The book store I was working in got an advance copy of Good Omens that no one else wanted.

I read Good Omens when it first came out as am a fan of TP then found a copy of The Doll's house in a Waterstones sale and was hooked from then on.

Elfwood.com was responsible. I was on a routine visit to check out the mod's choice for the day and one was a picture of Daniel standing in front of a mirror. Reading the comments and so forth I found the name Sandman somewhere in there. After fruitlessly searching every book store I knew of I pretty much gave up hope till high school. Good thing that, I suppose. Anyhow, just this year I found someone at my school who had all the Sandman comics. God bless her. I've been hooked ever since. Especially after reading American Gods. I love that book!

My introduction to Neil Gaiman's work was "Death the High Cost of Living"...and it wasn't long before I fell in love with Sandman, and bit by bit I have accumulated all of Neil's work that I can find in NZ & from my breif trip to Edinburgh. I think i have exhuasted all sorces here..so from now on i;m going to have to be an internet ordering bunny...

Bruce Bristow, then the VP-Marketing for DC Comics and the close friend of a friend, gave me the Distant Mirrors issues of Sandman. I was dissing DC, in a good natured way, and he handed me those issues. I've haven't seen Bruce in years, and I don't think he works for DC Comics any longer, but I am very thankful that he was nice enough to give me those issues. Not long afterwards I picked up the first "Doll's House" TPB (the version that included issue 8), and Neil has become my favorite living writer. tdd

I was given one edition of "Sandman" to read, the one with Emperor Norton (I'd been discussing him with friends who were "Sandman" readers; I don't usually read comics, because I'm very heavily text-oriented and tend to ignore the pictures), and enjoyed it. Then I read "Good Omens", which is permanently on my "reread often" list. And then I saw the BBC series of "Neverwhere" (and got the book soon after) and was hooked...

I was in a Graphic Novel reading phase since I didn't want to start a new comic at the time and having read Black Orchid and finding it enjoyable if a bit "out there" I picked up Preludes and Nocturnes and was hooked started buying the issues as they came out and I didn't want to start another comic, I was such an addict.

When I got back into comics, I pretty much hit all the Vertigo "magic" titles. (I.E. Books of Magic, Hellblazer.) I didn't want to start in on Sandman, because I just didn't see the need.

as I said before, the Hellblazer story "hold me" got me interested, and the Books of Magic series got me hooked.

I discoved Gaiman in my earlier years and this site latter in life. When I lived in Okinawa, the Sandman comics I bought on base was my first taste of the dark side...I belive I was going through my Cure/Depeche Mode phase. Just as my taste evolved, so has Giaman. I've reread everything he's written too many times, well, what I own anyways..I feel some of his themes overlap. For example; the angel in Smoke and Mirrors (2nd to last story) is also in Neverwhere. Maybe? Then again, his forte' is angels and devils. The art is always spectacular and I highly recomend owning The Dream Hunters. Has anyone seen Sandman/Endless Nights? Simply Stunning. xoxox Annaportabella

I got to know Neil Gaimans works quite recently, I knew he wrote the Sandman series, but at the time it didnt interest me, but once I read in a magazine about his new book, which was american Gods and there was a brief preview, so I bought the book read within three hours, returned to the bookstore and bought Newverwhere and so on and now I am really looking forward to his new book.

My intro to Neil, is sort of an epic. I started hearing his name around the net when I was reading some of Terry Pratchett's books. It was like the name was haunting me. The name kept showing up! Internet chat rooms, forums, obsucure history book refernces (don't ask), until his name appeared right next to Pratchett's in Good Omens.

So, I marched into the library went into the comic section, took a deep breath (first time ever experience with comics) and grabbed about half the series, and the rest is history.

It was about half a year ago a friend told me i had to read american gods so i did and was astonished that a book that good existed since then i have bought all sandman comics most of his other books i cant find coraline or angels and visitations and have made all my other friends read american gods because gaiman is the gift that keeps on giving

I used to collect comics in my college days, then got too lazy to frequent the store on a weekly basis whilst purchasing duplicates of everything (you know the drill: one to read, one to collect).

So I started reading the "graphic novels" (I dislike using that term), and Sandman was one of the few that really stood out. Then it went on to the Books of Magic and finally, his novels.

I really couldn't put a date down, but it was around the mid 90's.

Have to say, I just discovered Neil a few days ago. Was in B&N browsing for books to bring on vacation and picked up Neverwhere and American Gods for no reason in particular (most of my friends don't read and so finding new stuff is always a crap-shoot for me). I read Neverwhere first, and while I thought the story was kind of wonky, was duly impressed with his writing and so gave AG a shot. Hoo-boy, I was hooked on that one right off the bat! Pretty much read it straight through last night, just taking a couple hours to nap early this morning before work and finishing it on my lunch hour.

I still can't get over how amazingly good this guy is. I read a lot - books are my drug of choice - and very rarely come across an author who has so impressed me as Neil has. To paraphrase the late, great Robert Palmer, I'd sure like to handle what's between his ears!

a friend of mine told me i should read the book "american gods". I told him i didnt read much, he told me to trust him and that it wasnt boring, that it was cool. I did. Its like a drug, and I have since got several other people to read gaiman the same way.

I am a long time ( old) SF (mostly) Fantasy ( somewhat) fan. I read American Gods about a year ago...just read the back cover and bought it. I had heard of Sandman but hadn't gotten into it. This past year my kid started dating a lovely fellow who is huge Vertigo fan and was kind enough to lend me the first few volumes. After I got finished Dream Country I ordered them all online in one insomniac ( and expensive) night. And then I pretty much ignored my family, job, dogs, relatives, housework,and friends (who were thinking "the woman has gone off the edge, she is reading comic books") and I just finished The Wake about a week ago. I love them. I love them all. I think my favorites are Brief Lives and The Wake which I think is stunningly and heartbreakingly beautiful and the perfect end to a wonderful journey. I get goosebumps just thinking about them. So , I am now an old geek with new comic books. And loving it.

Well, my dad had the Sandman roleplaying game and bought the 4th Sandman, but never got to reading it, so it was downstairs in his bookshelf. Well, I was in the hobby store looking at action figures when I saw a set of Sanmdan figures (which later I bought) and said "Those guys look really cool. Especially that one" (I pointed to Morpheus) My dad then said "Hey... I have one of the comics for that. I never did read it..." So when we got home I found the comic, and read it and loved it. My dad then read it too, and he really liked it too. So now, between me and my dad we own all of Gaiman's books.

I got Good Omens at a Barnes and Noble for Christmas. It also introduced me to Queen

I stole my brother's Terry Pratchett, got into him, then got Good Omens and discovered Gaiman, then stole my brother's sandman and then it all happened so fast and before I knew it I was asking for an advanced copy of Anansi boys from my old middle school's librarian with connections.

My dad came back to comics after 15 years, in a relaxed, TPB-buying kinda way. He got Sandman and i got hooked. Last year I got him American Gods for fathers' day.
My cousin knows nothing about Gaiman, but i lent him Good Omens because he's a Pratchett fan. He read it three times before he gave it back.