Journal

Friday, October 17, 2003

now with added tonsils

In San Jose, with a swollen throat that feels like it was gently rubbed down with barbed wire in the night. Still waiting for the fever to stop, but am still feeling a lot better than I was a couple of days ago. Hoping that everything sorts itself out by tomorrow night in Charlotte.

Dear Neil,

We came and heard you read last night in San Jose. Fifteen Portraits of Despair -- the story about the farmhand and the cats -- was devastating. I thought about it all night long, and first thing this morning. It's the most horrible thing I've ever heard or read that you've written. And of course that is what Despair is all about. This is the sixth time we've heard you read and the first time I wish I hadn't. But then I would have missed Forbidden Brides, and I did enjoy that tremendously. Thank you for flying to San Jose when you are sick.


I know how you feel. If it's any consolation (and I'm sure it won't be), the story of the cats is one of those things that really happened; I ran into in a local newspaper, and I couldn't get it out of my head, so I wrote it as fiction, to see if that made it any better, and it didn't really.

Dear Neil,

I hope this reaches well you and isn't lost in traveling hullabaloo :
You won, once again, the Israeli Gefen award, awarded by the visitors to Isreal's Sci-Fi Convention, Icon.
You won for American Gods, for best fantasy novel (for which Coraline was also nominated).
The Gefen award is given every year at Icon, to books in SF&F published in hebrew during the last year (in translated, and -for the first time this year- original, categories.

We had a WONDERful con! We had this year a distinguished guest - Author Orson Scott Card, who so kindly honored us with his presence. Mr. Card proved to be kind, interesting, funny and a perfect Gentleman.

Just wanted to let you know (and hoping to see you here as well!)

Avri



Thanks, Avri. What great news.

Hi Neil,

I attended your reading at SJSU this evening. I had to dash before the signing because I have at 15 month old son, who I suspected would not be sleeping. (I was right, he wasn't.) Last time I saw you read (In Berkeley in 2001), I stood in line for an hour at the signing and couldn't think of a thing to say. It figures that this time I had something to say, but I didn't have an hour - or more - to wait to say it.

Without further ado, here's my comment and question. Thank you for writing children's books! I am looking forward to sharing your books with my son when he gets older. I would have had to wait much longer to share your work with him before Coraline and now Wolves in the Walls! I am looking forward to the Crazy Hair book. My question: you mentioned that you read your daughter the very first children's book that you wrote, and that you thought it was awful. What did she think of it?

I hope you feel better soon. You didn't look so well when you came out for the reading, and now I see in your journal why that is.

Cheers,

Abigail


I think Maddy quite liked it -- she made me read her the whole book to the end, after all. But she was a lot more forgiving than the author.

Hi Neil.

Not a question...

Once upon a time I read a comic - SANDMAN #34. I had subscribed that series along with the other pre-Vertigo mature readers comics from DC, without knowing what most were about, and that subtle story about werewolves hooked me. Since then, I've been following your work (almost) faithfully.

I finnaly got ENDLESS NIGHTS and wrote a review for Bizarro (http://www.bizarro.cc), a portuguese site about comics (and related stuff) I participate on. I thought it might be nice to let other portuguese-speaking Gaiman fans, from Portugal, Brazil and other countries, know about the review and meet the (nice, i hope) site.

Here is the direct link to ENDLESS NIGHTS review - http://www.bizarro.cc/criticas/000255.html. People can also find texts on the portuguese versions of THE DAY I SWAPPED MY DAD FOR TWO GOLDFISH and HARLEQUIN VALENTINE on the reviews ("cr�ticas") section, by the way.

Bye bye, keep up the fine writing and this *very* nice blog.

Pedro Arag�o