Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Hi, David!  Yep, I, too, recommend _Smoke and Mirrors_.  Short-story
collections are a great way to get an initial sampling of an author's
work, especially if you're like me and happen to love short stories. 
Besides, _S&M_'s the book that brought me from "my brother really likes
this guy" to the "HUGE fan" camp practically overnight, so I can
attest that it takes no prisoners.  :)

I'd read _Good Omens_ a couple of years earlier, and really enjoyed
it.  Since it was a collaboration (and pretty much my first exposure to
Gaiman), I couldn't tell how much of what I liked about it was Neil's
and how much was Terry Pratchett's, but I did know that it was a LOT of
fun.

However you start, you are in for a wonderful ride!  How did you
become interested in our titular weird guy?  Have you read something of
his, or did someone recommend him, or...?  Just curious.

Erynn -- Holy guacamole, you're moving again!?  Hope you're having fun
with your Nashville friends!
  

    
Christy- Yes, but we're staying in Bloomington. In town moves aren't
quite so bad. we're hoping to get a house and stay put for a while. And
my sister is moving on with life and getting a place with some people,
so we won't need quite as much space. I am very happy that it will be
just Jess and I again. My sister is acting very Jar Jar. I know that
people are supposed to act Jar Jar when they're 19, but she takes it a
little too far sometimes. But then-- I'm probably just getting old. Ah
well. It's funny, I was listening to a bunch of Jess' tapes just now
(we're currently deciding which ones should go on his demo) and I
couldn't help but notice that he has at least three songs about or
alluding to moving. Because we're ALWAYS moving! Hahaha. We really need
to settle down a little. 

Speaking of settling down. I need to start making myself get tired. I
don't know how I'm supposed to wake up so early! I'm procrastinating
tiredness, obviously. Well, at least I'm not driving. I will sing the
coffee song.
  

    
<tinymonster> -- a friend who is a huge fan sent me a copy of American
Gods and ordered me to read it.  I'm finishing up a couple of other
books, and didn't want to dive into it if some others would help
prepare me for the experience.  I love discovering new authors, and if
I like the first book or so I almost always go whole hog and read
everything they've done.  But that first impression is always
important.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.
  

    
I'm one who votes for Sandman first.  Which brings me to a Sandman
question:  when you give Sandman to people as a gift, do you start at
book one, or something further in?  I'm curious.
  

    
I would usually give the first two volumes, with a note warning that
24 hours is not indicative of the rest of the series.
  

    



Holley Nowell writes:




Dan: I've had that one. Gad. It was awful. My sincerest sympathies.

I've had just about every test ever imagined by the medical community at one
time or another. At least I think so. But just when I've neatly catalogued
them in their rankings as to which was the worst, They decide that I have to
have a new one and top the last one taking first place. The endoscopies of
the stomach wasn't too bad this year. They give you this shot, see, and a few
hours later, you wake up and try to remember how to dress yourself. The only
pain I felt was coughing up $200 in advance for the procedure that I didn't
know I'd have to give them before I arrived. People should TELL you these
things before you blithely walk in thinking it's all taken care of and then
having to charge a card you just got paid off or starve or something.

The water bottles in Italy post from NG was so funny. The only disclaimers
you see on US products is the weird stuff they put on as a result of a
product liability claim. Remember that next time you read the warning on a
shredder that tells you not to put your hands or private parts in the slot
while it's shredding paper or a steam cleaner that tells you not to use
kerosene in the tank to clean the floors while you are smoking a cigarette.
If it's there, it's because somebody DID that & sued the company for it.
Believe it. I used to work for an attorney whose job it was to defend those
suits and to think up the warnings to go onto products our company made to
keep us from being liable next time somebody did something really stupid. I
found one on the bottom of a footstool I bought recently that said it was not
to be used to hit other people over the head with. May cause concussion. That
means somebody actually sued the footstool company because their stool was
used to beat them with.

Erynn: MooooviinnnnG. Ah, yes. I remember that. Boxes everywhere. Furniture
dings. Broken stuff. Aching back. Cleaning. I'm still unpacking from my last
move 2 years ago. I think I own too much STUFF. Yeah. Ceilings are a b*.

David: It's ok. You can dive into American Gods if you want to. It's a
standalone book. There's no prerequisites. Nothing you need to know (except
maybe myths and legends) to get through and enjoy it.

My big deal right now is that my son wants me to go with him one weekend to
VI-DOR, Texas to hunt for his father he hasn't seen since he was 2. Now he's
got a son of his own, he feels the need for roots I guess. Don't mind if he
wants to see him. But, thing is, I never told him all the bad things that
resulted in and all the bad things that happened during the divorce or after.
So if he ever wanted to go see them, he wouldn't be angry with his father or
his family. But I'm darned tootin not steppin one foot in that town and I
sure don't want to see them. Doesn't matter for me to go. I didn't live there
more than a couple of months and didn't have a car then. So I don't really
remember anything about getting around Vidor and geez, that was 30 years ago!
I'll give him the addresses I had at the time and let him buy a map. Dang.
It. He doesn't cotton too much to the idea of finding an address and writing
in advance to warn him. Ah, well. I tried to at least get him to do that. I
hope his father's not remarried to some jealous possessive woman now and he's
happy to see him. We shall see.
  

    

Agreement with Dan in 730. If I can't give more than one I do start with the
first one but warn that he doesn't really hit his stride until the next one,
and, as Dan said, 24 hours is as deep into the horror direction as it goes.
  

    
Holley - Dang. Sounds like your son is in for a bumpy ride. Well, 30
years can change a person. Let's hope for the best, eh?
  

    
Um, I forgot what I was going to post, but thought I'd say 'hi' any
way. For everyone in retail-land, I recommend not working from opening
to closing, and then for another 2 hours because you need to run
errands at another store in the chain. I'd have left it 'til tomorrow,
but you can't really function as a receiving clerk if there are NO
PRICE TAGS left... dumb.

Stardust. I'd vote Stardust first - both the novelisation and the
illustrated. But that's 'cause it's my favourite story of Neil's (not
that you could tell from looking at the bookshelf or anything).
Although I really do like recommending it because you can see a couple
of Neil's writing styles (with illustrations? or without?), and it's
excellent for reading out loud... also known to give the mor
suggestable of audiences some slightly bizarre dreams.

Neil - Don't go insane! And do that sleep-thing if you get a chance. I
hear it's all the rage this year. If you want to be part of the
in-crowd, you gotta sleep... or at the very least, get a bit of rest.

Off to bed, and again to the place with price tags... 

-squeaks, not making sense for many reasons
  

    
Popping in to welcome Neil home.  And to say that I want Erynn to sing
the coffee song.
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Yay!

For the record, I still want you to persuade someone to get _Nowhere
Man_ onto DVD....  :)
  

    
Rocky -- I haven't seen X2 yet, either, but I want to.  And _Matrix
Reloaded_ WAS awesome!  I just wish I'd remembered more from the first
movie after 4 years, though; it would have made things a little easier
to follow.  (Dang -- something happened at the end of the credits??  I
missed it.  <pout>)

And Pam, I STILL haven't seen the "Weapon of Choice" video.  But I
really want to.

Safety post.
  

    
David - Actually, you can still enjoy AG even without knowing a whole
lot of myths and legends.  I did, but I know that I'd probably have
appreciated it more had I known more than just Greek and Roman stuff. 
If your friend knows you well, he/she probably picked the book she/he
thought would be the best one to start you off with.  At least, that's
what I tend to do when I'm "Neilevangelizing."  ;)

Dodge -- Hope everything goes well for your son.

Nite.
  

    
DanGuy - Yay for having a positive influence on your local library! I
have yet to check out mine. But I imagine San Francisco probably has a
decent collection - the building is certainly big enough to house a
good variety!

dodge - ditto on the well wishes for your son. 

Neil - Welcome home. And now I'm hungry for a mushroom-laden pasta
primavera, not that I have the time or energy to make one right now.

squeaks, who was disappointed to find out that one of her friends
doesn't only look like a boy, but actually started acting like one. I
mean, he is one, but ... grrr. I hate that I might have to teach him a
few things about how to treat girls (or else).
  

    
Squeaks, try to avoid causing head injuries... that just makes us act
MORE like boys. Brain damage is funny that way.
  

    
Rrrrr....  A reading of WitW, accompanied by slides of McKean's
artwork... of COURSE it's in L.A.!

Oh well, maybe _something_ will happen within 1,000 miles of me
again... someday....
  

    
Safe travels to Whatsisname!

Christy, who really should have had the lights out at least an hour
ago
  

    


Holley Nowell writes:



Dan: I'll support him all I can but I am not going back to that town to see
those people. Other than the fact that I don' wanna, I only lived there two
months, didn't have a car at the time. that was 27 years ago, and couldn't
find my way about the town at all now.

Checked out the cat clothes site on Neil's journal. Did anyone else notice
that the two or three cats used as models all had their ears pinned back in
that "I am a NOT happy statue cat. And as soon as I finish giving you this
affronted enraged look, I'm going to be a really not happy flying cat."
stance that cats take sometimes?
  

    
Neil is turning very quickly into a dispenser of Very Weird Things.
That makes me very happy indeed.

Although, the thought of his taxi driver entering the freeway going
the wrong way gives me the heebie jeebies.
  

    
Christy: Don't be annoyed, I'm in LA, and I won't be able to go
either. *internal scream* ^_^; (Book Expo = very expensive, Saturday =
need to spend most of the day in the studio to shoot my lighting
assignment *mwaaa*) 

Neil, hope you'll have a nice time in LA!
  

    
Dan -- I am reasonably sure that the driver got on the highway
traveling eastbound rather than west, not against the flow of traffic. 
Unless he assumed that since his passenger was English he ought to
drive on the left.
  

    
I was going to say what Mike said, but he took care of it for me.

Neil -- Please congratulate Holly for me!  Yay!  And doesn't she turn
18 this coming month?

(For some reason, I just tend to retain date-related facts like this. 
I'm not a stalker, Neil, I PROMISE.)
  

    
Oh, yeah, and congratulations on the Audie!  :D
  

    
Neil--congrats on the Audie!  Are you only doing one event while
you're in Chicago?  The only thing I can find is the reading Saturday
morning at 11:00.  Jut making sure that I'm not missing something.

And everyone: Eddie Izzard's tour dates are up at www.eddieizzard.com 
 He is not allowing ticketbastard to charge a fee, so I advise going
to his site to link to the tix--I just searched ticketmaster, and they
said there weren't any, but from Eddie's site, it went right to them. 
So far there supposedly are tix available in Chicago, so I have to go
rally the troops so we can get them quick.  Yay!

P.S.  Tara is quite amusing after a few Jameson's  ;-)