Interested in sci-fic? Try Neil Gaiman, a winner in our book
Interested in sci-fic? Try Neil Gaiman, a winner in our book
SCI-FIC writer Neil Gaiman is a font of good ideas. In his earliest graphic novels, he personified dream and death, made them siblings and gave them a goth makeover (in the late 80s). Then came the novels American Gods and Anansi Boys. And the novel Coraline, a macabre Alice Through the Looking Glass kind of tale. He penned this into a graphic novel too and it has now been made into a film. As also Stardust, in which a star falls onto the earth and is hunted for the powers she can bring whoever has her heart. There were countless other superb titles along the way. He even partnered with Discworld creator Terry Pratchet to write Good Omens, a hilarious book in which an angel and a demon prepare for the coming of the son of Satan.
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Writer Neil Gaiman (right) on the sets of Hellboy 2 with actor Doug Jones |
The latest though (a comic) is not a character originally created by him. Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader which he was commissioned by DC to do. Rarely does a book from Gaiman disappoint, but this one did. Especially coming on the heels of The Graveyard Book (which won the Oscar of sci-fic the Hugo award), and which, thankfully, is available in Mumbai bookstores and is a great Sunday treat.
Few writers can breathe life into a dead subject as easily as Gaiman does in The Graveyard Book. A boy is raised in a graveyard by ghosts (the idea for this story came to Gaiman 20-odd years ago, as he watched his son tricycle around headstones in a graveyard). The ghostly inhabitants give the boy, called Nobody Owens, the Freedom of the Graveyard so he can walk along the border of the living and dead world. He can become invisible like ghosts and knows magic also. But he cannot step outside the graveyard because there he is being hunted by a mysterious man named Jack, who killed his family when he was a baby.
Nobody has a vampire guardian tall, dark and silent (very much like Gaiman's Dreamlord from the Sandman series) and many friends too. The story follows his adventures and growing up process within the graveyard and its ancient, sepulchral secrets and what happens every time he steps out to engage with the real world.
Gaiman is one of the most prolific writers today. When he is not writing his books (which is rare), he is blogging, tweeting and attending book festivals and comicbook conventions. But the quality of his writing is never compromised.
There is nothing superficial about Gaiman's books. His writing is simple, yet rich with meaning. Gaiman restrains clever writing to the dialogue of his clever characters, keeping the main narrative simple and pun and metaphor free.
At no point does the reader struggle under the weight of the writer's genius. That ensures we'll spend our hard-earned money on Gaiman's books over the stuff that's being called 'literary fiction' these days.
