Ode to Neil Gaiman

In 2008, a book called "Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman" was published. SRSBZNZ hasn't read this scholarly treatment of Gaiman's works yet, but the title delights us. If anyone can be called the "Prince of Stories," it is the best-selling fantasy author who began his career writing for DC Comics. One look at Gaiman's bibliography and you realize that he is astoundingly prolific. If you've read his books and are a fan, you'll know that the fantasy/horror genres always feel fresh and never clichéd in his hands. But we think Gaiman also deserves another title, which may as well be "King of the Modern Fairy Tale."

Fairy tales are a type of folk narrative that often focus on the passage from childhood to adulthood. As a result, the genre tends to deal with some pretty dark subjects. Cruel and absentee parents, economic hardship, sexual threats, murder, and cannibalism are all common themes and symbols in the fairy tale. Gaiman's works cover these topics, even while he enchants us with the antics of witches, plucky heroines, and long-lost heirs. In fact, he reminds us a lot of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, that pair of German brothers who brought us Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and other popular folk tales.

Take Coraline as an example. In this story, the titular character encounters her Other Mother - a character that looks just like her ordinary mother, except that she has big black buttons for eyes. The Other Mother occupies an enchanted world that is the stuff of Coraline's dreams, but when she starts to prevent the girl from leaving, well...that's when the excrement hits the rotating propeller. All of the familiar fairy-tale elements are here: Coraline is a smart young heroine who attains maturity amidst her battles with a witch. And like the dark forest in which Hansel and Gretel find the gingerbread house, the Other Mother's world is a place where magic and evil exist side by side.

For kids, the plot of Coraline is a thrilling adventure story. But like all good fairy tales, the story is one for adults too. Amongst other things, Gaiman confronts us with the issue of how we distinguish good from evil. He looks at the dark undercurrents that appear in mother-daughter relationships, such as a daughter's attempt to gain control over her own life and the temptation to smother our children with love. He even dips into our greatest fears by asking us the question: what happens when our parents die? What do we do?

If you haven't read any of Gaiman's works, Coraline is a great place to start (although we admit that you really can't go wrong with any of Gaiman's works.) And as a parting note, we'd like to point out that the man has the most fantastic personal library ever. What we wouldn't do to have a collection of books like that...