3w ago

There Is No Safe Word: How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.

How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.

Warning, this story is really horrific and will be heartbreaking for any fans of his, but Neil Gaiman is a sadistic [not in the BDSM sense] sexual predator with a predilection for very young women.

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Jesus fucking Christ.
I have not read anything from Gaiman, but I can see that lots of People really liked his books and the Person he showed the world.
So I just want to say, I'm really sorry for all of you. Even though Gaiman can rot in Hell, I feel sad for people who just got their favorite Books and stories poisoned.
- This is way worse than the J.K. Rowling turned TERF bit. These are actual crimes committed against women.
  I legit really enjoyed many of his works, Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett, is an all time classic, and I used to be proud of the fact that I actually met the man, as did one of my oldest friends as well as my brother in law.
  Now it's all like "What the fuck?"
  
  Is it awful that a part of me is glad Terry Pratchett is gone and doesn’t have to face this about someone who was a friend and co-writer?
  Given how progressive Pratchett’s stories were I would have a hard time believing he was a bad person or could support bad people, and I imagine this would be hard on him. Then again perhaps I’m just selfishly glad that I don’t have to know if he didn’t respond appropriately by distancing himself.
  Don’t know if I’m even making sense. This is just so disheartening given how many people I know absolutely loved Gaiman.
  
  It does raise the spectre of "how much did Terry know?" I really hope he was blissfully ignorant of all of it because, frankly, it's more than I personally ever wanted to know.
  
  Pratchett had a deep sense of justice, and was driven by a righteous rage - as described (ironically) by Gaiman in the introduction to Pratchett's "A Slip of the Keyboard".
  Pratchett also has multiple books with a primary focus on feminism (Equal Rights, Monstrous Regiment), and lots of his other books have feminist takes sprinkled through them.
  I've read a bit of Gaiman (not as much as of Pratchett), and I don't think I remember reading anything explicitly feminist. He seems much more obsessed with fantastic mythology than anything with sociopolitical relevance.
  Anyway, who knows how Pratchett would have reacted, but I kind of wish he WAS here to see it, because I suspect he would have said something really good about it...
  
  Tori Amos commented on the allegations:
  And if the allegations are true, that’s not the Neil that I knew, that’s not the friend that I knew, nor a friend that I ever want to know. So in some ways it’s a heartbreaking grief. I never saw that side of Neil. Neither did my crew. And my crew has seen a lot.
  Gaiman is the godfather to one of her kids and apparently she was pretty close to him. If she didn't know, I feel like Terry Pratchett wouldn't have known either. This isn't like with Epstein where association implies knowledge of what was going on. After reading all that I have on the allegations, I'm comfortable believing that Pratchett wouldn't have known anything about the alleged sexual assault and if he knew anything, it was that Gaiman was known to sleep around... consensually... with adults. (Because apparently this seems to be known among people close to him... including that he and Palmer allegedly had an open marriage)
  So unless further info comes out that indicates otherwise, I will continue to enjoy Pratchett's works.
  
  Yeah, that’s occurred to me as well. For context I haven’t brought myself to read the specifics yet, so I don’t know all the details. I don’t like to comment when I’ve only read the title, but I’ve seen enough trigger warnings to put this one off until I’m ready.
  
  I'll just say this, I DID read the details and it is incredibly, deeply fucked up. Fucked up to the point I'm not ashamed to say I'd like to see Gaiman criminally charged. If you do not know, then you're better off for not knowing.
  
  The article seems to argue that Neil was able to pull the wool over a lot of people's eyes, and it's perfectly reasonable for a lot of people close to him to be in the dark about all of this.
  
  I really hope he didn’t know anything about it. Not awful at all, my first reaction when the gf mentioned this headline to me was “oh god please tell me Terry (GNU) wasn’t involved.”
  
  That must be creepy³ :0
- Why though? He is a sack of shit and can rot in hell for all I care.. his art can still be enjoyed. Having him take that way means he has even more power.
  I would suggest obtaining it in ways that do not give him new money... Like buying books second hand.
  
  If you can do that more Power to you!
  But I can understand that some People now look with diffrent eyes on his work or simply can't make that cut between Author and his work.
  
  Yeah I can imagine for some people his work is tainted...
  
  That's the case for me. Same as watching anything with Kevin Spacey in it now. I just can't separate the man from from his reported actions.
  
  In this specific case, it's really difficult because, as the article talks about in the beginning, his stories were often viewed as being feminist (and progressive in other ways), but when you re-read them, you can start getting a sense of the monster that was hiding.
  
  I've been a fan of his for a very long time - decades. I enjoyed the dark part of the dark humour and the commentaey on humanity.
  He has an excellent book called the sleeper and the spindle. It is a beautifully crafted and illustrated book clearly targeted at young women. It feels like art, and I genuinely celebrate it for what it is, a feminist retelling of Cinderella, where the celebrated main character is....how do I put it - both good, and effective. Not empowered, or brave, or glossy, but competent and certain. It is a version of feminism I see in those pragmatic, excellent women who do valuable, notable and productive things.
  I don't see any echoes of a monster any moreso than any fantasy writer who holds up a chipped and scratched mirror to the human condition. And that is the profoundly sad thing here. I believe you can be two things at once and that as a story, without his name attached to it, sleeper and the spindle should be something young people can read and enjoy and make them think a bit differently.
  This isn't a shoulder shrug and wave off of his actions. I can't forgive him his cruel treatment of vulnerable people who cared for him, trusted him and wanted to please him. It is abhorrent.
  What I'm trying to say is mud and gold come from the same hole.
  
  Well for example, all of the sexual (and other) violence in the 24-Hour Diner part of The Sandman takes on a very different connotation now. Because now I know he's responsible for such things. He was writing from experience.
  
  I dunno, I thought it was pretty fucked up first time around too.
  
  It was fucked up, but within the context of the comic, it was fucked up because a horrific and insane person was doing it.
  Now it turns out, Gaiman was also doing it. But he didn't need magic powers because he had real power.
  
  He did have a Sandman story where a a writer who claimed to be a male feminist is raping a muse to be a good writer. Even the first time I read that years ago seemed a little on the nose, but I thought Gaiman was just making fun of himself in a dark way, and yeah I guess I wasn't wrong.
  
  They mention that in the article and yeah, upon reflection that's pretty fucking sick.
  
  Didn't make it that far, not a fan of detailed rape descriptions
  
  I honestly do not blame you. This goes beyond even (I hate to call it this) common rape. This is absolutely deranged behavior even for a rapist. I read things I cannot unread.
  
  I don’t see any echoes of a monster
  I think it's not possible to see that far. Ability to write good stories and ability to maintain ethical behaviour, they're probably unrelated abilities.
  For example, Yevgeni Prigozhin actually wrote decent children's stories, but alas, his personal ethics didn't prevent becoming Putin's accomplice with a private military company.
  
  if you want to spend time re-reading those books, might I suggest spending that time finding new authors that are more deserving of your time and attention? Yes the books were pretty great; yes this situation is awful.
  Just, find new good books.
  
  I mentioned this above, I don't think I've ever noticed anything feminist (or even particularly progressive or political at all) in Gaiman's writing. But maybe there's things I missed... Do you know of any examples of him presenting something clearly feminist?
  Edit: I see someone post an example below, it's not something I've read.
- Sandman was my teenage years. The series got me into the goth subculture which led to such great experiences in my life. Finding out Gaiman is a monstrous piece of shit has been gut punch.
- You really should. Sandman and American Gods are incredible, and he also occasionally dipped into trashy comic fare, also enjoyable. He's one trait I guess comes from the comics he used to do, his best stories are all with other people's characters. I don't think he's ever used a original character, they're all like mythological tropes. Even supposedly original protagonists turn out to be Balder or some shit.
  
  I think Mirrormask and Coraline were fairly original?
  
  Not really up on his "kid" stuff, I could be completely wrong

185 comments