Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

I say use ginger. Who cares if some Americans won't know the word- teach it
to them!
(er, well, ok, they'll know the _word_. Teach them what it means in that
context.)
  

    
Another vote for going with ginger.  
  

    
Michelle -- i have a hard enough time remembering to use internet
terminology on the internet...

Gorey -- and remember, the Lang fairy tale books are still in print
from Dover.

Jen -- I'd go with Jennifer Brown, because it sounds more authorial.
Although Jenny Brown sounds authorial too. Jen Brown sounds less
authorial, and J Brown will mean that nobody will be able to find your
books on Amazon.

Emily -- the bryson book was the Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome
Words. Bryson lived and worked in the UK for about 20 years before
returning to the US about 5 years ago. He became a bestselling author
in the UK, not quite achieved that status in the US, although I think
his book on the Appalachian trail did very well.

Jade -- well done!

...

And a check of several american dictionaries gave me ginger as a
haircolour as an early definition, never with the warning (mostly
brit.) next to it, so sod it.

I was amused that my UK editor pointed to a couple of easy US terms
and words as potential anglicisms, while my US editor thought a couple
of midwestern phrases must be British.
  

    
I was looking on Corbis e-card for a picture of an ice storm. (We were
having one this evening. It's warmed up enough that right now it's
rain, but a change of a degree or so and it'll be an ice storm again.)

And having found my picture, I typed in Gaiman to the search engine...
expecting to see pictures from the town of Gaiman in Argentina. Which
I did. And I also found a photo of a bookmaker's chart from Portsmouth,
Hants, UK in 1964, betting on the next royal baby.

An e-mail to my Dad confirmed my guess: this was something done by my
Uncle Monty, the hunchbacked bookmaker
  

    
... oops, Explorer just crashed.

Anyway. So apparently Uncle Monty was the first bookie to place royal
bets, and it was big news in 1964.

(You'll find a version of Uncle Monty in Mr Punch. Although I really
never got Dave Mckean to understand quite how much the profiles of that
generation of the family really DID look like Mr Punch...)

Anyway. It's a curiosity at
http://irender.corbis.com/scripts/ddssrv.dll/mark/0/10052134.jpg?qiid=C1_10052
134
  

    
        Just for the record, I have a full head of ginger hair, but usually
describe it as light brown.  I can't say it's a color I'm fond of, so I
do hope you're not inflicting it on a character who doesn't deserve
it. :-)
  

    
I've got these little books I picked up as stocking-stuffers or something by
Bryson called "Bizarre World"; I can't sell them on half.com because there's
no U.S. edition.

But his U.K./U.S. phrasebook has come in very handy.
  

    
Gorey - I have a bunch of the coloured faerie books, along with some
by Andersen, the brothers Grimm and a few collections (including odd
Celtic ones). The neatest part is to compare the same stories from
different collections side by side.

Jen - I'm rather partial to Jenny Brown, if it helps.

Emily - The best phrases are in video games. The Japanese designers of
the games often refuse to let the Brits/Americans write, or even edit,
the phrases uttered by the characters. The one that had me nearly on
the floor laughing last night was in DOA2 - the opposing character
bitch-slapped my character to the ground and said (brace yourselves for
this one) "Good vibrations!"

Streak - I rather liked it when I had ginger hair. Keep in mind, I'm
happy with any colour other than my natural one (boring brown with a
loverly white streak in the part), so I can understand your not liking
it. Still, I thought it was rather fun.

squeaks, who gets to work on her day off tomorrow... oh goody.
  

    
The Dover editions of the Lang books are great! Alas, in recent years
they've been printing them without the wonderful full-color H. J. Ford
illustrations, and the ones with the illustrations are getting tough to
find. I think the Violet Fairy Book is my favorite, probably because I've
had it since before I can remember.
  

    
Emily -- Aren't you a sweetie? Thank you for the vote, though it was
not necessary. Interviewing Neil was easy. :-)

Brent - Thanks for the congrats and the link. I'm a huge Cure fan.

N - I love ginger-haired guys. Enjoy the uniqueness of your hair
color. I've never been able to duplicate it though I've had ruby,
strawberry blond, purple and orange.
  

    
Neil-- that's a very cool picture/story combo.  Any relation, as well,
to "Gaiman Realty" in Monticello, NY?
  

    
Len - With that many recommendations, you'll have quite a collection.
Don't have anything to add... have fun building up the library!

Jen - I rather like 'Jennifer L Brown', but if there are too many of
them already... You might consider your name in relationship to the
kind of stuff you write. Something a little funkier for something
edgier, or lean more on the proper side for something more 'formal'?
Just a thought.

Emily - Good point! Some of my favourite Japanese bands have the knack
for writing the strangest English lyrics I've ever seen, and Hong Kong
movie subtitles are notorious for their, um, humour. And I've been
served 'gum' with my lemon tea in Tokyo (it's sugar syrup...  it's
sticky and sweet, so, 'gum' I guess). As for the tattoo book... I'll
think about it in my retirement, a couple decades from now, after I've
translated Genji...?  ^_- Somebody did once joke that he wanted me to
write 'This foreigner has no clue what's on his t-shirt' for him to put
on a t-shirt...

Michelle - That *is* funny. What happened to the caramel coffee
apples?

Neil - Ginger sez red-brownish to me... And your Uncle Monty -- wow.
Haven't found anything that interesting yet in my family tree yet,
though a cousin of mine is a horse racing commentator... ^_^;

Jade - Voted! Nice interview there. 

-- Mimi
  

    
Email from Sean Michaels...

Hi everyone. I apologize in advance for length; I thought I might as well
do it in 1 go to save the moderator a headache.

I'm a troll.

Although I've posted twice, my messages appeared to have been swallowed up
in deluges of Neil birthday wishes, etc. This hasn't stopped me from
reading here every day, nor have my empty pocketbooks (which deny me a
Well subscription).

Although I understand that the discussion's sort of moved pas the point of
Q&A, I do have a question for Neil, and then an open request: *) I adore
your books, especially the rich Sandman work and the terrific old-yet-new
dreamstuff of Neverwhere. Stardust and Smoke & Mirrors weren't bad either.
:) Congratulations on the award nod. Where do you find your stories? The
Sandman, especially, is chock full of one- two- and three-layer references
to mythology and literature. From the gorgons to the erinyes/moirae to
orpheus' head as it floats down a river (but is saved by Morpheus not
Apollo), this stuff permeates the sandman series. Where do you find the
best little bits to use? Do you read straight books on greek mythology? Is
it just leftovers from some night course you took ten years ago? Do you
attend lectures? Where do you discover the Old version of Little Red
Riding Hood (and what prompted you to look there), where do you read about
Demeter & Demephon [aka Loki, kinda, and Daniel/Dream] and her method of
endowing immortality. Are you a compulsive reader of tales? Is it from a
university course, like me? :) Basically - what do you read to find the
Old Stories?

And this is for everyone:

I'm currently preparing some research (of a sort) for a short story I
intend to write. It is about dreams and doubt, magic and madness, the
environment... well, I don't know really, I haven't written it yet. I am
sending out requests to people I know, and people I don't, to ask for the
following: In this story, every person in the entire world, for the period
of seven days, has a dream with a common bond. These dreams are remembered
in different degrees, more by some, less by others, but a single link
remains, and is always remembered: The landscape, at one point, was
littered with the skeletons of dead birds, white as ivory.

In this story I wish to incorporate many accounts and anecdotes of what
different people's "dream-with-birds" was.  I am thus asking people to
write, if they want to, short pieces that describe their own "dream of
birds", had such a dream occurred. The dreams may be happy, they may be
sad, they may be scary. They may focus around these birds, or the
skeletons may just be noticed at one point.

If you are interested in helping with this project, please email me a
short piece (no more than about 200 words, no less than 20), that tells,
in your own voice, of your "dream of birds". Depending on the responses I
get, I may or may not use your piece; I may edit it, I may not. Your name
(if you wish) will be credited.

You can contact me at: sean@tangmonkey.com

Thanks -so- much, and remember to think about Buddy Holly et al, come
Saturday.

Sean Michaels
  

    
Email from Bill Williams...

Jennifer--

Have you considered dumping the last name entirely, and using your middle?
I would expect that there are significantly fewer "Lynn" last names than
"Brown"s. And to think, I almost managed to resist the urge to mention
going with "Jen X". :-P

--Bill
  

    
Mimi - Well, they were laughed at (which was very appropriate, as they
were a total inside joke), and then I can only imagine that they were
eaten, tho' I haven't heard reports yet. Still, the look on the face of
the recipient upon realizing what was under the saran wrap was fully
worth the effort in making them. And I think you *should* translate
that for a t-shirt.

squeaks, who is down another mouse and who has unbearably noisy
neighbors this evening.
  

    
Jen/ny/ifer -

Personally, I like Jen Brown the best, but I think that has to do with
my personal associations with the names...

Michelle - 

Which Andersen collection/s do you have?  Have you read 'The Shadow'? 
Greatcreepy stuff.
  

    
Speaking of the cure, which Brent Hogan did a bit ago, I forgot to
mention my silly cure ancedote.  An acquaintance of mine's father is
the local (as in Duluth), generally not all-that-well-known poet, Louis
Jenkins.  A while back, he was at a cure concert and threw one of his
dad's books onstage.  Not so long after that, he was perusing Robert
Smith's biographical section on the cure's website 
( http://www.thecure.com/robertpages/robert.html ), and low and
behold, under the 'favorite authors' section, is his dad's name. 


Now I'm going to go sit in a corner and wait for Garrison Keillor to
become the next goth icon.
  

    
Silth - One is a J.G. Fergesun collection, the other is a Barnes &
Noble collection. I could have sworn I had a third collection, but I
seem to have misplaced it. And hey, since I've got your attention, any
chance you've still got those readings for the thingie cd on file
somewhere? I don't trust Ed to have the only copy just now...

squeaks, who must get back to writing music
  

    
Neil - The only question really important is:  How have you been
doing?

Jen - Any name would be ok, really.  It's all in what you feel most
fits you.

Sarah - Garrison Keillor as the next goth icon? :)  Oh man.  Would
that be a signal of the end of the world? :)

And Jade's still #1 on the tally!  Woohoo!
  

    
Just a random note.  Was very happy to wander into Hastings last night
and see a copy of From Hell right in there with the 'regular books'.

Daniel
  

    
Thanks all for the name suggestions.  If I ever get anything published
it would be Jennifer Brown or Jennifer Lynn.  I think I'm leaning
towards the later... I like 'L's.  Thanks for the suggestion Bill.  :-)


Brent - That's my problem.  It seems like a fake name that fits me
would be too much trouble and my real name... has never seemed to me to
be my real name.  One time someone told me they loved me and it took
me a minute to realize _I_ was this Jenny person they were talking
about.  It was very odd.  

Sarah - if you don't mind me asking, what are your personal
associations?  I can't believe I'm talking this much about my name...

Michelle - sorry to hear about your mouse.

Jen, who likes Garrison Keillor.
  

    

I just want to announce that Jen here kicks all kinds of ass. She sent me a
copy of Season of Mists with the original cover, and now the collection is
as complete as I want to make it. So I wanted to make sure everyone who had
any doubts knew how cool she was.
  

    
Madman - ::blush::  why thank you.  :-)  I showed this post to my
roommate and their reply was "Yes, but you can't keep track of your
keys now can you?"  Which is true, they've been awol since Sunday.  :-)

Jen.
  

    
Okay. Its 7:45, its freezing I can`t find the apostrophe and I
survived my night in Quebec`s Ice hotel.

Just thought you would all want to know.

`What was it like` you ask.


Too cold to type, says I. As me when I get home.
  

    
You froze your apostrophe off?