Neil Gaiman: Classic Or Dud

_American Gods_ was damn good, though. The best parts of the
book were the parts where the hero was going all domestic,
renting an apartment, going on dates, etc. Neil Gaiman could
write great "normal" stories, minus murder and magic.

Incidentally, according to the TV credits, Neverwhere was based on an idea by Lenny Henry; although the concept of there being a secret underground London is a very old legend, especially the bit about the giant boars. They supposedly escaped from Smithfield market into the River Fleet, and their descendants are down there somewhere still.

the whole thing has an element of Myst/Riven looks about it.

I think it's supposed to be Delirium from Sandman:

http://www.obscure.org/~domino/images/delirium.jpg

...though if I remember correctly, Gaiman denies it in some of his introductions to the Sandman books and says Tori is more like Death. Anyway, the book where that strip is taken from does feature Delirium visiting an S/M club where a Tori Amos song is playing on the background.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/thewire/pip/4uyaw/

no Listen Again link on page but it's here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio3_promo.shtml
under 'The Wire'

http://www.ojaiwan.net/cwimages/prophecy3theasce_01.jpg

wonder if this means Coraline will be decent or not.... i <3 experimental animation and the handmade everything production... but Neil Gaiman?! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline_(film)

Will refuse to date a Gaiman fan.

Haha, am reading a Gaiman novel at the moment. It's quite good, but basically just Terry Pratchett ripped out of Discworld and slapped onto America. Nothing outstanding, but a pleasant read.

from a place of ignorance I have always had a "ewww" feeling about this person- probably because I think that great literature is already "goth" enough, thanks.

Will refuse to date a Gaiman fan.

oooh handy filter thx

x-post would that be American Gods, Sick Mouthy? That's a pretty good book if so, the only one of his I've read.

Aye, that's what I'm reading. I've also read Anansi Boys, and the one with Pratchett from years ago.

i like Gaiman a lot but generally think his novels are a bit rub. his best work is either Sandman or his children's/YA novels - both Coraline and The Graveyard Book are aces.

Maybe I should revive my Kipling thread for this but I just started reading Puck of Pook's Hill, and the idea behind American God's is basically Puck's monologue with America substituted for England:

'But they didn't all flit at once. They dropped off, one by one,
through the centuries. Most of them were foreigners who
couldn't stand our climate. They flitted early.'

'How early?' said Dan.

'A couple of thousand years or more. The fact is they
began as Gods. The Phoenicians brought some over
when they came to buy tin; and the Gauls, and the Jutes,
and the Danes, and the Frisians, and the Angles brought
more when they landed. They were always landing in
those days, or being driven back to their ships, and they
always brought their Gods with them. England is a bad
country for Gods.

...

They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things. But
what was the result? Men don't like being sacrificed at the
best of times; they don't even like sacrificing their farm-
horses. After a while, men simply left the Old Things
alone, and the roofs of their temples fell in, and the Old
Things had to scuttle out and pick up a living as they
could."

I liked "Good Omens" in my Pratchett years, and now I am twice as old I remember it more fondly than the Discworld series, and my embarrassment at former Pratchett fandom leads me to believe that maybe it was good because of Gaiman, and that I should read Gaiman's other work; but maybe I'm just a little too hasty to deny my disowned teenage canon and swap it for someone else's.

Anyway I saw a band called American Gods last year and they were v good, so perhaps I should have faith in their apparent name source.

(None of this is of any use or interest to anyone else, but what I mean to say is that I'll be lurking around the thread picking up recommendations so I can see which of my kneejerk suspicions is right)

i enjoyed american gods.

it's a lot like the thing he did with early sandman (and moore did with watchmen and top 10, and morrison did with zenith) - rescuing characters from obscurity. is fun on a 'spot the reference' level.

anansi boys has been languishing on my amazon wishlist from before it was published...

Puck of Pook's Hill is great, Clotpoll! The story with the Roman Centurion is particularly atmospheric...

Anansi Boys is pretty unmemorable. I'm quite up for the Graveyard Book, he writes well for children.

I'm looking forward Coraline, but that's really down to being a Henry Selick fan and the hopes that one day he will do something as winsome as The Nightmare Before Christmas again.

what's the current Gaiman/Russell Sandman comic like?

What's that, DV? I can't find any info on it. I love P Craig Russell (I assume that's the Russell in question).

zomg spacecadet we are in oppositeland of teenagedom:

my embarrassment at former Pratchett Gaiman fandom leads me to believe that maybe it was good because of Gaiman Pratchett, and that I should read Gaiman's Pratchett's other work; but maybe I'm just a little too hasty to deny my disowned teenage canon and swap it for someone else's.

Or maybe Good Omens is just good in its own way?

I'LL FORM THE HEAD

I hate Gaiman but I may go see Coraline.

Pratchett gets a bad rap, he's a smart guy - probably smarter than Gaiman, despite being a less gifted storyteller. Not that I'd actually bother to read one of his novels now, but I'm glad I did.

Good Omens is class, even if some of the jokes are pretty dated now. might be the best thing either of them have done.

Hooray for Youtube scrobbler, a great idea!

Oops sorry guys wrong thread I'll go back to the last.fm area...

'Anansi Boys' is a big dull dud, sadly. 'Good Omens' is still good, though.

Anansi Boys was a borderline-racist embarassment.

What's that, DV? I can't find any info on it. I love P Craig Russell (I assume that's the Russell in question).

Russell's writing and drawing an adaptation of The Dream Hunters, the old Gaiman-written Amano-illustrated Sandman prose book.

The voice casting for Coraline looks promising at least: Keith David (cat), John Hodgman, French & Saunders

I love Keith David!

I have high hopes.

Meantime, Newbery Award ahoy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/books/27newb.html?_r=1&8dpc

Runrig also appear in the Duolingo Gaelic course pretty early on, probably before Skye.

(xp) A Sassenach incomer all the same.

that i will not deny

Reminds me, I work with a guy from the Canary Islands who told me their nickname for mainland Spaniards is 'los Godos', the Goths.

I've been listening to the Sandman audio drama on Audible and it's...not bad, I guess? I don't listen to audio-books much as my attention span with these things is pretty abysmal. But some chapters have been enjoyable, in particular the Dr Destiny storyline. The episode set in the diner was creepy was fuck.

Can't say I care much for Death's voice actress. I know the character is meant to be quirky and upbeat, but she sounds far too high-pitch squeaky (I actually thought it was Kristen Schall for a minute) and a bit one-note. It's too bad, as aside from her the "Sound of Her Wings" episode was done really well.

Creepy as fuck

Didn't know this existed. Kristen Schall might actually be a good Death!

Schall would have more range, I'd reckon. I'll give Dennings another chance when the next Death story comes up, she might improve.

The second part of the audio series is out. They actually went ahead and cast Schall as Delirium, so in any scene where she interacts with Death (Kat Dennings), the two are impossible to tell apart! Still, Season of Mists and A Game of You are two of my favourite extended Sandman stories, so this should be good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00120cb

^ Desert Island Discs from earlier in the month

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4JQZ297tX36CzL1JSkQHy4D/nine-things-we-learned-from-neil-gaimans-desert-island-discs

and that link seems to be the bones of the talking.

Anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWJTB6FPVaA

looks good enough

though there is a slight element of cheapness about it that seems unavoidable in every Gaiman adaptation for some reason

it's an issue with clive barker as well. something about british horror/fantasy.

akm
Posted: November 5, 2016 at 8:52:29 AM

did that not happen?

lol

(Candyman seems perfectly suited to its budget fwiw imo)