# InterWorld > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/InterWorld > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/InterWorld.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterWorld > Source revision: 1354587903 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 2007 novel by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves "Interworld" redirects here. For the auxiliary language in science fiction by Larry Niven, see [Known Space](/source/Known_Space). This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "InterWorld" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) InterWorld Cover of InterWorld Author Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves Cover artist James Jean Language English Genre Science Fantasy Publisher EOS, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Publication date June 26, 2007 Publication place United States Published in English 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-123896-3 OCLC 122308994 LC Class PZ7.G1273 Int 2007 Followed by The Silver Dream ***InterWorld*** is a fantasy and science fiction novel by [Neil Gaiman](/source/Neil_Gaiman) and [Michael Reaves](/source/Michael_Reaves). The book was published in [2007](/source/2007_in_literature) by EOS, an imprint of [HarperCollins Publishers](/source/HarperCollins). It follows the story of Joey Harker who, together with a group of other Joeys from different Earths in other [parallel universes](/source/Multiverse), try to stop the two forces of magic and science from taking over all of the Earths in different universes. ## Plot summary Joey Harker is an average high school student living in Greenville. He has trouble finding his way around his own house, let alone the town. On a field trip set by his [Social Studies](/source/Social_Studies) teacher, Mr. Dimas, Joey finds himself lost in the city, and then enters a strange fog; when he emerges, everything has changed. All the cars are brightly coloured, and the police cars are flashing green and yellow instead of blue and red. When he goes back to his home, he discovers that he does not exist anymore; instead, there is a girl named Josephine living there. He runs outside and meets a man wearing a mirrored mask, who introduces himself as Jay. But before Jay can explain anything, three men in grey outfits appear, standing on floating silver disks, all trying to catch Joey using silver nets. Joey runs away, and unintentionally enters the fog again. Afraid of going back to a home where he doesn't exist, Joey decides to go to Mr. Dimas for help. Mr Dimas is shocked to see Joey, telling him that he had drowned last year and that Mr. Dimas himself had pulled Joey's body out of the river. Suddenly a woman called Lady Indigo appears in the room, bewitching Joey into following her. She is joined by two other men. One, called Scarabus, has mystical tattoos all over his body; the other, a man with transparent skin, is called Neville. They move Joey to a flying ship, the *Lacrimae Mundi*. The ship teleports to *Nowhere-at-all*, a sort of hyperspace, and heads towards a place called "HEX Prime". Before they can reach there, Jay arrives and helps Joey escape, injuring himself in the process. Joey then opens a portal to the *In-Between*, a [multidimensional](/source/Dimension) world which only Walkers and MDLF beings (multidimensional life forms, or 'mudluffs') can enter. The *In-Between* is a shortcut for traveling from world to world. Jay explains to Joey that he belongs to an organization called *InterWorld*, whose task is to keep the [altiverse](/source/Multiverse) in balance, by stopping the scientific force (Binary) from making worlds too scientific, while also stopping the magical force (HEX) from making worlds too magical. Jay explains that Joey has the ability to "Walk", or pass through the In-Between into other dimensions quickly and smoothly. Re-entering the "In-Between", they meet a mudluff which looks like a bubble and communicates using colours. It appears to be trapped, and when Joey tries to free it, a giant serpent (revealed in the second book to be called a Gyradon) appears and bites Jay. The mudluff kills the serpent, but Jay is already dying. Before he dies he gives Joey a mathematical equation that will take him to Base Town, the InterWorld HQ: {IW}:=Ω/∞ (InterWorld is [Omega](/source/Omega) over [Infinity](/source/Infinity)). The mudluff then becomes attached to Joey and he names it "[Hue](/source/Hue)". When Joey reaches the HQ, he discovers that all the Walkers are copies of himself from different Earths. He now begins an intensive course studying very advanced science and magic to prepare him for his new role as a member of the InterWorld. Many of the other Joeys initially resent Joey for Jay's death, but as his skills improve they soon come round. After a few months, Joey and four other Walkers set out on a training mission, to retrieve some signal beacons from a more scientific earth. The earth they go to turns out to be a "shadow realm", and is in fact a trap, set by the same people from HEX who captured him earlier. Everyone on the team is captured by HEX, except for Joey, who is saved by Hue. When Joey escapes back to HQ, the leader, an old man named Joe (a.k.a. Old Man), decides that Joey is not capable of working in InterWorld, and wipes his memory of it. Joey is then sent home, where he believes that nothing has happened, but feels that something is missing. Blowing bubbles with his little brother one day, Joey remembers Hue, and all his memories of the Altiverse come back. Joey now says goodbye to his family, walks into the Altiverse again, and sets off to save his team-mates. With Jay's words in his head and Hue's help, Joey finds the airship where his team-mates are being held, but is again captured by the HEX, and taken to meet their leader, a hideous large goblin called Lord Dogknife. In the centre of the room where his team-mates are being held is a large cauldron, where the HEX boil Walkers down to their raw essence, which is used as fuel for their transdimensional spacecraft. Joey manages to knock the cauldron over, incinerating some of the guards in the room, and unties his friends. They escape to the engine room, which is filled with the souls from other Walkers, powering the ship. Joey and his team-mates break the jars to free the souls and shut the ship down. The engine explodes, and Joey and his team-mates plan an escape from the Nowhere-At-All through a gate which is closing quickly. Joey, however, decides he cannot leave without Hue, who had saved his life multiple times. When Scarabus and a group of soldiers come into the destroyed engine room to recapture Joey and his team-mates, J/O, a cyborg Joey, defeats Scarabus in a duel, and everyone sets off to track down Lord Dogknife. Dogknife has meanwhile been captured by the freed souls and rendered harmless. Joey finds Hue, and despite an attempt by Lady Indigo to stop them, escapes with his team-mates through the gate and returns to the Interworld HQ. Instead of congratulating them for their heroic work, however, the Old Man lectures them on all their wrongdoings in the Altiverse, but he allows Joey to stay, without wiping his memory, and soon the group sets out on another mission. ## In other media The idea of *InterWorld* surged in 1996, when Reaves was developing an animated series for [DreamWorks](/source/DreamWorks_Animation). Suggesting to Gaiman an idea for a possible animated television series, they collaborated on the story and unsuccessfully tried to sell it to various studios, including DreamWorks, which was not interested. The *InterWorld* idea ended up as a novel that was not released until 2007.[1][2] In June 2007, [Neil Gaiman](/source/Neil_Gaiman) reported in his journal that [DreamWorks Animation](/source/DreamWorks_Animation) had optioned the book to make it into an animated feature film.[1] In June 2016, the plans to make *InterWorld* as television series were revived by [Universal Cable Productions](/source/Universal_Cable_Productions), in association with *[Hamilton](/source/Hamilton_(musical))* producer [Jeffrey Seller](/source/Jeffrey_Seller) and his partner Flody Suarez.[3] ## Sequels The second *InterWorld* book, titled *[The Silver Dream](/source/The_Silver_Dream)*, was released on April 23, 2013.[4] The third and final book in the series, titled *[Eternity's Wheel](/source/Eternity's_Wheel)*, was released on May 19, 2015.[5][6] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-NGNewsAndMusing_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-NGNewsAndMusing_1-1) Gaiman, Neil (16 June 2007). ["News and musing"](http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2007/06/news-and-musing.html). neilgaiman.com. Retrieved 12 February 2011. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Neil Gaiman's Film Work"](http://www.neilgaiman.com/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_About_Neil/Neil_Gaiman's_Film_Work). Neil Gaiman. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160302121927/http://www.neilgaiman.com/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_About_Neil/Neil_Gaiman%27s_Film_Work) from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Amato, Allan (21 July 2016). ["*Hamilton* producer to develop TV adaption of Neil Gaiman's *Interworld*"](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/20/interworld-tv-neil-gaiman-hamilton-producer). *Entertainment Weekly*. Retrieved 21 July 2016. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["The Silver Dream (InterWorld novel) by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves synopsis and cover art revealed!"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121111075638/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/the-silver-dream-interworld-novel-by-neil-gaiman-and-michael-reaves-synopsis-and-cover-art-revealed). *Upcoming4.me*. 6 November 2012. Archived from [the original](http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/the-silver-dream-interworld-novel-by-neil-gaiman-and-michael-reaves-synopsis-and-cover-art-revealed) on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Eternity's Wheel"](http://www.harpercollins.com/9780062067999/eternitys-wheel). Harper Collins. Retrieved 27 September 2014. The heart-pounding conclusion to the bestselling InterWorld series,... 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Dean, Samantha (30 April 2015). ["Neil Gaiman and all his stories are coming to Constitution Hall"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2015/04/30/neil-gaiman-and-all-his-stories-are-coming-to-constitution-hall/). *The Washington Post*. Retrieved 24 May 2015. ## External links - [Neil Gaiman's personal web site](http://www.neilgaiman.com/) v t e InterWorld Writers Neil Gaiman Michael Reaves Mallory Reaves Novels InterWorld The Silver Dream Eternity's Wheel v t e Neil Gaiman bibliography Novels Good Omens Neverwhere Stardust The Sandman: The Dream Hunters American Gods Coraline Anansi Boys InterWorld Odd and the Frost Giants The Graveyard Book The Ocean at the End of the Lane Short story collections Angels and Visitations Smoke and Mirrors Fragile Things M Is for Magic A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff Trigger Warning Picture books The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish The Wolves in the Walls Blueberry Girl Crazy Hair Short fiction "Murder Mysteries" "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" "Snow, Glass, Apples" "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" "A Study in Emerald" "I, Cthulhu" Comic books and graphic novels Violent Cases Black Orchid character The Sandman Death of the Endless Dream Lucifer Signal to Noise Marvelman The Books of Magic The Last Temptation Angela Death: The High Cost of Living The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch Sandman Midnight Theatre Lady Justice Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man Death: The Time of Your Life Midnight Days "Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame" The Sandman: Endless Nights Marvel 1602 Eternals "Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" Screenplays and adaptations Neverwhere Babylon 5 "Day of the Dead" A Short Film About John Bolton MirrorMask Stardust Beowulf Coraline Doctor Who "The Doctor's Wife" "Nightmare in Silver" Lucifer (TV series) American Gods (TV series) How to Talk to Girls at Parties Good Omens (TV series) The Sandman (TV series) Dead Boy Detectives (TV series) Anansi Boys (TV series) Miscellaneous Ghastly Beyond Belief Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion The Sandman: Book of Dreams A Walking Tour of the Shambles Two Plays for Voices Kirby: King of Comics (introduction) Neverwhere (radio play) 8in8 (lyrics) Where's Neil When You Need Him? InterWorld series Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously Norse Mythology Authority control databases Open Library --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [InterWorld](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterWorld) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterWorld?action=history)). 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