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Neil Gaiman
Birth at
10 November 1960
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He was born on 10 November 1960 in Portchester, England. In 1992, he moved to his wife’s homeland in the United States, where he currently lives near Minneapolis in Minnesota. He worked as a journalist in various British periodicals, was a rock journalist, wrote book reviews and critical articles. For a long time he specialized in writing stories for fantasy and nf comics and novels in pictures. Since 1988 he has been a professional writer. Gaiman's first published book is a biography of Duran Duran.
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He was born on 10 November 1960 in Portchester, England. In 1992, he moved to his wife’s homeland in the United States, where he currently lives near Minneapolis in Minnesota. He worked as a journalist in various British periodicals, was a rock journalist, wrote book reviews and critical articles. For a long time he specialized in writing stories for fantasy and nf comics and novels in pictures. Since 1988 he has been a professional writer. Gaiman's first published book is a biography of Duran Duran. The first fantastic publication was the short story "Featherquest?" (1984, in "Imagine?"). In 1985, Gaiman, along with Kim Newman (Kim Newman), published the book Ghastly Beyond Belief? - a collection of the most funny and clumsy quotes from the NF and fantasy books and films, annotations to them, etc. (you can get some idea of it by looking here). His first graphic novel, Violent Cases? (1987), co-created with artist Dave McKean, was a dark urban fantasy. In 1988, he published Don’t Panic: The Official Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion? (1988, reworked in 1992), a study of the famous Douglas (Noel) Adams trilogy (1952 – 2001). Gaiman then took up comics in earnest, spending a lot of time writing The Sandman? (1988-1996, 75 issues combined into 10 volumes) and Miracle Man? (from 1990). One of the Sandman stories, A Midsummer Night's Dream? (1990; adaptation of Shakespeare's play of the same name), was awarded the World Fantasy Award? (1991). With Terry Pratchett (1948) he wrote Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch? (1990, prerab. in 1991), which remained on the Sunday Times bestseller list for seventeen weeks and became an international bestseller. The rights to the film were acquired by Samuelson Brothers, and the film was directed by the famous Terry Gilliam. Neil is also the author of the BBC's 1996 six-part fantasy television series Neverwhere?, set in an amazing world deep beneath London. Gaiman also wrote a novelization of this series, which was published in the UK in 1997. This novel received the prestigious French Julia Verlanger Award in 1999. Jim Henson Productions acquired the rights to shoot the film on Neverwhere?, and Gaiman wrote the script for the future film. Neil Gaiman also wrote the script for The Day of the Dead? from the final season of Babylon 5. The creator of this series, J. Michael Straczynski, is a close friend of Gaiman. One of the races shown in Babylon, even after him, is named Gaim, and their heads are very similar to the mask worn by the character from The Sandman. Another old friend of Gaiman is singer Tori Amos, and they became friends long before she came to fame. Neil is often mentioned in at least one song on her album. Neil is the author of several introductions for her touring programs, as well as several short stories included in the booklet for her album Strange Little Girls?. In 1998, Gaiman wrote for Miramax? an English adaptation (language script) of the famous Princess Mononoke?
Gaiman is a friend and admirer of Roger Zelazny, one of his, as Neil himself put it, ?bastard writer-children? (literally - "side children in writing?"; that is, people who learned to write on the work of Zelazny, but without his knowledge ;) we have translated this phrase as "illegal writer's children?", which hints, to put it mildly, wrongly. Our readers Gaiman (like Neil Gaiman) can be familiar from the story “Only the End of the World Again?”, included in the anthology “Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny?” (?Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny?, 1998; nominated for ?Locus?-1999; compiled by Martin H. Greenberg (1941 - )), dedicated to the memory of Zelazny.