Journal

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

In which I decide to spend the rest of my life in bed

The problem with deciding to lie in a downstairsy sort of a bed and do email, because your clothes are all upstairs and you know the halls and corridors between where you are and your clothes are going to be cold for it is minus ten F (that's -23 C) outside and this is an old house, is that the email does not stop coming in as you're doing it, and I'm about five days behind anyway, and I'm starting to realise that I will not catch up and the day will be done and I will still be here, warm in my makeshift bed, tapping away on email.

Lorraine just came by to tell me that the chestnuts I sprouted and planted in pots in the kitchen have started growing into small trees. My housekeeper followed her in to look at me in the puzzled sort of way you do when someone is in a bed that shouldn't really even be there at noon answering email. "I shall stay in bed for ever, answering email," I told them, amiably. "It's cold out there."

Neither of them seems even slightly fazed by this.

...

"Hold Me" -- Hellblazer 27 -- is written about at http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19497. Weird Tales is now up to Brief Lives in its book-by-book Sandman reviews: http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/2009/01/13/recurring-dream-the-sandman-vol-vii-—-brief-lives/

There are now toy weeping angels.This seems right and proper. On the other hand, the Coraline stuff from Hardees/ Carl Jrs makes me feel like I've slipped into a strange alternate universe because it has nothing to do with me at all -- it just exists, and I kind of hope it will make kids happy, and that some of them may even be moved to find the book but... I dunno. Still processing that one. It's not bad. It just is. Then again, they have nice wallpapers and many useful things. Here's one with the shadow of the Other Mother in it...



It's nice down here in this seldom-visited room. I can see the Amano Dream Hunters centre spread painting and a Barry Windsor Smith Sandman drawing on the wall from where I'm lying, along with several Lisa Snellings statues.

Pretty soon now, I'm going to have to get up.


Neil,

I was very excited to hear that the Premiere for Coraline would be in Portland, OR. I was wondering when I'd be able to get my hands on tickets for the premiere? I'd really love to be the first to see it on my block.

Thank you for what you do,
Jason


What I do know is that the Coraline premiere is the opening night of the Portland International Film Festival. What I don't know is how you get tickets, although looking at the Film festival site, I suspect that you might have to become a "Director" with a $250 donation to get Opening and Closing night tickets. Or find someone who is already a donor and wants to scalp or give away their tickets. Or, possibly, keep an eye on local papers for any Coraline premiere ticket giveaway promotions...

Hi Neil,

Absolutely love your work. You mentioned in a post that you would be attending Portland's International Film Festival for the screening of Coraline. Will you be doing anything else while in Portland (signings and such)? It would be great to see you.

Thanks so much,
Jennifer D


It's possible but not likely, because Laika and Focus (who will be bringing me in for the Premiere) will probably already have packed my dance card with press interviews. If someone with power over my schedule while I'm there decides that what they really need is for me to give a talk or a signing, then it might happen. But you're more likely to get an autograph on the red carpet, I suspect.



As you wrote of the extinct Tasmanian Tigers awhile back, I thought this article might be of interest:

http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/3OCag2wGq7c/idUSTRE50B72T20090112

Extinct Tasmanian "tiger" DNA has clues to demise

Ta,

Heather


Possibly, but I can't help feeling that declaring that they had to be wiped out, putting a bounty on each pelt, and then shooting them until there weren't any left had rather more to do with it.

Hi Neil,

whilst it's hard to imagine that you haven't been asked this before, I tried to find an answer in the FAQ section, but couldn't. How easy did you find it to move to America, as a UK citizen? I'm a writer, with two published short stories, currently working on a novel. I would love to move to New York in a few years. As a writer, did you find that a difficult thing to do? All the websites I look at suggest that the only way to manage it is to be one of those scarily specialised individuals, who can fill an existing gap in the labour market. Thanks for your time and of course, all the stories. Kind regards, Josie


It was 1992, I was married to an American, we already had two children, and most of my income came in from DC Comics. It was a bureaucratic and irritating process to get a Green Card, but not actually difficult.


How do you prefer your cup of tea?

Not Earl Grey. If it's a black, English breakfast-style tea, then made with boiling water and, once brewed, with cold milk added. If it's green, sencha, or something else, just with hot water.

Because there's a lot of honey around here these days (see beekeeping posts for details) if I use a sweetener it's honey, but usually I don't bother.

...

Lorraine just reappeared holding a plate. "Breakfast for today consists of lightly stir-fried oriental vegetables topped with an egg," she announced. "I presume sir will be taking his breakfast in bed...?" Apparently sarcasm works incredibly effectively to get me out of bed. In case you were wondering.

I sighed, got up and rejoined the world.

Email be blowed.


.....................
Edit to add: If anyone at LJ can solve the mystery of why it's suddenly taking somewhere between five and ten hours for the syndicated feed to appear on LJ, the webgoblin and I would be much obliged. In the old days the LJ synd was a good way to find out if I'd put code in that had broken the RSS feeder -- if it didn't show up, I had -- but now it just seems routinely to take forever.

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