Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Len and Dan -- one doesn't have to like every adaptation of one's
work, and not extending the license is sometimes the only form of
control you can have.

I've seen some truly awful student films based on my stuff over the
years, and a few good ones.
  

    
Oops. Pressed post absent mindedly. I was going to say, there are a
lot of stage productions I've not seen because I wasn't in Portugal or
Scotland or wherever at the time. And often I'm kind of pleased I
wasn't there, as being diplomatic is a strain.
  

    
Oh Neil, you make it sound so easy (quitting smoking)...but then, you
may not be human at all, some say you're some kind of hyperbeing or
alien who came to earth (like David Bowie) to bring good literature to
the masses. If they're right, that explains why it was so easy for you.
 I bet there are some really funny student films based on your work.

    Erynn, who is going read Richard Bach's ILLUSIONS again...
  

    
WRT a Thingie forum on the Well:

I'll come out of hiding to say that I think an accessible forum for
the Thingies is a good idea.  With all the news servers getting eaten
lately, AFNG has been suffering along with the Thingies who can't even
read it, let alone post to it.    

The only disadvantage I see to a Well forum for Thingies is that new
people wouldn't be able to read it, and so the Thingie clique that a
lot of newbie posters have complained about would probably be
reinforced.

AFNG is supposed to be a fairly open and accepting place, and I would
hate to see that disintegrate all together.

But as I said, I would really like a place where all the Thingies I
know and love could read and post.  I would just want someone around
the NG to direct people to the Well so that we didn't become a closed
group.  Perhaps if this comes into being we could change the monthly
FAQ thing to reflect that?

Oh yeah...and not everyone who comes to AFNG will have a credit card
to get a well account with.  

Love and hugs to everyone I haven't seen in forever (due to all this
news server bull), and of course love and hugs to the people I have
seen in forever and who share their accounts and stuff with me.

Mel(or whichever alter ego you choose to subscribe to)
    
  

    
Try M-Net (www.arbornet.org).  It is exactly like the WELL, but free.
  

    
Martha - Well, that's a good reason for me to finally see Sense and
Sensibility then. So many movies, so many books, so many plays!! I
really should be rich. I'd make such good use of my time.

Len - ditto... on Truly, Madly, Deeply

Scott - on recommended books that you would never have known of
otherwise. Right after I saw Neil praise Jonathan Carroll somewhere
online, I went to a book party where I had Sleeping in Flame thrust
into my arms with the emphatic assertion that I *had* to read this
book. It was, of course, fabulous.

Neil - Galaxy Quest! I totally forgot about that one. *chuckle* Yes,
he is wonderfully droll in that.
And congrats on the chunk of Death! (isn't that chocolate dessert of
some kind?)
 on diplomacy - I know what you mean. I've been to friend's shows and
have had the strong urge to slip out the back door before they see me
in the audience. I think the subject is particularly on my mind because
I'm working on Darkness Box (the Ursula K. LeGuinn piece). My cast is
getting extremely excited and got the idea of how wonderful it would be
if she came to see it. Now I would love this, but we still haven't
even heard back from her publishers yet and I don't know that she'll
ever even know we're doing it. *sigh* It's tough because I think it's
going to be great and the actors are getting *SO* excited about it and
have gained an enormous respect for her writing through the process of
diving so deep into this little story.
I feel about the adaptation of Troll Bridge and of Darkness Box like
you said you felt about Princess Mononoke: "If anyone's going to botch
it up, it had better be me. At least I'll botch it up out of love."

Dan
*who appears to be extremely verbose and opinionated tonight*
  

    
Neil - I'd love to see a picture of the new (however temporary) look.
:) Villanous Rickman images always make me think 'dastardly', and I
think it would be fun to apply the word to you... 'cause mostly I just
don't see it. 

Dan - I need to stop reading this place after extra-long days at work
I read "vampire cowboy mobsters" as "vampire cobweb monsters"... and
(here's the scary part) it made sense.

WRT Thingie Forum on the WELL - I'm very much with Mel on this one. My
first thought to the suggestions was "but we already have afn-g", then
I checked it and noticed there's not a single post in an entire day -
either my newsserver, or everyone else's... and very likely both. The
peeps on afn-g over the years have pulled me through a lot of life's
crap and I'd hate to lose them because Usenet access is being
difficult. Then I have to go back again to the whole 'but not everyone
would have access & be able to post' thing... *sigh... I'll just be
much happier when Usenet becomes accessible again.

On quitting smoking - Um, never having smoked, you can just threaten
to stuff something up my nose now (I know you're thinking about it),
but I've been surrounded by smokers all my life. Mommy Dearest quit
very slowly and Daddio quit cold turkey (and both did this at the same
time - my life was hell for 2 straight months... and I still tell
people 'oh, it's probably my fault any way' because of this period in
my life). My grandfather quit because he was told he had to, or would
die in a couple of months (he lived another 8 years instead). One of my
friends has come very close to quitting because he didn't want to lose
a bet (which will cost him a great deal of money and certain icky
sexual favours for each cig smoked since Valentine's Day). And the
*only* painless remedies I've heard of involve a particular drug that's
usually used as a mild antidepressant (starts with a V, X or Z; don't
remember which), and everyone I know who has tried that method is
Canadian... ?...

squeaks, who never picked up smoking for two reasons 1)messes up the
singing voice and 2)would never want to have to quit, after watching
what my folks went through <shudder>
  

    
And naturally, as soon as I hit the "post" button, I get a relevant
email...

Neil - regarding your notebook battery, my daddio has the following to
offer: 

"Take it to your nearest recycling center -- do not throw lithium
batteries in the trash -- then buy a new one.   That's what I did when
the exact same thing happened to mine.

"Warning: the cause of my problem was the charging system in the
laptop which means I ruined the 2nd battery, too.   They aren't cheap."

Hope that helps.

squeaks, hmmm, I should eat dinner... and pay off credit cards
  

    
The recent movie of Sense and Sensibility is worth it if only for Rickman's
quiet, noble, sensitive character.  You don't need to feel one bit guilty
for lusting after him.
  

    
Neil:  I read every issue of Promethea.  It has some ambitious,
amazing attempts to redefine what comic books are capable of.
But my favorite recent bit was the "Little Nemo in Slumberland"
pastiche in America's Best Comics.

In re notebook batteries:  it sounds like that one should be
replaced.  If the computer is still in warranty, you should
be able to call Dell and have them replace it.  Otherwise,
go to the Dell support website, type in the service tag number 
and you can order a new one online.  You might try letting  
the old one exhaust itself completely, and then recharge it. 
  

    
Sorry, perhaps I didn't make my point about fora clear.

I meant that even if there were a dedicated Thingie forum on the
Inkwell, thingies would be more inclined to post to Topic #104 than to
one of their very own, and I am sure no-one would want to see this
topic swamped by Thingie chat to the excxlusion of all else either.

Re: "Roofworld", you are not missing too much.

As for signings, bugger! February is the only chance I'll get to make
such a journey next year. Guess I'll catch you next book then.

And as for online comics, feel free to direct Mr McCloud to my inbox
any time he wants to discuss/argue about the subject.:-)

Reg

PS: After some months of silence, I heard from the happy Francis
partnership this afternoon. Sheri is aparently alive and well, (and
indeed, a couple of weeks ago, living in Paris,) and it sounds like
there are two people who have been made very happy through their
association with your work.
  

    
Re Smoking- I took up smoking only AFTER spending half a year in
Galway, where everybody smoked.  Didn't touch the stuff there-- but
came home and started.  (Similarly, my friend who visited me there only
drank Harp in Ireland, but got home and started drinking Guinness.  go
know.)  At my height I was up to about 7 cigarettes a week, mostly
smoking when I directed my improv company, cause I thought that I would
look like a "real" director if I smoked-- I probably had seen _All
That Jazz_ too many times..  Never smoked enough to have a problem
quitting, because it was really more like "not smoking anymore" than
quitting.

The problem is that all my "real" smoking friends have quit, so now
when I do want a cigarette I have no one to smoke with and just feel
weird and out of place, which I suppose is ok.

Re Sense and Sensibility-- what a great movie- and what an awesome job
Emma Thompson did on adapting the ok novel into a great screenplay. 
The commentary tracks on the DVD are fascinating.


Re Sleeping in Flames-- amazing novel, fascinating and cool.  So far I
have Neil to thank for GK Chesterton, J. Carroll, James Branch Cabell
and god knows who else-- they've slipped into my unconscious at this
point.

And speaking of Chesterton, I'm teaching Jekyll and Hyde to my 10th
graders, and I've found Chesterton's criticism of the book to be
incredibly insightful and useful.   He's definately made me see the
book in a new light-- which I desperately needed, as I was getting kind
of bored of it. (and I'm always saying "Robertson Davies" by mistake
instead of Robert Louis Stevenson.)

Re Neverwhere-- Neil, in that video interview you did, I think you
said you wanted Neverwhere to have something of the feel of Winters
Tale and Down Town, which impressed me because I loved both books.  But
I thought I was the only person in the world who'd read Down Town (I
know, I'm a narcissist.)  How did you come across that book?  Do you
know what else they've written?

And if I may be permitted one more question--- years ago I read that
the Henson people were doing an adaptation of the Dark is Rising.  Do
you know if it's still in the works?
 
  

    
Erynn -- you're too kind. But for whatever it's worth, I am pretty
sure that if I lived in the UK or in France I'd still be smoking. The
US doesn't have as many social centres (pubs, bars and restaurants)
where smoking is mandatory. I think I may have told this on topic 73...

When I moved to the US smoking got harder, as I didn't like American
cigarettes. Anyone who came to the US had to bring me UK marlboros. (I
called a cousin who at the time was one of the top people in Phillip
Morris, and he confirmed a) that the US marlboros and the UK brand had
nothing, ingredients wise in common except the packet and the basics of
paper and tobacco and filters, and b) there was no way to get them
commercially in the US.)

At the end of 1993 I got flu, really really bad flu, with a 105 degree
temperature and lungs that filled with gunk. I thought I had pneumonia
and was very disappointed when the Dr said I had flu, and he grumpily
pointed out that influenza killed more people than both world wars. But
I really couldn't breathe. And I remember thinking, "If I keep
smoking, when I'm 60 it'll be like this all the time."  And so I
stopped.

At the time, I decided to stop until Easter, when I was going to
Finland and the UK to be a Guest at conventions. So I stopped until
Easter. Started again in the Finn Air lounge at JFK, as the air was
blue with smoke. And I smoked happily through Finland and the UK. And
then, three days from the end of my UK trip, I started coughing. So I
stopped.

And that was that.

I still, every now and again, have dreams in which I start smoking,
and I'm always distressed by it ("that means I'll never be able to stop
again!").

Dan - it's a good reason to do something, and to do it well.

Michelle -- If I don't chicken out and shave the damned thing off,
I'll have it tonight at the IAFA opening reception. People will laugh.
People will stare. Let them stare. Let them mock me. I don't care...

Sorry. Got carried away there for a moment. Was going to say, if I
can't find a photomat somewhere in florida, there are many people with
cameras at the conference. One of those many people is Charles Brown of
Locus. So there may be a photo in Locus of me with a beard (although I
can more or less confidently predict it'll not last the whole event
through).

& thank your dad for me.

Lenny, I sent an e-mail to Dell technical support. They sent the
"we'll reply within 24 hours" automated e-mail. In the last 6 months,
I've never got a follow-up, but we'll see.

(I don't know if I have an extended warranty on this thing or not. It
was a gift about a year ago from a Dotcom who wanted me to do some
stories for them. The computer was sent, and they went bankrupt the
following week.)


Reg -- I'm not saying I won't be doing anything next February. I'm
just saying that if I am, I don't know about it yet. Keep half an eye
on Joe Fulgham's Dreaming website, or on the soon to be released from
Harper Collins new and revised neilgaiman.com (and I still have no idea
what they're planning on putting up there).

That's great news about Sherri.

Len -- I'll try to remember to ask Lisa Henson next time we're
chatting.

I don't think that Tappan and his collaborator have written anything
else together. Tappan says that I'm the only person who's read it as
well, so next time I run into him I'll tell him there's also you.

Talking about Stevenson -- try to find The Walking Sticks, a Gene
Wolfe short story. I think it may be in the next Year's Best (it would
be if I were editing it anyway).
  

    
Email from Bill Williams:

Neil--
        If you end up needing a new battery, there are some awfully good
prices on Dell notebook batteries at www.teamexcess.com. Check their
clearance section under Laptop Accessories, their main section doesn't
seem to have any better prices than www.dell.com.
        Re: a return to Neverwhere -- Are there really plans for a sequel?
Excellent! Erynn--
        As a non-smoker, my $0.02 is probably not even worth that, but I
have friends who have succeeded by buying a different brand/type of
cigarette until they find one that tastes so awful to them that they will
only smoke them if they absolutely feel they must.

--Bill Williams
  

    
Every so often I have a dream in which I'm smoking, and I'm always amazed in
the dream that it doesn't have a strong and horrible taste and that I'm not
choking, considering I've never smoked before.  But I'm disturbed that now
I'm probably halfway to being hooked.

In the dream.  Never have smoked in life.
  

    
i plan on quitting smoking when i move at the end of the summer (i
figure, it's a new chapter in my life, maybe i'll try to get healthy). 
i just plan on going cold turkey (worked for my mom, failed miserably
for my dad) and seeing what happens.  it'll be nice to have the extra
cash though - spending over $4 a pack really empties the wallet in a
week.  but now that i'm a big green tea drinker, i really enjoy a smoke
with my tea.  gonna miss that....

re Dell's technical support - i'm way unimpressed by them.  maybe
you'll luck out, but myself and friends have had nothing but bad luck
with them.  i'd suggest just getting a new battery to test things out
yourself (and if they make nickel cadmium batteries for your laptop,
you could get that as your test battery, since they're cheaper than
lithiums, and then get a lithium if you determine that the problem was
just the old battery).  i dunno - just my 2 cents....

  --  s  (off to have my first ciggie of the day)
  

    
Neil-- thanks-- and I'd love it if you'd tell Tappan that there were,
indeed, other enthusiastic readers of Down Town-- in fact, the book
made the rounds in my crowd back then.
  

    
Michelle - well of course Vampire Cobweb Monsters makes sense...
sounds like the Giant Spiders from the Hobbit to me.
And good for you for never starting smoking. My mom quit cold turkey
when I was quite young, but my dad struggled with it for another twenty
years or so. I've never smoked any substance, personally... like you,
it's a habit I don't relish later trying to quit.

Neil - Great story about realizing the future of smoker's lungs. 

Yes, it is a good reason to do something and do it well. I'm so
emotionally wrapped up in this project right now... I'll try not to
blather about it constantly (especially as it's not a Gaiman story and
this *is* a Gaiman forum, after all), but it's so much on my
mind........
  

    
Email from JaNell Golden:

Neil: Another posting from the non-nethead in Tennessee (about 13 total in
my life, and two of them to you). When I saw that American Gods was maybe
almost finished (a few months back), I told Charles Vess to remind you of
the Big Orange Cult in evidence at ConCat. I mean, I've lived here all my
life and they still scare me, qualifying as they do for the #3 religion
here, or possibly #2, as Elvis is bigger near Memphis. Question: Are you
going to be signing anywhere around Knoxville, maybe 300 miles (my limit,
unless there's money or other currency involved)? Speaking of currency,
from reading the AG Journal I gather you have interesting ideas on what
constitutes "currency", but that's maybe better discussed elsewhere...I
mean I still haven't sent that poster I wanted signed, and then I recently
actually bought one of your books (Good Omens), and read that your fans
could always send money (currency), so I thought I'd send some obscure
coin or something when I do send the poster to be signed, but now I'm not
sure which kind of currency to send, or even how to mail any of the more
interesting ones... Debbie Hughes will probably get onto me for harassing
you again if she sees this.

JaNell Golden

zzz...zzhhhz...zzz...*snort*
  

    
Dan-- Maybe this is an inappropriate place to talk about your
project-- but I babbled here about directing Midsummer, and I'd love to
hear about your own work.
  

    
e-mail from Jessica: 

hello.. hmm, how do I begin this?  I've been wordy all night, which usually
means I haven't written anything in awhile and extra words are starting to
clog my fingertips or something and they smudge onto even the most
irrelevant internet postings... not that this is such...

There I go again... ^__^  Anyway, I've read this topic (well, topic 73 and
then this) for some time now, all along envious of those with Well accounts
actually able to post here. Actually able to get replies from Neil
himself... Eventually I realized one could send a post to the moderators and
possibly get involved that way... since I've kept reading the other posts
and been completely unable to decide on something to say as my first try.

Too much, too much... I keep thinking of things to write, and then I think,
"there must be something more important I could contribute or ask than that"
and stare at the screen some more. ::sigh:: I'll go with what was on my mind
earlier tonight.

I have this poem sitting on my website. It's a little tribute to Neil. I
never write poetry, usually, but I'm currently in this creative writing
workshop sort of class and they're making me hand in poems. I keep
re-reading this little poem and thinking how wonderful it would be if I knew
he'd read it... even if it's crap, or whatever. And the fact that this is
somewhere that he reads and responds to... it's overwhelming to think about.

I'm such a geek.

Anyway... I've read somewhere (possibly here) that Dreamhaven is the way to
get in touch with him. But... if I e-mailed something to the moderators,
could they (you, I suppose, if you're reading this) get it to him?  Or post
it privately as I've seen some things done... or something...

Why does this seem so difficult to write? Ah well... it can't hurt to try...

One last thing... awhile back someone mentioned there being jewelry
replicating the key to Hell, unofficial or no.  Any idea where I might find
something like that?  I've always loved keys as jewelry, and what a distinct
key to have...

  Jessica ~*
  

    

For years after I quit smoking I would dream that I was smoking and awaken
to find my fingers in the characteristic position of holding the
cigarette.  Has finally stopped.  At least, it hasn't happened in years.

So, let me clarify about the private Thingie conference.  First, let me
say that it wouldn't be in the inkwell.  If you haven't been on the WELL
for very long, it's easy to be confused between The WELL and the inkwell.

The WELL has hundreds of conferences on all kinds of
subjects.  inkwell.vue is one of those conferences.  It's one of two
conferences that can be read on the Web without having to join the
WELL.  The other is point.vue.

Each conference has lots and lots of topics, in some cases dozens, in
others hundreds, in still others thousands.  In inkwell.vue, where we are
now is a topic, number 104.  Before, we were in topic 73 until we filled
it up.

Conferences on the WELL come in four flavors:  the Web-readable .vue
conferences, featured conferences, private conferences and independent
conferences.

Featured conferences are fully supported by the WELL and listed on the
WELL conference list.  Hosts of featured conferences are selected by the
WELL's conference management team, and they get to have a say in some
aspects of those conferences.

Independent conferences can be started by anyone - the first one is free,
there is a charge for each one thereafter.  They can be open to any WELL
member or they can have a restricted membership.  They are not supported
by the WELL, and hosts are not chosen by the WELL.  The host is the
person, or persons who started it.  Independents can have their own rules
of conduct dictated by the hosts.  Let plug my two independent
conferences:  animation.ind (because I am an animation fanatic) and
money.ind which is suprisingly sleepy.  Both of these are independents
because confteam didn't think they had enough potential to make them
featured conferences.  And judging by the traffic, they were right.  There
are others, however, with lots of traffic.  obsess.ind, for example, and
flame.ind (but I would recommend wearing a flame-proof suit before
venturing in there.)

What I am suggesting for Thingies is a private conference.  You can make
the existence of the conference known by spreading the word in various
places around the WELL, and let people know who to contact for admittance,
or you can keep it secret and only tell people that you want to contact.  
The hosts are the ones who start the conference and control the list of
people who are able to enter.  There is no way that what is said in a
private conference will interfere with what's going on in this conference
because whatever is going on in a private conference can't be seen from
anywhere.

Anyway.  Give it some thought.  We can start it - you'd have to decide
amongst yourselves who hosts it - and see how it goes.
  

    
WRT the possible Thingie Forum:

Firstly, thank you Linda for all the information. :)

And secondly, I say that the worst thing that can happen if we start
up a Thingie Forum here at the Well would be that we discover that it
doesn't work for us.

So I'll put this out to the other Thingies here:  why not give it a
try and see how it goes?

I would be willing to get my Well account up and running again to give
it a try...

Miss Musey
  

    
        Was reading the first issue of Howard Chaykin's new Vertigo title,
_American Century_, (quite fun, worth a look) and damn if I didn't come
across an ad for "The Sandman Sandglobe", the idea I suggested to Neil
way back in topic 73, and which he passed on the friendly folks at DC,
and which has now apparently made its way into physical reality via
Tim Bruckner.  I note with a little of that
Batman-mask-with-"Batman"-written-on-it feeling that Neil's described
that they've filled it with water and little sparklies.  Dammit, I
think we've all read _Sandman_ #1 once or twice, and there wasn't
sparkly floating sand in the cell.  Also, from the angle this photo was
taken, Dream appears to be wearing the facial expression of a man
earnestly attempting to work his underwear out of his crack.  This is
all the odder as he isn't wearing any, just what appears to be a
dishcloth over his conspicuously absent naughty bits.
        Nonetheless, I'm on a major geek high and will of course be buying
this thing when it comes out.
  

    


What, no Tuesdays?