Written by Neil Gaiman. Neil Richard Gaiman

And other talented individuals.

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

In 2001, Neil Gaiman surprised literary critics and book lovers by releasing his seminal work, American Gods. This book contains concepts from all of Neil's previous works. The book introduces the reader to an outsider named Shadow. The main character of the manuscript is released from prison and learns terrible news - his wife Laura and friend Robbie died in an accident.

Thrown on the sidelines of life, Shadow tries to start life from scratch and contacts Mr. Wednesday, who is the incarnation of the god Odin. Ultimately, the protagonist learns that America is inhabited by the gods of the Old World, 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 Awards (2002) for this book.

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

Six years later, Neil Gaiman wrote another children's book (The Graveyard Story), without losing its zest: the literary genius again gave his character an original name, this time a boy named Nobody Owens appeared to the readers' attention. 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 Nikt under their wing. The child was also cared for by an extravagant vampire named Silas. 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 collections of stories “Smoke and Mirrors” (1998), “Fragile Things” (2006), and worked as a screenwriter for famous TV series. He wrote two episodes of the Doctor Who series and also wrote the script for the films Beowulf (2007) and The Mirror Mask (2005).

Personal life

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

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

It is known that Neil Gaiman is a big fan of the social network

Neil Gaiman can undoubtedly be called one of the most brilliant writers of our time. 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 into 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. Neil Gaiman devotes almost all of his works to the development of the personality of the main character, and permeates everything with folklore motifs.

The great-grandfather of the future writer lived in Eastern Europe; just 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 to develop 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 Lizzie 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, since his parents had no one to compare their son with until their younger children were born, so no one noticed. that something is wrong with Neil.

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

"Sandman" (1989)

Neil Gaiman conceived The Sandman as a comic book series consisting of ten volumes. It was the only comic to win a World Fantasy Award. The comics tell the story of Morpheus, the lord of dreams, who is captured by a sorcerer. The sorcerer planned to catch Death itself, but during the ritual something went wrong, and Morpheus found himself locked in the pentagram. Refusing not only to help the occultist, but also to talk to him, the Sandman was locked away for seventy years. Having got out of 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 humorous fantasy. It should be noted that this was Neil Gaiman's first major work. In general, the humorous novel about the coming end of the world received positive reviews from critics and was awarded several awards.

"Behind the Door" (1996)

Neil Gaiman's urban fantasy “The Beyond” is a novelization of his own script and the writer's first solo project. The plot of the novel is created in the best traditions of Gaiman: Richard’s life changed radically when he decided to help a stranger named D’Verie - 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 real power, but you can only get there 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 the companion of an unusual girl who has the ability to open any door, and help her solve the mystery of the death of her parents. After all the adventures and completion of his mission, Richard returns home. But his former life seems dull and gray to him. Unable to resist 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 short stories, at the beginning of each of which there is a short essay - something like a creation story. The collection contains several large stories, but mostly the stories are small: there are some that fit on one page. Well, the author proved that a good idea does not have to be stretched over several pages.

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

"Stardust" (1998)

Neil Gaiman's Stardust differs from his other works in writing style, as the author tried to follow the tradition of fantasy authors 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 penetrates into the world of fairies and wizards, which “has its own character”: it has its own orders and laws. Who knew that the star would turn out to be not a cobblestone, but a living girl? Or the fact that a pretty girl is being hunted by evil witches, for whom she is the 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 by his originality: unusual plot twists lure readers into the world of the book again and again. Even for fantasy, the story looks unconventional.

All new fairy tales

Neil Gaiman co-authored All New Tales with Al Sarrantonio - a collection of scary stories. The author-compilers have collected the best stories and fairy tales in the genre of suspense and horror, written by masters of the English word. Authors include Michael Moorcock, Michael Swanwick, Walter Mosley and others. The collection “All New Fairy Tales” presents a collection of subtle, exciting, smart and truly 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 the story of the confrontation between the gods of the Old World, who emigrated to America, and the newly emerging deities of the New World: television, telephone, and the Internet. The plot of the novel begins quite innocuously. Shadow, who was released from prison early, falls into the skillfully woven networks of Odin (the god of war and victory among the ancient Scandinavians), the reincarnation of the latter being the harmless Mr. Wednesday. Shadow 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)

Neil Gaiman conceived the novel "Coraline" as a bedtime story for his daughter, but the writer subsequently published this story that amazes readers. 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, scary fairy tale, unlike any other. The plot of the book is that the brave girl Coraline, dissatisfied with her boring life, after moving to a new house finds Unlocking it, she literally finds herself in a parallel world, and everything in this world is better: mom cooks better, dad tinkers with pleasure in garden, my friend doesn't talk much. The catch is that in order to stay in this world forever, Coraline will have to sew buttons instead of eyes.

The girl demonstrates amazing courage, flexible mind, decision-making ability and limitless imagination to young readers.

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

"The Graveyard Story" (2008)

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

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 easily digestible by both children and adults, but for some reason it does not at all evoke a feeling of naivety.

The author does not hide the fact that he drew plots from the familiar books “Mowgli” and “Harry Potter”, but this in no way spoils the impression of his work. As in Coraline, Neil Gaiman manages to construct a new, exciting world unlike any other. 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, we can identify the main features of this author:

• The ability to unobtrusively intertwine reality and the world of gods: biblical, pagan, mythological and modern.
• Borrowing a plot from already written books and changing it so much that the result is a more than unique and inimitable work.
• The gloomy and sad atmosphere created by the author does not put pressure on readers, as a result of which the 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.

Neil David John Gaiman(English: Neil David John Gaiman; Portsmouth, UK) - English science fiction writer, author of graphic novels and comics, and film scripts. His most famous works include: “Stardust”, “American Gods”, “Coraline”, “The Graveyard Story”, and the “Sandman” comic book series. Gaiman has received many awards, including the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Newbery Medal.

Neil Gaiman was born on November 10, 1960 in Portsmouth (UK).
In 1984, he completed his first work, a biography of the band 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” was published about the writer Douglas Adams and his book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

Gaiman has written numerous comics for several publishers. His award-winning series The Sandman tells the story of Morpheus, the anthropomorphic personification of the Dream. The series began in 1989 and was completed in 1996: 75 issues of the regular series, a special issue and two cartoon stories collected into 10 volumes and remain in print today.

In 1996, Gaiman and Ed Kramer compiled the anthology The Sandman: Book of Dreams, which included works by Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Ted Williams, Suzanne Clark and other authors. The anthology was nominated for a British Fantasy Award.

Also, as a guest author, he worked on one of the issues of the Spawn comic and a mini-series about one of the characters in this universe, after which he sued the main creator of the comic, who unauthorizedly used the characters invented by Gaiman.

In 1990, the novel “Good Omens” was published, which Gaiman co-wrote with the famous English writer Terry Pratchett.
From 1991 to 1997, Gaiman wrote the fairy tale novel Stardust, which was awarded the Mythopoeic Award in 1999. In 2007, a film adaptation of the novel was released - the film Stardust directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Neil Gaiman's most famous novel, American Gods, was published in 2001, immediately earning critical acclaim and winning several prestigious awards, including the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Gaiman is the screenwriter of several films:
mini-series “Neverwhere”, the script of which formed the basis for the novel of the same name (in Russia it was published in two translations under the titles “The Back Door” and “Neverwhere”).
feature film "Beowulf" directed by Robert Zemeckis.
episode "Day of the Dead" from the science fiction series "Babylon 5".
adaptation of his own novel “Mirror Mask”.
animated film “Coraline in the Land of Nightmares” based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman (released in February 2009).
two episodes of the cult British television series Doctor Who: (“The Doctor’s Wife”, season 6, and also (“Nightmare in silver”, season 7.

Neil Gaiman has three children from his first marriage. Neil Gaiman is now married to singer and actress Amanda Palmer (lead singer of the Dresden Dolls). The wedding took place on January 2, 2011.

In 1984, he completed his first work, a biography of the band 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” was published about the writer Douglas Adams and his book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

In 1988, the novel “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 was awarded the Mythopoeic Award in 1999. In 2007, a film adaptation of the novel was released - the film Stardust directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Gaiman has written numerous comics for several publishers. His award-winning series The Sandman tells the story of Morpheus (Morpheus), the anthropomorphic personification of the Dream. The series began in 1987 and ended in 1996: 75 issues of the regular series, special issues and prologue collected into 11 volumes and remain in print today. 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, Tad Williams and others. Now Neil Gaiman lives in America with his wife and children.

Bibliography

American Gods (2001)

Best of the day

"Star dust"

"Children of Anansi"

"Sandman" (comic)

"Coraline"

"Behind the Door"

"Knight and Lady"

"Smoke and Mirrors" (collection of short stories)

"Fragile Things" (collection of short stories)

"The Case of the Forty-Seven Forty"

Collaborations

Good Omens (1990) co-written with Terry Pratchett

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

Neil Gaiman - biography

Neil Richard McKinnon Gaiman is a popular English science fiction writer of our time, creator of a number of comics and other graphic works, and 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 village in West Sussex, where his father and mother began to study dianetics. In 1977, Gaiman graduated from 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 “The Case of Forty-Seven Forty” and “We Can Give a Discount on Wholesale” will be published.

In 1985, the aspiring writer became interested in comics. He bought several tutorials and received advice from Alan Moore, a professional in creating comics. The first book in this genre was the 488th issue of the comic book collection “2000AD”, which was published in 1986. Neil became interested in this area of ​​creativity and spent several years improving his skills in this area. Over the course of three years, he created two impressive projects: the graphic novel “Special Occasions” and a large-scale journalistic essay dedicated to the life and creative path of the famous writer Douglas Adams.

In the late eighties, Gaiman decided to create his own series of comics. He founded his own magazine, Sandman, and its first issue was published in 1989. Gaiman's new project brought him enormous popularity. The talented author's publications sold in huge quantities. In 1991, issue #12 was awarded the prestigious World Fantasy Award. This was the first time that this award went to a comic book creator. 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, Neil Gaiman's first novel, written in a creative tandem with Terry Pratchett, “Good Omens,” was published. This fantastic story about the coming end of the world has received many rave reviews. For almost six months, this work occupied the top lines of the bestseller list. It was at that moment that Neil began to think about serious writing.

In the early nineties, the talented author gradually approached producing and writing activities. While still publishing his comics, he writes several graphic novels, creates 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 Beyond” (another name for the novel is “Never”), 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 tale about fairies “Stardust.” Although this book was created as a children's work, it cannot even be classified as a teenage novel - it contains elements of horror and sexual scenes.

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

Over almost three decades of creativity, the outstanding British science fiction writer created more than forty novels, short stories and stories. He has participated in many inter-author projects. The most famous of them are “The Dying Earth”, “Babylon 5”, “Sherlock Holmes. Free continuations.” Gaiman’s writing also includes about twenty poems on fairy-tale and fantasy themes. An impressive part of the writer’s work is children’s literature, but such works make adults feel uneasy.

Chilling horror, combined with mysterious mysticism and original fairy tales, is the main genre of not only books for adults, but also for children. The main characters of many of Neil's works are children and teenagers. They penetrate 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” appeared on the screens, and the series “Beyond the Door”, “American Gods”, “Good Omens” and “Anansi Children” were filmed. Based on his most popular children's story, “Coraline,” the animated film “Coraline in the Land of Nightmares” was produced.

This talented author has an incredible number of literary awards - more than ninety. Among them are the Locus, Goodreads, Hugo, SFinks, Portal, Noct, Nebula, Marble Faun, Grand Imagination Awards and many others. Also, the writer several times became the winner of the year’s results according to the magazine “World of Fantasy” in the categories “Comic Book of the Year”, “The Most Long-awaited Book”, “Best Foreign Mysticism, Thriller, Urban Fantasy”. According to the reader rating, the best books by Gaiman are the novels “Stardust”, “American Gods”, “The Back Door”, the stories “Coraline”, “The Story of the Cemetery”, 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 bibliography according to the chronology of writing, so you can easily find the work you need. Those wishing to download e-books by a modern author in Russian can choose a convenient format for the works - fb2, txt, epub or rtf.

All books by Neil Gaiman

Book series - The Best Of. Sci-Fi, fantasy, mysticism

• Scoundrels (collection)

Book series - Sherlock Holmes. Game continues

• The incredible investigations of Sherlock Holmes (collection)

Book series - Fairy tales in a new way

• Dad devoured me, mother tortured me. Fairy tales in a new way

Book series - Doctor Who

• Doctor Who. 11 stories (collection)

Book series - Interworld

• Interworld
• Interworld. Silver Dream

Book series - Masters of Magical Realism (AST)

• Norse gods
• Scary tales. Stories full of horror and horror (collection)
• Fragile things. Stories and Miracles (collection)
• Beware of triggers (collection)

Book series - Graphic Novels by Neil Gaiman

• The story of the cemetery. Book 1
• The story of the cemetery. Book 2
• How to talk to girls at parties

Book series - The Worlds of Neil Gaiman

• View from cheap seats (collection)
• 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

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

No series

• American Gods
• Never
• Ocean at the end of the road
• The story of the cemetery
• All new fairy tales (collection) (compiler)
• Sons of Anansi
• Coraline
• Fantastic Creatures (collection)
• Odd and the Frost Giants
• Create!
• Wolves in the walls
• Smoke and Mirrors (collection)
• Maiden and the spindle
• But milk, fortunately...
• Truth is a cave in the Black Mountains