Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Maria, oh, okay, got it. No, that's just the way I figure the world
is. I've known very few people who were what they seemed to be on the
surface. Most people go down a very long way.

I was last in Brazil in... 95? 96? it was some big comics festival in
San Paulo. They gave me several awards shaped like bombs, which I left
with them, as I was reluctant to take them through customs. 

THe enthusiasm of the audience was kind of scary. Only time in my life
the audience have ever rushed the stage. I was picked up by a security
man, handed to another security man, and put out the back door.

No idea what the latest event I was invited for was: I don't keep
track of the ones I say no to, and I tend to automatically say no to
anyone who invites me to things without enough lead time. My theory is
that anyone who can't get it together to invite you in enough time will
probably not get any other details right either, and the romance of
being flown around the world to sign things for people wore off so long
ago...
  

    
Maria Alice continues via e-mail:

 I am very surprised with this event in  São Paulo.I never knew about
it.What a shame !.Sometimes I would like to be born in  other country!
 
 I love to read.I have read a lot of books since I was a child .I am
always reading something.I work in a bank.My job is always  sressful.In
the end of the day I came back to my house and read a book or whatch a
movie( I love to whatch movies too).I think it is a way to escape from
reality, Let the stress go away, and besides It is a chance to learn a
lot of things and see the world trought someone eyes.
 
I live alone and everybody asks me how I can do this.I think It is
because of the books.I have a kind of "inner world"( now I am writing a
book based in one of my RPG histories).I think the lack of this "inner
world"is one of the biggest causes of depression, lonlyness and so on...
therefore people are always in need of companion.(I can remain inside my
house for a few days without geting crazy.).
 
I like all your books, but the one I like most is Sandman.It seems to me
that you put much of you in It.In the last issue The Tempest, you wrote
about the process of writing, I guess.I think the things we see in the
streets, in our own lifes are the ones which gives us the best ideas to
write.
 
I have to say good bye now, because I am in my mother's house and I will
have to came back to mine, and I don't have a computer there.( You must
be tired of answering me.)
 
Keep on writing.I know you have much more thinks to tell to your fans.
 
 
  

    
And, via e-mail, Shira adds:

Maria-
I have also noticed that while Neil is extremely well known in some groups 
(SF/F fans, comic fans, etc.), he is virtually unknown to the rest of the 
people.  This goes for the United States and the UK as well as Brazil and 
many other countries.  You just have to know where to look.

Oh, and Neil... Are you familiar with the Kol Nidre?

-shira
  

    
Maria Alice -- don't apologise for people's enthusiasm: I was a little
scared, but mostly very appreciative. They'd just done a Brazilian
stage adaptation of the Hell scene in Sandman #4, and then I did a Q &
A with a translator.

Yes, that was what THE TEMPEST was about. I'm always surprised when
people miss that; so well spotted.

Shira -- the service, the song, or the content of the prayer?
  

    
Sent over the 'net by Josh Ellis:

1) Do you find that your geographic location affects
your writing? Living in Minnesota vs. England, etc. I
can't imagine Jonathan Carroll living in, say, San
Diego and writing what he does. Do you find the same
thing? I'm writing the usual first novel and--living
in Las Vegas--I find it being much different than the
drafts written in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

2) And a more complex question: I don't know if you'll
remember me interviewing you on the Queen Mary over
breakfast with Brian Hibbs for AXCESS magazine, a
couple of years back. The article never got published
for some reason--it got turned in on time, but I
suspect it was the vagaries of the crew that was
running it at the time, R.U. Sirius of Mondo 2K and
the usual suspects (the other part of the piece, Chris
Hudak's interview with Harlan, got published).
However, I still have the photographs we took--you on
the guns, etc. They came out really badass--they're
some of the best pictures taken of me, I know that. I
remember you asking me to pass those along to your
assistant...unfortunately, I lost your e-mail address
and your office address. Would you still like copies?
If so, I can either snail mail them to your office or
scan them and send them as high-quality tiff files or
jpgs via the Net. I used to work as a pre-press guy,
so my scanning skills are pretty professional. If
you'd like them, pass me an e-mail at
jzellis@yahoo.com and let me know where to send them.
I can even stick them in a private folder on my server
if you just want to download them.

Thanks! I hope you're doing well these days, keeping
sane and free of Hollywood, etc. That breakfast was
one of my two favorite interviews I ever did--the
other being an interview with Terry Gilliam when he
did "Fear And Loathing" (during which I begged him to
direct Good Omens...nice to see somebody finally paid
attention to me!). You're great to interview because
you absolutely don't mumble when you speak--which
knocked my transcription time down by at least a few
hours. Pity the interview never got published. Oh
well...I was never that great of a journalist anyway.
;-P

Oh, also...thanks for pushing Jonathan Carroll's stuff
so hard. I have become obsessed with those brilliant
jewels he puts out. I had the same experience when I
read him that I did when I first read your stuff, or
first heard Tom Waits' music: it became very, very
difficult not to completely rip him off in my own
work. I think that's the sign of a great writer.

Take care,
Josh Ellis
  

    
Shira responds:

Well, I suppose I'm talking about the song.  I just wondered what you
thought of it.  I am being made to feel like a horrible person for not
wanting to play it on my violin at the conservative/reform synagogue in
Rochester, MN, and I must say I don't like the tune very much.  <hangs
head> Aagh...  awfulpersonawfulperson.  Anyway, I just felt like asking.

Oh, and there's a new (3rd wave) punk band called the Explosion that plays
music that sounds really 1st wave-ish.  Thought you might like to know..

-shira, off to school. <groan>
  

    
#680 Oh...getting visions of Neil singing 'turn back time' to a lot of
sailors....
  

    
Thankfully that does not include the fishnets and gaffa tape.
  

    
Hi--
I'm a newbie on this discussion, but I've read it pretty much in its
entirety...  Anyway, I'll try not to make too many social gaffes, but
please excuse me ahead of time.

Neil--  I vividly remember sitting under a tree on the Queens College
campus, reading the end of Season of Mists when it first came out. 
Things were wrapping up, Destiny was about to leave off with his book,
and there it was:  "Happily ever after...happily ever after in hell." 
And I thought-- wow-- the guy knows his Sondheim.  And reading
subsequent comics, interviews, this topic on the Well, I discovered
that you're not just a fan, you're a MAJOR fan, and I kind of harbored
that as a shared point of reference, 'cause while there's lots of
Sondheim fans, and lots of Gaiman fans, the bit on the Venn diagram
where they overlap is pretty small.  And for Gaiman to be a Sondheim
fan?  Well. That's just too cool.

So I have a bunch of questions to ask, but I'll keep it brief:

1) How does a punk/post-punk guy like yourself end up being a Sondheim
person?  Am I right in thinking that it's linked to those early
Gilbert and Sullivan experiences you chronicle in "Heliogabalus?"  I
have a pet theory that ( & I know this is chauvinistic) G&S + old world
Jewish liturgy produces gifted lyricists. Any thoughts?

2)I have another pet theory:  because comics and musical theatre both
combine a profoundly verbal element with an array of non-verbal
elements, the two have much in common, and practitioners of the one can
learn from the other. [I realize that the above description applies to
lots of art forms, but musical theatre is the important one for me.] 
Earlier in this discussion, you cite the ability of music in a song to
comment on or contradict the lyric; you clearly have done similar
things with text and images in comics.  Again-- any thoughts?  Am I
making too much of a small thing, or approaching some kind of weird
Unified Field Theory of Marginalized Artforms?

3) I see that I have gone on longer than I intended, so this is
quick-- do you pay attention to any "post-Sondheim" musical theatre
writers-- Michael John Lachiusa, Polly Pen, Adam Guettel, etc?  All I
can tell you is that each time I listen to Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I
think about how much I hope you've seen it.

Anyway, please forgive my verbosity-- some of these questions have
hung around my brain for almost years.. they have siezed on this
opportunity to all tumble out at once.

Len
  

    
oh yeah...

Neil-
Have you found a home for your cat yet?  I know a wonderful pair of
cat lovers who live a couple of blocks away from DreamHaven Books.

Len 
  

    
If they live a couple of blocks away from DreamHaven Books, how have they
managed to keep enough money to buy cat food?
  

    
Can you believe it?  They don't dig comics. Every time I visit my
friend, he patiently leafs through a book or two as I scour the stacks,
but he has no real enthusiasm for them otherwise. He simply
understands that for me, since I live in NYC, a trip to DreamHaven is a
pilgrimage.
  

    
Not comics _or_ books?
  

    
Via e-mail, Jeff writes:
 
Hi, Neil. Congratulations on finishing draft #1.I'm writing about the
Guardian Angel Tour. However, now all of these other questions are
occurring to me, so I apologize in advance for the "stream of conscious"
quality this posting may take. I've already purchased my tickets for your
NY appearance. I'm a little puzzled about the private reception/cocktail
that will occur beforehand. Here's my barrage of questions: What should I
expect? How formal an affair will this be (in terms of dress)? Will we be
seated or will you be seated or will we all just kinda be milling around
in a room together? Are you doing any type of preshow presentation or is
this just an opportunity for us to just say 'hi" and "thanks" and
whatever else? Sorry, but I've never been to anything like this and I
don't want to look too much like a fool. I was also wondering if we'll be
allowed to record the reading. I assume not, but I figure it's worth a
shot to ask. Ok, so here's some other questions. I want to write comics.
Actually, I'd like to write lots of things: novels, plays, short stories,
movies, etc., but I am very passionate about comics. I have such love and
respect for the medium. I have some story ideas, but most of them are
suited for formats other than comics. The closest analogy I can draw is
to your story "Chivalry." If I had written it, I wouldn't have been able
to see it as suited very well for a graphic format, and so I would have
written it as a short story. So if I want to write comics, and I feel
like all of my ideas would be more effective in other formats, how do I
practice writing comics? Should I just go ahead and write them as comics
just to practice with the form? Or should I try to come up with ideas
that  lend themselves better to a comic format? What advice or input can
you offer? Those are the two topics I was most concerned about. I was
also curious about your feelings on the end of "The Dreaming." What
comics if any do you make time to read regularly, and what knew comics
have really caught your eye? Have you read "Goodbye, Chunky Rice"? What
do you think of Warren Ellis and/or his work and/or his campaign to
progress the comics art form if you're familiar with any of these? Any
plans to attend neaxt year's Making Waves? Ok, I'll step down now and
stop rambling like the fanboy that I am. Thanks for your time, Neil, and
thanks again for everything your do.
 
---jeff
  

    
Martha--

It's complicated and confusing.  My friend-- who's actually my
collaborator (we write musicals)-- is a wonderful guy, and the stuff we
write, if it were in prose form, would certainly belong on the shelves
at DreamHaven. But I think he finds the solid wall of fanboy culture
that one smacks into at DreamHaven kind of imposing.  It's just not
what he grew up loving.

Here's a good example:  The last time I was there, this past August,
my friend accompanied me in, and I talked with the guy behind the desk
about where the Flash Girls were performing, when the album was coming
out, this and that con, etc.  When we left, my friend said, "I had the
oddest feeling-- I knew what all the words you were saying meant
individually, but put together I felt like I was listening to a
different language."

BUT-- I did drag him to a Neverwhere reading that Neil did in NYC, and
he did read The Kindly Ones with pleasure. 
  

    
When reading Len Schiff's post above, my eyes made a read-o which resulted
in the following phrase:

"the bit on the Vess diagram where they overlap"

Have you decided about the hair yet?  The laminated bookmarks idea is
charmingly bizarre.
  

    

I have to agree about the bookmarks. Charmingly bizarre sums up my feelings
nicely.
  

    
Elise--  "Read-o.."  I like that.  Some of my favorite moments have
come from read-os, though my wife swears that it's only cause I see
what I want to see.

I once misread an International House of Pancakes sign as
"International House of Race Relations."  Still not sure how that
happened.
  

    

From Sara:

I personally think charmingly bizarre is a good star to aim for.  :p  
After doing a bit of back-reading on this discussion, its made me curious: exactly what is this GEnie discussion thingie I hear about now and then?  Neil...?  Martha...?  Does it still exsist, and more interestingly, any transcripts around?  And Neil...I emailed Lorraine Friday night, and haven't heard back yet.  I can completely understand, as I'm sure she's busybusy, but we are hoping we could get the Kitty-transfer taken care of this weekend, if at all possible...


---
thank you much
  

    
Sorry, working hard on writing an extra chapter I'd forgotten to write
which explained a bunch of plot stuff, and getting back to the Death
script...

Josh -- 1) Yes, a little. I find it easier to write about anywhere I'm
not. But other than that it's only a general thing... and, without
e-mailing him, I'd not dare to say which of Jonathan carroll's novels
were written while he was out in Hollywood, about five years ago, and
which when he returned to Vienna. Most writers carry their location on
the inside.

2)I'd love to see them. The best bet with anything you want to reach
me is to send it to DreamHaven books in Minneapolis.

And you're very welcome on Jonathan Carroll.

Shira -- ow. Well, you could either think of it as the tradition, here
you are playing a five hundred plus year old melody that was played in
Russia and Poland etc etc, or just grit your teeth and bear it. Or see
if you can find some recordings or interpretations of the Kol Nidre
service that you DO like. 

I wonder if Ellen Kushner ever did one on SOUND AND SPIRIT...?
  

    
Len, well, yes, some of it's the G&S thing, I suspect. But I
discovered Sondheim in an odd way - in 1971ish the DAILY MAIL
newspaper, which we got every day at my school, did a serialised
adaptation (story retold and lyrics listed) of COMPANY. And I read it
over that week and thought it was terrific. I would have been ten,
going on eleven, I think. I persuaded my parents to go and see it (they
had to entertain some foreing relatives, I think)and they brought home
the COMPANY original cast album, and I fell in love. SO I was a
Sondheim fan long before I was a punk.

But I think it was the combination of Another Hundred People and The
Little Things You Do Together that did it -- and they are both deeply
gilbertian in their attack.

2) Yes, of course. I wound up having a long conversation with Stephin
Merritt about that very thing, because he does it a lot in his songs:
the music and the words comment upon each other and sometimes
counterpoint each other, and sometimes almost attack each other.

I think Musicals and comics have a lot in common. 

3) Not as much as I should. I tend to go through odd musical phases,
and I think one's currently ending, so I may well go and sweep through
the musicals store in NY by the Strand when next I'm in New York. 
  

    
Jeff -- you're crediting me with knowledge I should possess but, in
all honesty, don't. I'll see if I can get Chris Oarr from the comic
book legal defense fund to tell you what's happening at the reception
-- for my part, I go where I'm put, and talk to anyone. It'll probably
be more Hi's and thanks than any kind of presentation. Mingling. Lots
of mingling. And probably some milling too. 

I wouldn't worry about dress, though. I'm sure you'll get some people
dressing up, and some in work clothes, and so on.

These however are suppositions on my part. As I say -- I'll ask Chris
Oarr to come and say something definitive.

I think that, in order to be a comic, a story has to unfold in
pictures in your mind. Most of my prose stories are prose stories
because the most important thing is the tone of voice. Chivalry works
because you see these people through the tone of voice of the
narrative, and it allows more to be said than you can otherwise say.

On the other hand... who was I having this conversation with,
recently? There are so many things that one can do in comics one cannot
do in prose. In prose, you have to work hard to background things,
and, unless you are Gene Wolfe, it is more or less impossible to say
them without saying them. In comics, sometimes one silent panel, maybe
held for a couple of frames, can break your heart.

In the meantime, yes, take ideas and practice writing them as comics
to learn the form. You'll learn more from doing it than you ever will
by thinking about it.

I think I'm mostly relieved about the end of the Dreaming. I think
cait's done some magnificent work there, but it's not been seen,
whereas the Sandman Presents stuff has been much more successful at
being judged on its own terms and less as a sort of Sandman Lite.
Mostly I think that the Dreaming lost its way before it ever started as
a comic, and by the time it found its way it had lost its audience.

Cerebus, Eddie Campbell's Comics, the ABC line. Favourite comic of
last year was Clan Apis.
  

    
oops missed a few at the end. Yes, no, no.
  

    
And how is the pumpkin doing?
  

    
Len -- I find more and more when I'm in dreamhaven I walk out with
stuff from the non-fiction shelves, or the transgressive stuff in the
back.

...

Hair. Had a chat to Chris Oarr today (mostly about the filming of the
Portland reading and event that's going to be done. Memo to self. lose
ten pounds in next fifteen days.)and agreed to keep him a pony tail.
Maybe each video sold will have a strand of hair in it. Or maybe we'll
decide not to do anything with it at all.

....

Elise, the pumpkin is okay. My window-cleaner grew a sixhundred pound
pumpkin he is taking to competitions, so my two-hundred pounder is, in
comparison, a baby. I think we're due a real frost tonight, so that's
probably that for pumpkin season.

The Godiva pumpkins, by the way, are very sweet, and the seeds are
astonishing.