Today we kick off Series 2 of Tips for Existence.
Neil Gaiman is an author. An author of short stories, novels, comics, films, television series, plays and anything and everything else in between. His works are some of the most beloved and acclaimed of his generation including titles such as Coraline, The Sandman series, American Gods, Good Omens (which he co-authored with the late Terry Pratchett), Stardust and the 2013 Book of the Year at the British National Book Awards, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. At the end of 2020 The Neil Gaiman Reader was published, a 752 page collection of his assorted fiction.
In this episode he talks to Robin about creating characters and worlds, missing real conversation and finding meaning in fiction.
The picture in the artwork for this episode was taken by our good friend Helen Crimmins when we did a Book Shambles Live with Neil at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018. You can hear that episode here.
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Once the meaning of it all was simple, if at times also cruel and/or barbaric. The Universe was made by a god, sometimes omnipotent, sometimes fractious, sometimes both. Now, as we explore the Universe and start to explain ourselves, the Universe has started to lose it single meaning and we have to find individual meanings ourselves. This is Tips for Existence where Robin Ince talks to cosmologists, composers, astronauts and authors about what gives them meaning.