#this post is about the allegations against neil gaiman

[eternalgendercrisis]

Hey guys. What the fuck

[dalla-mia-isola-strana]

Because I keep seeing people who genuinely have not heard about the sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman, this is a great resource. It contains links to the podcasts where the victims' stories first appeared, and to commentary from other figures. Please be aware that Neil Gaiman has a hired a PR firm used by other celebrities such as Marilyn Manson accused of sexual assault. At the same time, a rash of bot accounts appeared across social media trying to bury the news with results like this:

Visually stunning, stunning visuals. If you are not a bot designed to launder Gaiman's reputation, please try to avoid acting like one. Until larger press outlets pick up the story, social media does, unfortunately, have a significant role in whether or not this story is forgotten. At least two of the victims were young fans who thought Gaiman was safe to be around. It is up to you how and whether you participate in fandom -- but please don't tag your posts "Neil Gaiman" unless they are actually about Neil Gaiman. Your Good Omens TV show fanart does not need to carry his name. It is, in fact, odd that he seems to have cultivated such a role in fandom that this ever became an expectation. Gifs from Wheel of Time are not typically tagged: "Robert Jordan", fanart of She-Ra or Nimona isn't tagged "N.D Stevenson." You'd expect to tag these names only if you were linking to an interview or a news story or otherwise posting about the real life person. It would be especially odd to tag a picture of Rosamund Pike doing something completely unrelated to Wheel of Time with "Robert Jordan"! And yet photos of Michael Sheen and David Tennant seem to be tagged with "Neil Gaiman" all the time. Is it that Gaiman fostered the hope that he might notice and respond to fannish activity? Is it that he tried to make himself so pervasive, and omni-present in the fandom, as to feel indispensable If so ... all the more reason to stop. Fans of these other works get along just fine without this, and so will you.

[txttletale]

press s to piss on neil gaiman's grave

idk i think it's pretty distasteful to crow about sexual assault allegations against someone because you find them annoying. like. this isn't Posting. real women have been hurt--that's not a joke to me and it shouldn't be to you either.

[crowleysgirl56]

My stomach is in knots. I don’t know what to do with this information.

If it means it’s because they’re going to remove NG, then good.

If it’s because they’re deciding whether they go ahead or not due to the allegations, this is also a positive step forward in terms of being supportive of victims. They’re having conversations, which means they’re not just trying to brush it under the carpet.

If they cancel, I’ll be shattered. And I also don’t look forward to toxic people then posting messages of hate saying awful things about the fandom.

I honestly don’t know how to finish this post. Might need to take some time again.

NG honestly ruined everything. He masqueraded as a good person. He did so much good. And he threw that away for personal satisfaction. It’s disgusting. I hate it. I hate him. How dare he.

[craftygobelin]

I decided not to create fan art or post about Good Omens (Tv Show) anymore.

This fandom was a great support for a long time for me and the book is still one of my favourites from the time I started reading compulsively everything from Sir Terry Pratchett, but I'm so pissed with the fandom right now.

The fact that the recent allegations against Neil Gaiman (I was a big fan of his work until I discovered that like every white cismen of his era with a bit of fame he is a piece of shit and think he can do what he wants to women) was barely covered is a thing and yes, it's pissing me off too.

But the fact that so many people in the fandom try to find excuses or justification for his action and don't participate to spread the information or just say nothing about it thinking you can be "neutral" is pissing me way more.

I don't judge people who want to separate his work from him or those who consider that a fandom, at the end, is more the propriety of the fans than the artist, I'm totally agreeing with the last one and I think they are ways to consume the work of problematic authors without giving them platform and money if you really cannot do without it.

BUT, and my big point is here, the issue I have with GO fandom right now it's that a big fandom like this has the possibility to spread the information and awareness pretty easily and right now people continue to post their fan art or fanfic without any infos about the allegations like nothing happened, that's bad! And don't start me with those who are more focused on if the last season will be released or not. It shouldn't be, not with him as screenwriter and executive producer at least and with a lot of money sent to SA associations and transparency about the situation.

It's giving him the possibility to keep the whole thing discret and make people forget about it. It's giving him the opportunity to have kind of a come back at some point, even a small discret one, and give him access to more women in the future who might not know what he did and what kind of man he is.

I don't say that people need to speak about it on every post, but at least, please :

- stop tagging Neil Gaiman in your fandom works (Good Omens, Sandman, ...fan art, fanfiction).

- stop posting, blazing, or reposting quotes from him, or giving him a platform by showing off his work.

- don't buy first hand or loan at the library his books or comics. Why the local library too ? When more people ask for a book at the library, they buy more copies, and in most of the countries, writers receive something when people loan ebooks at the library, even physical books sometimes.

If you really cannot live without merch products from your favourite fandom, then by all means buy those who are not licenced on etsy or other platforms by small artists. I usually don't recommend that, though I prefer not to buy merch at all if the original creator of the license can not be rewarded, and here it's a bad thing if he is.

- and speak about it. If you post fanfiction, post a disclaimer about the allegation at some point on every fanctiction you post, adding at least the two links of the two principles podcasts. Same when you post fanart on whatever platform it is.

That's all I have to say for now, I think.

[adventures-in-a-world-of-fiction]

I've seen a handful of posts on my dashboard talking about the announcements around Good Omens season three - basically that it will be one 90-minute episode rather than a series. I've seen people talk about being happy that we're getting a conclusion, sad that we won't get as much material, grateful that people fought to not have it just cancelled, etc.

But I've not seen anyone talking about the thing that I'm happiest about. Neil Gaiman isn't going to be involved. There was a comment about how he'd contributed writing (presumably he'd written some scripts and they're taking some of that to make into the one big episode) but he's not going to be involved from this point forward. I saw a couple of posts mention this as a fact from the announcement, but not delve into the implications.

There were multiple, credible accusations against him of abusive behaviour and manipulative relationships, and as a consequence, a company has publicly decided against working with him. We've seen other situations where someone famous has credible (and occasionally proven in court) allegations made against them and yet continue to get work as though nothing has happened. It is worth celebrating that someone has seen some consequences.

[abbybubbls]

Hoooooo boy.

I know I don't necessarily HAVE to make a big post about it here since I haven't been super active in the Good Omens fandom lately, but I guess because of the news of production pausing (NOT cancelled!) for Good Omens 3, and because this is my blog and I can post whatever the hell I want, I might as well share my thoughts from my twitter thread to here with this doodle to accommodate and hopefully ease some folks' minds.

To get the obvious worry out of the way: This is such bullshit if Good Omens 3 actually gets cancelled because of the allegations against one person. Pausing production to figure stuff out is one thing (and is actually very good!), but letting so many people lose their jobs because of one person's shitty actions is not it, man.

I honestly don't really believe they will just flat out cancel production, Good Omens is one of Amazon's biggest shows right now after all. Realistically speaking, there might as well just have to be a whole delay until a few weeks or months later in the next year for production to get back up and running.

Pausing production to find a new showrunner is certainly something they can do, and I'm all for it, but I also feel like whether or not they're gonna keep Neil in because he wrote it, I'm not gonna watch the third season for him. It's gonna be for Terry Pratchett and for the rest of the crew only.

Neil taking part in Good Omens 3 in whatever capacity isn't gonna change anything he's done, unfortunately. I think we need to acknowledge that no matter what happens, he's participated in making Good Omens 3 already, by writing the script. I don't want his actions to condemn the series or stop production completely when there's groups upon groups of wonderfully talented people, behind and in front of the camera, who have worked on Good Omens with or without him that we should continue to support the show for.

Pirate it or not, I don't think it will really matter. Just get a new showrunner/executive producer, and at the VERY least, Neil will be credited as the writer. It sucks, but that's gonna have to be okay. The production team is figuring it all out, and that means something good!

Fuck Neil Gaiman!

[recoord]

More thoughts on supporting GO S3

I will always be grateful to GO for giving me comfort in troubling times, but now I find it difficult to support a new season of the series that mainly benefits an alleged perpetrator.

Five credible sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman and he's still capable of successfuly releasing another project under his name. Season 3 being released helps him to keep his status as a lucrative creator in the entertainment industry and this helps him to conserve the power that has allowed him to get away with it for so long. His PR team has been making a great work burying the news about the allegations and sadly people hyping Good Omens season 3, without mentioning the allegations, inadvertendly helped on this as well.

However, my opinion will not determine the future of the season. We could assume that Amazon has already invested a lot in the production to just abandon it, so the second best thing would be to ask Amazon to fire Gaiman, he could secretly keep working on the series and the scripts were mainly written by him (the actors and everyone involved will voice Gaiman's words, ugh), and the series will be promoted undeniably mentioning him as one of the creators (I'm sorry for the victims having to hear people praising his name everywhere once again :c), but luckily the news about the allegations would also spread further, more people would come to know about the dangers of Gaiman's predatory behaviour and he would see some consequences.

I still think that cancelling the season would be the best case scenario, but firing him resoundingly and making the reasons for his dismissal heard far and wide might be a reasonable middle ground.

This is just my opinion, but I understand that at the end of the day it's an individual decision whether or not to support the third season.

I'm just going to ask everyone to please reflect on the power Gaiman gains from the projects that are released under his name (not just financially).

Thanks to everyone who has spoken up about the SA accusations even if it hurt to learn that someone who helped create such beloved stories ended up doing so much damage as well.

Here there is a great post that presents actions that fans can take in support of firing Gaiman, still having Season 3, and not ignoring that the allegations exist.

(Petitions, extra steps, etc.)

Thanks a lot to the creator of the card!

Update:

It has been confirmed that both Gaiman and his own production company are out of the project, thanks to everyone who supported his dismissal!

The changes made for the GO final serve as a message to the creators and everyone abusing of their power:

If you harm people, it will not be without consequences for you and the things you profit from financially and professionally.

Power to the victims. They were brave enough to share their stories. You will never be forgotten.

Scarlett, K, Claire, Caroline, Julia, Courtnee...

Still sceptical about supporting the victims? I recommend reading:

Staying neutral until Neil Gaiman is convicted by the courts?

Falling Safes (I very much recommend reading this one)

Here there is a great summary of the available sources (Podcasts links, transcripts, etc.): Credits for the round up to Muccamukk.

Thank you to all those who continue to speak out about the allegations and do not let the voices of the victims fall into oblivion.

[reecey9o5]

Wild to see self proclaimed feminists start pulling the ‘we don’t have enough information’ card when it’s someone they like.

Also fun to see the ‘he’s a pillar of the community’ defence used in current year.

And the ‘this is a lie designed to undermine his political influence for x cause’ canard trotted out.

(Because, as we all know, no politically active man has ever sexually assaulted someone.)

The fact is, your refusal to outright condemn Gaiman (stop calling him Neil, he is not your friend) for this because of his political stances only serves to make trans rights activism look bad.

If you give a flying fuck about trans people and/or women, you should condemn him and hold him to the exact same ‘believe women’ standards that you would hold any other man facing the same allegations. Your perceived protection of him will only ever be interpreted as the classic political practice of hiding a prominent man’s crimes for a cause’s benefit.

The latter part of that last paragraph being the exact reason why a ‘terf’ reporting on it shouldn’t be treated as an excuse to disregard these allegations.

You are acting in the exact same way as Republicans do about men like Trump, Thomas and that guy who cried at his confirmation hearing.

EDIT: Hey, can we all agree to censure the rapist and his apologists without adding hateful comments about each other in the tags, please?

I’d very much like it if my post didn’t get used in an anti-terf/anti-tra exchange.

This post is about cis men and their ways of dodging responsibility for crimes against cis women, it’s not a forum for vitriolic attacks at each other.

Thank you.

[shaggydogstail]

Right, so considering that

1. There’s never been any official word on why Douglas Mackinnon suddenly left Good Omens and Anansi Boys, but current speculation that it was due to SA allegations against Neil Gaiman and

2. Neil Gaiman is currently engaged in some sort of weird "you can't fire me I quit" pr brinkmanship over the fate of Good Omens S3 and

3. Douglas Mackinnon just posted this on twitter with no explanation

I have literally never wanted to hear a man speak more. Douglas, spill. TELL US YOUR TRUTH!

ETA: I got very carried away. It was about Brexit:

https://x.com/drmuig/status/1835608346994327814

[writing-for-life]

I’m running a Sandman blog. As such, I feel I can’t not say anything, but I’ll make this short (for me):

I believe victims. I work with them almost every day. My trust in the legal system on these matters is therefore also limited and a complicated affair. I unequivocally believe that the sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman are true. Having said this, I will withhold further commentary as the situation unfolds, because it’s too complex.

I also believe that stories have meaning to us that goes beyond their creators, and that meaning doesn’t suddenly fall away because of their creators’ actions, although it can, and that’s also okay.

Our feelings are allowed to be complicated, and no one deserves any type of harassment because they still love a story while simultaneously grappling with feelings of anger, disgust or simply sadness towards or about its creator. Neither does anyone deserve any hard feelings because they decide they don’t want to engage anymore.

Our feelings are our own, and we don’t have to justify them to anyone.

Fandoms exist because of story and community. And those stories and communities don’t suddenly stop existing, so I hope we can remember to treat each other with respect and empathy moving on from here.

Edit:

On a more constructive note, and also speaking as someone with both personal and continuous secondhand experience of SA who already sees the damage caused by unreflective knee-jerk posting on here:

You don’t have to make repeated public statements to disassociate yourself from works. Once is enough if you feel you have something to communicate to your followers. Not at all is enough, too. Simply do what you need to do. It’s enough if you know what you stand for, and to act accordingly.

Get your information from original sources, not “summaries” and hearsay on Tumblr. The amount of misinformation, both accidental and malicious, I have seen on here is shocking. All podcasts are freely available with transcripts. Stop believing the people who tell you otherwise, because they either don’t know what they’re talking about, or they aim to control the discussion for their own agenda. If you want to partake in discussion, get info from the source, because that’s truly something you owe to the victims. Otherwise, consider to withhold your opinions. We don’t have to add to the noise, there’s enough of it already, and it somewhat disqualifies itself if it adds its own agenda: This is not about LGBTQ+ issues or whether you deem an outlet trustworthy (it’s about the victims). It is not about your own opinions about kink (it’s about the victims). It is not about your disabilities or struggles that render you “unable to listen or read”. It is about the victims, not about you. So consider to stop centering yourself.

You are not a bad person for enjoying the work of a person who did wrong, neither does condemning them automatically make you a good person. How you behave towards your fellow human beings does. So if you feel tempted to judge, or even harass, other people for their love of a piece of media, take a breath first. Because in that moment, it has stopped being about the victims—it has become about centering yourself as righteous.

Don’t read into works, but don’t pretend they exist in a vacuum either. We can’t truly separate the art from the artist, but we can (re)assign meaning unique to us. The moment you interpret a piece of art, it reflects you. It will mirror back your feelings and worldview. If all you feel while engaging is negative, it is time to disengage. There is enough art in the world you can enjoy. But don’t judge those who still find meaning even if you don’t.

Take action in the real world, and step back from online discourse. Put your money where your mouth is, donate to women’s shelters or volunteer, organise fundraisers. In short: Make a difference where you can. Online opinion pieces are not that place, neither is keeping yourself in a state of constant aggravation by obsessively checking the tags. All it does it make you unwell.

Don’t support the creator financially. I know I won’t from here onwards, especially where there is a clear divide between his work and that of others (the creator credit for The Sandman also belongs to Mike Dringenberg and Sam Kieth, as you can see on literally every Sandman-related published work. And the intellectual property belongs to DC/Warner since it was work for hire. The Sandman was never creator-owned). Secondhand books are an option, so are libraries. They’re everywhere, and eBay is your friend in that case. You can also still read and enjoy the works you own, it doesn’t harm anyone. You don’t have to bin, burn or sell them. If that feels right though, go for it. It’s your choice, but don’t expect others to make the same choices.

Most importantly: You have nothing to prove to anyone. You know who you are, that’s all that matters. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

[taraljc]

Tortise Media has posted episode 5 in which two more women came forward to tell their stories. The audio is not working on their website, but it is working on Spotify.

The synopsis posted by Tortise Media is behind the Read More cut.

(I tried to add against to the ongoing discussion thread however it is very long, and it was not showing up under the tag.)

The two new accounts — published today in a new episode of ‘Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman’ — have been corroborated through documents, emails, and messages seen by Tortoise as well as through interviews with friends and family who the women confided in. Gaiman did not provide any on-the-record response to multiple detailed requests for comment on either set of allegations.

Caroline Wallner lived in a house on Gaiman’s property in Woodstock, New York between 2014 and 2021 with her three young daughters and, until 2017, her husband. Alongside her work as a ceramic artist in a studio in a barn on the property, Wallner and her husband worked for Gaiman and his then wife Amanda Palmer, including doing property maintenance, gardening, and grocery shopping. Gaiman had moved to the area to teach at Bard College.

Around the time Wallner’s marriage ended in 2017, which she said devastated her emotionally, Gaiman told her ex-husband that there was no more work for him on the property, which had provided the family’s main income. Wallner and her daughters were now dependent on Gaiman for work and housing. While she was in this situation, Wallner, then 55, said that Gaiman began pressuring her for sex.

Wallner said: “There were little hints of, ‘we’re going to need the house’. And I remember saying, let’s talk about it. Let’s figure it out. That’s when he would just come to my studio and make me give him a blowjob”. There is no suggestion of physical force, but rather of coercion in light of her housing and family situation. Wallner said: “And he can say it was consensual. But why would I do that? It was because I was scared of losing my place”, characterising Gaiman’s treatment of her as “sexual abuse.”

The UN defines sexual abuse as actual or threatened sexual contact by force or coercive conditions. The UN’s refugee agency, where Gaiman is a goodwill ambassador, has described the allegations against him published by Tortoise as “very serious”, adding that it is “assessing the detailed reporting”.

During Gaiman’s oral sex with Wallner, she said “he used to say to me ‘Call me your master. Tell me you want it. Tell me you want it.’ He would choke me sometimes.” Wallner recalled one incident where she had fallen asleep reading in bed: “When I woke up, Neil was in the bed and he put my hand on his cock.”

Wallner said that whenever she resisted his sexual advances, Gaiman would tell her Palmer wanted the house back where she lived with her three daughters, as well as the studio she worked in. Wallner recalled one occasion when she said Gaiman told her: ‘‘but you take care of me and I’ll take care of you”, understanding it to be a reference to what she called the “sexual trade”.

Gaiman’s position is that his relationship with Wallner was entirely consensual and denies any wrongdoing with her. His account is that their sexual encounters were instigated by her.

Palmer did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

When Gaiman left the Woodstock property during the Covid pandemic, Wallner said she felt “so, so relieved”. But then Gaiman began sending her sexually explicit photos and videos of himself, asking her to send him ones of herself. After Wallner stopped answering Gaiman’s sexual video calls, in June 2021, she said his business manager told her to vacate the property by December that year.

Gaiman’s position is that this request was always a possibility, as Wallner had been living there with her family rent-free for the preceding six years. This position does not acknowledge Wallner and her ex-husband’s work for Gaiman and Palmer while she lived on the property.

Gaiman’s business manager initially offered Wallner $5,000 as compensation for leaving the property, requesting that she sign a confidentiality agreement. The area saw the highest house price growth of any US metropolitan region during the pandemic, so Wallner asked for more time to find affordable housing for her and her daughters.

Wallner said she was treated for depression and post-traumatic stress during this period with the financial support of a friend. After finishing her stay at a therapy centre, Wallner emailed Gaiman’s representatives on 9 December 2021, saying she had tried “to come up with an amount that I feel justifies signing a release that in essence takes away my agency to speak freely about what I went through. 300K is what I came up with. 150 for the real estate issues and 150 for the sexual ‘trade’ issue – something that I am trying to come to terms with. Therapy alone is costing a fortune.”

Gaiman settled with Wallner for $275,000 and a non-disclosure agreement less than two weeks later. The NDA “disputes and denies that Wallner has sustained any losses, damages, or injuries for which Gaiman is legally responsible.” Gaiman’s position is that he settled with her to avoid expensive and protracted litigation.

The NDA prohibits Wallner from talking about Gaiman with “family members, friends, associates” and from filing, reporting, or prosecuting any action or proceeding in “any court, governmental agency, or before any tribunal whatsoever or wheresoever”. If Wallner is asked to make disclosures by a “valid legal process”, the NDA says she must give Gaiman 20 days notice and help him resist disclosure.

New York courts have voided NDAs that sought to frustrate official investigations and, across the US, NDAs are void when they attempt to limit reporting of criminal allegations by an alleged witness or alleged victim.

Gaiman’s position is that his NDA with Wallner makes no reference to law enforcement and that there is nothing to report anyhow. His position is that the NDA used language that was deemed appropriate to both parties’ experienced lawyers.

Andrew Brettler, who has acted for Russell Brand, Danny Masterson, and Prince Andrew, represented Gaiman. Wallner said she is looking for new legal representation.

She said she wanted to speak out against feelings of “fear and shame – those feelings don’t belong to me”. She said she wanted to tell her story to support the first two women who came forward, adding “the fact they were the same age as my daughters now was painful to hear.” Wallner said that the trait she shared with the two women wasn’t age, but vulnerability. “Saying ‘yes’ to an exchange with a powerful, wealthy man when you are vulnerable and fearful is never simple or clear,” she said. “Even if it’s seemingly consensual.”

***

Julia Hobsbawm OBE was a 22-year-old book publicist when in 1986 she was with Gaiman, then 25, at her studio flat in Chalk Farm, London. Hobsbawm said: “I literally have no memory of how he came to be back there. What I’m totally certain about is that romance was not on the cards, not for me. And I did not believe it was on the cards for him.”

In what Hobsbawm said was “an aggressive, unwanted pass”, Gaiman “jumped” on her “out of the blue”, forced his tongue into her mouth, and pushed her onto her sofa, before she wriggled free. Hobsbawm said she then cut off contact with Gaiman. She says she now wished she had called Gaiman out back then as she is plagued by the incident to this day and worries that she enabled his alleged misconduct to continue.

Gaiman’s account is that when he realised Hobsbawm wasn’t receptive to his attempt to kiss her, he stopped. His position is that it was no more than a young man misreading a situation, adding that its inclusion alongside criminal allegations – from Tortoise’s earlier reporting – would mischaracterise it.

While Hobsbawm’s allegation might appear less serious than other allegations against Gaiman, English criminal law defines sexual assault as one person intentionally and sexually touching another without their consent, and that there is no reasonable belief by the alleged perpetrator in the other person’s consent. It does not necessarily involve violence, but it can cause severe emotional distress, which is why authorities treat it seriously – and why Hobsbawm said she remembers the incident.

[the-amethyst-artist]

Fallen Crowley 🐦‍⬛

Note: As I’m sure most people know, there have been some recent allegations brought forward against Neil Gaiman. I know many people are choosing to not post or interact with Good Omens content for the time being to support the two women involved, and if that’s you I 1000% support you! I was trying to decide if I wanted to post this with the allegations being so fresh, but I started this before this all came out and I had shared WIPs, I didn’t want to leave everyone hanging. I know some people want to separate the art from the artist, while others think a total boycott is the best route. For now, I will continue posting Good Omens content, due in no small part to the fact that Terry Pratchett also created these characters and there has been a big push to keep engaging with fan content to keep his memory alive. I’ll reevaluate when we know more about the allegations. Thank you all for your support on my fanart and non-fanart, it means the world to me!

[not-the-living-ghost]

As a Dead Boy Detectives blog, I think it is important I address the ongoing sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman.

While Steve Yockey is the writer of the Dead Boy Detectives TV show, Gaiman is still the writer of the original comics, and thus is undeniably, inextricably connected to the show. Because of this, I find it morally wrong to stay silent on the matter.

This is all very new news, and I will continue to follow the information as it comes out, however I am a firm believer of trusting the victim first. I don’t want to speculate on whether or not the allegations are true or not, as it is truly not in my place to do so, and until more information comes out, I am choosing to stand by the victims.

Dead Boy Detectives is a beloved show of mine, and I am not only disappointed, but incredibly appalled at the new information that has arisen regarding Gaiman.

I will likely continue to post about Dead Boy Detectives, as Gaiman’s direct affiliations with the show were still minimal, but let it be known that I do not support Neil Gaiman. Sexual assault is absolutely disgusting and inexcusable, and rapists do not deserve support, regardless of how widely renowned they are or previously were.

It will take time for the community to process this information; please be kind and understanding while this happens. Everybody processes things differently, and it is important to approach the topic with sensitivity and compassion.

For those who are unaware of what I am talking about, or wish to understand more, look to the link below

Again, please be understanding, be kind, and be safe

[geekthefreakout]

The Joy Leaving the Work

This post will be discussing the works of Neil Gaiman and my personal relationship with them. If you don't like that or cannot handle that, kindly don't read. Also, there will be allusions to SA in the discussions.

So, a couple of weeks ago I decided to pick up Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman-- a book I've owned for a couple of years that's been in my "to read pile" waiting its turn. In the light of the allegations against Gaiman, I put off reading it a couple of months more as I tried to process how I felt. Now I've read it.

Background: Neil Gaiman has been my favorite author bar none ever since I read Coraline in 5th Grade. He and Sir Terry Pratchett share a bookshelf of honor in my room- the one right behind my bed, so I can easily reach for a comfort read. I've always loved his twists on various stories-- The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere being two of my favorites. The dark-but-not-too-dark tone, the dry humor, the magical realism, all of it. Anansi Boys looked like it would have all of that.

And it did! In a vacuum, this would have been a very enjoyable read. But with the allegations, I noticed things that I wouldn't have before. For example (spoilers, I guess):

Mr. Nancy (the titular Anansi) is a funny old man, and often a bit lecherous. In his final moments, he's doing karaoke with some young, buxom blondes when he has a heart attack and falls off the stage, hand outstretched. As he goes down, he sticks his hand out, grabbing one girl's tube top and exposing her as he dies.

This anecdote in the book is presented as something that embarrasses his son (our protag) but is generally interpreted by the other characters as something that was just so funny and charming.

It made me uncomfortable. In fact, just about every time Mr. Nancy alluded to his Master Roshi-like interest in buxom young women, I felt uncomfortable. But wait, there's more:

Spider (secret twin brother of protag Fat Charlie) is interested in Fat Charlie's fiancee. He tricks her into thinking that he IS Fat Charlie, and this girl who had been saving her virginity til marriage is so taken by him that they have sex. Meaning not only did he entice the girl to sex under false circumstances (this is rape), but it's also unclear as to how much of her going along with him is really HER and how much is his... mojo, I suppose. To the story's credit, once she realizes what has happened she gets angry and breaks up with both of them, no longer wanting anything to do with them... until, of course, happenstance brings them together again and she admits that she had real feelings for Spider, who finds himself wanting to behave better for her.

That doesn't sit right with me in the best of circumstances. These are not the best of circumstances.

I finished the book and it took me this long- two weeks and change- to decide how I feel about it. And how I feel about it is this-- I cannot separate it from the author. I cannot enjoy this book because the slime from Gaiman's actions oozes all over it. And that sucks.

I'm almost afraid to reread my favorites from him, for fear that my happy memories of those books will be ruined too. That SUCKS.

And it makes me feel dumb for never having seen the misogyny in the books before. It's like when Rowling showed herself to be what she was and I couldn't enjoy Harry Potter anymore, but worse because Gaiman is an author that I was still actively reading, who had been vocally supportive of queer and trans people, who I'd still looked up to. When it all went down with Rowling, I realized that I'd been excusing a lot of problematic shit in her writing as ignorance, rather than malice. But it WAS malice. And now I'm wondering if I didn't make the same mistake with Gaiman. That sucks too.

Anyway. That's my rant. Thanks for listening. Please share if you're having issues like this too, it's good to not feel alone.

[imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this]

My (cautious) thoughts about the Good Omens/NG happenings

I've not been in the Good Omens fandom for a couple years. Season 2 briefly re-ignited my interest, but after watching it, I basically lost interest for good. A mix of things drove me away, I think mostly that (1) I thought Season 2 quite poorly-written, and, more relevant to this post, (2) I'd grown a little tired of the Neil Gaiman idolizing that I'd seen in the online fandom spaces.

So that said, I care little about the S3 90-minute-feature situation (though I'm glad the remaining fans will get some closure). And, of course, I do not know if Gaiman actually did all what he's being accused of - that doesn't really matter to what I'm about to discuss. More interestingly, this puts me in mind of something that's been bothering me about many fandom spaces, and I wanted to pen (digital pen?) my thoughts.

To me, what seems to be going on right now's a good demonstration of why over-attaching yourself to a fandom and idolizing creators, especially those that you see as your 'political ally', is probably not a great idea. From what I've seen, GOmens fans aren't just upset but rather deeply personally betrayed. This reminds me (distantly) of the Joss Whedon craze when BTVS fans basically elevated him to 'writing god'/genius status, and all but worshipped him (as seen in many notes to fanfics written in the early 2000s).

In my view, a similar but much more personal 'idolization' happened with Gaiman. (more under the line thingie)

A lot of fandom discourse (that I've seen) doesn't seem to get that creators, no matter how politically aligned with one's own views, aren't fictional characters, they aren't one's friends, nor are they 'comfort people'. I mean, I guess they could be insofar as you make them into your 'comfort people', but it's through no action of theirs. Nothing wrong (of course) in taking comfort in an author's work, but clearly for many it's a far more personal thing that just that.

Another thing: interacting with the creator's work and social media presence, one is NOT interacting with them, nor really getting to know them. Sometimes fandoms seem to forget this and kind of just perpetuate this made-up version of the author that shares very little with the actual human being that exists somewhere out there in the world, has flaws (small or... not so small), and probably occasionally acts dishonest, petty, judgmental, selfish, etc. in the best of cases. That it doesn't happen publicly doesn't mean it never happens at all. Attaching oneself to a made-up, idealized version of an author (making it 'YOUR Neil Gailman', 'YOUR comfort author') probably feels nice, but it kind of distorts reality. Makes you feel like the author's a lot personally closer to you than they actually are, like you know them better than you actually do.

It makes sense why this happens: no one likes to feel that the creator of something they love's not a great person. At least, it's hard to come to terms with this suddenly. I had a similar (though much less intense) experience with this one creator, S, whose content on medieval armor/weaponry I enjoyed very much. Later, S turned out to be... not such a great person. And yeah, it felt unpleasant, precisely because I liked the guy's content AND I liked his public persona, and ended up disappointed in both. Because I liked both in connection to each other, not independently. In this case, it didn't take long to separate the artist from the content, but in cases like GOmens emotional investment runs much more intense.

But so I think this is a big part of what's happening here with the NG situation: quite a few GO fans have let it get to that stage where they've identified so strongly with a creator through his works, political support and public persona that they felt like they actually deeply knew them. All the info going against that seems to come as not just a disappointment because NG did something immoral (which, if the allegations are true, he obviously did!) but rather a very personal betrayal. The sentiment I'm seeing seems to be less 'oh, this guy I liked isn't really who I thought he was, this sucks', and more 'I have been betrayed/hurt/deceived', as in 'me, personally'.

On the same note, I feel like this relates, too, to the 'x is so precious', 'x needs to be protected at all costs', 'x can do no wrong' kind of mentality about favourite authors, which seemed pervasive in the GO community (at least when I used to run in those fandom circles a couple years back).

So in my mind, we're seeing (and, in some cases, feeling) the natural conclusion to undue author idolization. It never really pays to forget that authors, like all public figures, only show a small part of themselves, and letting your imagination get away from you with just that part... well. Maybe not a great idea?

(I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this! Leave a comment if you disagree, think I've missed an important or interesting detail, or just to express your take on this)