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What does DC need to do to change its fortunes in the year to come?

The renowned YouTube personality looks into the role Shakespeare plays in the Vertigo series.

  You’ve got your mimosas.  You’ve got your fine leather goods.  How about your rare, never-before-released Neil Gaiman Stories? The American Gods and Sandman author has teamed up with The Moth, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) and Humble Bundle to present the Humble Book Bundle: Neil Gaiman Rarities.  For the next two weeks, users can pay as […]

After powering down from Comic-Con team Beat needed a nap…or twelve. While we were away, the team continued to see visions of none-other-than Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman creeping through hallways at the Stately Beat Manor in which Team Beat takes residence. We tried to brush it off at first and stick to our legions of reviews, previews and news coming to the site. Our naps were becoming more frequent during the day, and we found certain items missing from the stash including lucrative and expensive key back issues in the collection. After an intense stake out fueled by the ideas we got from watching Ant-Man last weekend, one of our staffers managed to apprehend the vigilante and retrieve important pieces of our collection. We called the authorities, and while they were on the way Mr. Dodds turned to us and offered his staff picks for the week of 7/22/15.

Alex J.’s picks:

Archie Vs. Sharknado #1

Writer: Anthony C. Ferrante Art: Dan Parent

It’s that time of year in Riverdale! The end of the school year. Time for beaches, barbecues, fun in the sun and… sharknados!?! That’s right, get ready as Archie and the gang brave the storm of a tornado full a sharks that riffs off the pop culture phenomenon known as Sharknado! The story unfolds as sharknados are spotted on the ‘Feast’ Coast! Our heroines have to figure out how to get back to Riverdale, where the storm is about to hit next. Soon Archie and the gang go, go, go as they battle the Sharknado-ravaged Riverdale! Who will live? Who will die? Will this take a bite out of the end-of-the-year prom? Uh… probably! The comic book action is also concurrent with the plot of Sharknado 3 and hits stands right before the film’s premiere in July on Syfy. Written by the Sharknado trilogy director Anthony C. Ferrante with Dan Parent.

Sharknado. Archie. The match made in heaven. These two characters were made for each other — or so says Wesley Dodds, as the police were on the way. He pointed that Archie and Sharknado are both sort of niche franchises that continue the reign of awesomeness supported by the publisher’s interesting choice of titles right now. Dan Parent has been an excellent creator to lend talents to Archie and Anthony C. Ferrante, Sharknado director is writing the script for the series. This is one that you shouldn’t miss this week.

Cyborg #1

Writer: David Walker Art: Ivan Reis

The machine that gives Cyborg his powers is evolving! The only problem is that machine is his body and he has no idea what’s causing these changes!

Wesley wanted to support an old friend getting his own series set in the brand new DC Universe. He knew Cyborg as a Teen Titan and thoroughly supported him through his Justice League years. Now, it’s time for Cyborg to go off and do something different with the art of the fantastically amazing Ivan Reis and written by David Walker. Getting a creative team like for a character like this is something worth supporting at DC right now. Let’s put our money where our mouth is…if only for the stellar art of Reis and supporting his awesome costume design on Cyborg.

Kyle’s Pick:

Prez #2

Writer: Mark Russell Art: Ben Caldwell

With the election in chaos and a Congress mired in corruption, Twitter sensation @corndoggirl becomes the first teenaged President of the United States!

As you might have seen last month, I deeply enjoyed the first issue of the Prez relaunch, so much so that it probably was my favorite first issue of the entire “DC You” June set of releases. While at San Diego Comic Con, Hannah and I took the opportunity to meet Ben Caldwell and pick up a copy of his equally brilliant collaboration with Shannon Wheeler: God Is Disappointed In You. In reading that, I was quite taken by the even-handedness that Russell treated the Bible with. Prez takes a very similar approach with social media culture and American politics, and the result is refreshing and, at least based on one issue, quite hilarious. Don’t let this one slip through your grasp.

Alex L.’s Pick

Power Up #1

Writer: Kate Leth Art: Matt Cummings

It has been foretold that four noble warriors of incredible strength would be gifted with cosmic abilities at a moment of planetary alignment…which, yeah, something definitely went wrong here. Amie is a disaffected twenty something with a lot of attitude, Kevin is a washed-up athlete way past his prime, Sandy’s a mother of two teenagers, and Silas…is a goldfish. Just a normal goldfish. Are we sure we read that prophecy right?

Boom! Studios is billing this new title as Sailor Moon meets Scott Pilgrim.  As someone whose childhood crossed with both of these titles, Power Up strikes me as a WOA, a winner on arrival.  The premise is wacky and completely off-base (one of the leading characters is a magical goldfish), and Cummings’ art style, as seen above, is emotionally evocative while being adorably simple in nature.  Finally, the hilarious Kate Leth, of Kate or Die fame, has surely written a script that will have me counting stitches in a hospital bed, lamenting my lack of insurance.

Creating a shared universe on-screen is tough work, especially if you’re starting at the ground-level like Warner Bros is doing with their DC Comics properties.

Currently the studio has nine films currently either in production or in pre-production stages, which are slated to establish the DC Cinematic Universe (The Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg, etc…).

With all that in mind, it left many to wonder about the status of films like Sandman and Guillermo Del Toro‘s long simmering Dark Universe. According to THR, the former, and most other Vertigo adaptations, will now be handled by WB’s sister arm New Line, which they absorbed many a moon ago.

Strangely, Dark Universe will remain at Warner Bros, and will conceivably continue to be attached to the DC properties that surround it. The bad news? Del Toro is off the project, which sadly, is not a new feeling where he’s concerned. On the other hand, Shazam! will continue to be developed by New Line, meaning much like the Vertigo properties they’re working on, Shazam! may very well not be connected to the DC Cinematic Universe either.

You get all that? In summary: all of Warner Bros. superhero movies except Shazam! will be developed by WB, all Vertigo movies except Dark Universe will be developed by New Line. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.

– Remember how we were discussing the release of the webseries prequel to the upcoming Bruce Timm produced Justice League: Gods and Monsters? Well, the first episode is officially here and can be watched below:

Episodes 2 and 3 will see release on the 10th and 12th of this month respectively.

– In spite of the strides that have been made on the production side of DC-related film properties, all’s been rather quiet on The Sandman front even though it’s been in the works with the current team (headed up by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) since December 2013. MTV recently caught up with the actor/director and got an update on the project:

It’s really good, man. It’s slow but steady. It’s a really complicated adaptation because those comics, they’re brilliant. But they’re not written as a whole. It’s not like ‘Watchmen,’ which is a graphic novel that has a beginning, middle, and end. ‘Sandman’ was written over the course of whatever — I forget exactly, six or seven years. One at a time. One little 20-page issue at a time. And to try to take that and make it into something that’s a feature film — a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end — is complicated. I’m feeling really good about it, but it is a process, so please be patient.

Big spectacular action movies are generally about crime fighters fighting crime and blowing sh-t up. This has nothing to do with that, and it was actually one of the things that Neil Gaiman said to me, he said ‘Don’t have him punch anybody.’ Because he never does. If you read the comics, Morpheus doesn’t punch anybody. That’s not what he does. It’s going to be like a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary cliches. So, that’s why it’s taking a lot time to write, but it’s going to be really good.

Gordon-Levitt is reportedly set to direct the film, with a script by Jack Thorne. No actor has been set in the role of Morpheus as of yet. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for this one, and hopeful that no news remains good news, but in Hollywood, that often means development hell.

– This weekend sees the release of the new relaunch of the Jurassic Park franchise in Jurassic World. I’ll be catching it tomorrow at the press screening, but for those who are taking a look at in IMAX this weekend, you’ll be in for a treat as Marvel is debuting a 6-minute preview for Ant-Man in front of all IMAX presentations of the film:

Any readers that catch it over the weekend, let me know how it looks!

Jill Thompson has been bringing her distinct watercolor illustration style to comics for the last 25 years.  Early on in her career she collaborated with legends like Neil Gaiman on Sandman, George Perez on Wonder Woman, and Grant Morrison on The Invisibles. Thompson has gone on to create her own characters, including The Scary Godmother, which has been adapted for children’s live theater, and two T.V. holiday specials. She also created the children’s series Magic Trixie, and Beasts of Burden with author Evan Dorkin for Dark Horse Comics.

Jill Thompson graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and has been honored with multiple Eisner Awards for illustration in comics.

You can catch up with recent updates, and see more artwork on Jill Thompson’s tumblr site here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

It was exciting to see Neil Gaiman live at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on the weekend. It was a satellite event of the Sydney Writers’ Festival (surely one of the world’s best writers’ festivals). As Jemma Birrell, Artistic Director, mentioned in her introduction, Neil has over 2 million twitter followers so no wonder […]

Before we begin I would like to have a few words with the publishers on behalf of catalogers nationwide.

Ahem.

Hi, guys.  How’s it going?  Heckuva weird weather we’ve had lately, right?  Yeah . . . so . . . here’s the thing.  You know how you’ve been rereleasing a couple classic children’s books recently like Slake’s Limbo and all the Ramona Quimby books?  That is just awesome of you.  Seriously, new covers were desperately needed.  But, you’re kind of doing this weird thing that’s messing everything up.  See, for some reason you’re changing the covers but you’re keeping the old ISBNs.  And we wouldn’t really mind if it was just the jackets you were changing, but in the case of the Ramona books you have new interior illustrations.  This is a HUGE disservice, not only to libraries, but to your new illustrator, Ms. Jacqueline Rogers.  If you keep the same ISBN then in records across the country previous illustrators will be listed in the system.  Not Ms. Rogers.  So, I know we’re supposedly going to go through some crazy crisis where we run out of all the ISBNs, but do a gal a favor and change the ISBNs on rereleases if you have new interior art (or, also in the case of Ramona, new pagination).  It just makes good clean sense.

Okay!  Moving on.

• If I say that Travis Jonker fellow at 100 Scope Notes is a nice guy I’m not exactly telling you anything you don’t already know.  But how nice is he?  Well, in his awesome 10 to Note: Spring Preview 2013 do you know what book he led with?  MINE!! I’m thrilled and flabbergasted all at once.  Ye gods!  I hit the big time, folks!  Now I just need to get my hands on that cool looking Lauren Myracle early chapter book and that new Charise Mericle Harper graphic novel.  Woot!

• You know you’re cool when the National Coalition Against Censorship collects cool birthday wishes for you.  You’re even cooler if those birthday wishes come from folks like Jon Scieszka, Lois Lowry, and the aforementioned Lauren Myracle.  And if you happen to be Judy Blume?  Icing on the cake, baby.

• On the one hand, it’s awfully interesting to hear folks speculating on what really made Mary Ingalls blind.  On the other hand  . . . . NBC News linked to me, linked to me, linked to me me me!

• In case you happened to missed it, I hosted a helluva Literary Salon the other day.  Yup.  Jeanne Birdsall, Adam Gidwitz, N.D. Wilson, and Rebecca Stead all gave up their precious time to stop by old NYPL for a Children’s Literary Salon where they debated why pop culture at large tries to label middle grade fiction as YA.  The whole conversation was, for the very first time, recorded for posterity.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the audio feed is lousy.  Not sure what I did but it’s a bit mucked up.  Clear enough that you could make a transcript from it (casts meaningful looks into the nethersphere) but not so clear that you could actually enjoy listening to it.  A little later in the podcast some folks stop speaking into mics.  That actually helps.  Rear in Gear reports on how it went from  the frontlines.  By the way, the title “Why YA” is a good one.  I might shorten it to Y.YA, then proclaim that to be the newest bestest trend without explanation.  Cause that’s how I roll.

• Speaking of my Children’s Literary Salons, I’ve one in early March on the topic of Diversity and the State of the Children’s Book that will prove to be most fascinating (and better recorded, I hope).  Much along the same lines is a truly fascinating post over at Ms. Yingling Reads.  The post concerns those book jackets that do not reflect the ethnicity of the characters within, but brings up a very interesting p.o.v. from that of the smaller publisher reliant on stock images.  This post is your required reading of the day.  Many many thanks to Carl in Charlotte for the heads up.

• The post on 10 Fictional Libraries I’d Love to Visit is a lot of fun, but I would add the library featured in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman books most certainly.  That would be the library that contains every book conceived of but never published by the world’s greatest writers.  The in-jokes alone are worth it.  Who doesn’t love Psmith and Jeeves?

Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• Nerd that I am, I cannot help but be thrilled that the Bologna Book Fair has just established a new prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year.  What a fantastic idea, and why has no one else come up with it before?  Now THAT is something I can get behind.  Boy, yeah.

• Flavorwire’s Conspiracy Theories About Classic Literary Characters doesn’t tell you a lot you haven’t already heard about your classic books (Nick Carraway = gay, Holden Caulfield = gay, yadda yadda yadda) but there are some fun exceptions on the children’s literature side.  I think I’ve heard the Winnie-the-Pooh theory before, and I certainly heard the Harry Potter one (Rowling herself even addressed it) but the Wizard of Oz one is actually entirely a new one on me.  Huh! Thanks to Annie Cardi for the link.

• I like it when authors reveal the covers of their upcoming books.  I especially like it when those authors are folks I’ve heard of before and have enjoyed thoroughly.  I met Matthew Kirby (The Clockwork Three, Icefall) at a SCBWI event recently and now I find out that he has revealed his latest title The Lost Kingdom.  Yep.  I’ll be reading that one.

• The other day I spoke on a panel for some young publishers about the library’s role in the pursuit of Common Core.  I was on that panel with Scottie Bowditch of Penguin and John Mason of Scholastic.  After the fact I learned that Scholastic has been working to get their hands on all this Common Core schtuf by creating the site Common Sense for the Common Core.  It was created to help parents through this tricky time, but no doubt we librarians would benefit a tad as well.  FYI!

• You may have heard that tornadoes recently ripped through Mississippi on Sunday causing untold devastation in their wake.  They hit in a number of places, including Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  Why do I mention this?  Well, are you aware what resides in Hattiesburg?  That would be the University of Southern Mississippi.  And what is the University of Southern Mississippi home to?  If you answered that it was the de Grummond Collection “one of North America’s leading research centers in the field of children’s literature” you would also be correct.  So did the collection survive the storms?  We are happy to report that they did.  And on the de Grummond’s Twitter feed they assured everyone that they were safe and sound.  Whew!

• Look me in the eye.  Right here!  Right in my beady little eye and tell me that this is not the smartest use of The Pigeon you’ve seen in a long long time.  The crazy thing?  I thought they melded together a bunch of different Pigeon books.  Not true!  Instead, all these panels come from The Pigeon Wants a Puppy.

• Remember when NPR started that program they called NPR’s Backseat Book Club?  They said they would pick a new book for kids every month and discuss them.  Well, the whole “every month” part of that plan has been spotty and the selections have been even spottier.  Seems to me NPR isn’t taking full advantage of the field.  I mean, Black Beauty and Wimpy Kid?  Is that the best you can do?  Fortunately it looks like they’ll crank things up a notch when they discuss Gary Schmidt’s Okay for Now.  In fact, kids are encouraged to submit some questions to the author ahead of time.  Got yourself some kids?  Then go to it!

 What child hasn't dreamed of meeting the elusive Tooth Fairy, Santa, Sandman, or the Easter Bunny? Ava wants to invite them all to tea, but how can she? Find out in "Ava's Secret Tea Party" - an imaginative tale sure to enthrall children for years to come. Boys and girls alike will delight in finding the hidden teacups and cookies in the fanciful illustrations and planning their own

In a video announcement at San Diego Comic-Con, Neil Gaiman revealed that he will publish a new book in his beloved Sandman series.

We’ve embedded last week’s video announcement above–what do you think? Gaiman will work with Batwoman artist JH Williams III on the mini-series that will launch in 2013. The book is currently untitled.

Gaiman explained the story: “When I finished writing THE SANDMAN, there was one tale still untold. The story of what had happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in THE SANDMAN #1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war. It was a story that we discussed telling for Sandman’s 20th anniversary… but the time got away from us. And now, with Sandman’s 25th anniversary year coming up, I’m delighted, and nervous, that that story is finally going to be told.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Rankin-Bass lives! Actually, this has nothing to do with Rankin-Bass – but you can see the influence. Sinem Sakaoglu (The Three Robbers) and Jesper Møller (Asterix and the Vikings) have been busy the last three years working on what is sure to be a new children’s classic, The Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams, Germany’s [...]

Set your tivo for the Dream King! After years of limbo for a proposed Sandman movie, the hugely popular Neil Gaiman fantasy comics series is now in development as a TV series, THR reports. Warners is trying to get the property going, with SUPERNATURAL producer Eric Kripke, on the short list to develop.

Up until a few months ago, DC was in talks with HBO and James Mangold to develop a show minus WBTV’s involvement, but that never coalesced.
Gaiman was not officially involved with the HBO attempt, though he and Mangold held several rounds of talks surrounding characters and story. The author is not involved in the new developments, though since it is early in the process, that may change. In fact, securing Gaiman will prove key for the project to go forward.

Kripke has been described as interested in tackling an adaptation but cautious because the comic book has such a passionate following and is held in such high regard. It’s the kind of series where each production decision, from casting to script to design, would be scrutinized by devotees.

Sandman is a pillar of Gaiman’s oeuvre and indeed, comics in the 90s — the fantastic tale of Dream and the Endless won multiple awards has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and is still required reading for girls who want to go Goth, as well as enthusiasts of fine comics literature everywhere. The developments sounds very preliminary but are doubtless part of WB’s renewed enthusiasm in all of the DC comics properties.

Entertainment Weekly's 100 Best Books of the Last 25 Years...

I zipped home for lunch this afternoon, and found the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly in my mailbox (a happy surprise--it usually comes on Saturday) featuring The New Classics--The 1000 Best Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books & More of the Last 25 Years. I almost didn't make it back to the office I was having so much fun reading it. And look at Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter smack in the middle of the cover! I immediately turned to their book list.

Now, as EW would say:

SPOILER ALERT!!

If you want to read these yourself leave my blog right now (or at least shut your eyes and scroll way down).

Here are five books of note that made the list:

#2: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because J.K. Rowling "went epic and evil."
#21: On Writing because Stephen King offers "some of the soundest advice to writers set to paper."
#40: His Dark Materials trilogy because Phillip Pulman offers "a grand, intellectually daring adventure through the cosmos."
#65: The Giver, by Lois Lowry because they agree with the Newbery committee (and it's a fantastic book).
#84: Holes, by Louis Sachar, because they continue to agree with the Newbery committee (and it's also a fantastic book).

Mixed in with the many fiction and nonfiction titles were several graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman's Maus, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

Fact that surprised me: The Da Vinci Code was on the New York Times Hardcover Best-Seller List longer than HP and the Goblet of Fire (166 weeks vs. 148 weeks--3 years-ish for each!)

My Saturday afternoon is officially taken--I have a date with this double issue.

mattwileyART

Hey, look! It's Matt Phelan! The illustrator of The Higher Power of Lucky. Super nice guy, that Matt.

And look! He has a blog. A nice little blog on which to place various sketches and thoughts.

And hey! He's just posted some pictures of Neil Gaiman's Endless characters from his Sandman graphic novel series. In honor of my appearance at Comic Con today, I thought this tied in rather nicely. Well done all around (and good job, Matt, at getting a letter to appear on Neil's blog).

I'm still proofreading and copyediting. Today I also tackled a small heap of fanmail, some of it going back an embarrassingly long time. Meanwhile Lorraine and the new Mystery Aide were recreating the downstairs office.

You would not believe the strange things that have been found during the haul-everything-out, move-all-the-furniture, move-it-all-back process. Things believed lost for years. Things I'd forgotten I'd ever been given. Amazing, strange things... (All of them currently in plastic tubs in the hall).

The Walker event with me and Dave McKean is up on the web -- http://channel.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=3651

I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with the UK Director of Public Prosecutions, but I do, vigorously. http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1997397,00.html


Do I have to ask you a question? (I only asked so I could comply with the bold "YOUR QUESTION" above this field.)
I just wanted to show you some pictures (not of me, though you probably get some like that - ick, poor you) but of a doll version of Dream that I commissioned last fall. The artist has finished him, and people have been telling me I should show you. Donn, the artist, said it was all right if I did. He sculpted the doll himself and painted it, and a friend of his does the clothes. Donn took the photos. So here you go:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/misanthropicbliss/progress/dream_stand.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/misanthropicbliss/progress/dream_sit.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/misanthropicbliss/progress/dream_stand_clothes.jpg Not bad, eh? :)Take care.- Ceiridwen

That's marvelous. No, you don't have to ask a question (although you're more likely to get a reply if you do). And while nobody ever sends photos of themselves, they do send links to their art, and to things they've made, all of which I look at and a very few of which I post here. This one, for example, I thought was amazing:

Just in case you don't know already...Abi Sutherland, a Making Light regular, is donating a gorgeous specially bound edition of 'The Dream Hunters' to the Mike Ford Auction and Extravaganza at Boskone next month. http://evilrooster.com/items/2007/01/the_dream_hunte.html

Hi Neil,
I suspect you've been bombarded with this one, but in case you haven't this might be another reason why you need a mac http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html
Regards,
Guy

Actually, I think the Mac to PC ratio in the house is now significantly more Macs than PCs. I'm the last PC holdout in the family, and I'm as likely as not to be found using the office iMacs -- more likely for some things. If only they'd make a Macbook that weighed next to nothing, I'd probably grit my teeth and go and find somewhere that would translate all my old WordPerfect 4.2 files into a current more Mac-friendly format, and go over to Mac laptops.

I tend to write on baby laptops that don't weigh much (this is what I've been using for the last couple of years). Sooner or later I'll pick up a new lightweight Macbook and decide I wouldn't mind carrying it through a hundred airports. But they need to make it first...

And the program looks terrific.

You are going to go back through the blog and label all the old entries aren't you? You know...in your spare time...for the sake of completeness.

Lynn

PS: Come on...ya know you want to!

Well, yes. I do want to... I'm not sure where I'd find the time, though. But I promise I'll keep labelling the new ones.


Do you enjoy fame? Reading your journal, I almost feel sorry for you as you describe a press junket, with the continual interviews and sore writing arm. But this is what writers strive for, isn't it? Huge adoring readerships, exotic locales for book signings, bestseller lists. Does fame have an effect on your writing?I saw you read when I was in college in Madison, and was inspired by this floppy-haired Brit with a sense of humor; you looked exactly as a writer ought to look. It gave me some hope that being a writer could be good. I loved Neverwhere, and I adore your effervescent prose, which seems effortless and light as a feather, but like any souffle, I suspect it's actually quite difficult to get it so. And as a separate note, having grown up in Wisconsin, thanks for the descriptions. Your bit about the House on the Rock was perfect. Cheers,-Jessie

Do I enjoy fame? No, not much. I quite like finding myself in interesting places, but I like being at home more. I like having readers, and I like meeting readers, I love reading aloud and I like that I don't have to get up early in the morning and go and do a job I don't enjoy. Making stuff up is still great except when it's not. But I'm never entirely comfortable with the rest of it. It's still weird that I live in a world in which more people know me than I know.

But mostly I don't think about it.

Hi Neil, in fact it’s not a question but a little feedback from one of your Chinese readers. I posted it on neilgaimanboard.com, and some kind people told me you don’t read that board. So I check the fqa and find here to say what I’d say. I hope it weren’t too rude, and I’m sorry if I interrupted you.
American Gods the simplified Chinese version has burst out on December, 2006. My friends and I all read and fell for it. WOW. And the translator treated your baby well. I think the Chinese version is precise and beautiful. It was said Good Omens has been on the way. So, be prepared for the rush of loving words from Chinese dreamers. ^^
...
Best wishes.
Yours,
Carmina

Which I'm mainly posting because normally people write to tell me that the translation in their part of the world is sort of disappointing, and it's lovely to hear about one that people are happy with.

and finally, a few people -- all enthusiastic fans of the site and the podcast -- wrote to let me know about this...

Afternoon Sir!
Not a question as such, more of a heads up. I love genre fiction - always have done. There is a 'podcast' I have been listening to for a while now and most recently they did a 2 part show about your goodself. It's hosted by 2 geordies who have a real passion for anything good - hence you and your work being featured! They have such a relaxed structure to the show, it's like listening to a Ronnie Corbett joke when they're in full flow!
Please give it a listen and let them know how they're doing - it'd mean a lot to them to get some feedback. The show can be found through itunes or at www.starshipsofa.com .
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know you are busy.
Have a great week,

Alastair Webster
Liverpool.