THE MAN!

A Brief Biography Courtesy of       Endicott Studios

 
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Neil Gaiman has an international following for his dream-haunted fiction, poetry, graphic novels, and media projects. As an Interstitial writer, he has used the comic book form to create compelling literary works for the adult reader.  
 
Born and raised in England, Neil was a rock journalist, book reviewer, and critic before becoming a fiction writer— whereupon he quickly established himself with the novel Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), the comic book series Black Orchid, and a variety of quirky publications such as Now We Are Sick: An Anthology of Nasty Verse.  


Family Photo, Age 3-4
He then created his best known work, The Sandman: a brilliant series of dark comic books and graphic novels. These works have attained cult status with adult readers on both sides of the Atlantic (university students in particular), giving Neil the kind of celebrity usually reserved for rock stars, not writers. Sandman #19: A Midsummer Night's Dream (in collaboration with artist Charles Vess) won the World Fantasy Award in 1991. Neil also edited The Sandman: Book of Dreams (with Edward Kramer), containing Sandman stories by a host of writers including Delia Sherman, Susanna Clarke, and Charles de Lint. Sandman characters have also appeared in songs by musicians as diverse as Tori Amos and Metallica.  
 
The evocative prose and imagery that made The Sandman such a success can also be found in Neil's novels, short stories, and poetry. His "fairy tales for adults" have been published in Snow White, Blood Red; Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears; Silver Birch, Blood Moon; Snow, Glass, Apples and other venues; his short stories have been collected in Angels and Visitations and Smoke and Mirrors. Neil created the BBC television series Neverwhere in 1996, bringing to life a magical world in the shadows below London's streets. Since then, he has published a fine novel based on this premise, also called Neverwhere—along with a hilarious children's book (with artist Dave McKean): The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish.  
 
In collaboration with artist Charles Vess, Neil created Stardust, an illustrated Dunsanian novel about a market town on the border of Faerie—both art and text delightfully reminiscent of turn-of-the-century fantasy classics. Neil is also the author of a dark, mythic, road novel, American Gods; a magical children's novel, Coraline (illustrated by Dave McKean); and The Sandman: T he Dream Hunters, a novella which explores Japanese fox-wife myths, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.  
 
Neil moved from England to his wife's hometown in the American midwest several years ago. He and his family now live in a renovated Victorian farmhouse where (he says) his hobbies are writing things down, hiding, and talking about himself in the third person.