Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
We didn't get the best seats for the American Gods signing at
Kepler's, but we could hear just fine and that was really what mattered
to me. I didn't end up meeting anyone I didn't know, although I did
manage to see someone I hadn't seen in quite a while, and I did get my
30 seconds of chat with Neil :) (On the note of that Kepler's reading,
my sister went with, and she had never read anything that Neil has
written. She was completely sucked in by his charisma and reading
talent! Go, Neil!)

I'm all for the scary trousers shirts! I saw the designs when I was
skimming the archives, and they are fantastic! I'd love to meet any of
you, so if there is no plan for designated group-wear, then I will be
sure to post an image that day as well, and you lovely people are more
than welcome to come right up to me and say Hallo! (See? Websites and
webcams ARE good for something! :)
  

    

Dan is correct in that you can expect to find me at the reading.
  

    

It's a date!

Will somebody post the URL for the scary trousers t-shirts so we can get 
them in time?
  

    
Last time Neil read here I got there too late to be allowed on the floor he
was giving the reading!
  

    
Neil -  Wow! A reading of Coraline in NYC? And look, someone finally
"got it" and scheduled you to appear at the Union Square B&N. Lord
knows I called in vain to get this venue for the AG reading.  We can
take over the entire 4th floor since the loft-like layout is more
conducive to the massive turn-out your events usually attracts. 

Anyway, it will be lovely to see you again, and the store is so huge,
they probably won't notice a bunch of us camping out a few days prior
to the event. :) 
  

    
Congrats on the Stoker, Neil!

I'd like a Scary Trousers t-shirt. But I'd really really *really* like a
Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat t-shirt.  (Well, OK, what I'd really really really
*really* really like is a Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat t-shirt with an
illustration by Maddy. I think she could do well with them, tell you the
truth. Never too early for an artist to find her public, either.)
  

    
Lioness--I'm with you, lemon scented sticky bats are almost better
than scary trousers.

Mr Ford--what a fool I was to think that you couldn't manage a rhyme
like that. Silly, silly Tree.

But in the meantime, you have left me with a new obsession...

Tree

Must... find... copy... of Gay... Purree...!
  

    
Email from Jouni:

Finally I have some evidence to back my story.

>From Neil's journal...
 
"You appear to have an Irish doppelganger... ...For a start, he looked
just like you... ...He spent an entire journey standing when there were
free seats, looking out the window, and at one point said, loudly and
clearly, and apparently to nobody, "Adolescence is a terrible way to spend
your formative years."  Or was it you after all? Drew.

Nope. Not me. Obviously one of the Legion of Substitute Neils."



Ha! I knew it! I'll rest my case. (if you are new around here, and don't
know what the hell I'm talkin' about, go to
http://www.geocities.com/jouniac/picts.html and check out 'Neil's secret')

Jouni (take me to the leader of Neil Gaiman's)
  

    
Madman - was there ever a doubt you'd be there? I can't imagine that
my favorite collection of poker fiends wouldn't be there. And yes, I
know it's been a while... I'll start bugging you lot about dates in
July for another gathering at Casa de Dan.

Martha - I duly promise that if you tell me for sure you're coming,
and you're not in back hobnobbing... that I'll save you a seat this
time out... 

Meglet - I duly truly hope to meet you this time out.
  

    
Jouni - Wow, those are fantastic!! You've got a new fan :)

stagewalker - Duly noted :) I am sure we will meet up!
  

    
Neil,    Harlan wrote this yesterday:

"Neil picked up the paperback this morning, and was horrified to
discover that some idiot twit--I have no idea if it was The Left Hand
or some OTHER crippled fistful of clubbed digits--had rewritten
sections, bits, sentences of Neil's book between the hardcover and
paper editions."

Someone **rewrote** your words?? 
  

    
 I hope no one rewrote his words....

Neil- Two things: congrats on the Stoker and I LOVE the new site. I
spent a good hour chasing everything around.
  

    
Whoever did that rewrite needs to get their knuckles rapped by someone
like Sister Mary James Immaculata. (Decades later it still stings to
remember!)

  
  

    
Mike--hee-hee!  You make me giggle.  Are you working on anything
lately?  I'm looking forward to.....well, whatever you publish next.

Neil--a friend asked me the other day about the comic you're doing for
Marvel.  I said I'd ask & see if you had anything you wanted to say
about it yet.......

I am terribly, horribly, unendingly jealous of all Bay Area folks just
now.  And only slightly less jealous of East Coasters.  <<sigh>>  Have
a lovely time.....<<sigh>>  No, no, don't worry about we Unusual
suspects.....we'll be fine....<<sigh>>

<<goes off looking tragic, because dammit, she *is* a drama queen>>

Mary (reading Jane Yolen & Heidi E.Y Stemple's Mirror, Mirror because
Tara rocks!) 
  

    
Well, I'm not sure how extensive the problem is right now -- I noticed
some changes between the hardback and paperback that looked like
somebody had done some extra copy-editing that was definitely not
needed, wanted, asked for or approved. I've asked Harper to get me a
list of what changes were made, and whatever happens we'll get them
fixed.

Rocky -- the B&N signing will be a chapter or so, then a Q&A, then a
signing. The Bay Area will be A Reading.

Maure -- sure. Tell them that the first issue is being pencilled.
  

    
Erynn -- and everyone else who liked it -- really pleased you're
enjoying Mousecircus.com -- pass the word around to anyone who might
enjoy it...
  

    
Neil,  tell who what? Oh, wait, ok. I see.

Mary,  Neil says, "sure. Tell them that the first issue is being
pencilled." And Mary, we may have a representative from the Unusual
Suspects on the east coast at the time of said event. Got an email from
my shortly-to-be-wedded friend who says I must come, so maybe I can
sneak away for a few hours . . .
  

    
Maybe some other Unusual Suspects would like to join me for a trip to
the city that never really got rid of me?
  

    
Mike - I second Marys quesation. Are you working on a new project, or
any finished projects close to being released?

Pouting in jealousy over the lucky ducky Bay Area residents. It
shouldn't be allowed that some people are lucky enough to live SF AND
they get to go to fun things like having Neil read to them.  Send the
fun events to us down here in the boring bits of the US. 
*does suspiciously good imitation of an spoiled 3 year old*

Leaving in about 6 hours for a solo road trip up to Chicago which is
about 3 times the length I've ever driven with other passengers, much
less by myself.(being about 15 hours) Seriously thinking at this point
I might "lose" my way straight to San Francisco. :)

But then I would eventually have to face the ire of a very scorned
girlfriend waiting up there with her dorm belongings for me to pick her
up. She's not very tall but having been raised by a not very tall
mother, I've learned that the shorter women of the world can sometimes
do the most damage...

Shawn- who is unpacking the American Gods audiotape for the road and
wondering how many gods he might bump into on the trip.
  

    
Shawn,  I envy you! Have fun on your roadtrip! The longest I ever
drove was 24 hours. I drove my brother to school at Penn State, and
then turned around and came back. By the end of the drive, I was
hallucinating construction signs on the Chicago skyway. Scary.

A follow-up to that story about the Beijing paper reprinting an Onion
story as fact:

"It said: "Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat
news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money.
This is what The Onion does.""

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_607177.html?menu=news.quirkies

I think they still don't get it.
  

    

How does the Onion make money?  You're right, they still don't get it.  
Perhaps there is no equivalent to satire or parody in Chinese humor?
  

    
I think the Onion was the only paper we subscribed to in college. Who
needs real news, anyway? 

This is bizarre:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1358927054
  

    

!!!
  

    
Now that takes some nerve.
  

    
I'm severely tempted by the NYC reading/signing thing, seeing as I
spend every other weekend there these days with my gf.  Only problem is
getting to NYC on Thursday evening instead of Friday (could work in a
CT office on Friday if necessary).  That and, technically, I think that
weekend is supposed to be our once-every-five-weeks "off" weekend, but
I'm sure that can be negotiated (it's a sanity thing, seeing as we
live 3 hours apart).

It would be cool to meet any other East Coast people, so I hope I can
pull it off - not to mention, of course, that it will be nice to see
Neil again (finally got to meet him at the MIT thing last year).