A small happy birthday post to somebody living and somebody dead.
This is the dead person. I think this may be the funniest 8 minutes of someone staring at you and telling you about his experiences as a coal miner and novelist ever filmed.
And here, from twenty years ago, are both birthday boys. "Independent wealth. And blackmail."
In a Minneapolis airport lounge on my way to Las Vegas, on Fireworks Night. Which seems appropriate somehow.
HELLO
Next time, pleasepleaseplease don't explain that you were moving a beehive around. I never would then have realised that you were in fact wearing a beekeeping outfit and not actually parading around town dressed as a giant bee.
Thank you!
Right. Sorry.
Dear Mr. Gaiman (or the people looking after him), I have just finished reading The Graveyard Book, which I enjoyed immensely. While reading it though, I believe I came upon a small blunder, which you might want to fix: On chapter 5, when Bod is talking to the Lady on the Grey, she says: 'He is gentle enough to bear the mightiest of you away on his broad back, and strong enough for the smallest of you as well' Surely the words gentle and strong were switched? Unless the switch has some poetical meaning that I missed. I hope this helped in some small way. The book I read was the hard cover adult version, ISBN 978-0-7475-9683-7, mistake was on page 161, if it helps any further. Thank you for making the world a bit more pleasant with your words, Yonatan
It's the idea of "the people looking after me" I like.
And that's not a typo, I'm afraid. It's what she said. You'll have to take it up with her, when you see her.
(Someone did send me a terrific list of typos in the author's edition of Neverwhere -- thanks!)
Dear Neil,
It was your mention of NaNoWriMo that finally convinced me to participate for the first time. I'm now the proud creator of 6686 words (and counting), a magical wood, a main character I despise, and a squirrel named Nimrod. I just wanted to thank you.
Now off to continue the adventure.
You're welcome.
Good morning Neil, Because today is such a monumental day in America's history I was wondering if you voted. Well actually, more specifically are you a citizen of the U.S.(and can you vote?) and what prompted you to move here from your native England? Get lots of rest!
Tricia
Nope. I'm still English and cannot vote in US elections. I can vote in the UK kind, though, and sometimes I do.
As to why I moved, it's now lost in the mists of history, but I think it was mostly because I liked the house.
Marrying Fictional Characters request:
Just in case that bloke in Japan gets the law changed I want to get in first so here goes…(takes a deep breath)
Dear Mr Gaiman please may I have Silas’s hand in marriage?
(well all of him if you don't mind, not just his hand)^_^
Thanks in anticipation,
Liz Taylor.
But if you can marry fictional characters, then... well, you can certainly marry Silas. But so can everyone else. And, well, there could be some bigamy, or trigamy or googlamy involved here. That's all I'm saying. And of course, you'd need to get his consent, not mine.
Dear Neil, while you are bouncing around, I am wondering if (given your history of also bouncing around between clean shavenness and scruffiness) you would consider giving a shout out to this site that encourages people to grow mustache in November for a good cause:
Mustaches are, after all, "one of the best things to put on your face" and sported by such mustache as Frank Zappa, Mark Twain, and G. K. Chesterton, and they get even better when worn for charity.
No. Trust me. No. There are things that no-one should ever see, and me in a moustache is one of them. I've seen it from time to time, in the mirror, when shaving off beards, and even I shiver at the memory.
Since you've often said no one noticed when Violent Cases was dropped in price, I noticed that the Coraline audio book has significantly dropped in price, from $22 to $9.95, so, Yay! -Shield
Hi Neil Being back in blighty, you can't have missed the astonishingly bizarre furore over Jonathan's radio show with Russell Brand. I just wanted to show some support for Jonathan, he's an amazingly funny man and if they take him off the air permanently, I for one will no longer listen to BBC Radio. I know he's a friend of yours so I thought you could pass that on. Cheers Helen
It was bizarre, a very small storm in a teacup blown up to monsoon level by the Daily Mail -- I found myself agreeing with Charlie Brooker in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/03/jonathan-ross-russell-brand. They did something stupid. It shouldn't have been broadcast. They apologised to Andrew Sachs, who accepted their apologies, and publically explained that they were all performers, and he was done with it. And then the baying for blood started to get loud, the Prime Minister weighed in, and Jonathan and Russell were soon being burned in effigy. Look, I'm biased, Jonathan is my friend, and he's proved a really good friend over the years; he is also someone who always finds the comedy in going too far (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NxWnMhlso to watch me discover the pitfalls of presenting awards on stage with him), but watching the real news suddenly being gazumped by Jonathan -- and Andrew Sachs -- and the Satanic Slut... was just silly. (If you weren't in England or Scotland or Wales, you probably missed this, and have no idea what I'm talking about. And it's just as well.)
***
There. I got on a plane, flew to Las Vegas, got off the plane, discovered that Penn and Teller were doing a "corporate gig" in my hotel, so ate some sushi and then went in search of them. I gave Penn (who wants to keep bees) a round of honeycomb from my hives, and talked about bees and beekeeping, and they in their turn filled me in on the view backstage from Las Vegas magic world, describing an appalling magic show they had seen recently with a angry delight in eviscerating it that made their descriptions sound a hundred times better than enduring the show in question would have been. And then up to the room to write. Where I am now.
If you remember Beanworld, or even if you don't, go and read this interview with Larry Marder at http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/10/24/interview-larry-marder-pt-1-of-3/ (and Larry's blog is at http://larrymarder.blogspot.com/). Larry and I were friends for years, stopped being friends during the McFarlane nonsense, when he was working for Todd and not making art, and then went back to being friends again when he stopped working to Todd and started doing comics again.
I had sushi for breakfast in the fishmarket, sushi for lunch, and am about to go and have sushi for dinner. Even the Japanese think I'm pushing it a bit.
Will post fishmarket photos, and the story of my day, as soon as I've digested it a little more (the day, that is. Not the sushi). In the meantime...
Chris Ewen's Hidden Variable project now has its own website at http://www.hiddenvariable.net/. Chris got a bunch of authors to write lyrics for him, mostly Malena to sing them (although Cosi Fanni Tutti sings one, and Claudia Gonson sings my song "unresolving"). The fabulous Lorraine plays violin. You can hear song samples at http://www.hiddenvariable.net/songs.html
Jonathan Ross's In Search of Steve Ditko documentary has, for the moment, crept onto YouTube. (I'm putting some embedded video in here, so if you're reading it on an RSS feed and you can't see the video or links, click on the link to the original post now.)
Last night I introduced Stardust to the Swedes and did a Q&A after. Today I was interviewed by the Swedish press, then did a book-signing, and then I was given the "Finn the Giant" Award. In the crypt of the Cathedral at Lund. Beautiful live music was played, the legend of Finn the Giant was retold, and I was made the second person, following the unfollowable Terry Gilliam in 2005, to be honoured with the award.
In addition to a scroll, and flowers, I was given an amazing piece of art as my Award -- a portrait of me as a Saint, of sorts, all framed and ready to hang.
And then I left in the rain for the airport, happy to have met so many nice people and wishing I could stay longer in Lund.
....
Right. Here are the details of the upcoming Hay Festival London event...
Tuesday 2 October, 6pm
Neil Gaiman in conversation with Claire Armitstead, literary editor of the Guardian The Criterion, Piccadilly Book signing following the event.
The film of Stardust premieres in London on Wednesday 3 October. We have a pair of tickets to the premiere: all ticket-holders to the Hay Festival event at The Criterion will be entered into a draw and the winner announced at the book signing. Tickets £5 Book at http://www.hayfestival.com/ or on 0870 990 1299.
Probably worth mentioning that the Criterion seats 600 people, which is slightly less than the last event in London, a year ago, so if you want to be sure that you can come, get tickets early.
This just came in from Japan...
Dear Neil
I am a Japanese fan who is dying to see Japanese release of Star Dust, coming this October. This is not exactly a question, but do you know about the special menues are available at Pascal Caffet and Shiseido Parlour (Both are famous sweets shops in Japan) in Yokohama Takashimaya while the department store is having photograph exhibition of Star Dust? Those menues are Star Dust Sweets Set (Pascal Caffet) and Star Dust Parfait (Shiseido Parlour).
Anyone who eats the menu will get a chance to win a pair of tickets of Star Dust. As your fan, I am wondering if I should take two hour trip to Yokohama to try both menues. (^^)
Kominami Mie
Hullo. Only if you like parfait and sweets, I would have thought. (I loved the website you linked to -- I'd not seen the Japanese Stardust poster before, and it makes me strangely happy that it has the Ghosts on it.)
Also, from it I learned that there's a whole Japanese Stardust website at:
In addition to which, late this afternoon I was told that...
On Friday, the 21st of September, at 6:30 pm in Japan, I will be doing a signing, at
Kadokawa Shoten
2-13-3 Fujimi,
Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo
102-8177
Japan
(This is my publisher's office, by the way, not a bookshop. They were kind enough to agree to let me do a signing because I told them that people had been writing in to my blog from Japan and asking when I'd sign their books. So if you're in Japan, please come...)
...
Hi Neil
I thought you and your readers might like to know that the Mitch Benn podcast featuring an interview with you is now online - http://www.mitchbenn.com/podcasts/
Lena
Oh good. (I am now slightly less travel-weary than when I did the interview with Mitch, for those who worry about that sort of thing.)
Yesterday is already turning into a bit of a blur. CBLDF board of directors meeting early in the morning. Then a meeting about the Neverwhere film. Saw old friends Mark Buckingham and Jill Thompson briefly then down to the big hall for "Spotlight on Neil Gaiman". I felt like a kid who had not done his homework, and had brought nothing to the show and tell, so I just burbled and answered questions for the 75 minutes and nobody seemed to mind. A signing (at which I finally met Wil Wheaton, and saw my Interworld co-author Michael Reaves -- who sat next to me, and took enormous pleasure in saying ominously, "Remember Caesar that thou art mortal" while I signed and signed). Up to room, grabbed late lunch, er, something I've forgotten, then back on my head for the CBLDF signing, and then it was getting a bit blurry so I napped for 40 minutes before the Eisners, and showed up later than everyone else, but was happy to be led to a table already containing Ann Eisner and her nephew, Jackie Estrada and Batton Lash, Dennis and Alexa Kitchen, and my future co-presenter Jonathan Ross at the table.
The Eisners were just starting as I got there -- Bill Morrison hosting, assisted by Jane Wiedlin -- and you can find them summarised much better by other people. I was there as I was presenting an award, and had forgotten that Volume 1 of Absolute Sandman was nominated for the best reprint collection. It won, and editor Scott Nybakken, Vertigo ubereditor Karen Berger, and reprint colour hero Danny Vozzo and I went up to collect it. I babbled about the weight of the thing and forgot to a) thank lots of people by name and b) mention that Volume 2 is going to be better.
I got blindsided when they gave me the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award ("I don't deserve this," I said. "Jack Benny was given a similar award and said 'I don't deserve this, - then again, I have arthritis, and I don't deserve that either'. But I don't deserve this." And then I said that the world of comics was a family, and you look after your family. ) This is who Bob Clampett was, if you don't know.
The presenters who were really good -- people like Brian Posehn (from Mr Show and the Sarah Silverman show, who turned out, when we chatted afterwards, to have been at my CBLDF benefit reading at the Stinking Rose in 2000) and Ellen Forney and Alison Bechdel (who announced that, to celebrate the record number of women nominated for the Eisners, they would now re-enact the historic Britney Spears-Madonna MTV awards kiss for us all, and then did).
Jonathan and I were the last of the presenters, and we hadn't worked anything out to do because I turned up so late. ("You'll be funny," I said, having found myself on stage with Jonathan a few times before. "I'll be the straight man." )
It was almost midnight. Everyone was tired. The energy was ebbing from the room...
Jonathan explained that he was famous in England, and that he loved comics... He loved comics so much he had named his son after Kurtzman and Kirby. He loved comics even more than he loved masturbation. And he loved masturbation.... And he was off.
Now Jonathan Ross is funny. He has hosted more awards shows than probably any human being alive. And he was in his element.
Every now and again, I'd manage to stop laughing, and get us back onto announcing and presenting awards. (I was thrilled to present one to Alison Bechdel for Fun Home, one to Gene Luen Yang for American Born Chinese.)
Finally the mad gleam in Jonathan's eye focussed on me, and he announced that we would now celebrate the Eisners and comics... by re-enacting Madonna and Britney Spears' famous kiss at the MTV music awards...
So yesterday night, on that stage, in front of thousands of comics fans and professionals, I got an Eisner, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian award and was snogged by Jonathan Ross.
Maddy thought it was funny. She said I turned lots of interesting colours.
...
From the Convention:
On Saturday you can meet Neil Gaiman & Brian Froud while doing a good turn for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! Award-winning illustratorBrian Froud has has turned a poem by critically-acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman into a beautiful poster making its debut here at CCI. 100 ofthese will be autographed by both creators.The drawing for tickets will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday up in theAutograph Area. Winners MUST then go to Booth 4818 (Imaginosis,located in the Fantasy Illustrators section) to make their $20 donation to the CBLDF and pick up the poster. Neil and Brian will autograph the posters for the winners from 3 p.m.- 4 p.m. in line AA1 up in the Autograph Area. Bring the poster AND the winning ticket.
And at 7.00pm I'll be at the Horton Plaza cinema for a special event. Is it possible that Henry Selick and I will be secretly presenting Coraline-related stop motion footage there? Er, it is possible. The Rogue/Focus event will reveal all.
..
Right. Now I shall get out of bed, and sip things to turn my gravelly croaky voice into something that sounds more like me.
