Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Len- He said: "I've met you too late. You're too old for me to help
you." or something like that. 
  

    
Erynn - glad I could put a smile on your face at my friend's expense.
:-P (kidding). Your story just reminded me of the last time I got
kicked out of Denny's. (hey, I was 18 and it was 4AM)

Dan - But I thought San Lorenzo only encompassed two blocks? (okay,
I'm exaggerating, it's actually, what, 4?) As for Cody's, if you can
get there for the start, cool - I should be easy to spot. If you get
there late, just look for the crowd of obnoxious people who have had
far too much caffeine, far too little sleep, and seem only slightly
interested in the fact that Neil is there. The ba-FOGs are really quite
excited at Neil's presence, but we can entertain ourselves until the
line dies down. :)

squeaks, who will be appearing on vulcanradio.com in about 5 1/2 hours
  

    
Erynn-- Of course, he was right.

Neil-- I just saw _Danton_ on TV-- lots of Robespierre, but not a
mention of Orpheus's head; I don't know where these people get their
history :P
  

    
Michelle-- what's Vulcanradio?  Why are you going to be on it?
  

    
Email from Tuomas Masalin:

Sarah -- Little Big Horn is actually in southeastern Montana, and if you
are going there, I recommed reading that part of Bury My Heart To Wounded
Knee, which by the way I think every yankee should read.

Neil, Martha and other writers -- Why don4t writers just edit their own
books, kinda like musicians who produce themselves?

What do you think about Scott McCloud4s ideas as the web bringing new
glory days to comics, and return to the roots of sequential art? Could you
imagine SANDMAN in Flash? There4s a interesting story about his book,
Reinventing Comics, in http://www.apple.com/creative/stories/mccloud/ and
another in http://macworld.zdnet.com/2001/02/buzz/mccloud.html
  

    
Len - Um, to put it bluntly, I'm not quite sure what it is, as I've
never been on it and until today had never seen it. <sheepish grin> But
the SF Midi Mafia is going to be featured on it today (SFMM being a
collective of local bands of which mine <Bastet's Dream> is a part).
Just found out that they're going to be interviewing us and possibly
playing a few songs. We'll see when I get there. 

squeaks, who is utterly unprepared and only *thinks* it's Channel 1
  

    
Email from Jo Simons:

Hi all

I finally got up the guts to say hello, so I thought I would jump in here.
I know this isn't really a discussion of The Dream Hunters anymore, but I
just acquired it and loooooved it. Now I have another artist who's work I
love. Sigh. Poor credit card.

Streak - I haven't met any stout fellows, but I do know a dastard. Good
looking in that "evil" sort of way, terribly charming, great fun in a
social situation but he has a terrible reputation with women and I
wouldn't trust him as far as I could spit. Not that I don't like him, but
that's just the general impression :)

Michelle - I liked the new twisted lens pics :). Funny that you said you
first typed Roslyn as Roswell. I _read_ it as Roswell the first time
through ... ;)

OK, I think that's enough for a first post

Hi Thingies!!!

bye

Jo (aka sparrow on afn-g)
  

    
Michelle - sounds like a plan. And on the same effect, if you see a
tall man with rather long red hair wearing a leather trenchcoat looking
baffledly around... that would be me.

And you're not quite wrong about it being 4 blocks... Lord, I couldn't
even get a copy of Time Bandits at the local video stores. (and yes, I
tried multiple ones). I couldn't wait to get out of that benighted
town.

Tuomas - Agreed on Wounded Knee... one of those works that is just
plain required reading for anyone who wants to understand just how this
land came to be occupied... and exactly moral high ground we actually
have (i.e. .. none)

Dan
  

    
*ahem*... I really should read my posts before sending them... I would
notice things like missing phrases that were quite present in my head
but didn't make it to my fingertips.

that should read: "and exactly how much moral high ground we actually
have"
  

    
Michelle - nothing wrong with being young and dumb and getting kicked
out of Denny's.  I was not only kicked out, but was blacklisted for a
good 6 months, back in my high-school youth.

Neil - Amen on the real crime being boredom!

I'm now a devout fan of Tealuxe.  So good and so cheap.  The gen mai
cha is good, although I think my heart still lies with Sencha (their
Sencha is yummy, and they've even got Sencha Exotic, which I can't wait
to try!).

  --  s(till recovering from yet-another and my last st. patty's day
in boston)
  

    
... I'm just real slow here. ^_^;

Scott and Michelle - the Faerie Market... the one with the Totoro in
it?? ^_^; Love it... Out of interest, any idea how much it went for?

Seth - Glad to be of service. ^_- Need any other food recommendations
around Boston? I can just keep going... What am I craving? Hrm. Can
really use some Silano pizza from Bertucci's right now...

Tealuxe - Yup. They've got a website too: www.tealuxe.com I'm pretty
sure. Think I still have a bag of Lady Hannah that I brought over in
the cupboard somewhere...

Emily - No idea as to whether a Japanese junior high (? I think?)
would bring in Sandman, but I'm all for trying! ^_^ Do some research
first though - what's in the library right now? Do they do graphic
novels / anything like that at all? What level of violence / sexual
depiction etc. is represented? Gauge what's acceptable... it's been a
while, but I remember scenes from Preludes and Nocturnes that weren't
so pleasant. People might not care about moral ambiguity etc., but they
tend to not like sex and violence, and what's okay 'out there' may not
be okay within a school. Maybe pick what volumes you recommend? Or try
to get your hands on some of the translated novels? (Think Interbooks
has done Neverwhere and said they were working on Stardust...) Just
some suggestions. Lemme dig up the link for you too. Here:
http://www.interbooks.co.jp/  and a Sandman site at
http://www.interbooks.co.jp/sandman/index.html
They don't seem to keep their website up to speed with their
publishing though (from previous viewing). Hope this helps, and let us
know how it goes!

-- Mimi, way past her bed time (you know the feeling of 'don't want to
go to bed cos it feels like the morning comes too soon if you go to
bed at a reasonable hour, but damn does it hurt when you get up sleep
dep'd'? *sigh* that's me, right there.)
  

    
Len -- You should check out Big Night, which is the movie that Tucci
wrote and directed before The Imposters.  I loved that one and I think
it actually made me not like the Imposters as much because they aren't
a whole lot alike.  Need to watch the Imposters again.  But Big Night
is a fantastic movie, and one that actually makes me really hungry
every time I watch it.  Plus its got Tucci, Anthony Shaloub, Isabella
Rossellini, Ian Holm, Campbell Scott, Marc Anthony, and Minnie Driver
in it.

Neil -- How's the script coming along?
  

    
Dan-- I LOVE Big Night-- great cast, lots of heart, lots of great
food.  But you're right-- it's not the same as The Imposters.  There's
just so much silliness in the Impostors-- either you're into it, or you
think it's ridiculous.  I love it.
  

    
e-mail from Chris:

>Chris -- other books I've read and enjoyed in the past. Ever, you 
mean? Or having to do with American Gods? 


Neil,
Both.. I'm curious of the books you enjoyed reading.
Thanks, Chris
  

    

And Len, I keep forgetting to mention this:  have you taken a look at the
theater conference here on the WELL?  Or the education conference?

Whenever I read some of your posts I think to mention it and then I
forget!

g theater
g education
  

    
Michelle-I'm easily amused.
  

    
Erynn - Life if much more fun that way. :) Yay silliness!

Mimi - yes, the one with Totoro in it... and Vess's neice & nephew,
and Vess, and Neil, and man (forgot the name) who read the book that
drove him insane and... lots of others that I've forgotten over time.

Need to get back to sewing now. Need more fluff in my skirts.

squeaks, who has received 6 emails today notifying her about the
Cody's signing since she told people 3 days ago. *sigh...
  

    
Neil- I was going to comment on the "why authors need editors" thingy,
but I guess there was a reason why I didn't. I just visited the
American Gods Journal and you did a superb job of explaining it! (of
course) I hope things are going well wherever you are and that you're
getting some well deserved rest and time with your family once in a
while. 

Tired for no apparent reason in Cleveland.

ps- One of my cats, Azmodius, keeps jumping up on the keyboard. I
think he has something to say too, but I won't post it here...
  

    
Chris – favourite books list...

Well, let’s see: ten works I’ve read and enjoyed over the years, with
gods in interesting contexts... (including three short story
collections, and one 18 volume work).

Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
Creatures of Light and Darkness, Roger Zelazny again
Twilight of the Gods – Richard Garnett
Night Life of the Gods – Thorne Smith
The Biography of Manuel – James Branch Cabell
Nova – Samuel R. Delany
Eight Days of Luke – Diana Wynne Jones
Nine Hundred Grandmothers – R.A. Lafferty
Lolly Willowes – Sylvia Townsend Warner

.......

Jouni – you know, if you got enough of you thingies on the WELL, you
could probably start a thingie topic somewhere.

Jen – so you’ll be at three signings then?

Michelle – we were sitting around a dinner table. My friend Cindy’s
nails suddenly dug into my leg, which I thought rather out of
character, and I said “What?” and she spluttered and pointed to the guy
who’d just come in and was presenting the birthday girl with his
present (boxes of cereal). “The guy who looks like Brad Pitt?” I said.
“What about him?” “It’s Brad Pitt.” she said. “Ah,” I said.

I started shaving off the beard, and then got it down to a sort of
goatee thing, so I look like Roger Delgado as The Master, only not
machievellian, more sort of puzzled. And it amused me. So I may keep it
for the first day of ICFA, just to make some people laugh who may need
some cheering up.

I think that West actually bought the Charles Vess Fairy market. Is
she still a thingie?

Sarah – i cannot recommend www.roadsideamerica.com highly enough, for
what you need.

Len – I think New York will kick the tour off – June the 19th at a
guess.

Streak – I love it when that happens. I remember once hearing some
music and going “Ah, that’s what plangent is!”

Erynn – that’s why I’m suggesting Clarion, which is led by real
authors and so on. Martha can tell you about it (and will, when she
gets a second).

I got asked if I’d be interested in teaching a Clarion, but wound up
demurring,as I’ve never done any teaching, and ma not really sure I’m
qualified.

It’s not illegal as far as I know to sell advance proofs on ebay.
Having said that, I don’t think that it’s going to be long before
advance proofs wind up saying something like “PROPERTY OF THE
PUBLISHER, NOT FOR SALE” on them, just as CDs do. But as long as book
reviewers and book magazine editors want pocket money, proofs and
review copies will be sold, and not read (well, not by them anyway).

I expect you’ll soon be able to pick up American Gods proofs in the
Strand bookstore for a lot less than it’s going for on ebay.

Tuomas – I did a fairly long answer to your Editor question on the
American Gods journal. (It wasn’t meant to be long. It just sort of
was. And it probably could have gone on for twice the length.)

I have long arguments with Scott about the web. He is very proud of
the latest Zot story as something that “couldn’t exist on paper”. I
think that’s balderdash. There’s nothing about it you can’t do with
paper (did anyone see Promethea 12?)

Hmm. I can’t imagine Sandman as being better with flash animation. It
was a comic. Surely the joy of comics is that the images are static and
silent, and the sound and movement is provided by the reader? It seems
like adding still pictures to an audio play.

Jo, you can still talk about Dream Hunters. Honest.

Mimi – I forget how much Charles was selling it for. $10,000 or
$15,000 I think.

Has Neverwhere ever been published in Japan? I don’t think I’ve ever
seen a copy if it has. (If you ever find one, let me know.)
  

    

On the subject of flash Sandman- I can imagine certain issues, or scenes,
where it might work. But so much of it was crafted as a _comic_, taking
advantage of the comic medium. How could a flash animation portray Dream's
looks of shock and dismay when Lucifer says, "I quit."? Or, to use an
example I believe Neil's used elsewhere in this conference (or was it in
that _The Sandman Reader_ book? Something...), the scene where Rose is
motionless for two panels and in the final panel just has a tiny little
"fuck" speech bubble.

But Dr Dee rampaging with the Ruby through the Dreaming could be done as an
animated short, I'd say.
  

    
Neil - I haven't heard from nor spoken to West in forever. She doesn't
post to the Thingie much (if at all) anymore. Mayhaps we can get her
to come out for the Nebulas and go to the MC?

As for the painting, I seem to remember the $10k sticker at Tropicon,
but I might be thinking of the Airships one.

I wonder if Charles ever got my check for my boxed-set prints. Huh.

-=- Trev
(listening to Blue Man Group and rockin' out)
  

    

Oh, are there any Neil animations out there that anybody knows of?

Okay, just for a minute, we need to discuss The Deathbird and Other
Stories:  when I was in college at Cal State Fullerton, the English
department would have an annual science fiction day with various notables,
and this particular year Harlan attended and read aloud "Deathbird" which
he had just finished writing.

I was so moved - we all were, actually - I had Powers illustrate my jeans
with scenes from the story.  When the book came out, I snapped it up and
began avidly reading through it, hoping that all the stories in it were as
powerful, when I came to this description in one of the stories of a dog
being nailed to a wall.  That image was so powerful I simply could not
continue.

On many levels, Harlan is a very provocative writer.
  

    

slipped by nightwalker
  

    
Linda -  I do that. Just kinda... come out of nowhere and *bam!* I'm
there. Heheh.

The only Neil-related flash animation I can think of was the trailer
for the SciFi.com Seeing Ear Production of 'Murder Mysteries'... but
that was just an advert (that happened to get on the cable SciFi
Channel, which was weird to see one night)... and that was a while ago.

As for animations/etc. on the web that fans and stuff have done, I
personally haven't seen any.

-=- Trev
(still listening to Blue Man Group)
  

    
Goatee?

We lost power to rolling blackouts today so I only just now caught up to see
that disturbing post.