Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I've only ever gone to two signings of any kind, one for Wang Chung
(don't laugh - I had them sign my "To Live and Die in LA" LP, which
still holds up quite well and is quite cheese-free), and Tori.

The latter was, of course, much more interesting.  I was about sixth
in line, but she was running VERY late, so I had to make a deal with
somebody so I could go feed a parking meter.  Hurrying back to the
store, it suddenly dawned on me that the red-head about 50ft. in front
of me was Tori, hurrying to the signing.    I followed her into the
store and reclaimed my place in line.  I remember her being very direct
("Hi, I'm Tori, and you are?"), and tinier than I expected, and that
she had astonishing eyes.

So I had her sign my copy of "Little Earthquakes" (this was late '92,
I think), and we chatted a bit about Sandman (as much as one can with a
huge line waiting), and it was fun to share a laugh and an actual
interaction with someone who was on the cusp of fame, but still
enjoying it and very genuine.  The signature on my CD reminds me of
that and makes me smile, but I don't think that I'd take the trouble
for too many people (certainly Neil, of course, if he was in the Boston
area).

Other than that, my "brushes with fame" have been few, but I'm glad I
had the chance to shake Ayrton Senna's hand in Detroit in '85 or '86. 
No autograph, but I was in no position to ask at the time.

Re:  Smoking and quitting - I've never smoked anything myself, having
seen the ugly side of tobacco and alcohol in too many relatives, and
whenever I hear of a friend or acquaintance who is trying to quit, I
try to let them know they have my most enthusiastic support.  So Erynn,
best of luck breaking the habit!  I wish you well.

It's funny, when the topic came up, I realized that I remembered Neil
posting on GEnie that he was terribly sick with flu and had to quit
smoking because of it.  Then he posted that it was also sometime in
'92, and I felt a good bit older............... :^)
  

    
On brushes with fame: The closest I've come was directing Ed Harris'
dad in the first play I wrote, back when I was living in Chicago. He
was delightful to work with, although as a 30 year vetran of the stage
and TV, I felt a little overwhelmed trying to direct him. (um, you're
doing great. Keep doing more of that.) As a bonus, I figured out that
because of that experience I'm a mere 3 degrees of seperation from
Kevin Bacon. (woo hoo!)

On autographs: Hrm... I rather like the idea of a progression of
signatures.
I hadn't thought of what I would bring to have Neil sign at Cody's...
I guess I assumed I'd bring American Gods. But maybe I'll bring
Preludes and Nocturnes... and then try to make it to enough Neil events
in the future to bring each Sandman volume in sequence...

*suddenly realizing that I'm setting myself up for a decade long
project*

Why don't I ever think up simple, quick, easy things to do???
  

    
Mimi -- er, yes, I said that. It's why I hate stores putting post it
notes with people's names on their books to speed things up -- I try
and explain that it's because if they do that there's nothing to say
often, and people have spent four hours in line trying to think what to
say...

The beard is dead.

I would guess that on this tour they are going to be pushing very hard
for people to get AMERICAN GODS at the signings. I'll probably still
do the three things plus whatever they buy at the store (within
reason).
  

    

I think anyone who is going to be at a signing with Jen should print out a
copy of Neil vs the Beard and make her sign it.
  

    

Oh how I mourn my long-lost autographed copy of "More Than Human" by
Theodore Sturgeon.
  

    
Long live the beard.
  

    
Gee, Linda... you met Sturgeon? What was he like?
  

    
Seth- No, I don't think that Shel hated children at all. To me at
least, he seemed to like them. He just looked creepy and intimidating
at first. When I was little I was afraid of everything: including a
dude dressed up as Spider Man at the childrens musuem, the deep end at
the pool and clowns...I'm still a little weary of the clowns.

Michelle- Garden knomes?????HAHAHAHAHA! I have to meet you. I think
I'll go for something more ordinary, though. As Neil said, it would
probably be annoying if everyone brought strange things. I could bring
a cat! No. Probably not a good idea. It'll probably be The Book. My
luck he'll sign it :"to the weird-ass girl who doesen't understand
signatures"

Martha- You've been pretty quiet in this here discussion....

Neil-The beard is dead? Damn. Did you get any pictures? I'd like to
see them. I'm sure others would too.

ANgelina-Don't worry about spelling. My spellcheck thingy doesen't
even work. My posts probably look like a three year old typed them. I'm
afriad to look.
  

    
Just got caught up on Americangods.com... for someone who is only
working a half day today you'd think I'd be more focused on
productivity...

Neil, I showed our resident copyeditor your comments about not being
able to talk to your copyeditors... and she said that the scenario you
described had actually happened to her (albeit not at 2 a.m.) It seems
that the author had tracked her down in the phone book and began
screaming at her.

Also, I remember you talking about Wolves in the Walls a while back
(like a year ago), and was wondering where that was in the publishing
process. I've been looking forward to reading it for some time now. Has
it been published and I somehow missed it??

Dan
  

    
Well, I know at Cody's, they don't require that you buy *any*thing at
the store to have signed; only that one of the things you have to be
signed is a copy of American Gods. Obviously, they would *like* you to
buy stuff there, but they're nice and know that you may have
pre-ordered it elsewhere before knowing where the signings were going
to be.

Um, Erynn, the cat would just be weird. I mean, I see the mice sitting
still for that better, and that just wouldn't work at all.

And since there are computer tech types here, a little help, if you've
got it. Daddio's DSL is about to go offline - "What I'm looking for is
my service provider to switch me over to
another DSL provider without me having to do anything.   I doubt
it will be that easy." Without a provider, my web pages are going to
be locked up on a harddrive for no one to see... and I don't even want
to get into how slow my email is going to run.

Any suggestions?

-squeaks, who may actually get out of work EARLY for the first time in
4 weeks!!!!!!!!!
  

    

I have been looking everywhere for an x-rated garden gnome!  If anyone
finds one for sale, please let me know.  I must have one.

Um, Sturgeon.  Let's see.  I met him on two occasions about thirty years
ago and my memory is a bit dusty.  He came to Cal State Fullerton to talk
to our science fiction class.  That's when he signed the book.  I remember
that he was very irritated about something - no, wait, that was Bradbury -
and that he smoked a pipe with a silver unicorn wrapped around the bowl.  
Then, some time later, Phil Dick sent an urgent message via his
then-girlfriend Tessa that we were all piling into Powers' station wagon
and going to meet Sturgeon and his wife Wina at, of all places, the
Greyhound bus station in downtown Los Angeles. I brought him an ashtray in
the shape of a skull for his pipe; he seemed quite bemused by it and I
suspect that it ended up in the nearest trash can as soon as we were out
of sight, but it seemed appropriate at the time.  On both occasions I
remember liking both him and his wife a lot.
  

    
Argh, I wrote a post and then the net ate it.  

Ah, poor beard.  Shall I send flowers or make a donation to a
charitable organization in it's name?

Madman - You are a silly.  :-)

Linda - There are a couple of 'flashing gnomes' up on EBay but they
all appear to be in the UK.  You could try buying a regular one and
modifying it yourself.  :-)

Jen.
  

    

Ah!  I didn't think to look on eBay!  And yes, I've heard they mostly are
in Europe...
  

    
Jen - There's always the CBLDF... 

And in other news, Michelle went home early, with all her work
completed, for the first time in FIVE weeks (I miscounted earlier).
This will also be the first Saturday in 4 weeks that I will not have to
work to catch up. Yay to less than 45 hours this week! Still a long
way from the 20 I'm supposed to be working, but it's a start!

Naturally, now that things are looking up and I'll have more time to
play, the website is going down for an undetermined amount of time.

squeaks, who should now go brag to friends who had to work late today.
  

    
I gave the beard to the Tiptree Award Auction & bake sale, in a small
plastic bag.

...

I promise cross my heart I will really and truly go back and answer
everything I've not had a chance to answer, some time in the next few
days.

...

There will be photos -- with and without beard -- in Locus magazine in
a few months, I'm sure.

WOLVES IN THE WALLS will come out about 8 months after Dave McKean
finishes doing the pictures. We're all still waiting... the pictures
I've seen so far were amazing...
  

    
BTW -- Reg, it occurs to me that I'm sharing Guest of Honour duties
with Gene Wolfe at World Horror Con 2002, which will be in Chicago in
spring of next year. They seem to move a little, but that might be in
February... you'd have to check the con website for info.... if there
is one already --
  

    
Neil,
  
Regarding your comment on the American Gods Journal...Will they be
able to change the bú back to þú in the actual book?  Like you said, it
won't bother too many people, but it would bother me.  It changes the
way it is pronounced from "thoo" to "boo". I don't know offhand if bú
actually means anything in Icelandic but it might very well change the
phrase from "How's it going?" to "What says boo?"  Not quite the same
thing.

Re: signed books-  The only book I have signed by someone other than
Neil or Charles Vess is The Very Hungry Caterpillar signed by Eric
Carle.  He actually lived in Syracuse as a child and was here for an
Early Childhood Educators conference a few years ago.  Not quite the
same crowd as a Neil signing, and we were given pieces of paper to
write the name of person the book was being signed to.  I had mine
signed for my daughter.  I don't think we even got to say a word to
each other while he signed.  Not a terribly memorable experience, but
that book, along with copy of Goldfish I had Neil sign for her, may be
the start of a nice collection of signed children's books.

Re: Alan Rickman-  I think he would make an excellent Crowley.  Just
an observation.

Margret
  

    
Neil, thanks for the tip off. I'll look into it.

Wrt giving up smoking, I consider myself somewhat of an expert, having
done so many times. My tips would be to go cold turkey, avoid drinking
alchohol since the two seem to go together so well, avoid sitting
still for too long with nothing to do with your hands and avoid news
stories about substandard nursing homes and thoughts of spending an
extra five years in one.

On the subject of author signings, Neil and Terry Pratchett are the
only two authors I have attended signings by, and in the case of Terry
it was completely accidental.

My only other brushes with fame are fairly small time stuff like
having shared a wall with a guy who played harmonica with Brownie
McGhee and meeting Australian literary icon Frank Hardy in the pub one
night after he had had a bad run on the horses.

The best I can boast otherwise is having had former Doctor Who
companion and actor/singer Barry Crocker, (best known for his stirring
portrayal of the title character in the movie of "The Adventures of
Barry McKenzie,) in the back of my cab.

I agree with Margret about Alan Rickman making an excellent Crowley.
His (I suspect intentionally)scenery chewing performance was the only
redeeming feature of Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood". I would also
nominate Stephen Fry for Aziraphale, since the actor I imagined in the
role when reading the book, the late great Jon Pertwee, is regretably
unavailiable.

Finally, I thought I should mention the passing of part of everyone's
childhood in the form of William Hanna. I know that many of Hanna
Barbera's cartoons were derivative of mainstream sitcoms, but even
today the little visual jokes of the Flintstones show a genuine
originality and wit that few could match. And whilst they were
responsible in the seventies for the transformation of the fledgling
Australian animation industry from an intriguing and distinctive
artistic force into a soulless sweatshop, Hanna Barbera also kept the
concept of the cartoon alive through an era when every other company
seemed to have forgotten it and we would have got away with it if it
hadn't been for those pesky kids.

Reg

"And it's gooodnight from Mir, and goodnight from him.
  

    
That should have read "...having had former Doctor Who companion Katy
Manning and actor/singer Barry Crocker..."

I also wish to point out to any prurient minds out there that that
"had" does not mean what you were thinking.:-P

Reg
  

    
Neil--  I am sitting in front of my computer drinking Tealuxe Genmai
Cha.  It's interesting-- the roast grain flavor is kind of incongruous,
and in this blend there's little bits of what I think is popcorn. 
It's smoky-- or something-- kind of hard to pin down, but I'm told that
Japanese cuisine has names for all sorts of flavors that Western
cooking doesn't even acknowledge-- umami and whatnot.

Anyway, I can see developing a taste for this.  
  

    
I know what this stuff tastes like-- it's a bit like those little
lacquered Japanese rice crackers.
  

    
Len - But osembe comes in so many different flavours... and some of
those flavours are VERY bad, even when they're not stale. Dammit, now
I'm hungry for them, and the only ones I have went stale quite some
months ago... hmmm

Reg - "had"? You must be mistaking this place for an afn-g Tuesday. :)

squeaks, who will now begin cleaning up her kitchen and fridge
  

    
Hello all!  It seemed like a good time for me to jump in (though I am
interrupting the topic's direction toward Japanese food) :).  Before
the signing/autograph discussion goes away completely, I must share!
Mainly because my first signing indirectly led me here to this very
cool place.  

My first signing I attended was here in Seattle when Neil came to sign
for the UW bookstore. My friend told me about it and gave me Stardust
to read, before taking me with him to the signing. I loved it and was
even more spellbound by Neil himself as he read from the book and
answered questions. He was so funny, nice, accessible (I could go on). 


I was terribly nervous about having him sign the books. When I handed
him the books he said, "What's the matter? You look terrified..."  And
I was. I thought he was going to be mad when I gave him the name "Mike"
(as a female, this was not likely my name). I feared he would think I
was there to sneak more books in to be signed for my friend, and become
angry (the line was very long) While that may have been my friend's
intention in bringing me, I was fast becoming a huge fan on my own. As
it turned out I worried about nothing and Neil didn't care a bit. I
somehow managed to squeak in that I loved Stardust too even though the
books weren't mine. Since then I've read a great deal more and I found
out about the Inkwell through the American Gods site. So now I'm here!!

Neil - Thank you for writing!! Your work is a huge inspiration to my
writing.  Also thank you for being so open and helpful to fans and
aspiring writers. ie, various interviews, the journal on the American
Gods site.  Not all authors are. By reading things you've said, I've
received some of my best writing advice--and I've taken many creative
writing classes. I really don't think I'm being narrow to say that you
are my favorite author and probably always will be.  

Reg - That's funny you suggested Stephen Fry because I had always
imagined more of a Hugh Laurie as Aziraphale.  

All right, that's quite enough out of me for now!

Blythe
  
  

    
Reg "Wrt giving up smoking, I consider myself somewhat of an expert,
having
done so many times. My tips would be to go cold turkey, avoid drinking
alchohol since the two seem to go together so well, avoid sitting
still for too long with nothing to do with your hands and avoid news
stories about substandard nursing homes and thoughts of spending an
extra five years in one."

See there are just three words for this then "Not Doing it"

However as I type this, I am unable to speak (shocking in it's own
right) due to a nasty case of something, am am looking at my
ciggrettes,......and just looking. :sigh:

Autographs,.....I have a multitude of signed things,...all authors and
artists (mainly comic type),......I've never been in a position to get
anything else signed. I tend to meet people, have great conversations
and not know who they are,.....feeling very idiotic in the aftermath.

Michele~ My Filler Bunny said to tell yours hi....I love this thing,
it's currently living next to my plushie Death and Chtullu.

Jinx off to play Fairy Meat
  

    
Jinx, I'm thinking my Filler Bunny is under serious threat again,
because he just keeps looking at me like he wants to say something, but
then he stays quiet and just keeps staring. Maybe he's just mad at me
because he doesn't have a home yet. the "Neil Shelf<tm>" is full, and I
think he's intimidated by Bastet. I'd put him with my purple Cthulhu,
but I left the big C at my friends (again!).

okay, back to laundry.

squeaks, who is a little creeped out by the thought of Neil's
beard-in-a-bag being auctioned...