BooksBarbecue
Back The View from the Cheap Seats Save as PDF
Contents (107)
  1. Dedication
  2. Contents
  3. Introduction
  4. I
  5. SOME THINGS I BELIEVE
  6. Credo
  7. Telling Lies for a Living . . . And Why We Do It: The Newbery Medal Speech, 2009
  8. Four Bookshops
  9. The Pornography of Genre, or the Genre of Pornography
  10. Ghosts in the Machines: Some Hallowe’en Thoughts.
  11. How Dare You: On America, and Writing About It
  12. All Books Have Genders
  13. The PEN Awards and Charlie Hebdo
  14. II
  15. SOME PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN
  16. These Are Not Our Faces
  17. Reflections: On Diana Wynne Jones
  18. Terry Pratchett: An Appreciation
  19. On Dave McKean
  20. How to Read Gene Wolfe
  21. Remembering Douglas Adams
  22. Harlan Ellison: The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World
  23. Banging the Drum for Harlan Ellison
  24. On Stephen King, for the Sunday Times
  25. Geoff Notkin: Meteorite Man
  26. Gumshoe: A Book Review
  27. SIMCITY
  28. Six to Six
  29. III
  30. INTRODUCTIONS AND MUSINGS: SCIENCE FICTION
  31. Fritz Leiber: The Short Stories
  32. Hothouse
  33. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 and What Science Fiction Is and Does
  34. Of Time, and Gully Foyle: Alfred Bester and The Stars My Destination
  35. Samuel R. Delany and The Einstein Intersection
  36. On the Fortieth Anniversary of the Nebula Awards: A Speech, 2005
  37. IV
  38. FILMS AND MOVIES AND ME
  39. The Bride of Frankenstein
  40. MirrorMask: An Introduction
  41. MirrorMask: A Sundance Diary
  42. The Nature of the Infection: Some Thoughts on Doctor Who
  43. On Comics and Films: 2006
  44. V
  45. ON COMICS AND SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THEM
  46. Good Comics and Tulips: A Speech
  47. “But What Has That to Do with Bacchus?” Eddie Campbell and Deadface
  48. Confessions: On Astro City and Kurt Busiek
  49. Batman: Cover to Cover
  50. Bone: An Introduction, and Some Subsequent Thoughts
  51. Jack Kirby: King of Comics
  52. The Simon and Kirby Superheroes
  53. The Spirit of Seventy-Five
  54. The Best of the Spirit
  55. Will Eisner: New York Stories
  56. The Keynote Speech for the 2003 Eisner Awards
  57. 2004 Harvey Awards Speech
  58. The Best American Comics, 2010
  59. VI
  60. INTRODUCTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS
  61. Some Strangeness in the Proportion: The Exquisite Beauties of Edgar Allan Poe
  62. On The New Annotated Dracula
  63. Rudyard Kipling’s Tales of Horror and Fantasy
  64. The Mystery of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown
  65. Concerning Dreams and Nightmares: The Dream Stories of H. P. Lovecraft
  66. On The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
  67. Votan and Other Novels by John James
  68. On Viriconium: Some Notes Toward an Introduction
  69. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: An Introduction
  70. Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
  71. Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore
  72. Art and Artifice by Jim Steinmeyer
  73. The Moth: An Introduction
  74. VII
  75. MUSIC AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT
  76. Hi, By the Way: Tori Amos
  77. Curious Wine: Tori Amos II
  78. Flood: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition, They Might Be Giants
  79. Lou Reed, in Memoriam: “The Soundtrack to My Life”
  80. Waiting for the Man: Lou Reed
  81. Afterword Afterword: Evelyn Evelyn
  82. Who Killed Amanda Palmer
  83. VIII
  84. ON STARDUST AND FAIRY TALES
  85. Once Upon a Time
  86. Several Things About Charles Vess
  87. The King of Elfland’s Daughter, Lord Dunsany
  88. Lud-in-the-Mist
  89. The Thing of It Is: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
  90. On Richard Dadd’s The Fairy-Feller’s Master-Stroke
  91. IX
  92. MAKE GOOD ART
  93. Make Good Art
  94. X
  95. THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS: REAL THINGS
  96. The View from the Cheap Seats
  97. A Wilderness of Mirrors
  98. The Dresden Dolls: Hallowe’en 2010
  99. Eight Views of Mount Fuji: Beloved Demons and Anthony Martignetti
  100. So Many Ways to Die in Syria Now: May 2014
  101. A Slip of the Keyboard: Terry Pratchett
  102. Credits
  103. Index
  104. About the Author
  105. Also by Neil Gaiman
  106. Copyright
  107. About the Publisher

World Science Fiction Convention speech (2004), 100–105

Wrightson, Bernie, 250, 265–66

Wrinkle in Time, A (L’Engle), 20

Writing exercises, 249–50

Written contracts, 246–48

Wyndham, John, The Day of the Triffids, 27, 175

YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), 85

Young Frankenstein (movie), 203

“Your Racist Friend” (song), 395

Zelazny, Roger, 28, 29, 30, 121, 194

Zemeckis, Robert, 223

Zena Sutherland Lecture (2012), 77–90

Zulli, Michael, 241

About the Author

NEIL GAIMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), and The Ocean at the End of the Lane; the Sandman series of graphic novels; and the story collections Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things, and Trigger Warning. He is the winner of numerous literary honors, including the Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, and the Newbery and Carnegie Medals. Originally from England, he now lives mostly in the United States with his wife, performer and writer Amanda Palmer. He is Professor in the Arts at Bard College.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

Also by Neil Gaiman

NOVELS

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Graveyard Book

Anansi Boys

Coraline

American Gods

Stardust

Neverwhere

Good Omens with Terry Pratchett

COLLECTIONS

Trigger Warning

Fragile Things

Smoke and Mirrors

ILLUSTRATED STORIES

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains illustrated by Eddie Campbell

The Sleeper and the Spindle illustrated by Chris Riddell

FOR YOUNGER READERS

Fortunately, the Milk illustrated by Skottie Young

Hansel and Gretel illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti

Instructions illustrated by Charles Vess

Odd and the Frost Giants illustrated by Brett Helquist

Crazy Hair illustrated by Dave McKean

Blueberry Girl illustrated by Charles Vess

The Dangerous Alphabet illustrated by Gris Grimly

M Is for Magic illustrated by Teddy Kristiansen

Copyright

Photograph in the piece “The View from the Cheap Seats” by Bryan Chan. Copyright © 2014 Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.

The Credits constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Cover design by Adam Johnson

Cover photographs © Allan Amato

THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS. Copyright © 2016 by Neil Gaiman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-226226-4 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-06-245962-6 (international edition)

EPub Edition May 2016 ISBN 9780062262288

16 17 18 19 20 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada