The Sandman Cometh

Neil Gaiman fans got a treat earlier this month when the man himself showed up on our shores. The fans were evidently VERY happy too, judging by the ridiculously long lines of people queueing for the book signings (I hear there were about 1,000 people each evening!). Thank goodness I had a press pass and had my stuff signed during the considerably quieter press conference.

I was going to ask some general public-friendly type questions so I could say something about it in the next issue, but the hardcore questions that shot from the aggressive and kiasu journalists in the front were pretty discouraging, so I ended up not asking any of my questions anyway.

At least I got a nice signing on Coraline and Dream Hunters. He drew a rat in a jacket in my Coraline, though I've no idea whether it is Wilkinson (from Sandman: A Game of You) or one of the Coraline rats (I don't remember those wearing any clothes). His signing in Dream Hunters got a bit smudged as silly me closed the book before the silver ink had dried completely. Still, at least it's quite clear if you hold it at an angle.

Hmm, didn't get a good photo of him though. This one is the best shot I got, even with the fancy big camera I loaned.

Latest rave: Snow, Glass, Apples. It's Gaiman's re-telling of the Snow White tale, and how! For someone who loves dark, gothic tales, this one is right up my alley, from open to end. Told from the queen's point of view, it lends a whole new perspective to the story. The Snow White here certainly ain't the two-dimensional little saccharin sweet princess. "Snow, Glass, Apples" is the last story in the book Smoke and Mirrors.

I'd always believed that the 'fairy tales' that we read as kids were descended from far darker lore, and turns out I was right when I got old enough to read up more about their origins. The fairy tales themselves are often dark, disturbing and sometimes downright sadistic. But kids don't get the full impact of the notion of getting eaten by a wolf even if they understand the idea of it. If adults re-read the story, they may get nightmares, imagining the process of being painfully chewed, a slow, wet descent into the animal's gut, and the extreme, suffocating claustrophobia of being inside the wolf.

Oh, but how I love how twisted these tales are!