

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Name: Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman
Date of Birth: November 10, 1960
Place of Birth: United Kingdom, Portsmouth

Neil Gaiman - biography

Neil Richard McKinnon Gaiman is a popular English science fiction writer of our time, the creator of a number of comics and other graphic works, and a producer. The future writer was born on November 10, 1960 in the small town of Portsmouth in the family of an entrepreneur and pharmacist. At the age of five, Neil and his family moved to a small settlement in West Sussex, where his father and mother began to study Dianetics. In 1977, Gaiman graduated from high school, but did not want to go to university - he dreamed of becoming a journalist and began to educate himself. Only six years later, his first work was published - an interview with Robert Silverberg. In the same 1984, Gaiman's debut story "The Feather" was published. Soon his other small sketches “Case of forty-seven forty” and “We can give a discount on wholesale” are coming out of print.

In 1985, an aspiring writer became interested in comics. He bought several tutorials and got advice from Alan Moore, who is a professional comic book writer. The first book in this genre was the 488th issue of the comics collection "2000AD", which was released in 1986. Neil became interested in this direction of creativity and improved his skills in this area for several years. Within three years, he created two impressive projects: the graphic novel "Special Cases" and a large-scale journalistic essay dedicated to the life and career of the famous writer Douglas Adams.

In the late eighties, Gaiman decides to create an author's comic book series. He founded his own magazine "Sandman", and in 1989 the first issue of it was published. Gaiman's new project brought him immense popularity. Editions of a talented author diverged in huge circulation. Issue #12 was awarded the prestigious World Fantasy Award in 1991. This was the first time that this award went to the creator of a comic book. The series lasted until 1996 and was awarded many awards. The world-famous television company Warner Brothers bought the film rights to this project and created amazing blockbusters based on Gaiman's comics.

In 1990, the first novel by Neil Gaiman, written in creative tandem with Terry Pratchett, “Good Omens”, comes out of print. This fantastic story about the coming end of the world has received many rave reviews. For almost half a year, this work occupied the top lines of the bestseller list. It was at that moment that Neal began to think about serious writing.

In the early nineties, a talented author is gradually approaching the production and writing activities. While still releasing his comics, he writes several graphic novels, writes TV series scripts, and is working on an English translation of the popular Japanese cartoon Princess Mononoke. Work on television projects inspired Neil to further literary work - he writes an epic in the genre of horror and mysticism "The Doorway" (another name for the novel is "Nowhere"), based on the television series of the same name. This work was highly appreciated by critics and readers - it was nominated three times for prestigious literary awards.

In the late nineties, a talented writer decides to try his hand at children's creativity. He creates the novel The Day I Traded My Dad for Two Goldfish, followed by one of his most famous works, the philosophical fairy tale Stardust. Although this book was created as a children's book, it cannot even be classified as a teen novel - it contains elements of horror and sex scenes.

In 1992, the popular science fiction writer changes his place of residence. He moves from Britain to America in search of a huge new gothic house. His life in the United States was reflected in his creative work. In 2001, the fourth large-scale work of the prose writer was published, which was a huge success - the novel "American Gods", which tells about the relationship between two "divine forces" - emigrant gods of antiquity and modern American "deities" - the rulers of the Internet, telecommunications, etc. The original fantasy sketch with a deep meaning and a pronounced American flavor was awarded the Bram Stoker and Hugo awards. This novel grew into a whole series, consisting of seven works.

In almost three decades of creativity, the outstanding British science fiction writer has created more than forty novels, short stories and novellas. He took part in many inter-author projects. The most famous of them are “The Dying Earth”, “Babylon 5”, “Sherlock Holmes. Free sequels. Also in Gaiman's writer's piggy bank there are about twenty poems on fairy-tale-fantasy themes. An impressive part of the writer's work falls on children's literature, however, from such works, even adults feel uneasy.

Chilling horror, combined with mysterious mysticism and original fabulousness, is the main genre of books not only for adults, but also for children. The protagonists of many of Neil's works are children and teenagers. They penetrate into parallel worlds, reveal the sinister secrets of demons and spirits, and try to save their families and others from terrible metamorphoses.

All of Neil Gaiman's books are very atmospheric. That is why many successful films based on his works were created. His works “Mirror Mask”, “Stardust” got on the screens, the series “Through the Door”, “American Gods”, “Good Omens” and “Children of Anansi” were filmed. Based on his most popular children's story "Coraline", an animated film "Coraline in the Land of Nightmares" was made.

This talented author has an incredible number of literary awards - more than ninety. Among them are the Locus, Goodrids, Hugo, SFinks, Portal, Noct, Nebula, Marble Faun, Grand Imagination Award and many others awards. Also, the writer several times became the winner of the results of the year according to the World of Fiction magazine in the nominations Comic of the Year, Most Long-awaited Book, Best Foreign Mystery, Thriller, Urban Fantasy. According to the reader rating, Gaiman's best books are the novels "Stardust", "American Gods", "Through the door", the stories "Coraline", "The Story of the Graveyard", the trilogy "Interworld".

If you want to read Neil Gaiman's books online absolutely free, visit our virtual library. Here you will find a huge number of works by the famous Briton. We have placed the sequence of books in the bibliographic list according to the chronology of writing, so you can easily find the work you need. Those who wish to download e-books of a modern author in Russian can choose a convenient format for works - fb2, txt, epub or rtf.

All books by Neil Gaiman

A series of books - The Best Of. Science fiction, fantasy, mysticism

• Rogues (compilation)

Series of books - Sherlock Holmes. The game continues

• The Incredible Investigations of Sherlock Holmes (compilation)

Series of books - Tales in a new way

• My father ate me, my mother tormented me. Fairy tales in a new way

Series of books - Doctor Who

• Doctor Who. 11 stories (compilation)

Series of books - Intermir

• Intermir
• Intermir. Silver dream

Book Series - Masters of Magical Realism (AST)

• norse gods
• Scary tales. Stories full of horror and horror (compilation)
• Fragile things. Stories and Wonders (compilation)
• Beware the triggers (compilation)

Book Series - Graphic Novels by Neil Gaiman

• Cemetery history. Book 1
• Cemetery history. Book 2
• How to talk to girls at parties

Book Series - The Worlds of Neil Gaiman

• View from cheap seats (compilation)
• Do not panic! The history of the creation of the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Book Series - Stardust

• star dust

Book Series - Good Omens

• good omens

Book Series - World Bestsellers for Children

• Panda Chu Day
• Panda Chu Day at the Beach
• Panda Chu's first day of school

No series

• american gods
• nowhere
• Ocean at the end of the road
• History of the cemetery
• All New Tales (collection) (compiler)
• Sons of Anansi
• coraline
• Fantastic Creatures (compilation)
• Odd and the Frost Giants
• Create!
• Wolves in the walls
• Smoke and Mirrors (compilation)
• Maiden and spindle
• But milk, fortunately...
• Truth is a cave in the Black Mountains

In 1984, he completed his first work, a biography of Duran Duran. At the same time, he worked as a journalist and prepared interviews for various British magazines.

In the late 1980s, his book Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion, about author Douglas Adams and his book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was published.

In 1988, the novel "Good Omens" (English "Good Omens") was published, which Gaiman co-wrote with the famous English writer Terry Pratchett.

In 1997, Gaiman wrote the fairy tale novel Stardust, which won the Mythopoeic Award in 1999. In 2007, the film adaptation of the novel was released - the film directed by Matthew Vaughn "Stardust".

Gaiman has written numerous comics for several publishers. His award-winning series The Sandman follows Morpheus (Morpheus), the anthropomorphic personification of the Dream. The series began in 1987 and ended in 1996: 75 issues of the regular series, specials and a prologue have been collected into 11 volumes and are still in print. In 1996, Gaiman and Ed Kramer wrote The Sandman: Book of Dreams. The work was nominated for a British Fantasy Award and was accompanied by stories and articles from Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Thad Williams and others. Now Neil Gaiman lives in America with his wife and children.

Bibliography

"American Gods" (Eng. American Gods, 2001)

Best of the day

"Star dust"

"Children of Anansi"

Sandman (comic)

"Coraline"

"Zateverie"

"Knight and Lady"

"Smoke and Mirrors" (collection of short stories)

"Fragile Things" (collection of short stories)

"The Case of Forty-Seven Forty"

Collaborations

Good Omens (1990) co-written with Terry Pratchett

One of the brightest writers of our time, of course, can be called Neil Gaiman. The sandman comic book series brought him fame, but in his homeland he is more appreciated as an unusually talented storyteller. Neil Gaiman's books embody the best traditions of fairy tales in English literature, which are based on an appeal to mythology.

Neil Gaiman - science fiction writer

The mythology of England penetrates the works of Neil Gaiman in various ways, for example, the author borrows its plots and images, creates his own system of myths, conveying his unique understanding to readers. Almost all of Neil Gaiman's works are devoted to the formation of the personality of the protagonist, everything is permeated with folklore motifs.

The great-grandfather of the future writer lived in Eastern Europe, before the outbreak of the First World War, he moved to Holland, and then emigrated to England. Gaiman's grandfather settled in Portsmouth, where he opened a small chain of grocery stores. David (his son) continued the development of the family business. The writer's mother Sheila (nee Goldman) served as a pharmacist. Sheila and David had three children: Neil and his younger sisters Lizzy and Claire. Neil Gaiman, whose books later became bestsellers, said that he was a child with oddities, and jokingly added that he was very lucky, because the parents had no one to compare their son with until their younger children were born, so no one noticed something is wrong with Neil.

It is impossible to cover and analyze all the work of Neil Gaiman in one article, but I would like to take a short digression through several of his books and scripts.

"Sandman" (1989)

Neil Gaiman conceived The Sandman as a ten-volume comic book series. It was the only comic to win a World Fantasy Award. The comics tell about Morpheus, the lord of dreams, who was captured by a sorcerer. The sorcerer planned to catch Death itself, but during the ritual something went wrong, and Morpheus was locked in the pentagram. Refusing not only to help the occultist, but also to talk to him, the Sandman was locked up for seventy years. Having escaped from captivity, Morpheus noticed that the world had changed a lot, and he himself was no longer the same as before. As always in his work, Neil Gaiman created a new, amazing reality, a kind of synthesis of reality and the world of various gods of ancient states.

"Good Omens" (1990)

“Good Omens” is a joint project of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett in the genre of urban comedy fantasy. It should be noted that for Neil Gaiman this was the first major work. In general, a humorous novel about the coming end of the world received positive reviews from critics and was awarded several prizes.

"The door" (1996)

Neil Gaiman's urban fantasy Beyond the Door is a novelization of his own screenplay and the writer's first solo project. The plot of the novel was created in the best traditions of Gaiman: Richard's life changed radically when he decided to help a stranger named D'Ver - two assassins were chasing her. From the girl's story, Richard learns amazing things. It turns out that under the streets of London there is another, completely different from the real world, which people are not even aware of. In this world, the word is a real power, but you can get there only if you manage to open the Door. A world full of danger, inhabited by angels and saints, monsters and murderers, is right under the feet of the inhabitants of London.

After this meeting, Richard noticed that he was disappearing from life: records about him disappeared, and his acquaintances did not remember him, so the guy was forced to become a companion of an unusual girl who has the ability to open any doors and help her solve the mystery of the death of her parents. After all the adventures and fulfillment of his mission, Richard returns home. But the former life seems to him dull and gray. Unable to resist the temptation, the hero returns to the mysterious world of "Under-London".

"Smoke and Mirrors" (1998)

Neil Gaiman wrote "Smoke and Mirrors" in the form of a collection of stories, each of which is given a short essay at the beginning - a kind of creation story. The collection contains several large stories, but mostly short stories: there are those that fit on one page. Well, the author proved that a good idea does not need to be stretched over several pages.

All the stories from the collection are surprisingly easy to read: for each writer creates his own world, separate from the rest, but each has a surreal atmosphere. The Holy Grail can be found in Second Hand at a reasonable price, and a werewolf becomes a detective ... Neil Gaiman also acts as a poet in this collection, however, it is better to read the poems in the original.

"Stardust" (1998)

Neil Gaiman's Stardust differs from his other writings in its style of writing, as the author tried to follow the tradition of fantasy writers who worked before Tolkien, such as James Branch Cabell.

The plot starts from the village of Zastenye, which borders on the magical world, where the young man Tristan goes in search of a fallen star for his girlfriend Victoria. To do this, the guy secretly enters the world of fairies and wizards, which is “with its own character”: it has its own rules and laws. Who knew that the star would turn out to be not a cobblestone, but a living girl? Or the fact that evil witches hunt for a pretty girl, for whom she is a source of eternal youth and beauty?

Neil Gaiman wrote Stardust as a fairy tale in its traditional sense. It contains actions, it contains living heroes: they learn, grow up, fall in love, become wiser. The courage of the protagonist leads readers to the idea that risk is a noble cause, and everyone will be rewarded according to their deserts.

Neil Gaiman, as always, distinguished himself with originality: unusual plot twists lure readers into the world of the book again and again. Even for fantasy, the story looks outside the box.

All new stories

Neil Gaiman co-authored All New Tales with Al Sarrantonio is a collection of scary stories. The authors-compilers have collected in it the best stories and fairy tales in the genre of suspense and horror, written by masters of the English word. Among the authors are Michael Moorcock, Michael Swanwick, Walter Mosley and others. All New Tales is a collection of subtle, gripping, smart, and genuinely scary stories.

"American Gods" (2001)

Neil Gaiman created American Gods in the form of a novel. One of the author's best works was written under the influence of the writer's emigration to America. The events of the novel tell about the confrontation between the gods of the Old World, who emigrated to America, and the recently appeared deities of the New World: television, telephone, Internet. The plot of the novel begins rather harmlessly. The shadow, who was released from prison ahead of schedule, falls into the skillfully woven nets of Odin (the god of war and victory among the ancient Scandinavians), the reincarnation of the latter is the harmless Mr. Wednesday. Shadows will have to travel all over America in order to find all the reincarnations of the ancient gods: Bastet, Loki, Chernobog, Anansi and others.

"Coraline" (2002)

The novel "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman was conceived as a bedtime story for his daughter, but later the writer published this amazing story. Many critics draw an analogy with the fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland", but we can safely say that the writer did not rework Carroll's ideas, but created his own, unique, unlike any other scary tale. The plot of the book is that the brave girl Coraline, dissatisfied with her boring life, after moving to a new house, finds that after unlocking her, she literally finds herself in a parallel world, and everything in this world is better: mom cooks better, dad is happy to tinker with garden, a friend doesn't talk much. The catch is that in order to stay in this world forever, Coraline will have to sew on buttons instead of eyes.

The girl demonstrates amazing courage, a flexible mind, decision-making skills and boundless imagination to young readers.

The moral of this story is that you need to appreciate everything that you have and be grateful for it. And Coraline realizes this as a result of all the adventures that have happened to her.

"Story with a cemetery" (2008)

Neil Gaiman's children's fantasy novel The Graveyard Story begins with a mysterious man murdering Nobody's parents and a boy taking refuge in a graveyard. Raised by ghosts, werewolves and vampires, the boy grows up and finds friends, but still remembers that the one who killed his family lives behind the cemetery fence...

The atmosphere of the book is quite unusual: it is a little sad and gloomy, on the one hand, and it is very easy to read (and you read about some of the boy's adventures with bated breath) on the other. Like any good children's book, "The Story of the Cemetery" is assimilated equally easily by both children and adults, but for some reason does not cause a feeling of naivety at all.

The author does not hide the fact that he drew plots from the books “Mowgli” and “Harry Potter” familiar to many, but this does not spoil the impression of his work. As in Coraline, Neil Gaiman manages to construct a new, unlike any other, exciting world. It is safe to say that in this book the author demonstrates the best aspects of his talent.

Based on a brief analysis of the main works of Neil Gaiman, the main features of this author can be identified:

• The ability to unobtrusively intertwine reality and the world of the gods: biblical, pagan, mythological and modern.
• Borrowing a plot from already written books and changing it so that the result is more than a unique and inimitable work.
• The gloomy and sad atmosphere created by the author does not put pressure on readers, as a result of which books are perceived quite easily.
• The author's ability to create books that are accessible and interesting to all age groups.
• A special harsh and dry language of narration.