Neil Gaiman

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neil Gaiman (2019)
Neil Gaiman's voice - excerpt from a BBC interview

Neil Richard Gaiman (born November 10, 1960 in Portchester ) is a British author of numerous science fiction and fantasy stories , comics and screenplays .

Life

Gaiman comes from a Jewish family who had lived in England in the early 20th century and belonged to the Church of Scientology . As a teenager, he wished to work as a comic book author, but a career counselor pointed out the low chances of success and advised the 16-year-old to first complete an apprenticeship. After several failed attempts to get his first manuscripts published by publishers , Gaiman studied journalism . During this time he published his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran , as well as a large number of articles in Knave Magazine . He also wrote Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion on Douglas Adams .

In the 1980s, Gaiman's interest in comic stories revived. After becoming friends with comic book writer Alan Moore , he began writing comics himself. Together with his colleague and long-time friend Dave McKean , he created Violent Cases and Signal to Noise . He received a commission from DC Comics and wrote the mini-series Black Orchid .

Neil Gaiman (2009)

Gaiman wrote a variety of comics for several publishers. Most famous was his series Sandman , the protagonist of which Dream is the ruler of the dream realm . The series, which started in 1988, was immediately well received and after eight successful years was discontinued in 1996, not because of waning public interest, but because Gaiman had finished telling his story. All 75 individual editions were published as a ten-volume collection after the series was completed.

In 1991, Gaiman published The Books of Magic , a four-part miniseries set in the mystical and magical world of DC Comics. The hero of the series is an English teenager who was destined to become the world's greatest magician . A sequel with the same title developed from the comic, which was largely written by John Ney Rieber .

In 1992 Gaiman moved to the United States . He now turned to narrative literature, because he felt that he could not add anything more to the medium of comics, at least for the time being. He wrote his first novel, A Good Omen , a Tale of an Impending Apocalypse , while working on Sandman with Terry Pratchett . After completing the comic series, u. a. Neverwhere (German Niemalsland ), based on the BBC television series of the same name , for which Gaiman had written the scripts, Stardust (German Sternwanderer ), the short story book Smoke and Mirrors and the novels American Gods and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (German Der Ocean at the end of the street ). He himself described American Gods as the novel that comes closest to his Sandman . In addition, Gaiman wrote lyrics, poems and novels .

His children's books The day I swapped my dad for two goldfish , Coraline , Wolves in the Walls and The Graveyard Book (German The Graveyard Book ) were illustrated by Dave McKean, who is also the Sandman cover designed and Gaiman regarded as a good friend.

Gaiman has had a close friendship with the singer Tori Amos since the early 1990s . He is mentioned in at least one song on each of their albums, even if it is sometimes heavily encrypted. He wrote forewords to several of their tour programs and contributed a few sentences to the booklet of their album Strange Little Girls .

Neil Gaiman and his wife Amanda Palmer ( Arena 2011)

Gaiman, father of four children, has lived near Minneapolis in the USA since 2002 . Since the end of 2008 he has been in a relationship with the musician Amanda Palmer ( The Dresden Dolls ), whom he married in January 2011. He worked with her on joint projects such as "Who killed Amanda Palmer". Their son was born in September 2015.

Awards

Gaiman ranks among the top ten (still living) postmodern authors in the Dictionary of Literary Biography . He has received several awards for his work. In 1991 he received the World Fantasy Award for his Sandman story, A Midsummer Night's Dream , although no comic had ever received an award in this category. In his career he has received the Hugo Award several times , including in 2002 for American Gods , for which he also received a Nebula Award and a Locus Award . In the 1990s he received several Eisner Awards in different categories, including four times in a row the award for best author from 1991 to 1994. In 2006 he received the Locus Award again, as well as the British Fantasy Award , this time for Anansi Boys . In 2009 he was awarded the Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book . This award is considered the most prestigious children's book award in the United States. He also received another Hugo Award in the Best Novel category for The Graveyard Book on September 8, 2009 . In 2010 he received the very prestigious British children's book award Carnegie Medal . Gaiman's the ocean at the end of the lane was in the British 2013 National Book Award with the price Book of the Year Award. The novel also received a Locus Award and the German Fantastic Prize , which it had already won in 2011 for his novel The Smiling Odd and the trip to Asgard as the best international novel . Gaiman also holds honorary doctorates from the Philadelphia University of Arts and the University of St Andrews .

Works (selection)

comics

  • Violent Cases , with Dave McKean, Titan Books , 1987.
  • Black Orchid # 1-3, with Dave McKean, DC Comics, 1988.
  • The Sandman , with various artists, DC Comics, 1988–1996.
  • Miracleman # 17–24, with various artists, Eclipse Comics , 1990–1993.
  • Books of Magic # 1–4, with various artists, DC Comics, 1991.
  • Signal to Noise , with Dave McKean, VG Graphics / Dark Horse Comics , 1992.
  • Death: The High Cost of Living # 1–3, with Chris Bachalo , Vertigo, 1993.
  • The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch , with Dave McKean, Vertigo, 1994.
  • The Last Temptation , with Michael Zulli (The story is based on Alice Cooper's album The Last Temptation ), Marvel Comics , 1994.
  • Angela , with Todd McFarlane , Image Comics , 1995.
  • Death: The Time Of Your Life , with Chris Bachalo, Vertigo, 1996.
  • Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days , (A collection of early works with various artists), Vertigo, 1999.
  • Green Lantern / Superman: Legend of the Green Flame , (One-Shot), with various artists, DC Comics, 2000; German at Panini Comics , 2001.
  • Harlequin Valentine , with John Bolton , Dark Horse Comics, 2001.
  • Murder Mysteries , Illustrated by Philip Craig Russell , Dark Horse Books, 2002.
  • 1602 # 1–8, with Andy Kubert , Marvel Comics, 2003.
  • Endless Nights , together with various artists, Vertigo, 2003.
  • Creatures of the Night , with Michael Zulli, Dark Horse Comics, 2004.
  • Eternals # 1-7, with John Romita Jr. , Marvel Comics, 2006-2007.

Novels

Children's literature

prose

(including works that appeared as illustrated texts)

  • Ghastly Beyond Belief: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of Quotations (a collection of movie and book quotes), with Kim Newman , 1985.
  • Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion , Titan Books, 1987, ISBN 1-85286-013-8 , German: Don't panic. With Douglas Adams through the galaxy (A Guide to Douglas Adams' Trilogy ), Ullstein, Berlin, 1990, ISBN 3-548-22272-2 .
  • Now we are Sick - Anthology of Nasty Verse (a collection of short stories), co-editor with Stephen Jones. This includes poems by Alan Moore , John Ramsey Campbell , Gene Wolfe , Raphael Aloysius Lafferty , Terry Pratchett, Brian Aldiss , Kim Newman, Diana Wynne Jones and others. a., 1991.
  • Angels and Visitations (collection of short stories), DreamHaven Books , 1993, ISBN 978-0-9630944-2-1 .
  • Snow, Glass, Apples (short story) illustrated by Charles Vess , 1994.
  • The Sandman Book of Dreams (short story anthology), co-editor with Ed Kramer. Contributions by Gene Wolfe, Tad Williams , Steven Brust , Susanna Clarke and others, among others. ibid., Haper Prism, 1996.
  • On Cats and Dogs (two short stories), 1997.
  • Smoke And Mirrors (collection of short stories), Avon Books , 1998, ISBN 0-380-97364-2 , German: Die Messerkönigin , Heyne, 2001, ISBN 3-453-17798-3 .
  • The Sandman: The Dream Hunters , with Yoshitaka Amano , Vertigo, 1999.
  • Murder Mysteries (limited edition radio play with illustrations by George Walker), Biting Dog Press, 2001.
  • Adventures in the Dream Trade , 2002.
  • Snow, Glass, Apples (limited edition radio play with illustrations by George Walker), Biting Dog Press, 2002.
  • A Walking Tour of the Shambles , with Gene Wolfe, 2002.
  • Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night , together with Gahan Wilson , a compilation of short stories by various authors and artists, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly , 2003.
  • Fragile Things - Short Fictions & Wonders (collection of short stories), Headline review, 2006. German: Zerbrechliche Dinge. Stories and Miracles , Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-608-93876-0 .
  • Norse Mythology (approach to Nordic mythology), 2017. German: Nordic myths and legends , Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-8479-0636-0 .
  • The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction , William Morrow, 2017, ISBN 978-0-06-245962-6 .

Radio plays & audio books

  • Warning Contains Language , short stories performed by Gaiman, music by Dave McKean, 1995.
  • Signal to Noise , radio play, 2000.
  • American Gods , audio book read by George Guidall, 2002.
  • Coraline , audio book, US edition read by Gaiman, UK edition read by Dawn French , 2002.
  • Two Plays for Voices radio play adaptation of Snow, Glass, Apples and Murder Mysteries , 2002.
  • Telling Tales , collection of stories read by Gaiman, 2003.
  • The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection , contains four of his children's stories and an interview read by Gaiman, 2004.
  • Die Messerkönigin , audio book (3 CDs) with 6 of the short stories from the book of the same name, read by Oliver Rohrbeck , Lauscherlounge Records , 2008, ISBN 978-3-7857-3746-0 .
  • Das Graveyard Buch , audio book in abridged version (5 CDs), read by Jens Wawrczeck , Der Hörverlag , 2009, ISBN 978-3-86717-424-4 .
  • The crazy balloon ride with Professor Stego's totally loose-in-the-time traveling machine , audio book, read by Andreas Fröhlich , Silberfisch , Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86742-715-9 .
  • Nordic myths and legends , audio book, read by Stefan Kaminski , Lübbe Audio , 2017, ISBN 978-3-7857-5516-7 .

Scripts

  • Neverwhere , screenplay, BBC miniseries, adaptation of his own novel, 1996.
  • Princess Mononoke , adaptation for the English-speaking film market, 1997.
  • Babylon 5 : Day of the Dead , guest author: Episode 8 of Season 5, 1998.
  • MirrorMask , script based on a story co-developed with Dave McKean (McKean directed), 2005.
  • Stardust , screenplay for the novel, (directed by Matthew Vaughn), 2006.
  • The legend of Beowulf , with Roger Avary , screenplay based on the old English epic (director: Robert Zemeckis ), 2007.
  • Coraline , screenplay for the children's book adaptation (directors: Henry Selick & Mike Cachuela), 2007.
  • Doctor Who : The Doctor's Wife , screenplay for the 4th episode of the 6th season, 2011.
  • Doctor Who : Nightmare in Silver , screenplay for the 12th episode of the 7th season, 2013.
  • Good Omens , screenplays for the six-part BBC - / Amazon - Miniseries , adaptation of his own novel Good Omens , 2019 (filming completed).

Adaptations

Literature template EJ template Adaptation EJ adaptation medium script Director Country, company Remarks
Neverwhere 1996 Neverwhere 1996 Miniseries Neil Gaiman United KingdomUnited Kingdom UK : British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
- - Where's Neil when you need him? 2006 Compilation album - - European UnionEuropean Union European Union :
u. a. DE and UKGermanyGermany United KingdomUnited Kingdom  		Songs by various independent artists inspired by Gaiman's work; including German contributions by Deine Lakaien , Schandmaul and Joachim Witt ; Gaiman commented on each song for the booklet
Stardust The star wanderer 2006 motion pictures United KingdomUnited Kingdom UK / US / ISL : Paramount PicturesUnited StatesUnited States IcelandIceland  with Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro
Coraline Coraline 2009 Stop Motion - animated film Claire Jennings, Mary Sandell Henry Selick United StatesUnited States US
How to Talk to Girls at Parties How to Talk to Girls at Parties 2017 motion pictures John Cameron Mitchell and Philippa Goslett John Cameron Mitchell United KingdomUnited Kingdom UK / USUnited StatesUnited States  with Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning
American Gods American Gods 2017– Television series Bryan Fuller , Michael Green et al. a. various United StatesUnited States US with Ricky Whittle and Emily Browning
A good omen 1990 Good omens 2019 Miniseries Neil Gaiman Douglas Mackinnon United KingdomUnited Kingdom UK : BBC / Amazon Studios / The Blank Corporation / Narrativia ( Terry Pratchett's production company) with David Tennant and Michael Sheen OBE
The Graveyard Book motion pictures Henry Selick in planning since 2014

literature

Web links

Commons : Neil Gaiman  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hannes Stein : Neil Gaiman: "There are no adults, not a single one" . welt.de , October 14, 2017, accessed April 16, 2017.
  2. ^ Porter Anderson: Neil Gaiman: 'I enjoy not being famous'; 'At the intersection of a dozen Venn diagrams'. June 30, 2001, accessed September 19, 2017 .
  3. ^ Neil Gaiman: Neil Gaiman on Dave McKean. In: www.neilgaiman.com. Retrieved November 30, 2015 .
  4. ^ S. Alexander Reed, Through Every Mirror in the World: Lacan's Mirror Stage as Mutual Reference in the Works of Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos. In: ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. Dept of English, University of Florida, 2008, accessed November 30, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman Perform Together in NYC. In: www.spin.com. June 3, 2009, accessed November 30, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Hermione Hoby: Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer: an audience with geek royalty. In: the Guardian. Retrieved October 11, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman welcome baby boy - The Boston Globe. In: BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved October 11, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 28, 2009, page 14.
  9. ↑ sfadb: Hugo Award 2009. In: www.sfadb.com. Retrieved November 30, 2015 .
  10. ^ Neil Gaiman wins Carnegie medal. In: www.theguardian.com, June 24, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2016 .
  11. ^ Neil Gaiman novel wins Book of the Year. In: www.theguardian.com, December 26, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2016 .
  12. ↑ 2004 Locus Awards Winners. In: www.locusmag.com, June 28, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Literature Prize Winner. In: literaturpreisgewinner.de. Retrieved November 3, 2017 .
  14. ^ Writer Neil Gaiman urges St Andrews graduates to change the world through imagination. In: www.thecourier.co.uk, June 21, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Sam McPherson: HBO Adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods Will Last Six Seasons. TV Overmind, archived from the original on July 18, 2011 ; accessed on November 30, 2015 (English).
  16. ^ Henry Selick To Direct Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book' In Disney Deal. deadline.com, accessed September 29, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Gaiman, Neil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gaiman, Neil Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British fantasy and science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Portchester , England