And the Radio 3 Mr Punch was reviewed at http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/34593.html Distorting mirrors, ghost trains, that tall, narrow tent wherein lurked violent puppets. Was there anything spookier to a child than the old fashioned seaside fun arcade? Well, the funsters who worked there often topped the creepy league. This, anyway, was the impression left by the latest play in The Wire series, The Tragical Comedy and Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch (Radio 3, Thursday), which explored the weird parallels between a small boy's encounter with Punch and Judy and the hushed-up furies inside his own family life. Powerful and chilling, the work was adapted by Neil Gaiman from the acclaimed novel he wrote with Dave McKean, and this time round that grotesque squeeze-box voice chanting "That's the way to do it" really was nightmarish stuff.
Hi neil, i hope its all right if i call you that because im not quite sure what else i could adress this as. I've been a real fan of your work for quite some time and so when my teacher offered us the oppurtunity to do a book report (yes, we still have book reports in 10th grade apparently), i chose Neverwhere. This time however we need background information and unfortunately there is none avaliable on the internet. So, what better then to ask the primary source? I was just wonderin what gave you the inspiration to write Neverwhere and did nything in your life influence you to write it? Also, what helped form your one-of-a-kind viewpoint of the world? again, i doubt you read these [being busy with book tours an all] to answer an unimportant email, but id really appreciate it. I hope to hear from you, but i'll understand if i dont.sincerly, ashley
I was going to point you to the old Neverwhere web site, which is up at the gallery section of neilgaiman.com, at http://www.neilgaiman.com/gallery/gallery.asp, which has an interview on it, but that seems to be dead right now (I've alerted the webmistress).
There's a reading guide to Neverwhere up at http://www.neilgaiman.com/books/NW_ReadingGuide.asp but honestly the best resource for you would probably be the interview at the end (and possibly the commentary track) on the DVD of the BBC's Neverwhere -- it's available to rent at places like Netflix.
(I'd forgotten that we had a bunch of audio and video clips in the gallery, along with the photos of me age 3 etc. Am much too embarrassed to find out what's on them, mind you, so you listen or watch at your own risk. We definitely have to make it easier to find things in the next version of the site.)
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(My favourite moment of this evening was watching Holly talk about her recent Graphic Novels course with art spiegelman and Chip Kidd, and Holly was talking about it as she'd talk about anything she was studying, mid-term on Blankets and all, and art and Chip both had these sort of "Holy shit the world is changing" expressions on their faces that were a joy to behold.)