Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Continued from <inkwell.vue.73>, the most popular topic in the history of the
inkwell!!
  

    
whoop.  and Neil just keeps breaking records.  :)
  

    
Yes, and I ask you... just who is going to fix them?  Downright
careless if you ask me...

Jen, up too early
  

    
Why, he's no fun, he fell right over.
  

    
So this is the plan.

I'll keep doing the Well, answering questions etc. But the primary
journal, at least about AMERICAN GODS, will be the one at the book's
website. Currently there's no provision for questions there, so feel
free to ask about things on there, here.

...

And for anyone coming in at the beginning of the topic who missed the
first one (it was topic 73)the title of the topic refers to me (Neil
Gaiman) and to the novel, American Gods, which will be published on
June the 19th in hardcover by William Morrow. 

It's a big fat book about America, and about a man called Shadow, and
the job he is offered when he gets out of prison. It's kind of a
thriller, I suppose, if you can have mythic thrillers. It could be
considered SF or fantasy or horror, depending on where you stand, and
I'd not argue with anyone who considered it such. My former publisher,
Lou Aronica, read it and said it was a slipstream novel, using Bruce
Sterling's term for (as I understood it) books that give you the same
buzz you got as a kid from genre stuff but that aren't published as
genre.

The US cover shows a road and a lightning bolt. The UK cover shows a
motel sign, a telegraph pole, and a lightning bolt.

This is not actually an example of parallel evolution. Scarily, the US
cover for American Gods was designed before I started the book, over
two years ago, based on a two or three page letter tot he publisher
about the kind of book I thought I'd write next. I'd called it American
Gods in the letter as a kind of placeholder name, until I came up with
something better, and then they sent me a cover mock-up, and it looked
so definite I never had the heart to even try to come up with another
title. And it really did look like the cover of the book I was writing.

And when they'd read the first half of the book, the UK publishers,
Headline, called and said they hadn't a clue what to put on the cover.
So I sent them a photocopy of the US cover, and they took the lightning
bolt idea and added a wonderful motel sign (for the 'Stardust Motel'
which must have amused somebody).

We're four months away from publication here, at a point in the
process that's usually a lot further down the road (we're compressing
the usual 8 months plus between handing in a manuscript and publication
into about half the time.)

Then again, my scary children's novel CORALINE was handed in last
June, and won't reach bookshops until May 2002. (Although Harper Audio
may release an audio version of it in December 2001/January 2002.)
  

    
Changing the subject, if there are any Germans out there.. I just got
an e-mail froms someone asking me about my new book Die Messerkönigin.
I think it translates as The Meter Queen. I have no idea what it could
be -- it's up on Amazon.de, but I can't find anything else about it.
And we all know that Amazon databases can get a little strange
(remember the video of the Portland Reading that was listed by Amazon
as something about Wrestling?) so it may not be anything at all...
  

    
Neil -- Any spectacular differences between the UK and US versions of
the book?  And are you gonna be reading for the Coraline audio version?
  

    
It's probably more The Knife Queen.
  

    
Martha -- Hmm.. well, if it's The Knife Queen, it might be SMOKE &
MIRRORS (which has a story in called QUEEN OF KNIVES, after all.)

Daniel -- I think they'll be very similar. The UK and the US versions
are both on the conveyor belt toward publication at very similar
speeds, after all and I've applied or rejected almost every editorial
comment to both sides of the Atlantic. (I may go in and noodle ever-so
slightly with the Johnnie Chapman scenes, as the UK word cider is
exclusively used to refer to an alcoholic drink.)

The oddest things were the american words and phrases that the UK
editor assumed were anglicisms (like a 'smidgen') and the midwestern
expressions that the East Coast editor assumed must be anglicisms as
she wasn't familiar with them...


And yes, I'll be reading CORALINE. (If I had my druthers, it'd be Bebe
Neuwirth doing it, but I'm cheaper and The Author, and other people
want to hear me doing it, so it'll be me.)
  

    
Email from Michael Niederhausen:

My name is Michael Niederhausen and I wrote my master's thesis on the
Sandman and it is posted on the dreaming website at www.
holycow.com/dreaming. Anyway, Neil, you allowed me to interview you in
Cleveland after a book signing, which I am very grateful for and the
interview helped out a lot.  I do have one more question for you regarding
The Dream Hunters.  You mentioned earlier that you did not do much
research for the Dream Hunters.  Does that mean that the afterward of The
Dream Hunters is all made up?  If so, what was the Dream Hunters based on?  
This would help out a lot.
 
Thanks,
 
  

    
Neil, I'll bet that's it.
  

    
Michael, no, not all of the afterword of Sandman: The Dream Hunters is
fictional; only the bit about the story it was based on.
  

    

Bought a book today called _Smoke & Mirrors_. Saw the title, thought of
Neil, noticed it was by Jane Lindskold, so I snagged it.
Just thought I'd mention.
  

    
Email from Jouni Koponen:

Hmm (looks around). There's awful lot of empty space around here. Could
use some flowers and maybe a painting or two.

Me? Oh, (hastily takes off his hat) I just thought to drop by and check
out the new place. Hope you don't mind (looks if he left muddy footprints
to the floor).


Visited American Gods website. Coool.

One question: earlier you mentioned that you read a story (Was it in
Oslo?) from American Gods about hookers and Nokia phones (ehh?). Could you
give us a teeny-weeny hint what that was about?

Jouni
  

    
[...Len came back from summer camp to find Neil, Martha, Streak, in
fact all of inkwell.vue Topic 73, just plain gone...]

Jouni-- agreed... I have a Buckaroo Banzai poster to contribute to the
study, and we can put some geraniums in the window box.

In my own new apartment, my wife and I are having poster crises of our
own... so many things to put on the walls, so little space.  Some
posters fall by the wayside because they've lost their immediacy
(anyone need a slightly damaged Northern Exposure poster?, Or one from
Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints tour? or a Flood-era They Might be
Giants?)  But others are still fairly current, so lack of wallspace
means we have to prioritize.  The "office" gets a dour looking Lord of
the Rings and a dour looking Sondheim (National Theatre prod of A
Little Night Music.)  TV room ("DVDarium") gets a poster from the
American Museum of the Moving Image, since it's here in Astoria. 
NEIL-- is there a sumptuous Amano Morpheus poster out there?
  

    
Martha-- obviously the two Neil topics prove that one can be in two
places at once when one's not anywhere at all.
  

    
Mary-- I found Spyglass a bit slow up to that point, but, imho, it
really picks up there.  Mrs. Coulter is developed in some amazing ways.
  

    
Len --  I have a lovely horizontal Amano Morpheus, a sea of red, with
a long white elegant arm pointing right.  It's one of the few things I
really regret not having brought with me.  Maybe they'll release it in
Japan too at some point.

Neil -- I'm excited for your daughter.... I wish I had been lucky
enough to get to Japan as a teenager.  As an adolescent she can truly
appreciate the Captain Kirk-chair style heated toilets with built in
bidet and sprayer and lord knows what-all.  Plus, in a month (depending
on where she is) she has a chance of seeing some cherry blossoms. 
Where is she going, exactly?  Tokyo, Kyoto, both, or neither?
  

    
Ohh..did someone mention a bidet?  I'm convinced that any country that
doesn't make bidets standard bathroom equipment isn't truly civilized.
IfyouknowwhatImean. ;)

On another note, all you NYC people might want to call Amanda Mendoza
the Community Relations person for B&N in Union Square.  Her number is
(212) 253-0819. Sadly, she hadn't a clue about Neil's work but is
thoroughly educated as of last week. *grin*

Let's make his apparence in NYC a reality!  

I don't know how much it will help, but I'll have the number for the
Virgin Megastore liason shortly.   
  

    
madman = how cool. I've just been corresponding with Jane about
American Gods (which she read, and is, bless her, very keen on).

Jouni -- Sure. That is about chapter two.  (Actually it's the chapter
between chapters one and two.)  I read it in Norway, as they'd arranged
a reading in a bar -- which was full, and a great deal of fun to do,
and I thought, well, i really don't have to worry about the kids in the
audience, so I read that chapter, and the viking one. Don't remember
what, if anything, else I read that night though.

Len -- there is indeed a lovely Amano poster out there, and also a
pack of Amano Sandman prints. The best place to start looking is
Dreamhaven. I just checked on their
http://www.dreamhavenbooks.com/gaiman.html
page, and it may be they're sold out, but you could do worse than drop
them an e-mail and ask.

Emily -- Holly's going to Tokyo, and she'll also go to a smqll town to
stay with a hot family for a few days.

Rocky -- attagal.

I sent Joe Fulgham a proof of the cover of American Gods, which he's
put up at the Dreaming. It's worth clicking on the small version...

I loved the National production of Night Music. Or at least, I loved
Judi Dench.
  

    
Or just going and looking at
http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/images/americangods_cover.jpg
  

    
Neil - <curtsy>..why thank you! ;)
  

    
Ok,...I did it, took longer then I care to admit, but I got it.

Neil, it's a great cover. I was wondering how much influence you had
in the Hot Topic Sandman items. Several which I received about an hour
ago, from an over eager bratchilde wishing me a midnight Happy
Birthday. Nothing like being woken up to Sandman stuffies.

Rocky, consider the call made,...I wonder if my being in Ct will
impress her?


Jixie who is never getting an older then she is right now
  

    
Neil & Emily-- thanks for the info about the posters/prints; I'll
email Dreamhaven today... Woo-hoo!

Neil-- I've been cracking up all day over the dialogue you
posted...Maybe I'm just a silly old muffin, but I could almost hear
David Niven reading over my shoulder.  Do you know the Nichols and May
routine that does a similar take on a visit to the dentist?

Rocky-- How could any civilized person NOT know Neil's work?  I'll
show her what's what.

American Gods cover is foreboding and beautiful... Getting very, very
excited.
  

    
Neil-- a few years ago, at a reading/signing at the Chelsea (in NYC)
Barnes and Noble, I mentioned something to you about how the Man Who
was Thursday would make a good opera and were the rights available (I'm
assuming you don't remember this exchange) and you looked at me
ruefully and seemed to indicate that the entire situation was
problematic.  Do you have any memory of why?
  

    
Rocky - you're, as always, welcome.

Jinx -- where the first round of Sandman stuff is concerned I had
pretty much no say in them -- I was faxed sketches, and made some
suggestions based on those, but I'm as interested as anyone in seeing
what the stuff looks like. On the second round of stuff (which will be
out in a few months) I had a few more suggestions.

(The main thing I keep suggesting is a Delirium thing-to-wear covered
in panels of Delirium from Sandman, from different comics and by
different artists.)

I've still not seen any of the stuff in the flesh. How does it look?

Len -- I heard one of the Nicholls and May dialogues on a PBS
documentary a few years back. Funny stuff.

The Man Who Was Thursday, like a lot of stuff by Kipling, Chesterton
et al, lurched into the public doman for about 20 minutes in the early
90s. Then the Berne convention came into effect, making the term of
copyright 75 years not 50 years, and all the publishers who thought
they were bringing out public domain editions of Kipling et al suddenly
weren't, and the whole HOOK/Barrie/Peter Pan argument became moot, and
the rights situation on a lot of that stuff got very tangled. So that
was all I meant -- no hidden knowledge of the rights. Don't even know
where they'd be held. And it would be a fine Opera.