Every now and then, dear readers, Messrs. Schneider and Atkins will pause amidst their hectic lives and laugh hollowly as they remember they once foolishly promised you all that this newsletter would be a regular publication. In fact, hilarious as it may seem, the phrase "monthly schedule" was once tossed about with happy abandon. Well. Santa Claus isn't real, the sun does not revolve around the earth, that dress DOES make you look fat, and The Newsletter is apparently what gentlemen publishers used to refer to as "an occasional publication".

However ..

We think you'll find this issue has been worth the wait. There is much exciting news about your favourite author and the next offerings from Hill House—so, without further ado, let's take a look at what's happening ...

[Note from Peter Schneider: Some Series Members may be troubled by the fact that even though Hill House is based in the U.S., our Mr. Atkins persists in using British spellings, i.e. "favourite" instead of "favorite." Don't let this trouble you—remember the old phrase, "You can take the Brit out of England, but you can't take the England out of the Brit." What's more troubling to me, however, is that Mr. Atkins insists on using the word "impact" as a verb—as in, "How did this turn of events impact your life?" This is a heinous transgression, and his feeble defense—"But it's become an acceptable usage!"— makes me throw my head back and laugh and laugh in maniacal glee. Rest assured, I will continue to do my best to maintain the standards of the English language.]

A SCREENPLAY—Shipping Begun!

Even as you read this, your copy of A SCREENPLAY is on its way to you. As all of you know, this book is completely free to every member of the Author's Preferred Edition Series—indeed, is unavailable to anyone else ever and will never be reprinted. A true collectible rarity, and one with which we trust and hope you will be delighted. It's 145 pages of previously-unseen Neil Gaiman writing bound in an oversize hardcover bound in a striking blue cloth and every copy is signed by the author.

Your copy of A SCREENPLAY should find its way to you within the next two weeks, and, as ever, if there are any problems with delivery or condition, just let us know and we'll take care of it immediately.

A SCREENPLAY is a book that Neil wanted his true fans to have. When we came to him many months ago and said we wanted to include a free book as part of the Membership Package, that we'd like it to be something special, and that we wondered if he had any ideas for it, he said "I know exactly what it should be". It will delight you all, we're sure, but it will be particularly pleasing to those of you who've followed Neil's career from the earliest days (and, no, it's not a script adaptation of his Duran Duran biography).

Watch for those delivery trucks, people!

Stunning News About NEVERWHERE

As you know, the delivery of A SCREENPLAY is not the end of what your membership bought you. Far from it. What's up next for those of you who were kind and trusting enough to commit to a prepaid membership from a company about whom you knew very little is even more exciting.

Pre-publication work has finally begun on Hill House's Author's Preferred Edition of NEVERWHERE. Neil, despite being in the middle of work on his brand new novel ANANSI BOYS, undertook an archeological dig for us through the cobwebbed files and folders buried several strata down in the city of his imagination—in other words, the archives of his computer—and found the Holy Grail we'd been pestering him for; the unseen NEVERWHERE. He also found some unexpected treasure—but we'll come to that in a moment. First, let's tell you about the book you'll all be getting sometime early next year.

As most of you know, the first edition of NEVERWHERE was published in the UK and was followed some months later by the American edition. Now, the completists among you probably already possess both editions and probably already know that they are somewhat different—different in length, different in tone, and different in content. What you might NOT know is that, even if you are a proud owner of both of those first editions, you still do not have the complete work, you still do not have the version of the novel that Neil wanted his readers to see.

Here's what happened. . .at the request of his American publishers, Neil revised the manuscript of NEVERWHERE that had formed the basis of the earlier UK edition. The revisions consisted primarily of adding material that the America reader might need to fully understand the world (both real and imagined) in which the novel took place. There were certain geographical shorthands and cultural assumptions in the original version that worked perfectly well for UK readers but which might leave American (indeed, all international) readers a little lost. As Neil worked on the revisions, he realized that this was the version he preferred, the version that he would henceforth regard as the definitive text of the novel. The UK draft had been approximately 90,000 words. This new expanded version was over 100,000 words. The novel had grown by 10,000 words—the equivalent of three short stories. It wasn't that there were simply new—almost modular—sections inserted into the original. Instead, the whole text grew organically—a word or two here, a sentence or two there—until it became a fuller, truer version of itself. The Author's Preferred Text, in short.

Unfortunately, it did not become the Author's Preferred EDITION. Not then. That's OUR job, folks. What happened was that the US publisher then requested cuts in the expanded version. Not cuts of the new material, but cuts in other sections of the original. Consequently, the American edition of NEVERWHERE, as originally published, was once again a book of about 90,000 words. But a different 90,000 words than the UK edition. Confused? Imagine how Neil felt!

There is a possibility, oddly enough, that the full version was published, in translation, in either France or Norway— Neil honestly can't remember—but the important fact is that that expanded version, the true text, the 100,000 word draft, has NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED BEFORE in English. All current UK and US editions remain the same as the first editions in those respective countries.

Now don't worry, kiddies. Like all good stories, this one has a happy ending. The edition of NEVERWHERE that Hill House will publish early next year will be—finally—the Author's Preferred Edition. All 100,000 words of the version that Neil regards as the true one. And all contained within a breathtakingly beautiful volume that will match—or surpass—our edition of AMERICAN GODS in quality and production values. And, to you members, this unique edition will cost not one extra cent. You've already paid for it. And it will be our pleasure to give you more than your money's worth.

There's a lot of work still to be done—which is why we're not dumb enough to commit yet to a specific month of publication. We're currently holding many many files of many many drafts, all pulled directly from Neil's computer, and we must carefully compare and contrast all of them—along with close textual comparison to the original published versions—before we can be sure that the text we then put into production—after Neil's final stamp of approval, of course—is literally and truly the Author's Preferred Edition.

But, wait. There's more ..

Even More Stunning News About NEVERWHERE

Remember somewhere in the preceding article when we said some unexpected treasures had been discovered? Thanks for your patience, folks. When you read what follows, you'll see it was worth it.

As detailed above, we'll be publishing a book called NEVERWHERE soon.

But, actually, we'll be publishing TWO books called NEVERWHERE soon.

Now, before we go any further, let us reiterate that your copy of the novel NEVERWHERE—in a volume of stunning quality and containing additional material that makes it the definitive author-preferred text—is yours at absolutely no extra cost. That's a done deal. You've already paid for it.

But ...

You notice how we said in that last paragraph "the novel NEVERWHERE"? Well, NEVERWHERE was something else before it was a novel, wasn't it? It was a TV show in the UK. And, long before cameras rolled on that TV show, it was a collection of screenplays (or teleplays, as they're called in TV)—every word of which was written by Neil Gaiman, and every word of which has previously only been read and enjoyed by those cast and crew members lucky enough to have been part of the production team that brought you the TV show.

That's about to change.

Thanks to Neil's generosity and commitment to you, the membership, Hill House proudly announce a new addition to their growing roster of Neil Gaiman rarities and special editions:

NEVERWHERE: THE TELEPLAYS

That's right. For the first time anywhere in the world, Neil's original scripts are to be published and made available to his most devoted fans and readers (that's you, in case you weren't paying attention).

All six episodes will be published in one oversized hardcover volume of approximately 250-300 pages, produced to co-incide with the publication of the novel.

Time for another station-break: NEVERWHERE [the novel] is yours already, of course. No extra cost. You want it, you got it. No new obligation here. No shell-game.

For those of you who wish it, however, we are offering the opportunity to up-grade your existing NEVERWHERE order. Should you so desire—and ONLY if you so desire—you may choose to receive, instead of your stand-alone slipcased copy of the novel, BOTH books—the novel and the collected teleplays—in one, specially-commissioned, slip-case that will elegantly house both books, despite their different dimensions.

Because this is still almost as new and exciting to us as we trust it is to you, we can't yet state a firm price for the upgrade edition. The teleplay book will have a page-count that's actually higher than the novel and it will be produced to Hill House's usual exacting standards, so we are confident it will be well worth the additional expense, but—can't stress this enough, folks—the decision is entirely yours; should you wish to receive only the novel, we are more than happy to accomodate you.

For legal reasons, we are unfortunately unable to sell NEVERWHERE: THE TELEPLAYS as a stand-alone volume. Your only opportunity to own it is as part of this upgrade edition. The good(?) news is that the books won't be ready for MONTHS—so you'll have plenty of time to save your milk money!

More details will be forthcoming ...

That's All For Now, Folks

Well, this edition of the Newsletter was late (so what else is new)—but we're guessing you feel it was worth waiting for. A SCREENPLAY on its way to you. NEVERWHERE, the novel, coming soon in a definitive and beautiful edition. And an opportunity to obtain a unique addition the the Gaiman canon. Pretty exciting, we think. We're worried that the next issue is going to seem remarkably dull by contrast .. hmm .. time to ask Neil to start digging around again, we think ..

Pete Atkins

Pete Atkins (slightly earlier in his career)

The Hill House team—Peter Schneider (on left) and Pete Atkins (on right), and in the middle, the one voice of sanity (with the single exception of choosing to marry Peter Schneider), Ms. Jennifer Brehl.

With all best wishes,
Peter Schneider & Peter Atkins

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