Relating to this, Gaiman says this:
One thing I didn't say in the Quint interview was that the "Hey. Black Guys. Lose the Fantasy and we're there..." reaction to Anansi Boys also came from several very big US black stars it was sent to. Which is one reason I'm more comfortable with suggesting that this is stupidness rather than racism.
Am drive-by posting because actually I'm not here (really. I'm not. you're imagining this) and won't be around again until after the weekend. No one is surprised that I have more to say about this, yes?
I'll update with full thoughts when I get back. Learning this data bit (which tells us there's a lot of stuff going on at once, here) the first thing that pops into my head is the Six Degrees of Separation film situation, and then that female rapper who turned out not to be from where she said she was from after all. I'll probably come up with more by the time I get back to typing.
Neil also says the BBC World Service will be doing an adaptation of Anansi Boys for radio, starring Lenny Henry. That's the guy who did the audio version of the book. (Aside: we should have had him on our fantasy casting list...)
And we're out.
