Neil Gaiman is without doubt one of my favourite authors and I have read all his novels and short stories along with a number of the graphic novels he has worked on (including the Sandman stories). So I was very pleased to read that he has won the Cilip Carnegie Medal, a prestigious children’s fiction award, for his novel ‘The Graveyard Book’. I read it a few months back and for me it definitely ranks among his best efforts. You can buy it from Amazon, go on, you know you want to, you won’t be disappointed!
It is a story of an orphaned boy who is brought up by the ghosts who live in a graveyard, hence the book’s title. It took Neil more than 25 years to complete. I’m not sure if the film options have been bought yet but I reckon it would make a great movie. Coraline and Stardust were great adaptations of Gaiman books, although personally I’d love to see Neverwhere and American Gods, which is my favourite Gaiman novel, on the big screen. American Gods also recently won the 1 Book 1 Twitter vote, which is an attempt to get everyone on Twitter reading the same book at the same time.
He also wrote the supremely funny Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. He is also a good friend of Tori Amos and the pair have often referenced each other in both song and print.
You can read the news of Neil Gaiman winning the award here on the beeb. Also click here to visit Neil’s excellent website
Neil is advised not to drink the water, by someone who clearly has!
Tori Amos included a Neil reference in her song “Tear In Your Hand” with the line – ‘me and Neil’ll be hangin’ out with the Dream King, Neil says hi by the way’. The Dream King is a character from the Sandman series
I would like to finish this post with a couple of loosely relevant songs from Michael Jackson (“Ghosts”) and the Smiths (“Cemetery Gates”) respectively, enjoy! Coincidentally the script to the Jack short film ‘Ghosts’ was actually written by another of my favourite authors, Stephen King.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 