Tattoo of Sandman

Being so mighty inspired by your Sandman creation I got a special made tattoo with him on my right lower leg. :) I think a person as Sandman who walks among dreams and nightmares is very fascinating and gives me faith in myself so I can make my own ideas come true. Thanks alot for giving me this inspiration. William "Sandman77" Postma
William Postma

You're very welcome. Joe Fulghum, who does a Sandman website at www.holycow.com/dreaming told me once he was collecting pictures of Sandman tattoos -- you should send him a digital photo of yours. I don't know if he's started putting it up yet...
n

Movies

I've found hours of joy reading your stories (Sandman & Good Omens). Now I see (above) that there are plans of making a movie (movies?). My experiense is that movies doesn't measure up to the books. A great book can (and to often has) become a bad movie? Any comments?
Øivind

I agree. Mostly they make great films out of mediocre books, and mediocre films out of great books. The Silence of the lambs and Rosemary's Baby are a couple of exceptions, though...
n

Sex?

Why is sex such a great thing? Why do you have so much sex in your books?
Jørgen Rosenlund

a) I don't know. But yes, it is a great thing. b) see a)
n

When did you start?

When did you start writing? How old are you now? What was the first thing that you wrote?
Jørgen Rosenlund

I started writing when I was three. It was a poem called The Dew. It wasn't very good. I'm now 39.
Neil

The goth subculture.

How do you feel about beeing so closly connected to the goth subculture? Do you have any connections with it, musically and/or lyrically?
Trond Hjorteland

I didn't know I was that closely connected with the goth subculture. There are always some goths at signings, just as there are always people in suits at signings, and cute young ladies with multicoloured hair, and, often these days, small children clutching their copies of THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH. Somebody told me once I was a Goth Icon, whatever that means.
N

Sandman game ?

Hello Neil.. First off, i have to commend you on your story/comic, it's the best story i've ever read. (I've got the whole Sandman collection, English and Norwegian) Secondly, have you ever thought about making a computer game that would center around the sandman universe? Hopefully an Rpg... Thanks man... Keep up the good work.. Atle
Atle

Every time I've got involved with a computer game company who wanted to make a sandman computer game, they went out of business almost immediately. I stopped as I didn't want to be responsible for any more companies going bust.
n

Harry Potter and Tim Hunter

I am sure that you have noted that there are great similarities between Harry Potter and Timothy Hunter from the Books of Magic. Now, I am not suggesting that miss Rowling has stolen any of your ideas (and if she did, I have always felt that the quality of the writing is more important than ideas in most works of fiction, anyway), but I do feel that her tremendous successm indicates that readers around the world are highly receptive to the themes your work share right now. Have you, and DC, ever talked about trying to benefit from this? I have read that the children of the world suffer from Harry Potter-abstinence inbetween the release of every new book; this void might be filled, in part, by the Books of Magic.
Arild Tørum

I agree. I suggested to DC that packaging at least the original BOOKS OF MAGIC to appeal to the Harry Potter readers would be a good idea. I don't think they're going to do anything about it, but it's nice to think that someone in Norway agrees with me.
Neil

UPCOMING PROJECTS

What projects are you working on currently? Are there any books, films or comic books just around the corner?
Arild Tørum

Just around the corner -- or within the next year -- we should see AMERICAN GODS (novel) THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS (children's book with Dave McKean) CORALINE (scary children's novel) GREEN LANTERN-SUPERMAN story that i wrote in 1988 and DC cancelled for continuity reasons...
n

SANDMAN-MOVIE

Hi! Sorry that I couldn't be in Oslo, but it's very far away from here. Also got grounded to days ago.... I just wanted to say that youre one of the most genious persons I know of! also got a question: All these rumours about a Sandman-movie, are they true? And if they are, when is it coming? also wondered if you could give a HUGE hug to Tori for me, I love her very much!!!!!! Hugs from Kine Superklok.
Kine

I'll give Tori a hug from you next time I see her. Right now we're just sending e-mails back and forth, seeing I'm in Oslo & she's not... I hear they're looking for a new writer for the Sandman movie, so who knows?
n

New Sandman-books?

In the current slump of the comic book marketplace, many people advocate abandoning the traditional comic book format in favor of more widely marketable trade paperbacks. The status of yourself and your Sandman-series would make you a perfect spearhead for such a transition. Will you ever be writing any more full-length graphic novels, whether about the Sandman or some other of your creations? Or have you left the comic book field behind you for good?
Arild Tørum

Well, all the trade paperbacks of Sandman are still in print, and really, along with Watchmen and Dark Knight, have been spearheading the graphic novels in bookstores for many years in the US. I don't think I've left comics behind for good, but there are a lot of other things I'd like ot do first...
N

NeverWhere availability

Hi! Loved your book "Neverwhere" which I understand was a BBC TV series. Do you know if that will become available on DVD or video anytime soon?? Morten
Morten Eriksen

I assume that Norway is on the same TV system as the UK, so you could order Neverwhere as a video from amazon.co.uk
Neil

Blessed be !

Hi ! Just wanted to take this oppurtunity to thank you for bringing us the best in comics for over ten years now. Personally I think that your, and before you Alan Moores, efforts have singlehandedly heightened not only the literary standards of comicbooks but also helped transform the medium to fit better with the ever-changing post modern hell we live in. Keep at it ! Erm...Now for some questions : 1. The aforementioned gentleman, Alan Moore, has (finally) returned to the scripting business - Any thoughts on possible collaborations ? 2. I read and enjoyed 'Good Omens'. Any new novel projects coming up ? (And to tell you the truth I'm not too much into faeries...) 3. Being a comic-book fanboy, I love the works of Jean Giraud/MOEBIUS. Have you ever thought about working with him ? Or how about Mr. Mignola perhaps ? A.
A.

I've talked with Alan about writing a Tom Strong story.. who knows? You'll see a story set in a world we created in my short story collection SMOKE AND MIRRORS (it's called WHEN WE WENT TO SEE THE END OF THE WORLD...) Yes, the next novel will be AMERICAN GODS. As soon as it's finished. I'd love to work with Mobius. Mike Mignola and I did a story that's reprinted in MIDNIGHT DAYS.
Neil

Translations

How do you feel about your work being translated, and the control of subtleties in the text? And, not least; how about your characters getting new [translated] names? Are you planning to write another book with Pratchett (or solo/anyone else)? Big fan!
Pål-Didrik

I don't have any control over the translations -- and I'm always very grateful to the good translators. NEVERWHERE won a major literary award in France last year and I'm convinced I owe it all to Patrick Marcel, the translator.
Neil

Adventurous Music

Are you part of the "Anti Pretentious Fantasy Music Movement" or do you as an artist yourself find reedeeming qualities in adventurous 70's groups like Yes, ELP, Genesis, King Crimson and Gentle Giant?
Bjørn Are Davidsen

I'm afraid that I was 15 in 1976, so my heroes were the Sex Pistols, the clash, the adverts, the damned, the stranglers and elvis costello. It's taken me a long time to admit that there might be some value in early 70s progressive stadium rock.
Neil

Chesterton as a Favorite Author

I've heard that one of your favorite authors is G.K. Chesterton - he even had a big role as "Fiddler's Green" in the Sandman collection "A Doll's House". In what ways do you think he has influenced you?
Bjørn Are Davidsen

I like the generosity of his thought, the delight in paradox, and the painter's eye. There's a book called something like 100 Great Detectives, and I wrote an essay in there on Father Brown and Chesterton -- on the paradox of using a colourless character to illuminate colourful stories...
Neil

Magick!

Magic is a large part of the Sandman mythology and undoubtedly you've read the odd grimoire and two, but how much of the magic in your stories do you make up as you go along? I met a guy who tried to break someone's leg by snapping a twig, just like in one of your stories, and was convinced it would work. How do you feel about becoming a part of the occult world in the same way as Lovecraft's invented Necrinomicon?
Christian von Schack

Mostly I make up the magic, but that's only because I feel that I can make up more convincing and intersting magic than I can find in a grimoire. Most magical books are deadly dull, and very unconvincing.
Neil

Other D comics?

Will any of the other characters in Sandman be given their own album or series? Other than Death and Lucifer. (Written by you, that is) Destruction maybe. Or the twins. Or... maybe you know best *s* nina
nina

The next one I want to do is a Delirium series.
Neil

Single?

Are you single? Do you have a wife? What about your children
Jørgen Rosenlund

No, I'm not single, yes I have a wife, and my children are three in number and very wonderful.
Neil

Music?

What kind of music do you listen to? Are there any connection between your book "Sandman", and Metallica`s "Enter Sandman"?
Thomas Reed

I'd have to ask Metallica -- I know they were Sandman fans before they wrote the songs, because Bob Pfeifer (who set up the Alice Cooper project) told me he took all the Sandmans out at that time onto their tour bus, and they were all reading them. What am I listening to these days? Well, in the day or so before I came out here I was listening to Black box Recorder, Magnetic Fields, Gothic Archies, Michal, the Tom Lehrer Box set, a best of Steeleye Span, Lou Reed, T.V. Smith and Tom Waits while I was writing.
Neil

Sunglasses?

"Neil Gaiman is always wearing black clothes. Neil Gaiman is almost always wearing sunglasses and a black leather coat. Neil Gaiman writes The Sandman for DC Comics. Neil Gaiman writes a lot of other things, including songs for the Flash Girls. He has a garden." Can all this fixation be a frustration for your writing? Do they always do this?
Jørgen Rosenlund

Do people write stuff about you? Sure. Is it a bother? Mostly I don't think about it or look at it -- it's nice to know that there's an audience out there of people who care (look at the amount of questions coming in today!) but it's not something I think about much. I'd go mad if I believed what they wrote about me - the good even more than the bad. It's true about the garden, though.
Neil

Leather Jacket

Who Paid $6,101 for your leather Jacket? Svein Axl Rose?
Jørgen Rosenlund

Someone who believed in freedom of speech, I think... it was auctioned for the comic book legal defense Fund. You can read about it at www.cbldf.org
Neil

Destiny

Destiny "Destiny is the oldest of the Endless; in the Beginning was the Word, and it was traced by his hand on the first page of his book, before ever it was spoken aloud." Is this your tribute to the great French-Man Jeans Peta?
Jørgen Rosenlund

Er, no, it was a paraphrase of the first line of the Gospel of John.
Neil

"The Castle"

Hello Neil! Lucini once said this: I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement." What do you think of this bullshit? Keep the faith!!
Jørgen Rosenlund

Well, most librarians I know tend to think it's true.
Neil

Alice cooper

Do you have any contact with alice lately?
Roar Nikolaisen

I haven't spoken to Alice in a while. Last time we spoke he sent me some demos of the new album he was working on with Alan Mencken, SEVEN DEADLY, which had some of the best songwriting he's done in ages. DARK HORSE publishing are bringing out a new edition of THE LAST TEMPTATION, the comic I did with Michael Zulli.
Neil

Hi Neil!

I really love your Sandman-series. I think it's genius the way you've blended different mythologies, religions and folkore into your own special, totally unique universe. Thank you for a wonderful reading experience! So, to my question: Death is my favourite (as, I'm sure, she is to a lot of people). Will there be any more stories starring Death? Will there be any more Sandman stories at all? Either with the new Sandman, or "flashbacks" with the old one. Please don't deprive us the pleasure of taking part in this wonderful world of yours! Sweet dreams from Marte
Marte

Hi Marte Thank you. Maybe. The new novel, AMERICAN GODS, *feels* like a Sandman book, only with more sex and without pictures...
Neil

Polishing Mononoke Hime

I'm assuming/hoping that we don't have to limit ourselves to questions about just "Sandman"... What I'd like to know is how and why you were chosen to polish the English translation of "Mononoke Hime." You are, after all, not the first and immediate choice for such a task - at least not to an anime fan. (A more obvious choice would have been someone like Frederik L. Schodt or Toren Smith, I guess.) It would also be interesting to hear if working on the adaption is something you enjoyed. Would you do it again if asked? Disney still has several Miyazaki and Takahata-movies to go, after all...
Geir Friestad

It was Quentin Tarantino's fault. Harvey Weinstein asked him to do it, and he said no, that he thought the best person for getting mythic themes across currently writing was me. So they asked me, and I said yes. The translation already existed. What they wanted was someone who could write dialogue that would feel *true* to the movie. No, I'd not do it again. It was ultimately too frustrating coming up with a great line and if only the characters mouth had opened *one* more time, we could have used it...
Neil

Good Omens

Dear Mr. Gaiman The book Good Omens is one of the funniest books I have ever read. Is there any chance of a followup? Yours Sincerly Eric Nævdal
Eric Nævdal

Dear Eric I don't think so. Good Omens was written for fun -- we didn't even know if anyone would ever publish it when we wrote it. A sequel would have people in expensive suits lining up to pay us millions of dollars before ever a word was written. Kind of takes the fun out of it.
Neil

Favourites?

What are your favourites among other authors?
Vidar Nergaard

Living authors? Jonatahn Carroll, Gene Wolfe, Samuel R Delany, R A lafferty, David Quammen, Wendy Cope... No longer living authors: James Branch Cabell, John Wilmot Earl of Rochester, G k Chesterton, Lord Dunsany, Hope Mirrlees, Stella Gibbons, Roger Zelazny... the list is much longer but I'd be typing for hours
Neil

to you Storyteller

Hello mr. Gaiman, I should be asking big questons about life, the Universe and everything. Instead here comes a few boring, but informative, ones. I've heard of a movie based on Death: The High Cost of Living, when is it finished? Where can I get information about it? How much of the work (on the movie) will you be doing? Earlier this millenium I heard that you were coming Raptus, the International comic convention in Bergen, in September. I can't find you name on the guest list, why? What do you think of the "Sandman presents" title, especially "Love Street"? Many questions from a big fan. I hope you will answer, and make me a happy boy -Gisle Haukelidsæter, dreamer PS: I'm listening to "Tom Waits: Innocent when you dream", what do you think of that statement?
Gisle Haukelidsæter

Hello Gisle, I've just started writing the DEATH movie. I'm meant to be directing it -- let's hope that it happens. I was asked to go to Raptus and said yes, but it didn't happen for reasons I'm not entirely clear on. Which is why I'm in Oslo now -- and signing at Tronsmo this afternoon. (I did a reading last night.) i think the Sandman Presents titles have int he main been very interesting. I think my favourite spin off at this point is Mike carey's LUCIFER, which is terrific. Innocent when you dream? Well, I've had some guilty ones too...
Neil

artists

You could probably more or less choose any artist you want to write your stories. Have you picked them out personally, the people who have drawn your previous stories? Or is that not the way it works..?
Tommy Hauge

Mostly, yes, I picked them personally -- one tried to find the best artist for the story I was going to write -- and I wouldn't write a story unless I knew who was going to draw it.
Neil

Your writings linked to historic events

Your histories seem to link to what appears to me to be real historic events or persons such as old english poets, old hollywood movie stars long forgotten and an occational king of america. Are theese (partly) real, do you do a lot of research for your writing or are you really interested in history? Or do you just pick a name that seems cool and mix it into your stories?
Tommy Hauge

If you're doing anything with myth or history, I think as an author you owe it to your readers to make it good myths and real history, so it should be properly researched. So, yes, I research a lot. Then I try and forget the research and make it up.
Neil

mad?

Where do you get all those mad ideas from? where do you find your inspiration? Svein Egil Foss
svein egil foss

I'm a member of the idea-of-the-month club. I pay them ten dollars a month, and they send me five ideas.
Neil

Marvel Magic

What do you think about the new X-men movie, and what do you think about comics beeing filmed as live action films ?
Kurt Olav Helle

Haven't seen it, I'm afraid, although I've been puzzled by the lack of acknowledgement to Chris Claremont in the articles about it I've read. It seems solidly based on Chris's work. I think that comics can make good live action movies (eg MEN IN BLACK) and bad ones (Roger Corman's THE FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE anyone?)
Neil

Inspiration

What or Who inspired you the most when you started to write and draw the magical world of Sandman and all the other characters? I mean where do you get all the ideas from? By the way: Sandman really "kicks Ass!"
Tore Fredrik

Hi Tore I think that by the time you're an adult most of the stuff that inspires you has already been read and digested and forgotten. For me, it's the writers I read as a kid and a teenager -- Zelazny, Delany, Lafferty, Ellison, Cabell, e.e. cummings and so on. As for where the ideas come from, that's all in Calliope in the new Dream COuntry collection...
Neil

Colaborations

Hi, Neil.. Have you ever thought about colaborating with some other writers, musicians, or other kinds of artists? To read a book by two of my favourite authors (Yourself and Terry Pratchett) was a great experience.. and now I want more.. :) Maybe Clive Barker, or a project with Trent Reznor? Im sure something like that would have blown my (and millions of other)minds.. And finally I want to take the opportunity to thank you so very much for expanding my mind and soul through your art. Johs.
Johs.

Well, I love collaborating, Johs. And I'd love to wrok with Clive, or with Trent. So who knows?
Neil

The most beautiful animal

How come you don't include any giraffes in your stories?
Bolle

Publishers, I'm afraid. They always cut out the giraffes. I complain but it doesn't do any good.
Neil

Good Omens

Hello Mr. Gaiman! What was it like working with Terry Pratchett on Good Omens? Surely he must have cracked you up more than once. The book is ACE, incredibly funny! You are both mad, in a very very positive way! Keep it up!
Gry-Vibeke

It was great fun -- a period of intense madness, with the only purpose being to make the other one laugh. And we did that a lot.
Neil

Death

I really enjoy "Sandman" and i read it all the time! I am particularily fascinated by Sandman's little sister, Death. Is this character based upon somebody you know, or is she pure fiction?
Ida Caroline

She's fictional, I'm afraid. Although perhaps if enough people believe in her, she'll be real in some way.
Neil

Gay?

Are you Gay? Good luck!!!! -Gay-man!
Daniel Holck

'Fraid not.
Neil

Advice

Any brilliant advice to aspiring writers?
Christian von Schack

Yes. Write. Finish what you write. Don't get into an endless cycle of rewriting. Send it out to someone who might publish it. Write something else. Finish it. Send it out...
Neil

Movie?

Hello. First I want to thank you for all the grat moments I have had with The Sandman! My question is, have you ever considered making a movie based on the Sandman characters? And if so, would it be an animatet one, or with live actors. And who would play Dream(or his voice)? STIG
Stig Ågotnes

You're very welcome, Stig. Warners want to make a SANDMAN film -- I'd rather not be involved. I think Dream would best be played by an unknown actor -- you don't want to be going 'that's Arnold Schwarzeneggar!' the whole time you're watching him, after all. Not that you would anyway...
Neil

Your storytelling preferences...

Over the years, you've written comics, novels, and I also understand you've worked on screenplays...what do you feel are the strengths and weaknesses of writing comics and do you feel there is any one particular medium that's better suited to storytelling than others?
Christian von Schack

I don't think any one medium is better suited to storytelling (although I have a deep fondness for Radio Plays -- the pictures in your head are so good) but they all have differnt strengths and weaknesses. Comics are good for control over the reading experience, prose for doing things inside your head, movies for making your blood flow and the adrenalin rush. I love having the freedom to move from medium to medium. For a storyteller, it's a delight.
Neil

Without illustration?

Have you ever written (or considered wrighting) stories without the "support" of drawings or illustrations?
Finn I.

Sure... I've written a few novels -- NEVERWHERE, STARDUST, GOOD OMENS (with terry Pratchett) and SMOKE AND MIRRORS, which is a collection of short stories. Then again NEVERWHERE was a TV series first, and STARDUST was illustrated by Charles Vess first, so possibly the first entirely unillustrated novel will be AMERICAN GODS, the one I'm writing now.
Neil

Good Omens

I loved the book you and Terry Pratchett wrote together, Good Omens. I've heard some rumours about it going to the movies. Do you have any idea when (or if..) this is going to happen?
Anders Sølvberg

Terry Gilliam is meant to be cowriting it (with Tony Grisoni) and directing it, after he makes THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QIXOTE, his next film. It's being produced by the Samuelsons and Rennaisance Films. You know know as much as Terry Pratchett and I do.
Neil

Where

Where did you get the idea for Sandman? Are there gonna be morre Death-albums?
Mads

Hello... I was intrigued by the idea of someone who lived in dreams, and when I was asked if I could write a monthly comic, I was unsure of myself as a writer, so decided I wanted to do a story and a character that could go anywhere and do anything -- and that was the start. There may be more Death albums, but first of all I'm making a Death movie with Warners, based on THE HIGH COST OF LIVING.
Neil