and it's all about Dave Sim being interviewed by me in the Savoy in 1986. Reading it (for me) was very odd -- I'd never thought of it in those terms, but of course, he's completely right. When, as a journalist, I interviewed people back then -- particularly writers -- it was because I wanted to figure out How You Did It, and How It All Worked. Only it had never consciously occurred to me that was what I was doing, until, 18 years later, I get to read Dave's account of the interview...
I�ve gotten into trouble with journalists who have asked me about being interviewed by Neil because I always tell them, �It was pretty clear that he wasn�t going to be a journalist, because the questions he asked were too good.� I actually don�t mean any offense against journalism in saying that�journalism is what it is�what I�m trying to indicate is that, from the questions Neil was asking, he was as much (if not more!) trying to figure out if writing comic books was something he would want to do for a living (maybe I�m not a starving journalist at all, maybe I�m a starving comic-book writer) as he was trying to figure out why I was writing them so that he could explain my reasoning to the readers of his magazine piece.
And I just realised that I forgot, in my list of people who came from a long way away to Fiddler's Green, to mention Mikka from Israel and Pat from Bristol. So I shall. And Pat sent a link to her pictures of Fiddler's Green as well: http://www.gothpat.me.uk/album/fiddlersgreen/
And this came in from Holly:
Dad-- look at the new hunger site thingy! You should post it in your blog. http://www.theliteracysite.com
And I looked and she's right. I've posted it, and so should you. It's a site which gives children who can't afford them free books. You click, a kid gets a book. Nice and easy. Do it daily and make the world a better, or at least a more literate sort of a place.
...
Last month this arrived, from Matt, who likes Gilbert and Sullivan and molecular biology, but not necessarily in that order:
Dear Neil, What are your feelings about dressing up as a goat in order to follow someone surreptitiously?Yours a fan Matt
it was followed some days later by
Dear Neil, If I were to actually dress up as a goat and maybe follow you around, or perhaps hang around at the back of your next reading pretending to chew thistle, do you think you'd notice?Yours a fan Matt
not to mention
Dear Neil,So anyway, if someone turned up at a signing dressed as a goat, then do you think you'd be fooled into thinking it was a real goat and try to chivvy it away? Or would you realise it was a fan in a goat costume, and react accordingly? It's a bit of an unfair question, as I haven't specified whether it's a GOOD goat costume or not, but I'd still like your opinion.Yours a fan Matt
and even
Dear Neil, Do you know where I could get a good 'goat costume' from? Yours a fan Matt
today's missive made me blink in horror (well, after I clicked on the link, anyway):
Dear Neil, Here, what do you think of these? http://www.marylen.com/farm2.htm
Yours a fan Matt
What do I think? I suspect an accurate-in-all-particulars Cthulhu costume would be less disturbing than M-53 Rally Ram...