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this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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One sad question has been going through my head since hearing the details, and I really hope the answer is genuinely "nothing at all", but given how close they were, it's one that needs to be asked:
How much did Terry Pratchett know about this?
I always got a creep vibe with Gaiman that I don't with Pratchett, so hopefully that isn't coloring my thinking about this, but...it seems like what I've read about their collaboration was mostly email and sending each other floppy disks in the 90s, and at that point NG hadn't won all these awards and TP was well established, I wouldn't be surprised if NG presented a version of himself to TP that he thought would be most endearing. By the time NG's assaults seemed to ramp up in the late aughts and tens, TP already was dealing with Alzheimers. It seems possible that Sir Terry didn't know what a shitbird Gaiman was capable of being.
But then again what the hell do I know, just some thoughts.
I dearly hope so.
Same. I get the same unease with Pratchetts apparent love of violence that is very similar to Gaimans, he kind of revels in the meanness in a similar fashion. It's like the author makes these types almost into heroes of a sort (teatime is an example).
And, his treatment of womens bodies tends to always be very pathriarchal. I despise the way he makes points of women being only of interest to men if they are thin and conventionally hot (young). I get it was different times, but once you start noticing it, it's everywhere. I still listen to the stories every night as my audhd sleep aid, but certain books I will not touch anymore and almost all have parts that make me feel very uneasy.
Another one I've been concerned about is Haruki Murakami. One can fairly argue that some nuances are lost in translation from Japanese to English. But his later books have a lot of red flags to me. "Killing Commendatore" is particularly worrying.
Plot points I consider red flags, frank talk about sexual violence and other concerning things
The protagonist is a middle-aged man in an artistic line of work (portrait painting) who recently went through a divorce. The very first thing he does is go on a post-divorce finding-himself road trip where he:Has a one-night-stand in a hotel with a woman who wants very rough sex. complete with hard choking.
Has lengthy discussions on physical and psychological changes during puberty with a middle school girl who is modeling for him.
Has lengthy discussions about said girl with a middle-aged wealthy man who believes - but has no evidence - that he is the girl's father. There's subtext about this man basically trying to groom her.
Several chapters with graphic depictions of the conduct of Japanese soldiers in China in WW2. To Murakami's credit he is not remotely a nationalist and he claims that this is about forcing his fellow citizens to confront the reality of Imperial Japan's actions. But it's still disturbing.
I used to love his work, it's my kind of weird. But now I wonder.