I'm a bit disappointed in this interview. The interviewer asks a really interesting question to Gaiman about how he seems to have mellowed a bit over the last few years (his books are still dark, but not near as dark as "The Problem with Susan" or [i]American Gods[/i]. Gaiman doesn't seems to acknowledge any change though - I guess he may be afraid of seeming like he's lost his edge....

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it's eerily perfect that John Constantine is interviewing Neil Gaiman?

collinjchang--Ha! I was thinking the same thing. That would actually be somewhat entertaining: Reading a one-off where the actual character John Constantine interviews Gaiman. Something about that initial description of Gaiman didn't sit well with me, though. Tim Burton and Phillip K. Dick?

I've only started to graze the surface of Gaiman's work, and just finished the first two volumes of Absolute Sandman. I haven't been so transported to another world since childhood. If any reader isn't familiar with Gaiman, do yourself a favor and flip through some of the Sandman trades in your local Borders (or comic shop, if there's one near you).

I didn't dodge the question. I simply thought the premise of the question was shaky. "The Problem of Susan" was the most recently written short story in "Fragile Things", which is the most recent original short story collection, so the suggestion that I've mellowed since writing it is rather difficult to back up. If you're saying that "The Graveyard Book" is not as dark as "American Gods", well, sure, but it wouldn't have been appropriate for it to have been that dark, any more than it would have been appropriate for "Stardust" or "The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish", which both preceded "American Gods", to be that dark. Of the small handful of short stories written since "The Problem of Susan", one is much darker, a couple are much lighter. But it'll be a few years until there are enough for a collection and they're made into a book anyway.

Anyway, just posting to point out that "f***" is word 15 of "American Gods". The word F*** does not appear in The Graveyard Book, unless you write it there yourself.

Thank god it wasn't just me cracking up at that one, collinjchang! The irony was too sweet. :)

I can't help but wonder if these comments have truly been graced by Mr. Neil Gaiman himself. I hope so.

A quick note - John Constantine (interviewer, not character) asked Mr. Gaiman how starting a family had changed him as a writer, not how he had mellowed over time. But, to be fair, Mr. Gaiman has changed over time: a good writer must change and evolve over time in order to be relevant. After all, one must either change or die... But I would not say that his writing has mellowed, per se.

Another note - Although the character John Constantine appeared in the Sandman, John Constantine was created by Alan Moore, another dark genius.

By the way, congratulations are due to Mr. Gaiman on being awarded the Newbery Medal for the Graveyard Book. Congratulations. I look forward to a trek to the local theater to see Coraline and will wait patiently for any and all future projects to become available to the public for consumption.

Thanks for helping clarify that, ravenshadow. I was asking how Mr. Gaiman thought he had or had not changed as a writer after starting a family and wasn't insinuating that he had mellowed, as it were, in any way.

I can also say that he didn't dodge any question asked, those here as well as those questions that didn't make the final cut. His answers were both thoughtful and thorough. So thorough that they couldn't be printed in full. Otherwise the interview would have been ten pages long :}

Yes, Raven, Alan Moore did create JC. And, if the hermetic warlock is to be believed, had a brush with him in a pub, once.

And, Neil, if this really is you, forget 'Death: The High Cost of Living', when in f*ck all is 'Brief Lives' gonna be made? I've had a crush on Delirium since God knows when, can't wait to see her thirty feet tall, in the flesh, so to speak. Pure genius, that storyline.

Just finished reading the Graveyard Book to my 7- and 8-year old kids and they were crazy about it. Had to drive to a bookstore immediately after finishing to buy Coraline, and we are loving that one as well. I haven't read Neil's adult stuff yet, but I can say that his children's work really appeals to my kids. It's interesting and somewhat dark, and not patronizing like so much of kids' lit.