Introducing Magic and Good Madness: A Neil Gaiman Reread

Neil Gaiman is one of the world’s best-known writers of comics and novels, short stories, novellas, poems, and songs; his work finds its devoted fans among small children and young adults as well as venerable novelists and other not-so-young adults. Over the years, he’s gained a well-deserved reputation as a master storyteller who has spent his career reminding us again and again why stories are important, why myths matter, and why the value of a tale is in its telling, in the shared worlds it creates and the new worlds it inspires.

Gaiman’s characters have a tendency to gain entrance into the realms of the fantastic and supernatural by following a reader’s most natural impulses: love of a good story, curiosity, a willingness and desire to believe in something beautiful and strange (and sometimes dangerous) beyond the obvious and the ordinary. In the same spirit, we are delighted to announce Magic and Good Madness: A Neil Gaiman Reread, an ongoing feature on the site which will explore different facets of the author’s ever-expanding body of work, from his major novels and comics (including Sandman) to lesser known work and individual stories, presented in no particular order.

We look forward to exploring these shared worlds together, and discovering new ways of getting lost all over again. We hope you’ll join us tomorrow as we begin our reread of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning American Gods, and in the meantime, please enjoy the following excerpt of Chapters 1 and 2, along with the author’s introduction to the book’s Tenth Anniversary Edition.