Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
CNN says Stardust is a childrens' book?
Hmm... I must admit I read it as quickly as I reread all of my
favorite children's books, and it is a bit *short*...  
but didn't it say right on the front page that it was a fairy 
tale for grownups or something?

Meanwhile, toriamos.com mentions they're going to have some stuff
from Neil soon, and they describe him as the artist/writer of
Sandman but don't mention Neverwhere or American Gods or anything.

Neil got my hopes up with that link in the blogger to the place that 
both he and Steven Brust are going to be in New Orleans in November,
because I'd been thinking of going to a conference there and I
really thought it might be the weekend before the conference.
But it's not.  =(    It does make me wonder why he has to go to
New Orleans to see Steven Brust, as years of reading the author
blurbs and articles of Neil, Steven Brust, Emma Bull, and the likes
had me convinced that the only people who live in Minneapolis are
excellent authors whose books I love, and if they all live in
the same place and turned up in one anothers books and performed
on one anothers CDs I had to imagine that they'd all show up at the
same informal parties in one anothers living rooms, as well.  
  

    
Neil- actually, they're only twenty bucks on eBay, which I thought was
cheap, but then I realized they're probably second generation, so,
yeah, you're idea is probably better.  OTOH, though, they had some copy
guards on the Eddie Izzard ones I got before, and the conversion was
jumpy.
The SANDMAN script is the one with the Corinthian.  They don't have
the version with John Dee, but I thought the one with the Corinthian
rocked pretty damned hard; liked how they combined elements of PRELUDES
with DOLL'S HOUSE.  Worked well, I thought.  I even got chills at one
point.
  

    
Oh, and JaNell- I LOVE the 'Zen Diagram.'  Who said that?  It's great.
  

    
Will, he said it at:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/jobenvy/07/29/neil.gaiman.focus/index.html

and thanks to whoever posted the address originally.

Anyone get to the chat? I kept getting bumped...
  

    
Michelle - I'll definitely swing by Faerie camp to say hello. This is
my second year at Burning Man, and this time I seem to know folks all
over the Playa... it'll be great to go as a resident and not as a
newbie...
I was talking with Eden yesterday, and the subject of stalkers came
up... I shared your label of "favorite stalker" as an example that some
stalkers are benign and cool and not scary at all (although you are
the exception rather than the rule).
  

    
Will -- If it's the Sandman script I think it is, I wasn't a huge fan.
 What I liked of it was taken verbatim from the series, and many of
the changes and fudges I didn't like so much.
     I think that AG could make a very nice 6-10 hour film, if done
right. ^^

Neil -- {taps chin pensively}  Yes, I could see you going on to talk
about a movie or some such.  Oh, that would be delightful.  If
everything comes to pass with you directing "Death", you simply must!
  

    
Hmm. A handful of beautiful goths? ... thank you, Neil.  :-) .. but
what's with Good Omens being listed as "short stories and poems"... ?
Also, if I may be so vocally curious... I don't think I've ever heard
why you chose to move to the States? (The location is somewhat
obvious...)

Burning Man folks... this novice has a question, and feel free to
eMail me the answer privately, if necessary. I hear everyone talking
about camps, and I do know they're theme camps... however, my other and
I are just headed down there alone... does one need to register
somewhere, where one is staying? How precisely does this work... do you
simply choose a spot and set up, or does someone tell you where?
Trying to find this particular piece of information isn't easy (it
might help if the BM website were updated...), and anything you can
share would be great. Additionally, any OTHER information you think two
novices should know would be great. ;-)  (Worry not about survivalism
stuff; we lived in northern Nevada for a while, know about playa dust,
and have experianced a broken down truck in the middle of the desert
with no emergency supplies or gear... we've got the survivalism thing
down.)

-Kelly
  

    
[...] as years of reading the author blurbs and articles of Neil,
>>Steven Brust, Emma Bull, and the likes had me convinced that the
>>only people who live in Minneapolis are excellent authors whose
>>books I love, and if they all live in the same place and turned up
>>in one anothers books and performed on one anothers CDs [...]

    Whereas we actually all live in towers spread across a
Peakeabooean inksketch landscape, the air heavy with coalsmoke and
grain dust, in garrets lined with crumbling books and the viscera of
bygone critics preserved in jars (except mine, which I wear), hoarding
our dwindling magical energies for attacks on one another and CD
remixes as the Northern sun reddens and fades.
    A lot like Seattle, actually, with less rain and a different
coffee/espresso ratio.
  

    
Sorry, that should be "Peakeaboolean."  It's not -all- fantasy up
here.
  

    
"...hoarding our dwindling magical energies for attacks on one another

..."

(most evil Mr. Burns voice)
"Excellent."
  

    
The Dialing Urth.
  

    
DanGuy- which Sandman script did you read?  The one with the
Corinthian as the main villain?  I really liked it, to be honest.

Okay, showing my uninitiated newbie gills here; I've *heard* of it,
but don't quite know what burning man is.  Can anyone give you a brief
rundown?
  

    
erm.  That was supposed to be *me*, not 'you'.  *Me* a brief
description...
  

    
Yes, please do, I've heard of it, and this is an informal forum so...
  

    <scribbled>
  

    
Hey, Dan, you slipped in on me there.  I was going to request Burning
Man info, too, as I also live on the Other Coast and am continually
befuddled by the arcane camp and Playa references. So thanks, I'll
indulge my curiosity.  Also...is it just me, or was there a funny echo
effect in your post?
  

    
Just got Live at the Aladdin in the mail today :) Along with my own
copy of Gods and Tulips (I had previously stolen away my boyfriend's
copy).  So that will be fun to watch! 

JaNell--You'll have to post a picture of your Delirium doll when
you're done, if you can. Last Christmas I made my boyfriend a sculpture
thing with Morpheus on one side brooding and the other side with
Daniel in his throne--obviously inspired by pics from the comics.  They
were fun to make :) Have you seen the delirium doll out it most comic
stores?  

By the way, for those of you that don't peruse Wizard, (or have
friends that do) and you collect the Endless action figures...Delirium
is coming out in the late fall I think. Some other figures too, but I
forget and I don't want to name the wrong character and get someone's
hopes up.

Neil--I'm glad you liked my site. I took that books-by-the-yard
quotation off till I can fix it, sorry.  Good thing I cited everything
so you were able to find it, but I feel bad that I made you go look for
it.  And thanks for the permission :) I was a little worried.  Um, and
if you liked it, you could ask the webmaster of your site to put up a
link on the link page--but I know most of the sites up there are big
cool sites, so I totally don't expect you too :) Anyhow, thanks for
taking a chance to check it out!
  

    
lets try that again, without this echo.


Kelly -- My first year I went, I made arrangements beforehand to camp
in a certain villiage.  When I got there I pitched my tent in the dark
and the next morning woke up to find myself in the utter wrong place.
Moral of this story: it doesn't really matter where you camp, so long
as you leave the main street row/circle to registered/reserved camps.

Will -- Yes, that one.  I have, admittedly, zero experience
translating movie scripts to screen, but it felt to me as though
something was lacking.  Probably just jealousy on my part that someone
else gets to bring Sandman to the screen.  (Maybe, one day, at least.) 
I didn't like, among other things, making Rose's mom the dreamsand
junkie and the plot changes that it entailed.  I did like some
qualities of the script, though, most notably that they managed to
include nearly all of my favourite bits from the first two arcs.

Will & JaNell -- There is always <http://www.burningman.com/> for
starters.  Trying to explain BM is, in my experience, a very difficult
thing to do with any justice.  I wrote a short novella attempting to
answer just that question for a cultural anthropology class ("in the
style of Baudrillard's _America_", I said in my pitch), which I would
be happy to email to any interested parties. ^_^
  

    
Blythe - my friend Krista has one, I think. And I plan to post lots of
stuff I'm doing, as soon as I update my website, because I need an
outlet something fierce.
  

    
Kelly, you only need to register your camp if you're a theme camp,
like Ms. Mousey is involved in. My camp, Sanctum of the Erotic Goddess,
isn't really a theme camp. We'll be doing stuff, and have art, and
probably kidnap slaves and make them fan us and feed us grapes, but
nothing formalized. So, if you aren't an official theme camp, then you
can camp anywhere except for the reserved theme camp sites. 

As for what is Burning Man? Oy.. that's a difficult question, as Dan
Guy has well pointed out...
It's art, it's community, it's sexuality (but not much sex.. too much
Playa dust), it's music, it's dancing, it's creativity, it's social
satire, it's utopianism, it's the second largest city in Nevada for the
one week it exists every year, it's a Brigadoon of free thinkers and
freaks of all stripes, it's dragons breathing fire and social satirists
and stiltwalkers and nobody is allowed to use money for anything
(except for ice in the centercamp) and it's completely impossible to
describe adequately since it's different for every person who is there.
  

    
... and it's full of nice people who give novices helpful information.
Thank you.  :-)

I will be there, and before we leave I'll send out a note asking (for
the final time) where everyone will be, and I'll make an effort to stop
by and introduce myself.

But at night.

During the day, I'm going to be hiding indoors, remembering why I
moved out of Nevada the first time, hiding from The Evil Day Star and
trying not to get The Worst Sunburn Ever.

-Kelly ... who just did a double take and realized... THE John M.
Ford? Who kicked Peter David from his spot as author of most enjoyed
Trek novel? Uh, wow... 'scuz me while I be tongue tied for a bit.
  

    
Oh, $#!+, was I taunting *another* author back there (#708-#710)?
  

    
Fraid so, JaNell.  He also did "Chain Home, Low" for the _Book of
Dreams_, I looked it up.  It's like a disease with you, isn't it?
  

    
(whimpers)
  

    
     Nothing to whimper over, JaNell, nor fret or palely wossname. 
I've only been around a few days, and was just looking for a point of
entry (after a few hundred messages, it seems like humming the Major
General's song during the fourth movement of the Ninth).

     And, well, gosh,* thank you, Kelly.  Which book was it?

*Remember, "gosh," along with "golly" and "yclept," are words in
danger of extinction.  Fight the loophole of "scientific"
spellchecking, and support serious research into logogenesis.