No swearing in this one

What I did today: I went to a high-tech studio in the backwoods of Wisconsin ("It's like a Bond villain's headquarters," marvelled Beth Friend, my producer, and, frankly, it was, except for the oddly missing shark pit) and I recorded a spoken word CD for Harper Collins which is currently called "The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection" although I hope that by the time it comes out it'll be called something more along the lines of "Two Goldfish, an Enormous Number of Wolves and One Tiger". On the CD are readings of: THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH, THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS, CINNAMON and the poem CRAZY HAIR.

It was fun. Not a lot more to say, other than my producer gave me a new Greg Brown 'Best of' CD, If I Had Known..., which came with a DVD I'm looking forward to watching.

(The Day I Swapped My Dad For 2 Goldfish will be out from Harper Children's in August. It'll come with a free CD of me reading it, along with a new cover by Dave McKean and an afterword by me.)

Charles Vess -- magical artist and the man behind Green Man Press -- wrote to ask me to mention the Mythic Journeys festival, and the book that he and Karen have put together to accompany it, "Ancient Spirit, Modern Voice"

And this came in from Stewart Lee, and it reminded me I don't plug enough stuff for people in the UK, who comprise 4.96% of the traffic on neilgaiman.com. So here you go:

Dear Friends
Please could you be kind enough to post this on to anyone who might want it, and to any websites and lists or press things, and maybe mention it in any newspapers or media that you control, and also buy some tickets. BAC has had a big funding cut and this is to help keep it running as normal. It should be a good night. There will be sausages and a late bar.
Thanks
S Lee

Friday June 4th - BAC Sausage Night at Battersea Town Hall, behind Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea. A Benefit for Battersea Arts Centre, hosted by Stewart Lee.
A wide range of gourmet sausages will be available on the night. And there's a late bar.
Doors and bar 7.30. Showtime 8pm.
Acts include
Simon Amstell (C4?s Pop World),
Arnold Brown (inventor of alternative comedy),
Harry Hill (TV Burp),
Harry Hill?s Pub Band (Special Reunion Show),
Stewart Lee (creator of Alan Partridge),
Lee Mack (ITV?s The Sketch Show),
Al Murray (Pub Landlord and Trebor Mint Advert Man),
Catherine Tate (BBC2?s Catherine Tate Show),
Richard Thomas and Kombat Opera (Jerry Springer The Opera creator).
It's 15 UK pounds from www.bac.org.uk, or call BOX OFFICE 020 7223 2223, although the website is better.



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Incidentally, the essay I wrote in the SIMCITY 2000 game is now up in the exclusives section of NeilGaiman.com. I'm not sure any longer whether it was written just before or just after Sandman 51, which talks about the dreams of cities.

"A Study In Emerald", and the script for Sandman 24 (which I put up on Compuserve about 15 years ago, and which some unscrupulous types have now started selling, or trying to sell, on eBay) will be going up any time now.

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And it's just two more days until 24 Hour Comics Day...