Interview – Christian Science Monitor

From the September 30th Christian Science Monitor:

Neil Gaiman, best-selling author and cult phenomenon of fantasy literature, what are you reading?

I’m three-quarters of the way through the new Gene Wolfe short-story collection, Starwater Strains. I think he’s probably the most interesting living American writer. You’ll get people like [book reviewer] Michael Dirda at the Washington Post saying exactly the same thing. His short stories are an astonishing mixture of science-fiction, of fantasy, of horror – stories that are good, profound, and dangerous, and you’re entirely not sure why. It’s a cumulative effect.

…listening to?

I’ve been listening to a lot of a lady called Thea Gilmore. She’s a young English singer-songwriter. She’s done a bunch of albums now, each album is nothing like the one before, which I love. One is folky, one is a little more electronic, one is a little bit rough-and-tumble rock ‘n’ roll. I think she’s the best lyricist since Elvis Costello – and for me, lyrics are really, really important.

…watching?

I am currently watching Do Not Adjust Your Set, which is a children’s show – it was my favorite children’s show when I was seven. It stars [Monty Python’s] Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle … and the second season had animation by Terry Gilliam. It starts off very stiffly and rapidly becomes a proto Python thing. In fact, there were a few places where I noticed gags they’d actually reused when they did Python.