Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Neil--wait wait wait.  Wazzat?  Day of the Dead?  Why don't I know
about this?  There's a movie of yours out there and I haven't seen it? 
What is this world coming to?  (thank you for welcoming me, i'm all
a-jitter)

Jinx-- Walker, eh?  I think I like the sound of him, mainly because it
sounds like Strider and I could use a guide like Strider to navigate
this town.  Also the blade-in-toy caper sounds like exactly the thing
one should have at a Denny's.  

Also, Justin- Let me know which one you decide to go to...

Jouni--My favorite is Lucien.  There's something sinister about it. 
And I'm not talking left-handed, either. 

In general:  Did I miss a thread about the Knights Templar or did that
just pop up?  I just read Holy Blood, Holy Grail and I'm curious what
the consensus is on those danged Cathars.  

I feel like I've been blessed by something strange by finding this
place.  
  

    
jouni - your pictures are great.  i like the haircut one a lot, but i
think the faerie magic is actually my favorite.

adriana - day of the dead is an episode of Babylon 5 that neil
scripted.  i think the script is still available through dreamhaven.

  --  s
  

    
Neil - yeah, I guess that was the thing... that he wasn't the person
who did those crimes any longer... the idea that Raguel didn't just
burn away the memory, but the part of him that had the inclination for
such acts as well... Still, it's wonderfully ambiguous... was Raguel's
action more or less Just than his action before the dawn of Creation?

Re-read Chivalry last night, didn't discover any nasty surprises on
this reading. Felt relieved and slept better.

I'm listening to 60 Love Songs today! Enjoying it immensely! I'm still
on the first CD... but love the diversity and unpredicatability I've
experienced so far!
  

    
Email from Sean Michaels:

Jouni - What lovely pictures! Like old woodcuts. I, too, especially like
Lucien. I am considering hanging him on my wall... re: Murder Mysteries -
ye Gads! I had never caught that before. Puts a horribly dark spin on one
of my favourite stories from S&M (hmm.. i had never caught the
significance of that acronym before). As for a hopeful ending, well, I do
tend to agree. There was a certain kiss from a certain person, followed by
the events in an elevator... Things may not be so happy for our
protagonist...

Er. Sorry if those were spoilers; I tried to be ambiguous.

As I will be leaving town (and computer) shortly, a Happy Passover to all
who give such things significance.

Sean
  

    
If DreamHaven put my book on their Neil page, I'll bet they'd sell it out a
whole lot sooner!  It's definitely a nice thing to do to order it from them,
for both yourself and for the publisher and thereby for me.

Erynn, I'm sorry you're stuck waiting for the book.  They must have sent it
book rate--Media Mail is what the USPS calls that now--which is the very
cheapest, very slowest rate available.  (But a nice option to have when
shipping things as heavy as big boxes of books being donated to the very
fine Lisa Libraries organization in Brooklyn.)

Media Mail can take up to a couple of weeks to go from one side of the
country to another.  They put it on donkeys or something.  I'm told that if
you give the shipper your full nine-digit zip code (you can look that up on
the postal service site, www.usps.com), that speeds things up considerably.

Don't worry.  My stories are hardly so tricky as Murder Mysteries I don't
think.  Most of them are hardly so tricky at all, at least plotwise.

--Oh, and as for Murder Mysteries, I think the main reason I thought it was
obvious was that to me, the "frame" story was the foreground and the angels
story was background and I was waiting for the "frame" story again; people
who are more attracted to the angels story are more likely to skim the
"frame" story a little, probably.  But I always read it as the main part of
the story, which has more to do with personal taste than any kind of IQ
rating certainly.
  

    

Relative newcomers might want to check out topic 73 as well, being the
frozen, previous incarnation of this topic, wherein the Knights Templar came
up a couple of times.

I've been meaning to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail for a while now. Most of
what I know about it is through Robert Anton Wilson books.
  

    
Email from Dax Pagan:

Have been lurking for a long time, but this is the first time I'm 'jumping
in'.

Adriana- I'm an LA person, and I made three good friends in a line at one
of Neil's Book Soup signings; always looking to meet more.  Feel free to
e-mail me at elevatorman42@hotmail.com.

Re: Murder Mysteries: I think it's played very fair, and if anyone misses
it, I'd think they'd go back to what Neil says in the introduction (to
both 'Angels and Visitations' and 'Smoke and Mirrors'): "There are clues
everywhere.  There's even one in the title."

Trev- Know exactly how you feel on the Ramadan figure.  Gorgeous to look
at, but I'm disappointed in their 'functionality'.  Seems like DC Direct
plays better to the 'Leave them in the box' crowd.  My Ramadan figure
doesn't fit in the base well, the interior purple capes don't match
exactly, of COURSE the thing is top heavy and must be leaned against
something, and can ANYONE set the red ball in Dream's hand?  My Amano
figure had to be returned to the store- one of those dangling chains came
damaged (worked with small jeweler's precision tools for awhile, to no
avail)... and (most annoying of all) the original Dream figure- tipped
over- a height of JUST the height of the figure- what?- six inches or so-
and the little peg holding Matthew into his arm broke off, and can't be
fixed.  Very frustrating.  To not be completely negative, though, the
Death and Del plushes are cool, and I'm glad the bookends were re-issued
in miniature...

Neil- Very much looking forward to AG... (and Coraline and Wolves in the
Walls, and...).  Has there been any improvement in relations with the
Warners people that you've discussed as the reason you're unwilling (at
this time) to do the Delirium mini-series with Jill?  A 'broken record' of
a question, I know, but I know a huge audience is still hoping... Anyway,
excited to hear about the Barnabus/Del storybook thing she's doing in the
meantime.

Any movement in the legal issues concerning Angela/Miracleman, or can you
say?  Again, another 'still hoping'...

And Sweeney Todd with Mr. Zulli?
  

    
Dax - yes, my Dream figure did the same thing (although from a
slightly greater height) about 24 hours after I got him. Dropped to the
ground and Matthew broke off the arm, leaving the peg in Dream's arm
and Matthew completely free to fly wherever he damn well pleases.

*sigh*

My Jack Skellington figureine has similar problems and it took me
several location attempts before i found where I could put him so that
he wouldn't slide off of his tombstone every time I walked past him.
  

    
Right.  Yes.  Of course.  Babylon 5.  Knew that, I did.  Excellent.  
  

    
Anyone who has not read Murder Mysteries yet PLEASE skip over my post
to Dan. 

Dan- Of course violence against women and children is horrible, but it
exists and it needs to be acknoledged, from time to time. People
acknowledge violence agaisnt men all the time. Ignoring it doesen't
make it go away. I wasn't as much creeped out by the second mystery as
I was stunned. I think one of the reasons I didn't see it the first
time was because I kept thinking of Neil as the narrator. I couldn't
help it. Too many similarities (yes, even him talking to an angel was
believable)So, of course I wasn't expecting him to kill anyone.
Because, as Neil said, he wasn't a bad guy after the angel kissed him.
And the elevator scene at the end was symbolic. It was wonderful story
dark or not. THe great thing about Neil stories is that there is
darkness but there's always an element of hope. Like a yin-yang. very
well balanced. I'll email you more of my thoughts about it later. I'm
sure you won't be weary of it then. 

Neil- I've never had a problem finding you on Dreamhaven or anywhere
on the net. I've even found things by you that you may not be aware
that you've written(Neil Gaiman's Neil Gaiman) But I couldn't find
Martha on Dreamhaven. I do think that they need to become more user
friendly to make it easier for people to find and order all of those
wonderful things. Ah well. I'll write to them. Oh, and I think I'll
return an expression you once gave me. ON 'Eaten'- Good lord.

Martha- Media Mail? Donkeys? Oh no. I'd heard of it, but I didn't know
what it was all about. I recently ordered some other things that are
going to be shipped that way. They made it sound like it was this
exciting fast new way to ship things. I wonder if it's too late to
upgrade the shipping. I'm glad you informed me, however. I'm always in
the dark about these things. I can't wait to read your book. If I like
it, which I don't see why I won't (I've read about it and it sounds
fantastic), I'll help you plug it and get it more recognized. I'm
pretty good at plugging other people's stuff. Watch:

Robert Anton Wilson is great! I read 'Masks of the Illuminati' fairly
recently (you know, the one with Crowley, James Joyce and Einstien in
it.) Strange, strange story. I will surely read more of his work.
Okay. My next post will be short for once. Promise. 
  

    

_Masks of the Illuminati_ was pretty good. _The Illuminatus! Trilogy_ was
far better, IMO. (Beats _Schroedinger's Cat_, too.) But a lot of the neat
info also comes from _Everything Is Under Control- Conspiracies, Cults, and
Cover-Ups_, which is one of the coolest books I own.
  

    
Erynn - funny thing is, the first time I read it, I pictured Neil as
the narrator as well. Must be that whole British thing... that, and I
kind of saw it as a tongue in cheek way of explaining how the whole
Silver City thing came about. (See, it's actually a true story, and the
reason that it comes up in different genres is that it's ACTUALLY what
happened..... um .... yeah).

When I called Dreamhaven to pick up Martha's book today, I just gave
them the title (based on her Well Profile) and that seemed to work
pretty good... but yeah, if you're not from around these parts, I don't
know how you'd ever find it.

(I *am* terribly excited about being able to pre-order the new Vertigo
tarot, though)

Dan
  

    
Len - Thanks for the link to those essays . All those term papers I
have due in the coming week weren't yet incentive enough to go out and
ge some more paper for the printer .

Neil - That would be great , if it wouldn't be any trouble for you to
rummage around a little bit . Actually , there was another book that
you had mentioned once that seemed like just the sort of thing I like .
I think you said it was all about the stories behind the names of the
various spots around London . Street names , etc . Might you also know
the name of that offhand ?
  

    
Okay, Media Mail probably isn't shipped on donkeys.  But it's just about the
cheapest kind of mail service there is, which means they are never in any
kind of a rush with it.  They send it along to the next rock when it's
convenient.

The narrator in Murder Mysteries is very easy to read as Neil-ish, as are a
few of Neil's other narrators here and there.  That didn't stop me from
reading the story the way I read it at all....
  

    
Martha- I do beleive that it is shipped on donkeys. In fact, I went
outside a while ago and saw a postal man riding one. Remembering what
you had said, I ran up to him and asked if he had my package. He
fumbled around in his leather sack and then said: "No, but I am on my
way to Vermont now, so I should have it for you when I return." And
then the donkey licked me.
  

    
Martha... what do you know about Neil that we don't? 

Hoping Neil's been "Kissed By An Angel"
Dan
  

    
re: Ramadan figure - the red ball balances fine, but then, I gave up
the illusion of the figure actually fitting into the base 5 minutes
after it came out of the box. Honestly, he hovers just fine without the
base. I'm more upset with the fact that DC labels them as "action"
figures, when they clearly aren't meant to be moved once posed. 'points
of articulation' HAH!

squeaks - who did *not* lose her job today, despite much berating of
the stupidity of fellow employees, very loudly, and in earshot of every
manager on duty. *PHEW!*
  

    <scribbled>
  

    
My favorite action figures are my Hunter Rose Grendel and my Kevin
Matchstick figures.  Great props, lots of articulation, and they stand
up in lots of different poses, and look cool in all of 'em.
  

    
Donkeys are so friendly, aren't they?

Neil?  I know nothing.  I don't know where the bodies are buried.  I mean--
what bodies?
  

    
Adriana- My personal opinion on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" ties in with
Neil's comments about suspension of disbelief in non-fiction works. I
guess it didn't help that I read it in tandem with Umberto Eco's
"Foucault's Pendulum" but I thought that while the historical research
was fascinating, the authors' credulity was almost breath taking.

I got the impression that their fascination with the story they saw
unfolding led them to accept without question anything that would
support it. Maybe I'm overly cynical but almost every chapter contained
something thad had me rolling my eyes and muttering "Even Linda
Lovelace wouldn't swallow that!"

I was left with the impression that if the alleged age-old conspiracy
actually existed, involving all the usual suspects as it did, then the
fact that they were still stuck in the shadows and not openly ruling
the world after all this time suggested the conspirators were so
incompetent they made Guy Fawkes look like Machiavelli.

Just my .02c

Reg(who would nevertheless, love to stumble across the secret memoirs
of Berainger Saunier)
  

    
I love my Jack Skellington & Sally dolls from Japan's Jun Planning. They got
the proportions right, and they actually look like Jack and Sally. Plus:
changeable heads! glow in the dark! Sally's sewing basket!

Alas, Disney has not done so well by them. The Sally action figure I got in
WDW isn't very good quality, and she's got an expression like a cheerleader.
The Disney Beanie version of Sally is downright ugly. Oogie Boogie, on the
other hand, is the perfect beanie. Jack just looks silly in plush.

<stagewalker>, is your Jack Skellington figure you mentioned the one where
he's leaning on the tombstone from "Jack's Lament"? I like that one very
much, but I don't have it.

ooh, I forgot, the Disney Classics Collection figurines of Jack & Sally are
very nice. And they do not topple.
Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with Nightmare toys.
  

    
And after that little rant, I forgot to say what I had intended.

Just reading the AG journal and I'm very pleased that I'll be abled to
update the proprietrix of my local bookstore on the Australian
publication, since she was thrilled when I told her Neil had a new
novel coming out and has been almost tearing her hair out at the lack
of information she has been getting from Hodder about it.

Also, slap me in the stocks and let fly with the rotten fruit if I am
wrong, but I was of the impression the Mardi was Tuesday in French. 

Finally, I would add my vote of no confidence in the DC Direct
figures. I had exactly the same thing happen with the pin affixing
Matthew to Dream's arm, (with the result that Matthew now rests at
Dream's feet looking disturbingly like a Nowegian Blue Raven,) and with
the figures' inherrent inability to stand on their own two feet.

Reg (and don't even get me started on the fact that the John
Constantine figure's face appears to have been modeled on Rowan
Atkinson in Mr Bean mode.)
  

    
Jouniac -- I like the haircut one too.

Len -- you can stick to the contents and page numbers if you like, and
I'll tell you roughly how many sentences there are in my theory.

Adriana -- what everyone else said -- my Babylon 5 Episode.

And as someone else said, look through Topic 73 for interesting stuff
on the Templars.

Dan -- there are almost no surprises in Chivalry. I had a certain
amount of fun building a few of those things into American Gods; I can
pretty much guarantee that your second read of it will be of a
different book to the one you read the first time.

Sean -- thanks 

martha -- we should suggest it to Dreamhaven.

Dax, I'm with you, Trevor et al on the functionality of the floating
Arabian Nights guy. It is do-able (I did it, but only after Karen
Berger, my editor told me she had done it) but it's not easy.

Warners relationships improved a great deal last year. We'll see what
happens this year.

Erynn -- did you find Eaten on the web?

Justin -- remind me next week. I'm going off with my son to the East
Coast to visit universities for a couple of days. Worcester and
Washington, here we come.
  

    
Oh my god, Mike's headed to college.