Neil Gaiman shares wish for fans who ‘f*** up’ their chance to meet him at book signings

He described such encounters as ‘the saddest thing in the world’

Neil Gaiman has shared his wish for fans who queue up for hours to meet him at book signings.

The American Gods and Stardust author, whose adaptation of comic book seriesThe Sandman is set to be released on Netflix, revealed his frustrations with disappointing his most dedicated supporters in a new interview.

On the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, Maron told Gaiman about what he believed to be an awkward encounter with one of his heroes, the late musician Lou Reed, at a similar event to ones held in Gaiman’s honour.

However, Gaiman approved of Maron’s experience, telling him that he “didn’t f*** it up”, and shared what it’s like to be on the other side of the table at such events.

Gaiman told Maron: “I don’t do a lot of signings anymore, ‘cause they go too long and I can’t cope, but the saddest thing in the world is when the person gets to the front of the line, and they’ve been there for five, six hours, and in their heads they’ve been going, ‘I’ve got my question; it’s going to impress him – I’ll say my question and then we’ll be best friends; it’s obscure and no one’s asked this question before’ – and they get to the front, and their question has now become the most important thing in the world for them, and they can’t even get it out.”

He continued: “Or when they do [ask it] you give them the wrong answer or whatever.”

Gaiman revealed that he thinks “why didn’t you get to the front of the line and say, ‘I love your books,’ and I could have said, ‘Thank you.’”

Instead, he said of his fans: “Sometimes they shake, sometimes they faint.”

Neil Gaiman has opened up about disappointing his most dedicated readers (Getty Images)

Gaiman has built a dedicated fanbase thanks to his fantasy graphic novels, short stories and theatre work.

The Sandman, one of his most revered works, is finally getting a TV adaptation. It stars Tom Sturridge as Morpheus and Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, and will be released on Netflix on Friday (5 August).