Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Is *this* the mysterious Mr. Jon Singer?
http://www.bazilians.org/default.html
  

    
Email from Bill Williams:

Neil--

Very cool! Can we expect to find pumpkin pie-scented Merv candles? More
Sandman t-shirts can NEVER be a bad thing, my Dream-Death-Delirium shirt
is nearly worn out.

--Bill
  

    
Mimi -- I have a really weird favour to ask. It looks from the web
like the only place you can still buy Ribena Pastilles is Hong Kong. Is
this true? Could you get your hands on some? If so, drop me an e-mail
and we can discuss it further...

...

The word on the Hot Topic stuff from people who have seen it is it
looks amazing. I hear there are wonderful tee shirts, cool candles, and
an amazing Death Dress. Keep an eye on the hot topic web site -- as
soon as it's ready to go public it'll be on there.

Linda -- (maddy, looking over my shoulder as I type, would like me to
say that Linda is also the name of a girl in her class. This is
important information, which I have now passed on.) At WORLD FANTASY
CON in  Seattle in 1989 they had Con specific fortune cookies made.

Terry pratchett and I got "You will meet jon Singer" and "Your book
will be sold to Hollywood. You have our comiserations." And oddly
enough, within  24 hours the first thing happened, and within six
months the second. And it was pretty much doomed back then.

(Now of course Good Omens seems to be doing very well. I spoke to
Terry Gilliam about American Gods the other day and he's having much
fun with the second draft of the G O script.)

....

Narrowly missed shattering my right elbow as I crashed down on some
ice this afternoon -- the broomhandle, which hit the ground a moment
before my elbow,  shattered instead. And every time it twinges, i
think, it could be four months before I'm typing again...
  

    
Bill -- what a cool idea! I'll mention it to DC. (As a general rule, I
hate scented candles, but that's funny.)
  

    
My friend Mac just pointed something out to me and I'm not sure who
else to contact about this, but since several people on here seem to be
extremely well connected folk... If anyone knows Neal Stephenson, they
might want to let him know (if he doesn't already) that somebody has
the entirety of The Big U up at 

http://server3003.freeyellow.com/neilbury/

Neil - ice sucks.  I fell on my own elbow a couple of years ago.  I
remember thinking "there are little people around, I shouldn't cuss...
wait, this hurts enough" whereupon I yelled fuck as loud as I could. 
After taking me to get x-rays my roommate then got us into a car
accident.  It was an interesting evening.  Anyway, very glad it was the
broom.  Being hurt sucks. 

Jen, who needs to learn to say things in less space.
  

    
Tell Maddy that Linda is an excellent name both for a classmate and for a
person on the Well.

It is good of you to take your part in sweeping the walk or whatever, but
maybe someone a bit less accident-prone should?
  

    

Whew, Neil, glad that the broom handle took the brunt of
it.  Ouch.  <reet> here on the WELL fell down and broke both elbows a few
years ago.  Terrible.

And please thank Maddy for the excellent information.  %^)

I guess if she knows a little girl named Linda that probably counts as an
old-fashioned name these days.
  

    
e-mail from Margret:

Michelle-  I had better luck dealing with my bookstore than you seem to
have had with yours.  I called the B&N in Syracuse, and was given the
name of the person in charge of organizing signings. She listened
attentively to my suggestion, and after asking me how to spell Gaiman,
said she would be willing to fill out the paperwork and see what she
could do.  She was extremely polite and even thanked me for the tip.
So, Neil, if you do manage to make it to Syracuse, be nice to Miriam.
She seems to be a lovely lady.


Margret (who can't picture Neil being not nice to anybody)
  

    
Linda - Don't have her name. Not about to call back just to get it.
Have had excellent luck with other bookstores tho'. Asked my friend at
Cody's to enquire about getting Neil, and the gal there said that
Cody's was the first store in the area to put in a formal request, and
will most likely make the tour. OCoH is putting in their request
(called out of curiousity). Ingrid at Stacey's in SF "is VERY
enthusiastic about Neil's new novel" and the possibility of getting a
tour date, and then she thanked me, with great glee, for my interest.
Booksmith put in a request and are keeping their fingers crossed. And I
owe Kepplers a call tomorrow - apparently my phone message was unclear
and they need more info.

And I still want to call the Borders in Union Square, just for kicks.

Neil - Tom Galloway has also met Jon Singer. But then, as I figure it,
Tom is going to *be* a Jon Singer someday. :)

Martha (& Neil) - the intro to Arbitrary Placement of Walls is yet
*more* difficult to read aloud when intoxicated, or so my friend James
discovered very recently.

squeaks, who really needs to stop fretting about silly boys.
  

    
Sarah -- yup, that was indeed the same Mr Singer. 

Jen -- I suppose someone will tell him...

martha -- what is scary is that I wasn't even sweeping the walk -
merely walking from my car to the house, where a snow following a thaw
had put a fluffy layer of dry snow on top of a micro ice rink. I'd
grabbed the broom from the garage with ideas about brushing snow off
the satellite dish -- and I'm so lucky that I did. (Elbow still hurts,
and I say to it, hush, you're lucky, when it twinges.)

margret -- I shall, if I get to Syracuse...

Right now, we're asking the stores who have already thrown their hats
into the ring who wants to host the first day of publication signing.
My publisher didn't want me to start in New York as New York signings
can be difficult and sometimes only 20 people show up. I said I didn't
think this would be our problem...

Michelle -- I'm just glad that people are getting drunk and reading my
martha poem aloud to each other.
  

    
By the way, Smoke and Mirrors will be out in trade paperback in a few
months time, and Stardust will be as well, in a sort of classy looking
edition. I know I mentioned this once already, but it was a while ago. 

I'll try and remember to send the covers to Joe Fulgham -- or as soon
as it's running see if I can get them up at the novel.com site...
  

    
Are other works of Neil's easier to read when intoxicated?  Now _that_ would
be a contribution to science.

Neil!  Be careful how you walk!  Maybe you should get Mike to give you ice-
skating lessons.
  

    

I have imagined Dream and Destiny speaking in slurred, heavy voices, and am
now deeply scarred. Thank you.
I can imagine a lot of Stardust would be pretty neat while in an altered
state of consciousness.
  

    
Mimi and Brent -- Turns out my Neil/Angel Tour interview came in
second place in the P&E poll for Best Nonfiction Article on the Web.
Would've liked first place, but second is nothing to sneeze at. Thanks
for the votes and compliments :-)

Neil -- Two quick questions....Will American Gods be available in a
downloadable electronic format (.pdf, RTF, etc.)? Also, any idea where
I can get the cover art? I want to make a banner for the book so my
subscribers can pre-order it. We'll generate some major buzz. 

Jade
  

    
Martha, I shall indeed be careful.

jade -- well done!

My guess is that American Gods will initially come out in book only
form. Nobody's asked me for it in e-form yet.

If I were you I would e-mail ace publicist Jack Womack at Harper
Collins publicity, explain the article you did and the response and
tell him what you'd like to do, and I'm sure he'll send you a cover or
e-mail you the image... (jack.womack@harpercollins.com should do)
  

    
I'd suggest calling the next incarnation of this topic "Neil Gaiman --
Countdown to American Gods." 
  

    

I'll second. All in favor?
  

    
Sounds like a good title to me.
  

    

Gosh, I sure hope the hosts are paying attention.
  

    

e-mail from Mary Roane:

Hi, y'all!
 
Busy lately, so I'll be quick.  Very excited about the release date &
subsequent reading tour.  Called "The Stars Our Destination" this
afternoon & they said they'll be submitting a proposal.  Should I bug the
Border's on Michigan Ave. as well?  *Really* want you to come to Chicago!
 
Len--Congratulations!  You rock!!
 
Linda--you go girl.  Give that "nice" lady a call and let her know that
Neil would be a treat to have in her store.
 
Squeaks--sorry about the mouse.  That sucks.
 
Be well!
 
                                             Mary (reading "The Amber
Spyglass"--it rocks!)
  

    
more e-mail from Mary Roane:

Addenda to previous e-mail:
 
I vote for Neil's title for the new forum.  M.
  

    
Mary Roane -- I wonder if they'll have me do STARS: the signings there
were always enormously fun (and always broke records) but it was a
hard space to do a reading in, and always too hot or too cold or both.
Now they're no longer in that spot I wonder if they'll be thought of as
too far out of Chicago. You might as well bug whoever you feel the
best and biggest bookstore in Chicago is.
  

    
Martha - the obvious answer *seemed* to be "Being an Experiment...",
but upon further reflection (having actually heard a drunken version of
it), I think the subject needs further review.

squeaks, who now needs to find a local Neil-fan willing to drink for
research.
  

    
...Echoing all "in favor" votes for next topic title.

Michelle, Mary, Neil, etc-- thanks all for positive vibes on Midsummer
.  Your infusions of energy helped me get through some very long days.

(Mary, what part are you up to in Spyglass?)

Thinking about the new topic, I realize that I've never been part of
an online community as long as I've been part of this one.  It's very
cool.
  

    
Gah. I've been working past 10 every night, so I hadn't had much time
to write... so these responses might be a bit behind:

Book tour excitement - Have fun, everybody! ^_- Unless I make some of
the drastic decisions I'm toying with, I won't be able to join you
guys. When the time comes, post on how it goes! I wonder if we'll have
reports on *all* the stops, with everybody who's here... Good luck with
pitching to the bookstores! And I'll start praying for an East Asian
signing (probably in Japan, since that's the only place with a
publisher for Neil's books... don't think I've seen any
HK/Taiwan/Chinese versions yet).

Len - Congrats on Midsummer!

Michelle (re: City Optix) - COOL! Cool cool cool! Loved those
pictures, and I can see shots like that working as endorsement/product
shots. I'd love to see them if they're anywhere accessible. 

Neil - Yup, sent you a note via Lorraine's email on Ribena
pastilles... And the next conference title sounds good. When is the
newbook.com coming up?

Jade - Yay! Good for you.

-- Mimi, Friday night and still got some work to do after dinner