Neil Gaiman Responds to Explosive Report of Sexual Assault

Some booksellers were torn over whether they should continue to stock Gaiman’s books. Lauren Nopenz, the manager and buyer at Curious Iguana, a bookstore in Frederick, Md., said the store would no longer carry Gaiman’s books on its shelves, but would order copies for customers who request them. “We don’t want anyone to come into the store and see books that make them feel uncomfortable,” Nopenz said. Sarah Bagby, the owner of Watermark Books in Wichita, Kan., said her store would keep selling Gaiman’s work as long as there was customer demand, but might not promote his books heavily. “It’s a predicament, but we’ll carry him,” she said.

On social media, a number of authors expressed their shock and horror over the allegations. But some authors who were friends of Gaiman’s held back. The married writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon, who hosted Gaiman’s 2011 wedding to the musician and writer Amanda Palmer at their home, said they were still processing the reports.

“I’m just trying to absorb all this and don’t know what to say,” Waldman wrote in an email.

Chabon responded similarly: “I just don’t have it in me to talk about it.”

Palmer, who separated from Gaiman several years ago, declined to comment through a spokesperson, who said that “while Ms. Palmer is profoundly disturbed by the allegations that Mr. Gaiman has abused several women, at this time her primary concern is, and must remain, the well-being of her son and therefore, to guard his privacy, she has no comment on these allegations.”

After Gaiman published his statement, in which he noted that “I could have and should have done so much better” in his relationships with women, some of the women who have come forward said they were let down but not surprised.

Stout shared a statement from several of them — a few couldn’t be reached — responding to Gaiman’s post. It read, “We are disappointed to see the same non-apology that women in this situation have seen so many times before.”