Neil Gaiman

The one who wrote Coraline, and co-wrote the book of Good Omens and made the TV show, also the Sandman comics writer and co-creator who made the Sandman TV show. Quite nice really.

Archive You can ask things here. Sometimes I answer. It is possible that I have already answered your question.

September 7th, 2023 at 5:46PM

mycatissnoring asked:

Hi Neil,

I've borrowed a copy of Trigger Warning from the library and have just got past The Case of Death and Honey and I wanted to know your thought process behind the story. I've always loved the Sherlock Holmes books and retiring to keep bees never felt like a fitting end for the character, but honestly I never would have considered the route you took.

You referenced Professor Presbury and the Adventures of the Creeping Man, honestly one of my least favourites, but in a way that allows it to be ridiculous. So the solution isn't a fatal dose of monkey testicles but simply Watson taking creative liberties. I really liked that.

Thank you. I’m very proud of that story. I came up with the idea of Sherlock and the honey when I was about 19 and tried to write a story with it in. I wrote a few pages and never finished it (I never finished anything back then.) 30 years later I was asked for a Sherlock story (and I had been a beekeeper for 5 years at that point) and I knew how to tell it.