Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Hi Elise!  Look what you have wrought!  Come back soon!

dreaming - I meant to say "sing" up there, not "sign."  He may be signing,
too, for all I know, but I can't hear it on the tape!  Maybe he does sound
a tad like E.G. Marshall.
  

    
Elise--Hi!  Welcome back!  I also hope you guys are well.

Margret--I'll be the redhead #4 in line at Stars.  Or possibly #2, as
the first two people have reportedly only asked for inscriptions, and
may not be there.  I'll also be at B&N, in the company of that other
mad Irishwoman from here.  *Please* come say "Hi!"

Tara--I think that's Mark who knows him.  He's supposed to be at B&N
on Friday, but probably can't come early.

Will--that is so awesome!  Neil has the most amazing memory for names
& faces that I've ever encountered.  

I don't have a copy of AG yet.  I have a copy reserved at Stars, whch
guarantees me a line #, plus, I'm committed to supporting independant
bookstores.  Not that I don't shop at the bigger ones, just trying to
put as much money as I can toward the smaller ones.  So I'm going
*nuts*!  My friend Debbie (who's a lurker here) and I went out on our
lunchbreak yesterday just to look at it (she's behind me in line at
Stars).  We totally fangirled out.  It was pretty funny.  It's shelved
on the bestseller shelf with Jackie Collins (?!) at the B. Dalton we
went to.  Out of the ghetto! 

JaNell--I want to hear about the cremations, too!

Mimi--Revolution!  I'll post more on that topic later. 


O.K., I'm utterly wiped.  I just pulled 3 9:30a.m.-11:00p.m. days in a
row.  *Cannot* wait for Friday!!

Mary (who was sent back out for cat food as soon as she got home
tonight.  I must love the fuzzy little buggers...)
  

    
E-mail from Jouni:
....

....

I'm sulking.

....

Called my 'dealer' and asked when he's going to get American Gods.

"Well, it wasn't in this weeks shipment."

"Hmm. OK. How about next week?"

"Dunno."

"Eh?"

"We don't know what's in next weeks shipment."

"Can't you ask someone?"

"Well, you can check out yourself from the distributors webpage if you can
go to the net."

"Hmm. Oo-kay, just wait a sec... there it is... shipping next week -june 27.
Hmm. Can't see it. No, It's not in here."

"Well, there you go."

"Great..."

After the conversation I scanned through the webpage more closely and found
a preview of the book.

"American Gods by Neil Gaiman... (caut:4)"

"Caut:4? What the hell does that mean? Oh, there it is... (CAUT: 4) = All
information is subject to change, but this item should ship no later than 90
days past its scheduled ship date."

So I don't know when the scheduled ship date is, but I know the book
shouldn't be more than 90 days late from it.

My head hurts.

(sigh)

Yeah. Maybe I should try to get it from somewhere else...

Jouni
  

    
Tara O - Alas, I don't have the problem of needing a copy for a
signing (none within a 200 mile radius). As much as I'd love Neil to
sign it, I won't be driving to Illinois for the pleasure. So, I'll just
have to be patient and wait for my preorder to arrive. I also made a
bookstore run last night, but they had no signed copies and the few AG
books they did have were stashed way in the back on a 'Summer Reading'
table. Literally took 15 mintues to find them.

Oh man, do want to talk housewares? I worked at Lechters (now
http://www.thinkkitchen.com/) as a kid. I was the only girl in high
school with her own garlic roaster and ramekins.

[Just checked Amazon and according to them, my book just shipped
today. But I don't suppose I can feel too bad as Jouni may not get his
for 90 days...]
  

    
Tara GL - Lechters I thinkw as the name of the place where I got my
new saucepan! I had tried Linens & Things, when I went to go buy
curtains for my living room, and came up dry. But from now on, I think
I'm gonna be a lechters fiend (kinda like an opium fiend, except with
stainless steel kitchen implements).

If you want to order a signed copy, Dreamheaven (dreamhavenbooks.com)
will have 'em after July 1st :) 

Mary: Yay! I mean, not on the long days, but on seeing Mark again
Friday. I had such a blast with you guys after the Roosevelt University
gig.

I am now going to nibble on some toast, 'casue I went out after work
last nigth with my partner and my boss, and will never ever ever drink
that much Campari and soda ever again... Particularly not when I decide
to have some 18 year old Scotch inbetween drinks. The idea of actual
food is not that appealing today.
  

    
Hi all,

Went to the Huntington signing last night...  Neil was in fine form,
did a great reading from AG (end of the Sam sequence to the end of
Lucy,) answered questions and signed (and signed and signed, no
doubt... I got there two hours early, and so was among the first 15
people to get their books signed.)  The reading was taped by the Metro
Channel for their Unblinking Eye series (which always seems to feature
people speaking at Queens College, or maybe I just see the same ep.
over and over and forget I've seen it.)  So it should play in the NY
area sometime soon.

Neil signed my book, and a book for my friend, currently living in
Taiwan. He was, as always, generous with his time and thoroughly a
mensch.

My wife got to meet Neil, and she was completely charmed; he thanked
her for lending me to the Well so often. Kudos. He also gets special
kudos for silently noting as he signed that our names are Len and Jenn,
but not commenting on the rhyme thing ("Aww, your names rhyme. How
cute!  Are you gonna have a hid named Glen? or Ken?")

Neil sent his best to the Mob from 104, apologized for not posting
recently, and assured us that he's fine.

I left him with psychic gatorade-- a bottle of gen-mai cha infused
vodka (and a mixer), a copy of Martin Dressler, and a wrist brace.  I
actually had brought candy for the line, as Neil had suggested,but I
gave one to a friend and it pulled a crown off his tooth, so I decided
that I'd better hold off.

It was a great night.  For Long Island.  For the World.

And American Gods kicks ass.

I'm going to post this, in an edited form, on the tour bulletin board
at NeilGaiman.com, so excuse my laziness for not writing another,
different post if you see it there.
  

    
Can I just say that I love Neil at signings?  That is to say, I love
how he is.  I was such a brat the first (and thus far only *sniff*)
time I attended a signing of his.  It was the very first stop on the
Guardian Angel tour.  I showed up three hours early to get a good seat.
 I wore a Sandman shirt, like a dork.  I ran into the guy who'd driven
Neil to a restaurant and talked the name of it out of him.  I left my
stuff in my seat and drove to the restaurant, then stood there hiding
behind a pillar, terrified.  I decided that invading his dinner was A
Very Bad and Rude Thing so I ran back to the bookstore.
     The reading was so great....  At one point during the Q&A
afterwards this kid asked this question that took two or three minutes
to ask and was along the lines of "What was the secret meaning
behind...".  I was cringing; "That is not the sort of question you
ask", I whispered to the guy next to me.  Neil replied, "I don't answer
that sort of question."
     I was one of the first in line.  I totally froze up and said
little if anything to him at the time.  The guy behind me, my friend
John whom I'd turned on to Sandman the year before, was much smoother. 
He'd written a film short based on the Calliope story for a project
and had been pestering D.C. ever since to ask Neil for permission to
film it for another project.  He was carrying an envelope.
     "Is that the film?", I asked.
     "Just a letter begging him for permission and a short treatment",
he answered.
     When it was his turn, he extended his hand and introduced
himself.
     "Are you the guy who's been pesting D.C. for months?", Neil
asked.  "Something about filming Calliope?"  I was very jealous.  Neil
gave him his blessing and a phone number.  John, a laudably honourable
young man, would not share the latter with me. ^^
     I spent the whole rest of the signing sitting across from Neil as
people had their stuff signed, listening as he answered their
questions and talked with them.  I feel like such a putz for doing
that.
     When everyone else was gone but the store staff, still I
remained.  The staff had Neil sign the promo materials so they could
raffle it off later for some charity.  I asked Neil more questions, my
tongue having finally gotten a bit unstuck.  I asked him about his
jacket, specifically wasn't he hot in it?  I was in a t-shirt and had
gotten a bit warm.  He explained to me about it having its own
mini-ecosystems and then took it off to let me try it on.  I nearly
died.  Or wept.  Or both.
     Despite his warnings concerning its deceptive heaviness, I nearly
dropped it when he handed it to me.  I put it on and felt like I'd be
knighted.  His itinerary and, I think, a plane ticket were in the
breast pocket.  I very nearly peeked at them as Neil turned to speak
with the staff some more; I held myself in check.  Though I had somehow
managed to turn into the Fanboy of My Worst Nightmares, I had the
presence of mind to at least stave off the worst of my impulses.

     One day I hope to redeem myself.  At the next reading I make it
too, perhaps. ^_^
  

    
Hee hee!  Great confession.
  

    
Enjoying vacation, and actually writing (well, revising at least,
which counts, no?).  Keeping it short:

Erynn- Neil won't mind if you get fanboy; like he said, "Utter fanboy
catatonia is a good thing."  And I'm sure he gets it All The Time.

Linda- yup.  Seven hours.  I had a couch, and a book about vampires
(and, yes, American Gods, but I didn't want to start it until Neil had
signed it, so I read the first page, to make it mine, and then
stopped).  And good company, of course.

Martha- Finally heard the Martha Soukup poem, by the way, and am
desperately searching for WALLS... <grin>.

Suzanne- Well, the show was great, and thanks for letting me gush
(that goes for all of you, actually.  I felt bad, but needed it).

Jouni- Ninety days?  That's AWFUL!  You know, if you want, e-mail me
your address, and I'll pick you up a copy and send it over to you, so
you don't have to wait so long.  I'd be down to the nubs on my fingers,
personally.

Danguy- <grin>  Cool story.  I wasn't as fanboy as I thought, or as I
could have been, I guess.

And Neil- that was supposed to be "single" in my last post, not
"signal," if you get either of these.  I hope you're doing well, and
traveling safely, and enjoying yourself as much as you possibly can. 
We all are, I can tell you that, and you're making all our lives just a
little brighter.

-Will, who's going back to writing, and reading, now.
  

    
Well, Will, the surest place to buy the book with the Martha Soukup poem in
it, "The Arbitrary Placement of Walls", is at

www.dreamhavenbooks.com

, of course.  So there you go.  Then you're stuck with my stories as wlll as
the poem.
  

    
And they're great stories:)
  

    
OK, today really sucks. I spent the afternoon getting shocked
repeatedly to test for nerve damage in  my left hand & leg, plus some
one forgot to tell me the part about them also sticking needles in you
and running electricity through THAT. That was not happening, so they
only got about half the tests; I really tried, though, but about four
needle shocks was all I could stand.

I needed to rotate the tires to be able to go to the signing, but
someone also forgot to tell me I need a special key for the back
tires... and I needlessly spent time at a mall waiting for the tires to
get done.

Bah, humbug.

I didn't have any time for cremations today...
  

    
Martha - I finally got around to reading Walls today.  You.  Rock. 
I'm going to make all of my friends buy copies.  :-)

Jen.
  

    
You read it all today?  Whoa.
  

    
JaNell... ::HUGS:: sounds as if you did have a rough day.  Hope this
evening and tomorrow get MUCH better.

- Suzanne
  

    
Look... over there... it's Neil! 

::slips some chocolate into JaNell's pocket while she isn't looking:: 
  

    
Martha - I'm only working part time right now, so I had plenty of
reading time.  AG yesterday, you today, probably won't have time for
anything tomorrow, but those two books were definitely enough to last
me until the next reading chance I get.  You're stories are so
interesting they made me leave my laundry in the communal washing
machine for a couple of hours and I seriously contemplated just leaving
it there until I was finished.  :-)  

::slips a rubber duckie into JaNell's other pocket, realizes she was
seen, squeaks in an alarmed way and runs away into a wall::

Jen, who just had herself added to the net authorities offenders
database.  :-)  www.netauthority.org
  

    

JaNell!  You tease!
  

    
Hey Mob..I'm a few days behind so please forgive.  

DanGuy -  HAPPY PARENTHOOD!   ;D
Talk about true confessions of a fanboy! That was so sweet. 

Len - I went to the 10:30 show at the Bottom Line, and apparently
missed a reading of Blueberry Girl. Arrgh! And to think I had a choice
when I went to get tickets. *sigh*

Not that the first erotic reading I've ever heard Neil do wasn't a
rare treat.  Couldn't stay for the Magnetic Fields, I was so tired.
Didn't even notice when the taxi arrived at my door. 

Ja'Nell - You are so very funny! And I'm wishing you brighter days.

Neil - Borders didn't know what hit them, but the staff was very
accomodating and understanding of our need to say "hello." All 500+ of
us. And I'd like to nominate Daryl for sainthood even though I wanted
to mug him for his AG t-shirt. ;)
Re Maddy - Sounds like you'll never have to worry about being the
famous parent of an impressionable youngster.  That young lady is
firmly grounded. 

Jinxie - I'm going to have to dress a candle in your honor. 

I've finally started AG but savoring it like handmade Belgian
chocolates.  
  

    
You read Neil's BIG BOOK all in one day??
  

    
Hey, if I (and I'm slower than a snail at reading... I know snails
can't read; that's how slow I am) can finish the book in 3 days (with
work at record store *and* club), then it's possible to do it in one
day. 

Not recommended, but possible.

squeaks, who read Martha's book in 3 days the first time, and is
taking her time with it this time.
  

    
Martha - Yup, my entire plans for the day were Read American Gods. 
Let's see, the longest thing I ever read in a day was the unabridged
The Stand.  I hate having to go to bed without knowing how things end
so I try to avoid that.  :-)

Jen
  

    
Today is MUCH better- getting ready for the Lexington signing, working
in the studio. The hugs and chocolate and rubber duckie are much
appreciated, and must have worked... although I'm always a sucker for
chocolate, more even than for Neil... and I've now got Little Richard
singing "Rubber Duckie" in my head...weeeee.

Linda, I AM NOT a tease. Well, not much.
Cam's gorgeous, a martial artist, nurturing, slyly funny, smart, and
an archeaologist on the Townsend Tennessee dig. For pics just go to
http://chad-c.dyndns.org/index.html. 

American Gods can be read in a day; I read a few hours Tuesday night,
then restrained myself until the next afternoon and finished it
Wednesday night. It helps that I work at home, and the kids wouldn't
recognize me without a book for a face...
  

    
just finished watching Dave McKean's The Week Before . one of those
movies that really make one want a full-blown theatre to magically grow
somewhere out in the backyard . 

so did anyone else here go and see the clientele play this month ? i
rarely go to shows , mostly because there aren't really any decent
venues or bands here in san diego . but the clientele were definitely
worth the drive up to los angeles , so if you see that they're playing
near you i'd think about going . beautiful lazy sounds .

and now i need someone to tell me a word . the pages of the avon
hardcover edition of stardust , they're not flush to each other or
evenly cut . anyone know what they call the pages when they're set like
this ?

sined justin .
again making little or no sense .
  

    
american gods only lasted a day for me , too .

one thing i don't like about books is that the better whatever it is
you're reading is , the faster you get to the ending . it's always the
books that i'd like to be stuck in for weeks that end up lasting but a
few hours . 

at least you can always count on college textbooks to take about a
month or so .