Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Michelle -  I still have the files, yes.  Are you working on compiling
the disc now?  Lemme know if you need them again.  Kudos to you and
your organizational skills for taking on this project.  

Jen - re: name associations

Well, it's painfully unintersting and doesn't reach any univseral
truths, but since you're curious...

Jennifer reminds me of a fresh-faced sorority girl with a blonde bob
under her college's baseball cap and a big bleached smile.
Jenny reminds me of a freckled, mid-nineteenth century farm girl.
And Jen reminds of a spikey haired riot grrl with a penchant for
authoring zines.

And I suppose I'd most likely relate to the 'Jen'.  So personal and
trivial, yup. :P
  

    
martha - LOL! :)

Sarah (you're SILTH, dammit!) - Never mind. Ed found the cd and I even
have a back-up copy (phew!). At this rate, it should be out the door
early March, just in time to pay off the bills from last BM and start
compiling them for this BM (and the cruise, and the car, and the CBLDF,
and... )

squeaks, who is broke, but mostly for worthy causes.
  

    
Ok... opening night for Midsummer Night's Dream (the kid who made the
poster initially lettered it "_Midsumer_ Night's Dream," which I think
is hysterical.)

The stage is set. The kids are psyched.  The costumes look great.  The
director is a mess.  Here we go.
  

    

Break a leg!
  

    
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING;

AMERICAN GODS, my novel, will be published on June the 19th. This is
what's called a One Day laydown, so the copies should actually be on
sale from that day and not in that general sort of direction.

If you're planning on buying it, pop down to your local bookshop and
tell them nicely to order you a copy. Let us at least create the
perception that a demand for this sucker exists in the world...
  

    
Sean -- most of it is just a kind of authorial osmosis: one reads and
learns about things one is interested in. Sometimes one becomes
perfectly obsessed by something -- and sometimes it comes in handy, and
sometimes  one just winds up with a shelf of books that hasn't yet
come in handy (I have loads of stuff in my head and on my shelves about
the early freemasons, and haven't written a word about them).

Most of the things you ask about I can point to where I found them --
the original Red Riding Hood for example comes from THE GREAT CAT
MASSACRE (wonderful book). My classical knowledge is broad but not as
deep as it should be But I have a lampriere's classical dictionary,
which makes life easy if I need to check tiny niggling things.

Mostly though I try and go to primary sources.

It was interesting in AMERICAN GODS -- at one point I found I was
reading a book for research (a 1940s collection of American folklore)
which had been... there's no really nice word for it but 'extensively
plagiarised by' a recent book I'd just read on the same subject.  

Sarah -- oddly enough I was just about to give Garrison Keillor a
printout of American Gods. I thought he'd like it.

martha -- no, I didn't freeze my apostrophe -- it was a french keboard
in the icehotel, and I couldn't find the apostrophe...

Len... well, may they all break legs. Let us know how it went.
  

    
Incidentally, right now is when we're setting up the plans for the
signing tour in the summer for American Gods. So if your local bookshop
has dreams of doing a signing, now is when they should approach Harper
Collins with their proposal. 

(If they don't ask, I don't go. And all complaints about "Howcome you
never sign in Florida?" (or whatever the state is) tend to boil down to
that.)
  

    
You get put in print so quickly!

Don't the French need apostrophes?  C'est la vie.
  

    
Len - dittos on the breaking of legs comments.

Neil - So, where would I find THE GREAT CAT MASSACRE? And, having been
a Rainbow Girl for 8 misera... <ahem> for 8 years of my life, I would
be utterly enthralled to hear a story by you on Masonry (especially
after a re-read of FROM HELL). Of course, I'm still waiting for that
Charles Fort piece you drop hints of occasionally.

squeaks, who must now decide what bookstores to bug (preferably larger
than Other Change of Hobbit), and who is still plugging the cruise on
afn-g.
  

    
(Just a reminder - we're in the final stretch before we roll over the
topic at around 1900 responses... those of you who are reading from
off-well, what'll happen is that we'll freeze this topic and post a
pointer to the new one. If you have the topic bookmarked, you'll want to
change your bookmark for the new topic number. And now back to our
regularly scheduled jam...)
  

    
Michelle -- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394729277

in haste
  

    

A Rainbow Girl! Hi there, as a DeMolay, I'd also be insanely curious to see
what Neil might write about the Masons.
I think pestering Another Change of Hobbit is a good idea, and I should make
a point to wander by there one of these days.
  

    

I pestered Dark Carnival in Berkeley.
  

    
Neil, Harper Collins has probably started booking you with the large
chain stores so could you please tell them to include the behemoth that
is the B&N at Union Square?  And maybe they should just designate the
whole top floor for your visit. Judging by your last two tours,
locations like the B&N on 6th Avenue is waaaay too small, and the
supposedly supersized Virgin Megastore got turned into a sardine can
when you visited for Dream Hunters. It's really going to be quite a
crush. *does little dance of joy..*
  

    
        Just like to mention that many authors enjoy visiting Powell's here
in Portland because it's arguably the finest single bookstore in the
country.
  

    
streak - agreed. I once had to wait 4 hours for emergency car fixing
up and stereo stuff. It was right near Powell's. About 7 hours later,
we were rushing back to the car place, hoping it hadn't closed yet!

Linda - Dark Carnival is good. James and I are also bugging Stacy's in
SF (and I think he's checking in with OCoH and Booksmith, tho' I'm
sure they've called in already)

madman - if bay area, which chapter? Just nosy.

squeaks, Unity & Eden Assemblies 1986-1994... which explains a lot of
the need for road trips, I suppose.
  

    
Madman and Linda  and Michelle -- I think that the Bay area is going
to be pretty well covered. And I suspect that Dark Carnival and Change
of Hobbit are just physically too small -- C of H was only bearable
last time as it was the last of  a lot of bay area signings.

One of my favorite odd signings happened at the old Dark Carnival
store -- it was a Good Omens signing, and Kathy Acker stopped by on her
motorbike...

Streak -- I did Powells on the last tour. broke their record for most
people ever at a  single signing (previously held by Martha Stewart).
They ignored every request I made about how I'd like the signing to be
run, as a result of which I think there were a lot of people on lower
floors who had a miserable time (and I know a lot of people gave up and
wandered off).

I expect that I'll do Powells again, if harpers send me to Portland,
but we'd need to figure out where to put the people.

Rocky -- the author has no say in the matter. 

And this author has an additional problem.  To the general public,
which includes a lot of people running bookstores, I'm an unknown,
minor author. Meanwhile, I pull in numbers that are only beaten by the
likes of Stephen King and Anne Rice. But nobody running the bookstore
ever expects it.

If you'd like to see me at the Union Square B&N... then go and talk to
them.

Nowhere has actually been chosen yet. (That's why I posted this minor
cry to arms.)

My guess, to be honest, is that locations I sign at will have a lot
less to do with whether or not they have enough room; and more to do
with what bestseller lists they report to.
  

    

Michelle- Alas, not bay area. Past Master Councilor, Edward W Slade
Chapter,
of Meriden, Connecticut. Meriden's Rainbow chapter was spotty at best.

Neil- Yeah, ACoH _is_ rather small. But so long as the bay area is covered
enough, I'll make sure to end up somewhere.
  

    
Neil, not to worry I alreay planned on lobbying them intensely, but
was hoping that you also had a say in the matter. 

Unknown and minor?  Jeeze..I've made friends by just mentioning your
name! "You like him too?!"  Anyway, I pass by Union Square at least
three times a week, God help them.  *grin* 
  

    
Rocky -- the trouble is intangibles. As an author I can say "I loved
signing at Kepplers -- they were the nicest staff I've ever encountered
and they put together the best signing. I want to do them again."  

But the decision gets made by a combination of the publisher, the
reps, and lots of weird things get factored in -- suddenly one finds
oneself  doing a lunchtime signing in a Mall book chain store where one
is obviously an inconvenience to everybody, because the chain is a big
account and they promised that store's last manager a signing with
someone after the chain's other store in another Mall got Clive Barker
last year (an combination of two actual examples from the last two
tours).

This tour won't be big enough for oddities like that, but the
decisions as to where I'm signing will be taken by various arms of the
publisher.
  

    
Neil - went down to Books and Co. today where you had a stop on the
Stardust tour and when I asked if they were planning on trying to get
you to sign there I was informed that they were indeed trying very hard
to get you.  They were a little pessimistic about getting a 'big name'
such as yourself in the midwest but were hopeful since the last
signing had a good turnout.

Jen
  

    
Neil - well, just as long as you make at least a couple of stops out
here. How am I supposed to be a proper stalker unless I turn up at a
couple of signings? And the cruise is putting me on a bit of a travel
budget, so the stalking will have to be strictly local. :)

madman - Never actually made it all the way up the line, though I
started it twice. Too many crap politics - It's a SERVICE organization,
for pete's sake!

squeaks, who is wondering which store won't freak out about mice... 
  

    

Well, if we're talking size, the Borders near my office is big enough,
but, being in Milpitas, I suspect it is convenient only to ME!

I even asked the librarian here in Alameda yesterday for some suggestions
- he is a HUGE fan of yours - but he couldn't think of anything.

I guess there's the Barnes and Noble at Jack London Square in Oakland, and
I could take the water taxi to get there!
  

    
        Neil, I suspect the reason bookstores think you're minor is that you
have a huge fanbase from your comics work, and of course Serious
Bookstores have a big ol' blind spot for comics.  They go "Gaiman? 
Yes, he did a couple novels we carry.  I think he's Scottish or
something.  Sure, have him sign here."  Then, of course, word hits the
local comics shops, and the next thing you know you've got a riot on
your hands.
  

    
Streak -- that was certainly true in Neverwhere days. These days, as
far as I can tell, there are as many people in the line who read the
comics as there are people who wouldn't read a comic if they were paid
to -- they found me with Neverwhere, or Stardust, or Smoke and Mirrors.

(And I learned last April that the world of comics sigings isn't what
it was, when I did the Golden Apple signing before the CBLDFCruise. It
was a mid-sized signing, around 400 people, and I was flabberghasted to
learn that it was easily Golden Apple's biggest signing for years.)

It used to be I could tell who was a fan and who was there for a son
or daughter by sight. I can't any more.

If pushed, I'd say that I think it's because my fans respond to
something on a level that makes them want to come along and say hello. 

Linda -- my guesses would be Booksmith on the Haight and Kepplers in
Menlo park...