Neil Gaiman and Kate KonneKTion

[THE OLIVE-LOAF VIGILANTE <METH@delphi.com>]

Hi!

Ah, so good to see the gaffa debate around here again.  Spring must be right
around the corner. ;>

To answer a recently-asked question: Yes, Neil Gaiman is a fan of Kate Bush's
music.  He mentioned something about having gone out and bought the Live At
Hammersmith video/CD thing a couple months ago, but I'm don't know if he'd
watched it yet.  He has placed some glaringly obvious references to Kate's
music in The Sandman: the one that immediately comes to mind is a quote from
the song "The Dreaming" in one of the earliest issues (#3, maybe?).

I don't think Brian Dillard's implication that Neil introduced Tori Amos to
Kate's music holds water, though -- from interviews I've read, it seems that
Tori owned _HoL_ before she met Neil, which was not long before _Little
Earthquakes_ was released.  (She met him as a result of her request for permis-
sion to use his name in the already -recorded "Tear In Your Hand".)

Another British fantasy author (with whom Neil has worked, actually) who is a
Katefan is Terry Pratchett, author of the brilliant and painfully funny Disc-
world novels (which I now see are being published in hardcover, finally!).
He has mentioned Kate in a number of footnotes, and I firmly believe that the
harem refugee depicted on the cover of _Pyramids_ is Kate.  Take a look and
tell me that's not her.  I dare you. ;>

Other Katefans in the SF/Fantasy world include Charles DeLint, Lawrence Watt-
Evans, Kate Elliott (a.k.a. Alis Rasmussen, who got the first name of her
pseudonym from guess who), and others.

Meredith
meth@delphi.com