Neil emailed an update about Smoke and Mirrors:
I’m just finishing off the short story collection, SMOKE & MIRRORS, right now — figuring out the order that the stories go in, deciding whether or not the last couple of stories stay or go, that kind of thing. There’s a lot more poetry than is usual in short story collections: I’ve not let any poetry that was non-narrative in, though.
I saw “Chasing Amy” the other day (missed it in the theatres) and they did a brief run-by of a CBLDF comic convention table at the beginning. Not exceptionally relevent, I know, but it was a damned fine movie.
Lance “Squiddie” Smith, always chock-full of information (and vitamins and minerals) posted this to alt.fan.neil-gaiman:
I don’t think we’ve seen anything official on this from DC, but Wizard has a sniplet on Sandman Presents in the latest issue (#78) out last week.
Sandman presents will be an umbrella title for a series of stand-alone projects centering on periphery and supporting characters from Sandman and the Dreaming. Alisa Kwitney will serve as the series editor and Gaiman will act as a creative consultant, giving the projects his “stamp of approval”.
The first project is a three issue mini called Lucifer Falling by Elizabeth Hand with art by Scott Hampton due out in August 1998. The second project is a 56-page one off tentatively called Lycanthropunk by Peter Hogan with art by Peter Doherty and D’Israeli. Kwitney expects Sandman Presents to produce about 4 titles every year.
The usual disclaimers about things changing and this not coming straight from DC.
On November 30th, 1997 Kathy Acker - author, wild grrl, and friend to Neil - passed away. As I find them, I will list memorial sites here. The Hub | In memoriam to oblivion: the kathy acker hoam paige | Artemis Communications.
It seems Newsweek has an essay on the best children’s stories of the year, and “The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish” is listed among them!
Received the following Press Release about a Dustcovers signing.
Dave McKean, cover artist of Neil Gaiman’s multi award-winning Sandman series, will be signing copies of his new book Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers 1989-1996 on Saturday 6th December. The event will take place at Forbidden Planet, 71 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1DG from 1pm onwards. For further info please contact Forbidden Planet direct on 0171 836 4179.
Dustcovers will be published on 5th December by Titan Books, London (hardback, 29.99pounds sterling, ISBN: 1 85286 846 5).
Neil passed this along:
STARDUST #4 got a bit out of hand, and when I turned it in it became obvious that it was much too long. DC, bless their little cotton socks, instead of making me lose a chapter at random, allowed us to up the page count to 64 pages from 48. I expect it’ll be a week or two late, to allow for the extra production time, but it shouldn’t be any more than that.
If what Neil has heard is correct, the Chrstopher Lambert Beowulf isn’t set in our future, but in the 17th Century, about a thousand years after the original saga.
The Beau Yarbrough Interview (older news) states that Good Omens has sold over 200,000 internationally. Actually, internationally it’s probably coming up on a million copies sold. It has sold over 200,000 in the US.
Canadian Sandman fan alert! SPACE, which is showing Prisoners of Gravity made sure to tell me this:
The Sandman episode of PoG will air Thursday Nov. 27- (American Thanksgiving) on SPACE the imgination station @ 1pm, and 7pm…. Himself, plus Karen Berger, Dave McKean, P.C. Russell, Charles Vess, Harlan Ellison, and a host of others…
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Puck | 
01 1st, 1997| 