SO you were a fan of Neil Gaiman and one or more of his works were really meaningful to your life. Now, that wasn't my case. I was a fan of who I thought he was, and some of his work very much so But he wasn't say, Pratchett for me or anything. SO. Here's some things for you that fan. - ThreadSky

trance.bsky.social • 41 days ago

SO you were a fan of Neil Gaiman and one or more of his works were really meaningful to your life.

Now, that wasn't my case. I was a fan of who I thought he was, and some of his work very much so

But he wasn't say, Pratchett for me or anything.

SO. Here's some things for you that fan.

Comments

ericgoetzmusic.bsky.social•41 days ago

Agreed that Gaiman's work is alright, but he's definitely no Pratchett! I think a lot about Tori Amos, who wrote songs about him and he's literally her child's god daughter. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/dec/03/tori-amos-on-trauma-trump-and-neil-gaiman-a-heartbreaking-grief

docfancy.bsky.social•40 days ago

Thank you so much for sharing this. I’ve been a Tori fan since someone played me Pretty Good Year in high school and I was trying not to think about that link on top of everything else.

kageneko.bsky.social•40 days ago

Abusers groom their friends too. (That’s an experience I can talk about.) The realisations are confusing and painful, and also take time to work through.
The splash damage from Himself’ actions are wide. Very wide.

docfancy.bsky.social•40 days ago

So true. It’s so hard to wrap my head around the lengths that people will go to for their predation, the cover they will enlist.

They get people to *love* them, and of course those people will instinctively defend someone they love, because that’s not who they know.

It’s such a mindfuck.

docfancy.bsky.social•40 days ago

So as awful as this has to be for Tori — for *so many* reasons — I am just relieved that she isn’t trying to defend or explain away any of this. I can’t imagine how difficult it was to process.

Closer to me, a good writer friend of mine has a tattooed quote from the bloke 😕 and he’s devastated.

docfancy.bsky.social•40 days ago

I’m enraged for so many reasons — the victims, the cover, the loss of trust, the lies and misrepresentation, the exhausting “for Fuck’s Sake, why can’t we have nice things” feeling about guys in writing and nerd culture, the fact that I was looking forward to more Sandman and Dead Boy Detectives—

drsaddison.bsky.social•38 days ago

He read the poem he wrote for Tori's baby out loud in public for the first time because I asked him to at a dinner my spouse and I won by donating to CBLDF. Because I was a huge fan of both. That night he showed my Delirium tattoo to Jill Thompson.

I'm nowhere near the center of this but I'm hurt.

trance.bsky.social•38 days ago

Oh, that's hard. 💕 And I needn't tell you, but I shall anyway, you don't need to minimize that hurt.

drsaddison.bsky.social•38 days ago

Thanks. You and others have written good things this week that have helped.

ericgoetzmusic.bsky.social•41 days ago

Also, if it's a film or TV series, remember that lots of good people work on them and many of them also receive royalties when you buy/rent/stream their work (or at least that's how I justify watching old Buffy/Firefly episodes).

curieux-un.bsky.social•40 days ago

Joss Whedon spotlighting female empowerment on screen and in interviews only to be degrading, insulting & harassing them behind the scenes was heartbreaking.

trance.bsky.social•41 days ago

No, you didn't 'miss' it in his work. People will retroactively now go back and go 'OOOOH'

But when there's problematic things, PEOPLE NOTICE THAT AT THE TIME.

JK Rowling for example had articles about many problematic things *at the time*. There are things people have retroactively gone back on

trance.bsky.social•41 days ago

and now with NEW INSIGHT can go 'oh...oh' when without that insight it just wasn't visible or had other more plausible angles

People are complex as fuck. Nazis, literal WW2 Nazis, could be extraordinarily loving and involved with their kids, while literally murdering fucking kids in the camps.

trance.bsky.social•41 days ago

And...yeah like I cannot reconcile that on certain levels whilst I can on certain intellectual 'this is how humans partion'

So yeah, a monster can create really meaningful, moving characters and stories. And especially a monster who uses lies and manipulations to be a monster.

jlavery522.bsky.social•41 days ago

Saw an interview with the son of a deceased mob hit man and he said how his father never raised a hand at him nor yelled at him. He loved his wife and kids “never missed a Sunday dinner or our birthdays”, but when it came out how many he killed and how he did it, he and his family couldn’t process.

trance.bsky.social•41 days ago

YOU came to the art in good faith and what YOU experienced of it, is your experience from your good faith perspective.

And no one can take that from you, what that meant.

But now you have new and terrible information and yes of course it changes it NOW. But you do not need to lose what it was.

trance.bsky.social•41 days ago

But yeah I think it could be said to be akin to finding out your First Love at a summer camp or something that you remembered with a glow finding out 20 years later they were torturing animals behind the cabins.

Or a beloved teacher who made a difference starved her kids or something

trance.bsky.social•41 days ago

OF COURSE THE NEW INFORMATION TAINTS THE OLD EXPERIENCE

But what YOU took from it, was good and positive and pure.

And that cannot be stolen. That was you beloved.

anadeda.bsky.social•40 days ago

That kind of shit happened to me some years ago.
It's very hurtful in a unique way. BUT one can find healthy ways to cope. Cherish the glow without ignoring the reality of today.

turboeasteregg.bsky.social•41 days ago

i appreciate that statement very much.

curieux-un.bsky.social•40 days ago

This post touched me and help process emotions over it - thank you!

trance.bsky.social•40 days ago

I am SO glad 💕

mcnadroj.bsky.social•41 days ago

A good book on this very topic.

https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Fans-Dilemma-Claire-Dederer-ebook/dp/B0B6Z5KS46?sr=8-1

writerartisteh.bsky.social•41 days ago

This is a very good book.

joeauerbach.bsky.social•41 days ago

100%, I only even noticed how mean and shitty her work was after the fact.

ejpratt40.bsky.social•41 days ago

Thanks for this!

alexblackwood.bsky.social•40 days ago

I found this thread by Matthew Boroson on Neil Gaiman and The Sandman helpful:

https://bsky.app/profile/alexblackwood.bsky.social/post/3lfqrdbzz7k23

deadlyvices.bsky.social•40 days ago

Funnily enough, Gaiman's work never really clicked with me. I can see the talent and the imagination but I found it all rather clinical.

shawngreenstreet.bsky.social•41 days ago

Thank you. This was helpful. My heart is grieving.

crucialwax.com•40 days ago

My deepest fear around this is all great works are done by people who have dark histories.

soniafocke.bsky.social•40 days ago

You can buy used books or DVDs - no library money, no royalties, nothing that goes back to them.

cloudhunter.co.uk•41 days ago

I'm sad I didn't get chance to watch Good Omens before this stuff came out tbh. Now I don't know if I could enjoy it.

rdellon.bsky.social•40 days ago

Sheen and Tennant have carried enough of their dynamic into other appearances you can probably at least get some of the gist without needing to watch the show.

kageneko.bsky.social•40 days ago

Not to forget Good Omens was a collaboration with Terry Pratchett, stars Michael Sheen and David Tenant, all overtly good humans.
Good Omens is much more than just one person.

tzikeh.bsky.social•41 days ago

Yeah, that sucks a lot - and for those of us who have watched it, we have a whole other kind of sucks.

kenburnside.bsky.social•41 days ago

Think of it as Pratchett's rather than Gaiman's.

loreandordure.com•41 days ago

It feels much more Pratchett’s to me. Still, it’s tainted for me now.

kenburnside.bsky.social•41 days ago

Understandable.

omfproductions.bsky.social•41 days ago

Definitely understand finding it tainted and would not challenge that, but it also helps to think of all the other people behind and in front of the camera that brought the show to life. I am also convinced David and Michael found things in Crowley and Azaraphale not on the page. But also, tainted.

loreandordure.com•41 days ago

The book. I watched some of the show, and it was fine, but the book was important to me.

andrewhickey.500songs.com•40 days ago

Yeah, the book reads as far more Pratchett than Gaiman (though I believe it was something like a 60/40 split) while the TV series seems far more Gaiman. Doubt I'll ever revisit either, sadly, much as I loved the book (and found the TV series watchable enough for what it is)

loreandordure.com•40 days ago

Michael Sheen and David Tennant make the the series, and they’ve done and continue to do other things so I’ll live. The dog was cute though.

jameslatrmurphy.bsky.social•40 days ago

Gaiman has also done some unfortunate clogging over Pratchett's legacy, pulling it into his own since Terry passed. Neil being revealed may mean that we get a slightly overdue disentangling.

vimesofthewatch.bsky.social•41 days ago

Well, Pratchett actually did 75%+ of the actual writing itself, so that DOES feel appropriate.

vimesofthewatch.bsky.social•41 days ago

Explanation: Sandman was still a monthly comic that required constant input back in 1990, while Pratchett was free of any such writing obligations, so he did the bulk of the actual writing. So, to me, it is, by far, a Pratchett novel first and foremost.

stevewmobb.bsky.social•41 days ago

I've read every Pratchett book but this is the only piece of gaiman work I've finished so that does make sense

cloudhunter.co.uk•41 days ago

(I'm even sadder that he's a dickhead in the first place tbh - sad for his victims)

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