Uppity-Negro.com

As I mentioned in the comments to the previous entry, Neil mentioned how much he enjoyed doing readings in actual auditoriums, where he could do more with character's voices. This really came out with the first, as-yet-unpublished, story he read.

"When the Wolves Come Out of the Walls," an adult's voice intoned, confident, precise and without hesitation, "it's all over."

"What's all over?" The voice of a little girl, curious about this new information and wanting to know more.

"It," the adult replied, as if this word contained all the answers the child could possibly need.

He also held up what he described as "a beautiful Dave McKean double-page spread," then quickly folded it and replaced it on the lectern, adding, "which you can't see because you're too far away."

This caused delighted laughter to pour from the audience, which ironically? predictably? regretfully? contained very few children. It was a children's book story, after all, and I imagine the few in attendance (which included his daughter) enjoyed the tale as much, if not more, than the older Sandman/goth adults who made up most of it.

Vaguely apropos, my older sis mentioned a few days back that the American Library Association has a Read poster featuring Sandman available now.

I have no idea why I needed to get that out of my system, particularly the description of the reading, but I did. And did. So, um, right.