Pratchett passed away in 2015 but, for Gaiman, working on the show “makes it feel like he’s not dead … Einstein apparently once sent his condolences to the wife of a dead colleague.

They met when Gaiman, then a journalist, was sent to interview the Discworld author they became fast friends, and published the book five years later. Then there’s the sitcom Good Omens – in which an antiquarian bookseller angel (played by Michael Sheen) and a sly devil (David Tennant) team up to stop the apocalypse – based on a novel Gaiman wrote more than 30 years ago with Terry Pratchett. The Sandman, based on Gaiman’s comics, was Netflix’s most-watched show last summer and is due for a second season, so it could be that – but the streaming site is also adapting his Dead Boy Detectives, so it could be that, too. There’s an adaptation for Amazon of his 2005 fantasy Anansi Boys, which reintroduces the African trickster from American Gods, his 2001 novel which has already spawned a lavish TV series of its own. I can’t guess which “things” he means Gaiman has fingers in so many pies. How do I put this? Hypothetically speaking, one might find oneself in a position where things that had not technically yet been commissioned have to be written very fast …” Everything is a bit mad right now.” He’s referring to the American screenwriters’ strike that “might be coming at the beginning of May. But writing what? “I can’t tell you.” Go on, give us a hint.

He says he was writing and lost track of time. I’ve been waiting an hour when the author pops up on Zoom, a boyish 62, tousle-haired and apologetic.

The sandman absolute edition