Mr Gaiman, My name is Laura and I'm from Michigan. Obligatory introductions aside, a WHILE ago you mentioned Sandman posters for the NY Book Fest/Fair/Thing. I was wondering if those are available all year round or if they only release the posters during the Fair time? (I seemed to have procrastinated way too long.)I was also wondering if it was nearing time for more MirrorMask news (like release dates? *fingers crossed*) because I feel Sundance was merely extensive teasing for those of us who couldn't attend.And since I am combining all of my questions into one long-ish message, why do you only have one collection of short stories? Did you stop writing short stories as a trade off for novels or are your current short stories homeless?Well, three questions to digest, thanks!
Let's see -- as far as I can see, the New York is Book Country posters are all still available http://www.nyisbookcountry.com/content/merchandise.asp has the various posters -- including the Sendak and the Spiegelman -- up for sale. (But they don't ship internationally, so if you're out of the country you'll need an American friend to send it to you.)
You can also buy the Sandman poster directly from the artist, Tara McPherson. She's signed it, too: http://www.taramcpherson.com/prime/paintings/nybc.htm Tara does do international orders, and has some amazing rock band silkscreen posters for sale into the bargain. If ever I do another CBLDF reading tour, I want Tara to do the poster.
As soon as I have MirrorMask release date news I'll put it up here, trust me. It will not slip my mind.
The next short story collection should be released in hardback about 18 months. It takes me a while to accumulate enough short stories for a book, and then once I have (there seem to be enough now) the publisher needs to fit it into the publishing schedule. In the meanwhile this autumn Smoke and Mirrors will be coming out in mass market paperback in the US for the first time, with a really nice Greg Spalenka cover.
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I forget who sent me the link to this story --http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4233289.stm -- my thanks to whoever it was. Like most people, I'm sure, my immediate reaction was "What if it really was Superman, Batman and Spider-Man beating someone up in the small hours of the morning by a Canterbury burger van in a dispute over a shortage of burgers?" But then I checked the boots. You can always tell real superheroes because they have proper boots on, not the fake boot-like things that sort of cover normal shoes, that people in rented costumes have, and these were obviously more fakes.
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Neil: Thought you might like this: "Shockheaded Peter" recently returned to NYC; its a stage play that combines a children's pop-up book(ish) set with Edward Gorey-esque dark stories and is backed by the Tiger Lillies. The semi-grisly, semi-fabulously creepy feel kind of reminds me of Coraline. http://www.shockheadedpeter.com/
...and Julian Crouch, the director, is also going to be co-directing and designing THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS opera.
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Sweeps weeks on television can be odd. Sweeps weeks in newspapers can be downright dangerous.
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I'm going out to try and get the last of Anansi Boys typed up and off to my editor.
I may be some time.