So there’s a raffle at the Open Rights Group and one of the items is the keyboard that Neil Gaiman used to write most of his Sandman stories. It’s missing a key, but it’s autographed and for some reason he doesn’t think this would be a very cool prize. This would be so cool to have! There’s lots of other prizes too (more from Neil too).
If you don’t know who Neil Gaiman is, someone summed it up the other day (and I don’t remember who I found it, so now I don’t have to paraphrase it).
Most geeks swear by him (Neil Gaiman).
If Joss Whedon is their god, Gaiman is their Jesus.
– Peter Sciretta at SlashFilm.com
Actually, I’d rank Neil higher than Joss, but he’s definitely more of a parable/quote person (IMHO) so maybe the latter fits more.
So back to the keyboard – However I wanted to display it I’d have to put a little tag on it that says something like, “This author writes stories that transcend reality as we know it, but still fits in with it. Don’t ask any more because it’s a really really long answer”. He’s one of the few people that I really enjoy that I haven’t pushed on people. You really need to read more than a bit of it to get someone to really get it and before that point most people give up.
I’ve mentioned Neil Gaiman lots before but I’ve never really posted a lot. If I mention him on-line people either know him or they don’t and I’ve generally left it at that. But I think I’m going to change that.Back to talking about the books — The Sandman is too complicated to explain to most people. No one believes me that he’s got a story-line around a English kid, Timothy Hunter, with wizardly powers who is a better character and been around a lot longer than Harry Potter (The Books of Magic). Mirror Mask is kind of surreal/bizzaro to show to people. Anansi Boys and American Gods are great if you can get people to stick with it, but they’re a little long for people who don’t get it. I’ve got people to like some of the short stories and some of the Sandman one-shots but getting them past that is always hard. Honestly, the kids books are where I’ve gotten most people to read: The Day I swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, Coraline, and The Wolves in the Walls. But Coraline is the story one (the chapter book) but people tend to shake they’re head at some of the bizarreness of it.
He’s got connections to Tori Amos too, but that’s another story.
