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From the cult comic book series “The Sandman” to the giddy novel “Good Omens” (co-written with his friend Terry Pratchett) to the horror-tinged children’s story “Coraline” and beyond, the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman is so inventive and so prolific that you’ve probably stumbled across his influential work without even realizing it.

But what if you’re ready to dive in more methodically — where to begin? On this week’s episode, the longtime Gaiman fan J.D. Biersdorfer, an editor at the Book Review, talks with the host Gilbert Cruz about Gaiman’s work, which she recently wrote about for our continuing “Essentials” series.

“He’s never really sat still and just been the guy who just cranks out this one type of thing, like you see in like some of the action and thriller genres, because I think he’s naturally very curious and interested in seeing how other stuff, you know, how he can work with that,” Biersdorfer says. “He constantly reinvents himself.”

Also on this week’s episode, Cruz talks with the Times critic Dwight Garner about “The Death of the Author,” a murder mystery that the novelist Stephen Marche wrote with the assistance of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence programs. Is A.I. in fact a harbinger of doom for creative writers?

Here are the books discussed in this week’s episode:

• “American Gods,” by Neil Gaiman

• “Good Omens,” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

• “Stardust,” by Neil Gaiman

• “Coraline,” by Neil Gaiman

• “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” by Neil Gaiman

• “The Sandman,” by Neil Gaiman

• “The Hyphenated Family,” by Hermann Hagedorn

• “Monsters,” by Claire Dederer

• “The Death of the Novel,” by Aidan Marchine

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.