Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Likewise, streak beat me to it. Though his h@x0r interpretation
certainly wins him style points.
  

    
Tara--Thanks for the "Travel Tips."  Now I know where to go at 4 in
the morning if I find myself in Dublin wanting to scream.  :)  Sounds
as though you had a nice trip, save for the bit in the airport...

Off to go to a David Sedaris signing that I just found out about
yesterday.  It looks like Neil's won't be my first as I previously
suspected.

Angelina.
  

    
E-mail from JaNell:

Neverwhere Sundays... that's a thought. Knoxville is pretty much a David
Lynch sort of place.

Angela Venti- I'll probably do both Lexington and Dayton.

Tree- Oh, that sucks. A good anti-eviction spell... St. Brigid sounds
good. So does the Biblical curse, "May you be done to as you have done
unto me". On the other hand, if your soon-to-be-former landlord is
willing to be that nasty, what other creepy things that he might do are
you going to not experience by moving? I'm hoping something much better
comes out of this dor you.

Neil- Did you say your post got eaten- AGAIN? I can just imagine, some
life-changing, wondrous comment for each and everyone of us, lost; and
that moment of perfrect clarity evaporated in a hail of cuss words and
keyboard smashing.

Oh, I told Chloie (ConCat Chair) about the resteraunt incident being
used in AG. She was also thrilled, and would say thanks, but she's lost
your email address.

JaNell
  

    
E-mail from Tori:

Please post this! Thank you so much :)
 
Unlurking for just a moment-
 
Re: Neil- So, that was a Sandman reference in the park in San Fransisco!
I was wondering...re-read it three or four times and came up with the
solution that the best I would do towards solving it, is to ask you, and
what do I see-someone already asked, of a sort. *shrug*
 
Now, I promised I must say- many, many props to Alayha, who risked life
and limb and job to snatch me a copy of AG from the Borders she works
at-and then ship it across country for me. It's become quite beat up
now-held together by pure will and tape, since it's been around the
school already. I feel like one of those kids who always has the newest
thing, since comic dorks walk up to me and go, 'Neil Gaiman? Lemmie
see!'. The appropriate response is to clutch book to chest and hope they
do not try to further snatch it from you.
 
 And I've lost the attached extra chapter somewhere, possibly on the bus.
Thus-I 'm eagerly awaiting AG's publication so I can buy a new one. With
the last chapter/epi thingie attached to the rest of the book, so I won't
lose this one. And so I can find out what happens. (Amazingly, even after
extra chapter was lost, kids, and adults still wanted to borrow. Probably
a good sign, no?)
 
Re: Douglas Adams-I'm torn between fascination at what those documents
and e-mails might look like, and the horror at the idea that it may not
be what he wanted. It's a fine line-much like publishing love letters
between famous dead people, like the Trumans. On one hand, fascinating
glimpses of the personal lives of these people, on the other hand,
something the person probably would have fought tooth and nail against if
they were alive.
 
Back to my lurkdom-
-Tori
 
  

    
Neil - Initially I wondered if it was a Sandman reference as well, but
the day after I finished it I walked down Haight Street and there it
all was, happily laid out before me like you were there only minutes
before... coincidence? :) Actually, it was a bit creepy (down to the
picnic!)

Hi Tori Bat! Long time no see! Re: posthumous (is that spelled right?)
publishing - see, but personal letters and such still give certain
insight and provide with a level of fascination. The stuff I have a
problem with are the things written with the public in mind that the
author then decided wasn't good enough for some reason. Yeah, there's
some personal insight involved, but it's not quite the same, you know?
I rather like the thought of waiting until 50 years after death to
allow for publishing of that sort of stuff.

JaNell - Well, David Lynch is disturbing, and first image that comes
to mind when someone says Knoxville is that hideous shade of orange...
shuddering at the thought.

squeaks, still cringing at the thought of that much orange. And I
thought Cal blue/gold could be obnoxious!
  

    
(quickly scans through all the posts...geez i keep falling behind in
here)

Mary - I took a look at the site you mentioned, and indeed found a
copy of Alan Moore's book for sale.  Sadly though, it's price was too
rich for my blood.

Phalanx - Regarding Mel Brooks, I remember receiving an interesting
lecture from my theatre friend.  He told me that Mel was doing
theatrical productions before he got around to making "The Producers"
on film.  Personally I think it was about time for him to return to his
roots, following the mediocre "Men In Tights" and the painful
"Dracula: Dead and Loving It".  And I don't care what anyone tells me,
"Men In Tights" wasn't good.  Even the main song in the movie that bore
the film's name was a lyrical rewrite of the song "Jews In Space",
from "History of the World Part I".

-Joe ("I knew it! I'm surrounded by Assholes!")
  

    
My goodness. Got home from softball tonight (two wins - woohoo!) to
find the long-awaited first chapter of American Gods in my email. Well,
okay, part of the first chapter. Which I happily devoured, and clicked
on the excerpt link to find... nothing. D'oh. And I have to question
the OCR program they used to capture the text of the first chapter, as
I can't otherwise account for "utter" turning into "titter" and "he"
turning into "lie". You would think, or at least I would think, that
since they're going to be publishing it electronically, they could've
just imported the text. But then, maybe that's just me. In any event,
can't wait for the rest of the first chapter to go live. Thanks, Neil.
:)
  

    
Joseph -- one of the things I said in my lost post, was: phone
DreamHaven Books and ask them about VOICE OF THE FIRE -- if they don't
have a copy they'll usually be getting 'em in soon.

tara -- welcome back.

JaNell -- your message was about Knoxville, and warm sushi and cold
miso.

Did you know my former bodyguard is now the Knoxville area Ronald
MacDonald?


Tori -- I don't really know if it was her or not. I mean, she doesn't
*say* anything. and as Miss Mousey Michelle points out, it's not like
everything I described isn't actually *there*...

Bill -- they *did*?  Sigh... I'll investigate.
  

    
Neil - Thanks for the info.  I'll make sure to call them up tomorrow,
and maybe even see if they can set aside your CD for me too.

-Joe
  

    
Tree - So sorry to hear the hounds of gentrefication are nipping at
your door.  There's been a lot of that happening in NYC recently.
Thanks to the severe housing crunch, last summer people who had rent
stabilized apartments suddenly found themselves socked with almost a
12% increase.  This means being forced of your neighborhood if one is
on a fixed income. Really sucks.

Btw, my move went exceedingly well. The movers packed up the duplex
and had us installed in our loft in under 5 hours.  But best of all,
we're far..far..away from the sociopath that lived upstairs.  Have you
ever met someone and thought how the hell do they even live with
themselves? Ugh.

I'll rub some good real estate vibes all over you when you visit. 

And To All My Thingies:  Oooh..I hear LA calling. ;)
  

    
Really quick post:

Just found Chapter One of AG. It's at 
http://www.americangods.com/excerpt.html

I think they missed '.html' at the end of the link that came with the
newsletter.

Will write more when I get home tonight..... *runs off back to work*
^_^;

-- Mimi
  

    
Bill--had the same experience with the e-mail & the link.  I thought
it was just me.

Tara--welcome home!!  Check your work e-mail--I just sent you the AG
excerpt, in case you didn't get it. :-)

Also realized that I was snickering over the "Buggre Alle *This*
Bible" last night.  I am a chowderhead.  Tonight I am cackling over
Vaughn Williams "Fat-Bottomed Girls".

My friend Les went to Book Expo & I got piles of cool stuff--new Ben
Bova, Sandman Presents, an excerpt from the new Orson Scott Card, etc. 
No cool American Gods promo stuff.  He got a copy of the new John
Matthews "In Search of the Green Man" (I think).  It's gorgeous.
Recommended if you like Celtic stuff.

Ooooooer. M'bushed.  Gode'en, gentles, all.
  

    
E-mail from Douglas Spadotto:

"
Hello Neil.
They *did*? that sounded to me like it was intentional... ah... you guys...
marketing at its best being applied here.
Another thing: did you have a bodyguard? Why? And now he is a Ronald
McDonald? That's cool."

Thanks,

Douglas Spadotto
  

    
Neil -- First off, I adore the first chapter.  How cruel to whet my
appetite like this! ^^
     Your former bodyguard is a Ronald?  That must be one buff clown. 
Or was he one of those small nondescript types who lurks about with an
improbable cache of weapons in his pockets?  Or perhaps some sort of
Sufi martial artist? That would be the most probable, I suppose, as
Sufis are known to travel disguised as clowns.
     I went to every specialty magazine store in the area trying to
find a copy of LOCUS so that I could see pics of you before being
shorn, but none of them were any help.  bah.
  

    
Dan Guy -- Similarly unsuccessful search for LOCUS here in Dallas, but
that's mostly due to my lack of time devoted to searching I think than
anything else.

Despite my panic-inducingly barren checking account, I'm off to look
for House of Leaves today. Wish me luck.
  

    
Clarifying:

Lack of time devoted to searching for LOCUS is due to work and other
necessary duties, not because of lack of interest. I'm definitely most
interested in checking out the pics of everyones favorite unkempt
demiurge. :D
  

    
Okay, the first chapter rocks (or, at least, the first page of the
first chapter).  I've decided not to read anymore until the 19th, until
I have the whole thing in my hands, and until it's signed.

So Neil, two questions I realized last night I've been meaning to ask
but haven't- 1) In Dreamhunters, there is a passage in which the monk
ventures to the Dreaming and produces a scrap of parchment with a
character on it to prove he's allowed to be there.  You wrote that the
character means "one who shapes," nothing concrete but things that
don't exist and are thus more important than those that do (I'm
paraphrasing, as you realize).  At the very end of the book, there is a
Japanese character.  Does this character mean "One who shapes?" I ask
because I'm thinking of getting another tattoo, and that would be a
cool one, if it does, in fact, mean "one who shapes."

My other question was wondering where you got the title Neverwhere.  I
was rereading it and realized it's not in the text.  Just wondered...

Oh, and I also wondered if you had any comment on novel length,
besides stopping when the story's over.  Could the length of my novels
be why I've been rejected, do you think?  And how long was American
Gods, if you don't mind my asking...

Sean- Picke up House of Leaves; the companion album, by Poe
(Danislewski's sister) is really quite good.  The book I haven't yet
read.

Oh, and a general question- Lots of posts; will we need a new topic
soon?  We could name it Neil Gaiman: Messenger of American Gods...

Now back off to work.

-Will, who's going to a Dreamworks presentation later, so has to work
now.
  

    
Email from Jouni Koponen:

Hi

Newsletter weirdness continues. As I told wayyyy back, when I tried to
subscribe the Neil Gaiman -newsletter, I got the message that my E-mail
address was ALREADY in their database. Some time after that I got
MailAndNews-account (and a free E-mail address) and thought I'd try
subscribing the Newsletter to that address. Same result: 'Subscribe Me
Status: Already Listed!'

Hmmm. I'm still quite puzzled how BOTH my E-mail addressess got into the
database...

Now I got the newsletter to my MailAndNews-address, but not to my
'official' address.

Hmmm. Weird...

But at least one out of of two worked, eh?


Neil - So I read the American Gods -excerpt. I liked it. I liked it very
much. Very VERY much... Low Key Lyesmith... heh! ;-)

Tree - Loved those paintings by David Laity!

Sarah - Have you found the illustrator yet?

Jouni
  

    
Email from Tori Bat:

Angelina--> yeah school on top of everything makes mornings so unhappy~ I
think if my life was blank and I didnt have to worry/deal with a lot of
stuff that always seems to be hanging on me all the time then school would
be ok but having to deal with "developmental" math at the same time is
just ROTTEN.  *laugh*

Will--> *smile* yes the job is going well...although I do way much more
than is required...and I -still- get time to read 100+ pages a day! Love
that! and I get paid! (I started out volunteering at the museum which gave
me the oppertunity for a job-->so getting paid is great!)  anyway--> I
hope you find the moulin rouge soundtrack~ I'm surprised you're having
trouble finding it!  The theater I went to on opening night were giving
them away -frown-and I didnt win one. oh well....I loved it though! very
funny--> I was laughing so much (and SO loud! ha ha)

Neil--> Fabulous! a party sounds great! (and since *I'm* driving I think
its drivers choice! *giggle*)  I'll email jon or linda~ thanks!

Janell--> wow! isn't that RIGHT by the museum? like across the street in
those cute little artsy-craftsy area? I am a regular at java~ but I'll be
working on saturday so I just might stop by!

Michelle--> *smile* hi~ it has been a long time.  *grr* I hate the way
knoxville looks around football/basketball season--> like some giant drank
too much orange julius (sp?) and threw it all up. I like orange in
moderation but when its all over the place and EVERYONE is wearing
orange...its a bit gross.  But I can definatly see the David Lynch
thing--> I bet he'd love that.

anyone I missed--> (sorry) *smile*

ok I'm off to work. *sigh* I'd really just like to sleep today. I slept
horribly last night, had a dream where David Bowie died *gasp* and it was
a very emotional sort of events...and it was just bad....anyway....off to
go make a little bit of money.
                                       *HUGS* 
                                            Tori Bat! 
  

    
Mimi -- well done for finding it!  I put up the info on it in  the
journal...

Mary -- I'm writing a poem for Ellen Datlow on the Green Man,
complicated slightly by my mislaying the notebook I was writing it in.
If I can't find it I'll have to write a different poem I guess
(reconstruction does not work). 

I think it ends

"And feel the silence blossom on my tongue
Like language"

Douglas and Danguy -- well, he was my bodyguard at San Diego, and his
job was getting me from place to place without people stopping me for
signatures.

I'll e-mail a photo of me before and after American Gods haircut to
the neilgaiman.com website...

Will, no, the character at the end of DreamHunters means 'the end' or
something like that -- it's what they put at the end of books. (Amano
put it in.)

Sorry -- the comment on the novel length was in the Great long lost
post the Well ate. I told you that you were right, and to write books
to the length of the book.

Lots of people don't notice that Neverwhere isn't a place name -- they
list it in The Dictionary of Imaginary Places for somer eason, rather
than the more logical entry for London Below.
  

    <scribbled by castle Wed 6 Jun 01 09:01>
  

    

Sorry.  Wasn't meant to be posted!
  

    
Looking forward to June 19th! Reading the first chapter isn't so bad
if you're going to get the book in less than 2 weeks. Plus shipping.
(Which means most of you will have gotten the book signed and gobbled
it alive before I can get my grubby hands onto a copy. *rarrrr*)

Michelle -- Last I heard, the doormat was happily in New Orleans
(still), earning a living doing collection and aspiring to go to law
school and open up a law practice. ^_-

The Reduced Shakespeare Company -- DanGuy: Cast does matter, I think.
They've just put out a video of the recording of the Complete Words
they did for PBS, and they had Adam Long, Austin Tichenor and Reed
Martin for that. *dream cast!!* (Not the video game console ^_^;)
Haven't seen the thing yet, but should hopefully be really good. I
worship the ground Adam, in his Converse high tops, walks on. *hearts*
(Saw him in London as Ophelia...) Dan -- Cool! I love that bit. I trust
you've read the script? The footnotes are just... beautiful. ^_-

Neil -- The Hong Kong + Coffee House has possibilities... I'll figure
something out and I'd love for you to put it into the blogger, please.
^_^ (Even if no one else turns up, I'll spend an hour or two sipping
coffee with my friends. There are worse fates.) And the sis you met is
the middle blue one whose graduation I just attended. The youngest one
will be starting college this fall.

Mary -- UUUUTEEEEENAAAAA~~~~!! *swoons* Please, please say that you
have access to all 39 episodes. Let me know when you have finished them
all and are walking around dazed and traumatized (in the good way).
*^o^* 

Joseph -- Finished A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, rereading
bits and pieces of Smoke and Mirrors, wondering where to go next. 

Tree -- *sends good vibes* That sucks. Hope you can find a new, better
apartment real soon! And Roxanne, yay for a smooth move!

Vanishing messages -- I had that happen once and decided that once was
enough. I don't type into the Well box directly anymore but open up
Notepad and type in there and save the text file, obsessively, every 5
seconds. Then I cut and paste when I'm done. Also means I can type in
one window while I scroll my way down through the posts. :P

Len -- Happy Neverwhere Sunday. On Monday, I was staring out from the
window on the 52nd floor of a building, looking across Victoria Harbour
when for the first time in my life, I really noticed the shadows of
the clouds on the ground and how the clouds were flowing like a river
with the wind and the shadows with them ... registered the dappled
effect on the harbour before, but didn't realize it was the *clouds*
till now. I think it's the near aerial view that made it possible. Took
my breath away.

Tara -- I've transited O'Hare enough, but I've never had to meet up
with anyone there --- glad you survived all the travelling. ^_-

Will and Neil -- Yup, the character at the end of Dream Hunters means
end/the end. Oh and Neil: photo shoot story? Please, with strawberries
and cream on top? And really excited to hear about the Instructions
poster. ^_^

-- Mimi, up way past her bedtime 
  

    
Crap. That was *long*. -_-;
  

    
The first chapter was a nice surprise to find waiting for me last
night; I even managed to hold off til a few minutes ago to read it.
Now, of course, I want more and must impatiently wait for it.  :-)

Will - I keep meaning to pick up House of Leaves, but it's a bit on
the costly side. I absolutely love 'Haunted' tho - so really, really
should read the book.

Okay, today I *shall* work, yes yes I *shall*...
-Kelly