The description of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere at Amazon begins with this sentence:

Under the streets of London there’s a world most people could never even dream of.

And yet I have not read it since before I moved to London. I know full-well that London’s geography is drawn on heavily in the book, but it has never occurred to me to revisit it as a person who lives in London and is familiar with the references; that my enjoyment of the book might have been lessened by it being in an imaginary place (for all intents and purposes) when I last read it a decade ago has never occurred to me.

Until now.

Now there’s a BBC Radio 4 adaption being aired, and Neverwhere is on the mind. The radio show needs listening, but the book needs to be revisited first, and in a hurry.

So beneath London we go …

Book image from Amazon.

If you’re like me, you like graphic novels, but are absolutely horrible at collecting them. In the “I never actually buy them, I just like reading them” sense, rather than the “I have so many, where do I put them all?” sense.

So graphic novels are next in the Advent Calendar. I need somebody else to buy them for me.

And what graphic novel do I really enjoy yet never manage to pick up the next book? What graphic novel serves as an embarrassing hole in my geek credentials amongst my Neil Gaiman maniac friends?

Sandman.

Luckily, there’s a sexy set that can be bought!

It’s amazing how people trying to repackage things their primary audience already own manage to think of everything.

Like your eggs hard boiled? Like your eggs scrambled?

If you answered “yes” to both these questions, you might face difficult dilemmas in the morning. But fear not! Both your desires can be met with the invention of the hard boiled scrambled egg.

It would appear that Nikola Tesla predicted the invention of the mobile phone in 1909.

In shocking news, Neil Gaiman gets paid for speaking appearances. Just kidding. That’s not shocking, though his reaction is amusing:

In fact most of the talks and appearances I do are for free.

But if you want to hire me to come in and talk, it’s expensive.

My speaking fees are high. I keep them that way intentionally

Living in the future, as we do, we are sometimes confronted by bizarre questions, such as “is it ethical to clone yourself and harvest the organs?” Today we are forced to contemplate a future in which we are all Spiderman.

(from Joseph Zohn)

Take a photograph in Seattle, be sued by an artist who was commissioned to create art in a public space. We at the Big Bad Blog wonder why he has not sued Google — the sidewalks in the area are clearly visible in Google Street View.

Those of you who are saddened by your inability to read a Neil Gaiman book while simultaneously watching Doctor Who episodes can now rejoice — you will not have to choose between them, for a forty-five minute span in 2011.