That attitude seems at odds with behind-the-scenes reports indicating Fuller and Green were likely replaced because Gaiman was displeased with some of the departures from his book. Inevitably, Hollywood came calling-and that’s where the trouble started. His early collaboration with the late Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, is one of the finest blends of light comedy and pulpy genre you’ll ever read. American Gods, Stardust, The Graveyard Book, Coraline, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and more are all considered jewels of the fantasy world. His various novels, novellas, and short stories, featuring darkly fantastical and richly developed worlds peppered with classic English humor, found widespread acclaim as his books were shelved in both adult and children’s sections of bookstores.

The series, a New York Times best-selling smash hit, cemented Gaiman’s reputation as a modern mythmaker. Drawing inspiration from the dark mind of Alan Moore and the nimble wit of Douglas Adams, Gaiman crafted a wholly original story springing up around a dusty, unused DC Comics character called the Sandman and incorporating gods, monsters, and legends from all cultures and points in history. Gaiman’s decades-long career kicked into high gear in the early ’90s, after he and a bevy of artists created the now-iconic graphic novel known as The Sandman.

It’s only the latest, though certainly the messiest, in a rocky history of Gaiman works that have faltered on the screen-which has left his fans wondering if the rock star author of fantasy fiction might be unadaptable. After three embattled seasons and four different showrunners, the splashy TV adaptation of Gaiman’s beloved and award-winning novel American Gods had been canceled. The announcement that TV insiders and Neil Gaiman fans alike have been dreading for years finally came down this week from Starz.

American gods annotated