An enthr­al­ling coll­ec­tion of non­fic­tion pie­ces on myri­ad topics — from art and artists to dreams, myths, and memo­ries to comics, films, and lite­ra­tu­re — obser­ved in award-win­ning num­ber-one New York Times best-sel­ling Neil Gaiman’s pro­bing, amusing, and distinc­ti­ve style.
An inqui­si­ti­ve obser­ver, thoughtful com­men­ta­tor, and assi­duous craft­sman, Neil Gai­man has long been cele­bra­ted for the sharp intellect and start­ling ima­gi­na­ti­on that informs his fic­tion. Now The View from the Cheap Seats brings tog­e­ther, for the first time ever, more than 60 works of his out­stan­ding non­fic­tion on topics and peo­p­le clo­se to his heart.
As Neil explains, “This book is not ‘the com­ple­te non­fic­tion of Neil Gai­man’. It is, ins­tead, a mot­ley bunch of spee­ches and artic­les, intro­duc­tions and essays. Some of them are serious, and some of them are fri­vo­lous, and some of them are ear­nest, and some of them I wro­te to try to make peo­p­le lis­ten.“
In pro­se that’s ana­ly­ti­cal yet playful, eru­di­te yet acces­si­ble, Neil explo­res a broad ran­ge of inte­rests and topics, inclu­ding (but not limi­t­ed to) aut­hors past and pre­sent; music; sto­rytel­ling; comics; book­shops; tra­vel; fairy tales; Ame­ri­ca; inspi­ra­ti­on; libra­ri­es; ghosts; and the title pie­ce, at turns tou­ch­ing and self-depre­ca­ting, which recounts his expe­ri­en­ces at the 2010 Aca­de­my Awards in Hol­ly­wood.
Neil pon­ders the truth of fic­tion and the power of sto­ries (and why we tell them) and offers his own pro­files of and insights into wri­ters who have influen­ced him, inclu­ding C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tol­ki­en, Ray Brad­bu­ry, Dia­na Wyn­ne Jones, Ste­phen King, Rudyard Kipling, James Thur­ber, and his dear fri­end, Ter­ry Prat­chett. He offers unli­kely per­spec­ti­ves on sub­jects as diver­se as The Bri­de of Fran­ken­stein, Doc­tor Who, Bat­man, Tori Amos, Lou Reed, They Might Be Giants, and Aman­da Pal­mer. And he includes a moving essay on the plight of Syri­an refu­gees in a United Nati­ons camp in Jor­dan.
Illu­mi­na­ting and incisi­ve, wit­ty and wise, The View from the Cheap Seats explo­res some of the issues, sub­jects, and peo­p­le that mat­ter most to Neil Gai­man — and offers a uni­que glim­pse into the mind of one of the most bel­oved and influ­en­ti­al wri­ters of our time.

“Gaiman’s pro­se reve­als the rela­xed inti­ma­cy of a che­ris­hed din­ner part­ner and never loses sight of the big pic­tu­re.… High­ly recom­men­ded for rea­ders of Gaiman’s work, spe­ci­fi­cal­ly, and sf and fan­ta­sy gene­ral­ly, as well as tho­se inte­res­ted in cul­tu­ral cri­ti­cism and the art and craft of wri­ting.” — Libra­ry Jour­nal (star­red review) on THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
“Full of devo­ti­on and eru­di­tion, this is also a glo­rious love-let­ter to rea­ding, to wri­ting, to dre­a­ming, to an enti­re gen­re.” — Junot Díaz, Pulit­zer Pri­ze-win­ning aut­hor of THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO on THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
“If this book came to you during a des­pai­ring night, by dawn you would belie­ve in ide­as and hope and humans again. This is a beau­tiful, beau­tiful book.” — Cait­lin Moran, jour­na­list and New York Times best­sel­ling aut­hor of How to Build a Girl

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