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DreamWorks Picks up Neil Gaimans' Interworld 140

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the they-all-have-goatees dept.
Lisandro writes to tell us Geeks of Doom is reporting that author Neil Gaiman recently announced DreamWorks has optioned the film rights for his upcoming novel, 'Interworld'. "Gaiman said that in 1996 he began working with Michael Reaves on the idea for a story 'about a boy who finds himself in the middle of a war between two equally powerful forces, who joins a super-team consisting of versions of himself from different alternate realities to try and maintain the cosmic balance.' Soon after, the idea was pitched to DreamWorks and other studios, but was turned down."
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DreamWorks Picks up Neil Gaimans' Interworld More

DreamWorks Picks up Neil Gaimans' Interworld

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  • Fixit! Fixit! Fixit! "Neil Gainman" indeed...

  • Confused (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wiggles ( 30088 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:25PM (#19556259)
    I am most likely not alone in not knowing the significance of this. It made the front page, but I've never heard of either the author or the novel -- and I'd like to think I'm fairly up on this type of thing. Could someone who knows please enlighten us as to what the big deal is here?
    • You are right, the only reference to Interworld I know is from the Nivens' Ringworld novels.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by RingDev ( 879105 )
      That the option didn't get turned down again?

      -Rick

    • Re:Confused (Score:4, Informative)

      by ajs ( 35943 ) <ajs@ajs . c om> on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:27PM (#19556301) Homepage Journal
      The novel has not yet been published.

      The author is:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman [wikipedia.org]

      and he is on the Web at:

      http://www.neilgaiman.com/ [neilgaiman.com]

    • Re:Confused (Score:5, Informative)

      by C0rinthian ( 770164 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:28PM (#19556315)
      Neil Gaiman is probably best known for the critically acclaimed comic series "The Sandman" and has done a slew of other successful comic series and novels.
      • I personally wish American Gods and Good Omens would become something along the lines of highschool curriculum reading. Gaiman has a ton of skill at reducing a complex feeling into a few words, and has an amazing depth of perspective when it comes to seeing things from the other blokes point of view. If you've read nothing else of his, read these two if you have the chance.

        Granted Good Omens was a partnership with Terry Pratchett, but that's almost seems more of a selling point than a detraction =).

        • Re:Confused (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Achromatic1978 ( 916097 ) <robert.chromablue@net> on Monday June 18, 2007 @04:07PM (#19556825)
          Although difficult to pull off well, I could see a film of American Gods being pretty fantastic (though it'd piss off the Religious Right no end). Someone needs to option that.
          • That WOULD be brilliant, and the only reason it would piss off the religious right is the whole reason it exists to begin with. Faith and Belief has moved far beyond the realms of just religion these days, and pointing out the odder things that people exalt would definitely be worthwhile.

            The only downside I could see is it'd probably fall into the hands of an extremist left producer who overdoes the whole thing for shock value and ruins the point for everyone.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Gryle ( 933382 )
            I'm a religious man (probably more Center than Right) and American Gods is one of my favorite books. It is possible to enjoy something without believing it to be true.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by daemonc ( 145175 )
            There is only one director I can think of that could properly convey the surreal creepiness of American Gods:
            David Lynch
            Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think someone should get those two together...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gkhan1 ( 886823 )
            Anansi Boys would also be pretty damn awesome movie. We're at least are getting Stardust this summer.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by spun ( 1352 )
      Neil Gaiman is an immensely popular sci-fi/fantasy author. He also does some great graphic novels like The Sandman. I can't imagine being into sci-fi, fantasy, or comics and not having heard of him. He's not got quite the same level of publicity as, say, Heinlein or Tolkien, but he's got quite a lot of fans.
      • Neil Gaiman is an immensely popular sci-fi/fantasy author.

        But what DreamWorks wants from this deal is what every other studio has been looking for and hasn't found: a winning formula for delivering audiences on the scale of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter. It's why Warner cut a deal with James Patterson's fiction factory for the rights to When The Wind Blows and Maximum Ride.

    • The name did not ring a bell for me either. Reading the link it looks like a lot of his working is finding its way into film. That being said, I don't why an annoucement about a book that has not even been written yet makes the front page of Slashdot when he has several movies already about to be released.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by garoo ( 203070 )
        why an annoucement about a book that has not even been written makes the front page...

        Except that the book in question was written ten years ago:

        Gaiman said that in 1996 he began working with Michael Reaves on the idea for a story "about a boy who finds himself in the middle of a war between two equally powerful forces, who joins a super-team consisting of versions of himself from different alternate realities to try and maintain the cosmic balance." Soon after, the idea was pitched to DreamWorks and other

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pojut ( 1027544 )
      Ever seen the movie Mirrormask? That was Neil Gainman's child.

      Do yourself a favour and read "The Sandman" series of graphic novels. Some of the most beautiful and original storytelling ever told.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by starwed ( 735423 )
        Mirrormask was more Dave McKeans child than Gaiman's. (They collaborated on the script, and McKean did all the visuals.)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Pojut ( 1027544 )
          I was simply giving the guy an example of a movie he likely has heard of.

          If he hasn't heard of Gaiman, what do you think the chances are of him having heard of McKean? ;-)
        • Even then, I hear neither of them were really entirely satisfied by the end product... so it's not the best example in anycase.
          Anyone curious about Gaiman should start with his writing; Sandman: A Doll's House, and/or Good Omens are the best places to start.

    • Re:Confused (Score:5, Informative)

      by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:38PM (#19556481) Journal
      If you've not heard of the author, you might find an interview [slashdot.org] that he did for a little site called Slash-something useful.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      If you're into the surreal you'd best hop down to the local bookstore and pick up some of his work. He's best known for the Sandman series. I believe the last movie based on his work was Mirrormask. If you like that sort of thing (And I do) you're in for a treat. If you don't, this story won't matter much for you.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Skreems ( 598317 )
        That, and "Stardust" which is coming out soon and has trailers all over the place...
        • I remember reading Stardust a long time ago. It seemed like a rather generic fantasy title to me. I'd rather they made a movie adaptation of Gaiman's much better works like Good Omens, Neverwhere, American Gods, or Anansi Boys. Or maybe BBC could update the Neverwhere miniseries with similar production values to the new Dr. Who. But I guess with the success of LotR and the first Narnia movie, studios are more interested in epic fantasies than the less standard urban ones.

          I'll be looking for Interworld w

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Skreems ( 598317 )
            You know, I thought the same thing when I read Stardust, but from the trailer it looks like they've fleshed out a lot of little things that I missed. It looks like a very interesting, twisted fairy tale, from the trailers. I know a movie version of Good Omens was in the works, but that was a while ago so it may have been dropped. I would love to see what they could do with Anansi Boys.

    • Re:Confused (Score:5, Funny)

      by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:56PM (#19556711) Homepage Journal

      I've never heard of either the author or the novel -- and I'd like to think I'm fairly up on this type of thing.
      You'd LIKE to think that, but you really, really shouldn't ;-)
    • Author: Same guy who wrote Sandman [amazon.com] and American Gods [amazon.com] (and its sequel [amazon.com]), among many others, these being the most popular.

      Novel: From the summary, UPCOMING. As in, not yet released.

    • Okay, how about a Beowulf cluster? (Score:4, Informative)

      by frankie ( 91710 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @05:05PM (#19557483) Journal
      Yes, really! Although the bit about Interworld is somewhat interesting, this would have been a much better article if it explained the surrounding context: Neil Gaiman is hitting the silver screen in a BIG way right now. His graphic novel Stardust [imdb.com] is coming this August, loaded with an astonishing number of name actors. And for the money shot, Gaiman's adaptation of Beowulf [imdb.com] follows up in November, with another big batch of stars.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by njfuzzy ( 734116 )
        Don't forget Coraline (by the director of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach) coming in between Stardust and Beowulf.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by njfuzzy ( 734116 )
      Not having heard of the book, I can understand. It comes out at the end of this month. Not having heard of the author, though... huh?

      Neil Gaiman... You know, graphic novels like The Sandman, The Book of Magic, Black Orchid, and Mr. Punch. Books like Coraline, American Gods, Anansi Boys. Movies like MirrorMask and Stardust. Every major sci-fi, fantasy, and horror award, most of them three years out of four. One of the most popular [children's/graphic novel/fantasy] authors alive. Some of this must be ringi

  • "Stuff That Matters" (Score:1, Insightful)

    by jessiej ( 1019654 )
    "Stuff That Matters"... I understand a lot of nerds like scifi, but it doesn't seem like this is very significant news
    • Well perhaps you haven't read any of his books then. *goes to browse the iHype thread of the day.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Tastes differ... so I will offer up some slightly contrary advice. American Gods was not nearly as good as Good Omens... the collaboration done with Terry Pratchett. Good Omens is a Douglas Adams like send up about the anti-christ and the end of the world.

        Just my $.02 for someone looking into Gaiman for the first time.

        Regards.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Khaed ( 544779 )
      What's with all these people lately bitching about the stories on /. and citing the "Stuff that matters" part of the tagline?

      Slashdot has *always* talked about comic and scifi/fantasy novel movies.

  • Good news (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Selfbain ( 624722 )
    but I'm far more excited about the fact he has a new book coming out right away than I am over the fact they're making a movie based on it.
    • Yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic [foem.org.uk] about Stardust. I know they've added stuff that's not in the book, but the linked review seems to think it worked out quite well. Oh, and Interworld?!? Crappy title--I keep reading it as "teh Interwebs" instead, which is not a good thing. I'm confident though that the story is better than the title.
    • Be happy with that feeling; you 'can read'. I can _read_, sure- I'm here typing this. But when long lines are present in dense text-fields, my eyes lose track of the line I'm on, and I have to read a given book, (if I love it enough to try) nearly a dozen times before I "get it". What a pain in the ass. Strangely, reading things on the web usually don't have this problem. (Better margins)

      For me, the movie would be good. I'd really like to see Sandman done right, though. I'd love to see something every
      • As someone working on a couple of typography-related projects, I find this interesting. Do you know if it's a well-known condition? The optimal line length for readability has been shown to be 66 letters for most people. Do you know what it is for you? Does line or word spacing make a difference? What about kerning? Is there a difference between serif and sans serif typefaces?
        • Yeah, sans works better; being a tiny bit larger helps, too. It seems the biggest thing is the margins; a narrow colum of about 30-40 characters is the easiest- I can kinda speed-read that.

          Kerning...the kind i n t h e newspapers t h a t widens things in a surreal way, is merely annoying. :)

          I don't know what the condition is called, but it's something I've grown to recognize, like (after 20 years of doing minatures of various kinds) my sight has started to get blurry just like everyone else.

          Similarly

  • When do I report for the casting call? (Score:4, Funny)

    by BendingSpoons ( 997813 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:35PM (#19556437)
    I'm glad to hear that an author I've never heard of has secured film rights to a book that hasn't been released yet, but I think I liked this movie better when it was called 'The One' and starred Jet Li.
    • Ah, but this one will be animated. Makes all the difference.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shinma ( 106792 )
      If you've never heard of Neil Gaiman, you're missing out. He wrote the DC/Vertigo series Sandman, the BBC miniseries (and novel) Neverwhere, American Gods (and its sequel, Anansi Boys), MirrorMask, with Dave McKean, Good Omens, with Terry Pratchett, Stardust, the film adaptation of which is coming out soon, with Robert DeNiro and Claire Danes, and Coraline, the film version of which is in production, directed by the director of Nightmare Before Christmas.

      There's a lot more, but that's what I thought of off
  • Isn't it only something like 10% of stuff that gets optioned actually ever gets produced? Or possibly even less.

    And given the difficulty Gaiman has had with Sandman and movie studios, I don't think this will ever see daylight.
    • I just rewatched Total Recall the other night (GF is on a K.Dick reading kick and it was ontopic) and we watched some of the added content as well. Turns out that movie was optioned for something like a decade before it was made. I think at one time they had patrick swayze or some shit in the lead. As bad as Arnie is, that would have been terrible. I mean, REALLY terrible. And that script was rewritten something like 30 times :P Another similar revelation is that Labyrinth, instead of starring David Bowie,
      • Michael Jackson as the goblin king that steals children? That would have been excessively creepy.
        *shudders*

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tony ( 765 )
      And given the difficulty Gaiman has had with Sandman and movie studios, I don't think this will ever see daylight.

      Gaiman has a lot of movies in the works: "Coraline," "Stardust," and "Beowulf" are all in post-production or are completed right now. So, as far as this ever making it to the theaters, I think we have a pretty good chance of it.

  • Movie futures (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheWoozle ( 984500 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:49PM (#19556597)
    I wonder if we could start a commodities market where movie studios sell tickets/DVDs/downloads for future movie productions. Maybe then "news" like this might be worth something.

    Otherwise, wake me up when the movie has actually started *filming*.

    • Re:Movie futures (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @05:15PM (#19557611) Journal
      I've been saying for a long time this is how TV should be made. Make a pilot, and put it out for the public to view. Set up an escrow fund where people who like the pilot (or, if it's an established writer / producer like their other work) can put up some cash. If it reaches the amount needed to make the series within a given timeframe then the funds are released and the series is made. The final product is then released for download to the people who paid for it, who can then distribute it as they want (you're paying for the item to be created, rather than for the copy, because that's the thing that has the real value).

      Copyright would still protect you from derived works, so if the series is successful then people are likely to be willing to pay for a sequel and the original author is the only one who can make it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by wumingzi ( 67100 )
        I don't want to discourage novel ideas in finance, especially ones that would help get new and creative stuff made, but there are a few reasons why such a market doesn't exist.

        First, because production companies are generally private enterprises, not traded companies, you may run afoul of SEC rules on "qualified investors".

        Second, and more importantly, investing in film is pretty much the ultimate in high-risk investment. Unlike software, you don't really get to do a proof of concept, sell a few copies, th
        • I think maybe you're missing out on the point of it. The idea is that the people who want to see it donate, and then when there's enough money to make the show, they use that money as the entire budget. There's plenty of ways it can go wrong, but worrying whether you're gonna waste your money isn't one of them. The only initial risk is coming up with the pilot, as I see it.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by wumingzi ( 67100 )
            The idea is that the people who want to see it donate, and then when there's enough money to make the show, they use that money as the entire budget.

            Well, I get it. I am fortunate(?) in that I've worked professionally in software and film. My point is that the money involved to play this game is staggering. In software, a smart programmer working in his basement alone can spend a few months making something cool. The tip jar can then be put out and the programmer can get a buck or two for his hard work.
      • I've been saying for a long time this is how TV should be made. Make a pilot, and put it out for the public to view.

        It isn't that easy.

        In 1978 "the Galactica bridge was estimated at $850,000.
        Tektronix donated $3 million worth of high tech computer hardware to dress up the set. Television monitors totaling $35,000 were used. The six-foot long model of the Galactica, which weighed 60 pounds, cost $50,000." Battlestar Galactica FAQ [kobol.com]

        You have to deliver story, talent and production values up-front to stand

  • Michael Moorcock Ripoff anyone? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MuChild ( 656741 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @03:51PM (#19556641)
    I obviously haven't read the book yet, but it sounds an awful lot like Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion"/Elric of Melniboné material.

    Everything being done these days was done better in the '70's!

    • maybe you should read a few of Gaiman's books before making comments like that.

      I'd recommend American Gods.

      I remember reading some Moorcock books, but have zero recollection on what they are about.

      Everything being done these days was done better in the '70's!

      I sincerely hope that this was not an entirely serious comment. Going by that logic, we'd all still be reading Canterbury Tales.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by MuChild ( 656741 )
        Maybe you should read some Moorcock books before replying to comments like this! I have read a few books by Gaiman, including American Gods and found them, especially American Gods entirely "meh."

        His graphic novels are fantastic, however.

        To refresh your memory, some of Moorcock's books are about a guy who finds himself in a war and has to fight alongside versions of himself from alternate dimensions. It was a theme he explored in more than one book/series of books.

        I just wanna see the guy get a fat check

        • The point was, I did read Moorcock years ago, and it never made an lasting impression on me. You probably didn't pick that up because I didn't use expressions like "meh".

          To refresh your memory, some of Moorcock's books are about a guy who finds himself in a war and has to fight alongside versions of himself from alternate dimensions. It was a theme he explored in more than one book/series of books.

          I just wanna see the guy get a fat check from Gaiman's box office reciepts, that's all I'm sayin'!

          You do realise that you cannot patent an idea? and even copyright doesn't extend to just ideas. The idea that a protagonist fights with different version or versions of his/herself is not new, and Moorcock was certainly not the first to explore it. Did Moorcock pay anybody to use the idea of the doomed hero idea? what about Elric's pale

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by MuChild ( 656741 )
            Whooooa, there Cap'n! While I have been attempting to keep this discussion amiable in tone, if a little spicy for "flavor," you seem to be getting a might worked up.

            Bear in mind that what would be tone of voice doesn't come across in email, which, while stylistically weak, emoticons, expressions like "meh" and so forth come in handy while trying to convey the convivial, jocular or otherwise self-deprecatory intent of the writer.

            As far as copyright goes, while, true you can't copyrigth an idea....

            For exam

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by shinma ( 106792 )
          You know they're friends, yes? In fact, Gaiman wrote a short story called "One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock," for an Elric tribute anthology back in the mid-nineties.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by ao_coder ( 898070 )
      While I like both authors, they arent very similar (well ok, they are both English, and prone to fantasy). The Eternals series doesn't share anything in common with the eternal champion series aside from the word "eternal".

      Gaiman's been around long enough that I am not sure you can count his entire body of work as having been authored "these days".

      If you haven't read Gaiman, you should check out some of his stuff- you're in for a real treat. I wish I could discover him over again...

  • And they call this superteam (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The Fantastic One

  • Okay... So let me get this right (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Colin Smith ( 2679 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @04:17PM (#19556939)
    The premise of the novel is that it's better to have a permanent, eternal and unwinnable war between two opposing forces than it is to join one side, defeat the other side and have a subsequent eternity of peace?

     

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rakishi ( 759894 )
      Or more likely an eternity of enslavement and oppression under the heel of the winning side.
      • The Roman Empire absorbed their conquests and they became romanised citizens of the empire. The British Empire did the same. Then there's the Mongol empire, China etc. The song remains the same.

        The bad bit, is the fighting. When that ends, it's business as usual, it doesn't really matter who wins to the average person, it's just a change of leadership.

         

    • The premise of the novel is that it's better to have a permanent, eternal and unwinnable war between two opposing forces than it is to join one side, defeat the other side and have a subsequent eternity of peace?

      Interesting. That's the same underlying premise of the Avatars storyline from Charmed seasons six and seven. When did Gaiman turn into a couch potato in love with the WB? Or maybe just Alyssa Milano?

    • Re:Okay... So let me get this right (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @05:19PM (#19557669) Journal
      Depends on the weapons the war is fought with. An economic 'war' fought between rival corporations, for example, is better than a monopoly in a lot of ways. The Cold War, with the associated accelerated rate of technological growth, was almost certainly better than a McCarthyite or Soviet super-state.
      • ... unless you lived in any of the countries America and the USSR ended up using as proxy battlefields. Then the war was a lot less cold and trading in the war for a blowhard senator starts looking pretty darn attractive.

        (I never really get the comparisons of McCarthyism and Communist purges. Not saying that parent is engaging in them, but I heart a lot of that sort of talk in college from folks who were, in the main, fortunate that their only exposure to Communism was the Che Guevara shirt they wore in h

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Fred_A ( 10934 )

          I never really get the comparisons of McCarthyism and Communist purges.
          I believe people make the comparison because both were irrational and used the same propaganda tools, not because of their consequences for those subjected to them.

  • if this fleshes out, I hope it will turn out better than MirrorMask and Neverwhere.

    Granted, both MirrorMask and Neverwhere were originally written as scripts, but I just thought they lacked that dark atmosphere in his books. The reworked Neverwhere novel did regain that feel though.

    • I really liked MirrorMask, actually. Of course, I haven't read the story, so perhaps I'm missing the point you're getting at, but I thought it was beautifully done. In particular, it had an appropriate level of darkness for kids around age 10-13 who could really learn something from it (and in some cases, desperately need to learn the lesson contained therein), but at the same time avoided being boring for adults.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Fred_A ( 10934 )
      Given its tiny BBC budget, I thought that Neverwhere wasn't too bad actually. I read the book before figuring out it actually was a reworked script, then ordered the BBC DVDs since it was never broadcast here (France) and wasn't too disappointed. Granted the sets were a bit wobbly in places and the actors weren't all that great but for a shoestring budget production they did ok.
      It would deserve to be reworked as a proper movie IMO but Hollywood would probably insist on relocating it to Los Angeles or someth

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Ganesh999 ( 1075569 )
      I can't agree with the implied criticism of "MirrorMask". I simply loved it, so did my wife.

      Sure it lacked mass appeal; it was very much an "art-house" feel, and the cast of only 7 or so people ensured that the film felt more like a screenplay (not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion - check out "Dogville").

      But the plot was inventive and quintessentially Gaiman, and the acting was top notch. Costumes and sets were simple but well thought out, and seeing Dave McKean's usual style of artwork transformed f

  • Since Gaiman is on-topic (Score:5, Informative)

    by anethema ( 99553 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @05:45PM (#19557945) Homepage
    Anyone who enjoys Alice-in-Wonderland type stories, the book Neverwhere by Gaiman is probably one of my favorite books ever.

    Does an excellent job of telling a Wonderland type story where the protagonist is thrown into a totally different world, fairly close to this one. It is certainly my favorite work by Gaiman (much more so than American Gods, which seemed to be more 'critically acclaimed')

    Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-Novel-Neil-Gaiman /dp/0060557818/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-3732875-4118235 ?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182206627&sr=8-2 [amazon.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Gryle ( 933382 )
      I've always thought Gaiman's Coraline [amazon.com] to be his more Alice-in-Wonderland-style work, even though it's a children's book. Neverwhere strikes me as more of an "Odyssey" type of novel.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xeth ( 614132 )
      Bah. I never linked Neverwhere. It just felt like some lameass goth (to distinguish from cool goth, which does exist) masturbation fantasy, where the protagonist is whisked away to a world of magic and wonder, while the rest of the normals drudge away at irrelevance, and all because he's just "oh-so-special". It certainly had some good moments, but the overarching themes just left a bad taste in my mouth.

      • ... and all because he's just "oh-so-special"

        How so?

        I mean, think about it. He's in the company of someone who can open doors in space and time, a mythical hero, and a mysterious being of supreme self-confidence. Occasionally assisted by an odd oracular figure, they're on the run from 2 unstoppable killing machines on a quest to assist a trapped angel so s/he can reveal the answer to a mystery.

        What's 'oh-so-special' about Richard?

        <spoiler>
        Compassion - he stopped to help someone in trouble, at consid

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by anethema ( 99553 )
        I agree with the above post. He isn't special at all, other than that he was a 'good person' and stopped to help Door.

        Other than that point, to each their own opinion.

        Neverwhere was one of the few books I've read that I reread with only 1 book in between (Usually I wait at least a couple months)

        Definitely one of my favourites of all time (Think that honour goes to Dune.)
    • I really enjoyed the BBC (mini)-series, maybe even more than the book. The production values are a bit variable, but I thought it good fun. IIRC, the TV series was first in this case.
  • It's a Long Way to Tipperary.

    And a much longer way from optioning a property to seeing it on the silver screen. I wouldn't be getting in line for tickets yet.

  • I haven't read interworld but the synopsis in the OP sounds like morrisons Zenith Phase IV.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_(comics) [wikipedia.org]

  • Read it. When you finish, weep because it is all over.

    Neil Gaiman is one of the best writers working in the English language today. He has worked in an unusually wide variety of formats, from comics (not my thing really) to children's books (Coraline and I Traded My Dad for Two Goldfish) to novels to short stories to movie scripts. I've probably missed some.

    That Gaiman happens to write stuff Nerds tend to like makes it Slash-dot-worthy.

    P.S. It is pronounced gay-man.
  • I know I've heard this exact premise before. There was a series of stories (ran in Asimov's, or might have seen it in Dozois's "Years Best Science Fiction" anthology) with almost the exact same premise. A boy starts encountering future and past versions of himself, pulled in from other universes. The versions team up and use their powers and foreknowledge to fight fires, do good, help each other, etc.

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