Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves are both award -winning writers. They also both rose to prominence outside the novel arena. Gaiman scripted the Sandman comic series that lasted 75 issues plus specials. Since that time he’s gone on to script many other things, including novels, television shows, short stories, movie scripts, and continued working in the comics arena. His work for Marvel Comics to create the 1602 universe when heroes similar to the present-day Spiderman, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, etc., rose 400 years ago has rightfully garnered a lot of attention. He also helped flesh out the mythos of the comics industry’s best-selling title, Spawn.
Michael Reaves has written many television cartoon scripts, including Batman the Animated Series, Ghostbusters, and others. He’s also written short stories and novels.
According to the notes in the latest book they have out together, InterWorld, they got the idea for the book about ten years ago. Reaves joined Gaiman at his house and they sat down and wrote the book together. The idea had originally started out as a pitch for the television people. Since they had trouble explaining the concept to television executives, they came up with the idea of writing a short novel about it. Even after the novels written, television wasn’t prepared to make a series.
Last year, the manuscript was given fresh life when it was shown around to some prospective publishers. Almost immediately, the book was greenlit for publication.
I enjoy a lot of Neil Gaiman’s work. His comics are great, his short stories haunt, and his novels are generally burst out loud laughing or truly epic. Sometimes both.
I’ve read some of Reaves' books, but I’m not as familiar with his work. He seems to create some interesting worlds and some interesting characters.
When I heard about InterWorld, the premise sounded truly exciting. Imagine a boy, Joey Harker, who could run into several of his alternate selves on parallel worlds. I figured immediately that the book had kind of a Sliders or Marvel Comics Exiles feel. I had a lot of hopes for the book.
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