12/7/24: Time for another update, but by now it should be clear he had a pattern of behavior that included using conventions to ask young fans to come sleep with him (like his second alleged victim said, he asked her and her friend to come to bed with him after a fan meeting; they declined at the time, shocked. But NG, who had met K when she was 18 at a con., had been in contact with her for two years before starting a relationship with her). (source: the image in the link is taken from this transcription of episode 4 of the TM podcast someone made. The podcast and the transcription are both very graphic, as usual, beware and take care) (edited shortly after to provide some more links).
There's so many more testimonies and again, they all sound the same.
This is not the first comment that I've read about him using his assistants or publicists to ask young women out. For people wondering why he got away with it for so long, the whole system was shaped in favor of these men acting like this, covering for them and enabling them. It's been ongoing.
For those wondering, he was enabled by society too. Back in the 90s and 2000s it was widely socially accepted for an author to be such a sleazeball as to sleep with very young fans. No one batted an eyelid.
For example, this egregious pile of shit is still defending what Neil Gaiman did: this comment is very victim blaming and misogynistic so beware, but it sheds a light on what the majority of people back then thought when hearing of a 40-60 years old successful man going after his very young fans (like his two alleged victims).
He's also always had, according to many people, a "barely concealed interest" for his friend Tori Amos (the same who founded RAINN, Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). Which is not damning per se and it's mostly gossip that's been going on for years, but it has brought to my attention that they've been friends for decades, he knows she's an outspoken sexual assault survivor and she created Rainn in 1994. This is also what Neil Gaiman had to say about his friend that same year (click on the first photo for a verified source with the whole interview).
(yep that's how people talked about women back then, doesn't help he then proceeds to criticize a heckler who screamed at Tori to show him her legs. So that objectification is wrong but describing his friend in those terms in the interview was ok? He clearly has never checked himself once when it came to sexism.)
Yet another testimony that he had groupies and was seen in the wild with them (at a Tori Amos concert). This is from 2003. To dispel any remaining doubts of how long this has been going on, and that he did have a penchant and was well known for having groupies almost wherever he went.
Not damning evidence per se, but it indicates a clear pattern, that of a man that had one too many occasions for meeting young fans and liked their company. Seems consistent with that person in a prev testimony said.
(Apparently he'd also been outed years ago in some list and it has been completely erased from the internet, because I can't find news on this, but more than one person has said they remember something coming out about his behavior years ago. There's no way of verifying this, sadly.)
At this point, I think there is not much point in me updating this post any further, as it's clear enough it's not just rumors, but a well documented pattern. Please, as usual, don't go looking for these people or harass them, this post only has the aim to shed a light on something that has been a secret for too long in the publishing industry.
(I will progressively edit this post to add some image descriptions, but it's a long process, so sorry if it's not totally accessible)