sivaroobini | Writers' meetup and Sandman (Reply)

So on Tuesday, the Speculative Fiction Writers of Singapore had a meetup at the Writers' House in the Telok Ayer Arts Centre. And it was AWESOME.

I'd been a little worried initially, because most of the people in this group are adults and published authors and I'm just a kid who who writes loads of fanfiction and role-play and doesn't think her original things are ready to be shown to anyone. But they were all really nice and I had so much fun! The talks on sci-fi and fantasy and speculative fiction were really educational and I learnt a lot (though I could have done without that revelation about the symbolism behind the lightsabers in Star Wars. JF, I'm looking at you), and the other writers were awesome too and I very much enjoyed talking to them.

Also, I recently managed to finally obtain copies of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Endless Nights, Death: The High Cost of Living and Death: The Time Of Your Life. Simply FABULOUS. I was blown away.

Although some days ago, I was reading Death: The High Cost Of Living on the train to school, surrounded by people, including this guy about my age who'd been glancing at my book quite a few times. I didn't know that at the end of the story comes a few extra pages in which the bubbly Death talks about AIDS, and was surprised, but enjoyed it. I liked the way she talked about those things, and I had no idea what was coming.

Then I turned the page, and caught a glimpse of Death demonstrating the correct use of a condom. In quite a large panel. Immediately, I slammed the book shut, face burning, and hoped nobody had been reading over my shoulder.

Later in a corner at school I finished reading it, and inwardly squealed at John Constantine's cameo, and giggled at how embarrassed he was and at the banana Death was using for the demonstration. I also thought that it was really cute and cool that Gaiman was spreading AIDS awareness through Death, one of the most awesome characters EVER. But yeah, the perils of reading Sandman on the bus or train. ;)