Other Fantasy Authors

Now that I'm in a better space to tackle the news, I've decided that, as an overseas ex-fan, one of my better options is to lift up other authors of the genre. It was the works that I loved, and not the author. And now that Gaiman's sexual assault crimes are coming out, more people have been vocal about his literary crimes. Bad people can still make good art, but it seems in this case, the art I enjoyed had been stolen from other, better artists.

I'll begin by highlighting the "uncredited influences" in some select works, then listing some general suggestions for those who liked that work. My own priorities will be bolded. The last section is a collection of works that other fans have enjoyed in the same way they did Gaiman's works.

The Sandman Comics (1989-1996)

Many of the mythos, characters, and narratives are apparently blatantly based on a lesser known female author's work, the Tales from the Flat Earth series (1978-1987) by Tanith Lee and never given a shout out.

Other Recs

• Promethea comic book series (1999-2005) by Alan Moore, JH Williams III, and Mick Gray
  • A college student from an alternate futuristic 1999 embodies an entity who brings the Apocalypse. Includes themes of magic, mysticism, superhero mythology and action, spirituality, the afterlife, and sci-fi.
• His Dark Materials trilogy (1995-2000) by Philip Pullman

Good Omens (1990)

Any works by the co-author (and probable main writer) Terry Pratchett are recommended. His Discworld series in particular has the same wry humor, trope-bending narratives, and subversion of character story convention expectations.

Snow, Glass, Apples (1994)

The short story retelling of snow white apparently rips off Tanith Lee's own retelling in the ==Red As Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer (1983)== short story collection.

American Gods (2001)

Last Call by Tim Powers

• Eight Days of Luke (1975) by Diana Wynne Jones
• Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (1991)
  • A play adapted into a miniseries by HBO in 2003.

Coraline (2002)

The Thief of Always (1992) by Clive Barker has been said to follow every narrative beat of Coraline.

• Twice Told: A Collection of Doubles (2019)
  • An anthology of doppelganger horror short stories.
• Little Nemo in Slumberland / In the Land of Wonderful Dreams (1905-1911) by Winson McCay
  • A comic strip featuring the character Little Nemo from the Dream of the Rarebit Fiend comic strip.

Since many fans of the work found Coraline through the stop-motion film adaptation directed by Henry Selick and produced by Studio Laika, I'll include a few film recommendations.

Dark Magical Realism from a Child's POV

• The Reflecting Skin (1990) dir. Philip Ridley
  • A British-Canadian coming-of-age surreal horror black comedy film set in the 1950s rural USA that begins with a young boy suspecting his neighbor of being a vampire.
• City of Lost Children (1995) dir. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
  • A science fantasy film co-produced by companies from France, Germany, and Spain about children kidnapped by a cyborg cult for the machinations of a scientists who want to steal dreams from children.
• Pan's Labyrinth (2006) dir. Guillermo del Toro
  • A Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy set in 1944, during the early Francoist dictatorship, featuring many fairytale-like creatures and trials.
• Hugo (2011) dir. Martin Scorsese
  • Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. An American adventure drama 3D film about a boy who becomes involved in the mystery surrounding his late father's automaton.
• Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) dir. Issa López
  • Also known in Spanish as Vuelven ("They Return"). A Mexican fantasy crime horror set in a Mexican city devastated by the Mexican Drug War.

Works Directed by Henry Selick

An American filmmaker and animator known for gothic horror films.

• Moongirl (2005)
  • A short animated film about a boy and the titular Moongirl trying to fix the moon.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
  • An American gothic stop-motion animated musical fantasy film produced and conceived by Tim Burton about the King of Halloween Town scheming to take over the holiday of Christmas.
• James and the Giant Peach (1996)
  • Based on the 1961 novel by Roald Dahl of the same name. A musical fantasy film produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi.
• Monkeybone (2001)
  • Loosely based on the graphic novel Dark Town by Kaja Blackley. An American black comedy fantasy film about a cartoonist who ends up in an otherworld during a coma where he meets his creation.
• Wendell & Wild (2022)
  • An American gothic stop-motion animated comedy horror film from a screenplay written by Selick and Jordan Peele.

Studio Laika Films

• ParaNorman (2012) dir. Sam Fell and Chris Butler
  • An animated comedy horror about a boy who can communicate with ghosts tasked with ending a witch's curse on his town.
• The Boxtrolls (2014) dir. Graham Annable
  • Loosely based on Here Be Monsters! (2005) by Alan Snow. An animated fantasy comedy film set in a fictional European country in the late 19th century about a human boy attempting to save the trash-collecting trolls who raised him from a pest exterminator.
• Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) dir. Travis Knight
  • An animated action fantasy film set in feudal Japan about a boy with a magical shamisen and a lost eye on a quest to defeat his mother's evil twin sisters.
• The Missing Link (2019) dir. Chris Butler
  • An animated adventure comedy film about a sasquatch who travels to the Himalayas with two British explorers to meet his Yeti cousins.

Stop Motion Films dir. Wes Anderson

• Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
  • Based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. An animated adventure comedy film about a fox thief's family being hunted down by three farmers.
• Isle of Dogs (2018)
  • An adult stop-motion animated sci-fi comedy drama film set in a fictional Japanese city where a boy searches for a missing dog during a time when all dogs have been banished due to a canine pandemic.

Works by Jan Švankmajer

• Alice (1988)
  • Loosely based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. A surreal dark fantasy film.
• Faust (1994)
  • A dark but comedic live-action/animated film blending elements from the plays Goethe and Marlowe and traditional folk renditions. Co-produced by companies from the Czech Republic, France, the UK, the USA, and Germany.
• Little Otik / Greedy Guts (2021)
  • Based on the folktale Otesánek by Karel Jaromír Erben. A Czech surreal dark comedy horror.

Others

• The Last Unicorn (1982) dir. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
  • Based on the 1968 novel of the same title by Peter S. Beagle.
• The Adventures of Mark Twain / Come Quest (1985) dir. Will Vinton
• Labyrinth (1986) dir. Jim Henson
• Willow (1988) dir. Ron Howard
  • A swords and sorcery epic dark fantasy adventure ilm.
• The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) dir. Dave Borthwick
• Rabbits (2002) dir. David Lynch
  • A series of eight short horror web films.
• The Corpse Bride (2005) dir. Mike Johnson and Tim Burton
  • Inspired by a 17th-century Jewish folktale. A gothic stop-motion animated musical horror fantasy film set in a Victorian-era village in England where a groom finds himself wed to a deceased woman.
• Blood Tea and Red String (2006) dir. Christiane Cegavske
  • A stop-motion film described by its director as a "fairytale for adults".
• 9 (2009) dir. Shane Acker
  • A sci-fi film set in a post-apocalyptic 1940s about a doll.
• The Adventures of Figaro Pho (2009)
  • An Australian children's animated television series with nearly zero dialogue and text.
• Mary and Max (2009) dir. Adam Elliot
  • An Australian adult stop-motion comedy drama film about two pen-pals.
• Frankenwheenie (2012) dir. Tim Burton
• Over the Garden Wall (2014) by Patrick McHale
  • An animated TV miniseries in Cartoon Network based on McHale's animated short film Tome of the Unknown.
• Tito and the Birds / Tito e os Pássaros (2018)
• Opal (2020) dir. Jack Stauber
  • A short surrealist musical psychological horror film.

The Graveyard Book (2008)

So I thought it was common knowledge that this is basically a more modern, gothic retelling of The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling, but apparently not. Gaiman apparently didn't even have the grace to admit it.

Norse Mythology

N/a

General Suggestions

• Any other Mythopoeic Award winners and nominees
  
  
• NK Jemisin: similar mythos and character creation themes
• Ursula K. Le Guin
• Terry Pratchett
• Susanna Clarke
• Octavia Butler
• Margaret Atwood
• Stephen King
• Peter S. Beagle
• Kazuo Ishiguro
• Clive Barker
  
  
• Works by Tim Powers
  • The Anubis Gates (1983)
  • The Stress of Her Regard (1989)
  • Last Call (1992)
  • Declare (2001)
• Works by Diana Wynne Jones
  • Eight Days of Luke (1975)
  • Power of Three (1976)
  • Charmed Life (1977)
  • Fire and Hemlock (1984)
  • The Moving Castle series (1986-2008)
    • The first book was loosely adapted into an animated film by Studio Ghibli in 2004.
  • Hexwood (1993)
  • Magids series (1997-2003)
• Works by Gene Wolfe
  • The Book of the New Sun
  • The Sorcerer's House
• Works by Jeff Vandemeer
  • Southern Reach quadrilogy
  • Ambergris
• Works by Erin Morgenstern
  • Night Circus
  • Starless Sea
    
    
• Daisy Johnson
• Michel Faber
• Kelly Link
• Rosie Garland
• Jo Walton
• Guy Gabriel Kay
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Angela Carter
• Ray Bradbury
• Charles de Lint: Urban fantasy, Celtic mythology
• Joe Hill
• Barry Hughart
• Garrett Robinsons
  
• Empire of the Wolf series (2022-present) by Richard Swans
• The Last Samurai (2000) by Helen DeWitt

  It's not fantasy, but it's incredibly nerdy (especially if you're a language nerd)

• The Wide Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (2013) short story collection by John Langan
• Doomsday Book (1992) by Connie Willies
• Perdido Street Station (2000) by China Mieville
• Deathless (2011) by Catherynne M. Valente
• Sunshine (2003) by Robin McKinley
  
  
• Tanya Huff
  > The Enchantment Emporium series to start. Set in the real world but with magic. And she also does very good sci-fi with a bad-ass female lead character. Lots of fun.
• Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee
  > Similar to Pratchett with a firm grounding in Arthurian legend.

• Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame series and Wayward Children series are full of dimension skipping cosmic weirdness,
• Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House series is very dark, urban fantasy that is beautifully written