In 1990, in the 17th issue of his comic-book series The Sandman, the writer Neil Gaiman told the story of a character called Erasmus Fry. In the story, Fry is a world-renowned author with a dark secret: he had kidnapped and imprisoned a muse, whom he raped for inspiration while forcing her to call him “Master.”
For years, this story was received warmly. It was as if Gaiman had chosen to ridicule the notion of the “great man of letters” by explicitly showing us the toll that these men take on the people—more specifically the women—around them. However, that reputation has just been complicated enormously by a new podcast series from Tortoise Media (written by Air Mail Writer-at-Large Rachel Johnson and Air Mail contributor Paul Caruana Galizia), which accuses Neil Gaiman of sexually assaulting two women decades younger than he is. The podcast is entitled Master. According to one of his accusers, this is what he made one of the women call him.
The first half of the series deals with a woman named Scarlett, who briefly worked as the Gaiman-family nanny when the author lived in New Zealand. Hired by Gaiman’s then wife, Amanda Palmer, to look after the couple’s son, Scarlett apparently found herself alone with Gaiman while the son was at a playdate. Gaiman invited Scarlett to have a bath. She accepted. Shortly afterward, he arrived naked and got into the bath with her. Scarlett claims that he then digitally penetrated her while requesting that she call him “Master.” She was 22 years old at the time; Gaiman was 61.
A three-week sexual relationship ensued, during which Scarlett alleges that all manner of rough and degrading sex took place, including the use of a belt. At one point, after being lured into what she describes as Gaiman’s “psychological labyrinth,” she alleges that she passed out from pain during sex. When she came to, she claims to have found him unconcerned and watching rehearsals for one of his television projects.
This mirrors the experience of another woman, identified only as “K,” who had a relationship with Gaiman after meeting him as a fan two decades ago, when she was 18 and he was in his mid-40s. She also alleges that Gaiman subjected her to rough sex that she “neither wanted nor enjoyed,” but she goes further and accuses him of having sex with her despite her specifically asking him not to.
After being lured into what she describes as Gaiman’s “psychological labyrinth,” she alleges that she passed out from pain during sex.
The podcast itself is a very careful, often quite hesitant exploration of a gray area. Gaiman strongly denies the allegations made against him, claiming that any sex he had with these women was consensual. Working in his favor here are a tranche of messages from Scarlett that do appear to indicate some level of consent. She admits that sex with Gaiman was “rough” but also “amazing.” She sends messages thanking him. She mentions that, although she passed out, it was because the pain was “celestial.” The messages she sends him are countless and besotted, while his responses are more neutral and taciturn.
As part of his denial, Gaiman says that K’s allegations are due to her regret over their relationship, while claiming that Scarlett had been suffering from a condition associated with false memories. He also points out that when he offered himself up for an interview with New Zealand police over the matter, officers declined to talk to him.
However, at the same time that Scarlett was sending these adoring messages, she was also performing numerous online searches to see whether or not Gaiman had ever been accused of sexual impropriety. And when two of Scarlett’s friends caught wind of her story and sent Amanda Palmer a long and angry message, she replied by saying that Scarlett was the 14th woman who had come to her with a story like this. Palmer, for what it’s worth, refused to acknowledge all interview requests for the podcast.
As yet, the allegations have failed to make a tangible dent in the career of Gaiman. The publishers of his books—which have earned more than $44 million since 2000—declined to respond to inquiries made by the trade publication The Bookseller, while Netflix is still moving ahead with Season Two of his show The Sandman and just released Season One of his show Dead Boy Detectives. Amazon recently commissioned the third season of Good Omens, his fantasy-comedy series starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant. As things stand, it seems as if he will brush off these allegations unharmed.
Perhaps this has a little to do with their delivery method. After all, a four-episode podcast series released during the same week as the British general election is bound to find a markedly smaller audience than a traditional news story would. However, we have seen in the past that whenever a victim of sexual assault comes forward, it often gives courage for others to do the same.
Perhaps this is the end of it, or perhaps it is just the start of Neil Gaiman’s downfall. The next chapter of this frustrating story of blurred lines has yet to be written.
Stuart Heritage is a Writer at Large at AIR MAIL. He is the author of Bald: How I Slowly Learned to Not Hate Having No Hair (And You Can Too)
