April 25th. DEAD BOY DETECTIVES. It's really good -- it's funny, it's smart, it's scary, and it even has a few familiar faces...
Labels: Dead Boy Detectives
April 25th. DEAD BOY DETECTIVES. It's really good -- it's funny, it's smart, it's scary, and it even has a few familiar faces...
Labels: Dead Boy Detectives
I spent yesterday in Dallas, at the Heritage Auction headquarters -- I had decided to auction off some artwork and memorabilia to benefit two charities (The Authors Literary Fund and the Hero Initiative, which help authors/writers and comics creators who have fallen on hard times or who need help), and, just as importantly, I wanted to give something back to the artists whose art I was entrusting to new custodians.
It seems to me fundamentally wrong and inequitable that art that artists sold for $50 or a hundred dollars thirty or forty years ago now sells for hundreds or thousands of times that amount, but the artists, most of whom are old, some of whom are no longer working or not working as they were, never see another penny. I decided the best way to change that would be to set an example, and show people another way of doing it.
Here's the New York Times article before the auction: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/23/arts/design/neil-gaiman-auction-collectibles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Xk0.5PkB.9iQtuvn6Bwof&smid=url-share
And here's me in Dallas two nights ago, walking around the exhibition before the auction with Robert Wilonsky from Heritage, with guest appearances by my oldest friend Geoff Notkin, whose fault this all is:
Labels: artists, auctions, Authors League Fund, geoffrey notkin, Hero Initiative
Thirteen years ago, I put on a Victorian Suit and a false beard and I read Dickens' prompt copy of A Christmas Carol at New York Public Library. It was a wonderful, sold out performance, introduced by Molly Oldfield, who told us all about Dickens's reading routine.
I looked a bit like this.
And the book looked a bit like this.
The reading of A Christmas Carol has become the most popular of the NYPL's audio downloads, and they repost it regularly. Here's the one from 2019:
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/12/19/listen-neil-gaiman-reads-christmas-carol
For years people have been asking if I was ever going to do it again. This year, back while the writers of the WGA were on strike, my assistant Rachael asked if I'd do it, and if I did, could she document it? I said yes, and it's becoming a thing.
It's going to be a Christmas Extravaganza, with carol singers and suchlike, signed books for sale and all sorts of goodies planned. I'm hoping we can get Molly Oldfield over to New York to introduce it once again.
When I was a boy, I saw Welsh actor Emlyn Williams being Charles Dickens on stage, a one man show I've never forgotten.
Here's the town Hall page for the 18th: https://thetownhall.org/event/neil-gaiman-performs-a-christmas-carol-12-18
Here's the page for the 19th: https://thetownhall.org/event/neil-gaiman-performs-a-christmas-carol-12-19
The ticket presale starts on Thursday Nov 2nd at 12 pm, and regular tickets go on sale on Friday at 10:00 am.
Labels: a christmas carol, Charles Dickens, false beards, Town Hall
Labels: little big or the fairies' parliament, mastodon, unboxing
Hullo,
The rumours are true. Well, the good ones are, anyway. Netflix is delighted and thrilled that so many of you, all over the world, have been watching and loving Sandman, which means that the thing we were all hoping would happen...?
It's happened.
And that's not all! You dared to Dream (and, y'know, kept asking me when and whether they were ever going to show up). And it's happening! The Sandman profile icons are coming to Netflix! Let joy be unconfined!
(I'm going to be Goldie. No, Matthew. No, Goldie.)
Labels: Future Seasons, I couldn't have done it without you, Sandman on Netflix
Just a note to say that this blog has become rather dusty and abandoned over the last two or three years. But I think it's time for me to use it a lot more. At least until Google notices that they still own Blogger, and close the whole thing down.
Hullo. Welcome back.
This is a good place, on the whole, this blog. I started it in February 2001, for American Gods. This was the first entry.)
Here is an Edward Gorey drawing called The Happy Ending, to celebrate the New Beginning.
Your humble web goblin here again, after a brief hiatus of eight and a half years. How time flies.
"Remember when you hosted 13 Nights of Fright and got to lie in a coffin?" I was nonchalantly decorating for spooky season.
Mr. G allowed that he did without looking up from his latest manuscript.
"That was fun." A pause. "Look what I found in a back corner of the basement, between the mummified shedu and Chabon's golem."
Like a cat with a box, so is Mr. G to a red velvet lined coffin; leave one in the middle of a room and he'll be laying in it the next time you turn your back. I was ready with a handful of box nails and a hammer. It won't hold him for long. We don't have long.
Twelve hours from now, something will premiere. Something seasonally fitting. Something fun. Secret for now, but the revelations begin there.
ETA: More here.
Labels: bloody labels, here comes the sun, I have alluded to something secret
I start touring 6 weeks from now. It's the first time I've done something like this since before Covid -- get out there every night, read stories and poems and suchlike, answer questions and generally try to interact with a living, breathing audience. I'm a bit nervous, to be honest. Still, the idea of interacting with living, breathing human beings seems wonderful.
Here's the list of places I'll be appearing, with links to get tickets. Right now there are tickets available to all of the venues except Madison Wisconsin. If you are sad I'm not going to be somewhere near to you, I also am probably sad about this too.
(There are different Covid regulations at different venues, please check your venue for their protocol.)
And I'll see you there, I hope...
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Schenectady, NY
Proctor’s Theatre. 7:30 PM
https://tickets.proctors.org/
Friday, April 29, 2022
Boston, MA
Emerson Colonial Theatre. 8 PM
Seattle, WA
Venue: Benaroya Hall 7:30 PM
https://www.seattlesymphony.
Monday, May 2, 2022
Eugene OR
Venue: Hult Center for the Performing Arts / 7:30 PM
Link: https://tickets.hultcenter.
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
San Francisco, CA
Sydney Goldstein Theater / City Arts & Lectures / 7:30 PM
Link: https://www.cityarts.net/
San Diego, CA
Venue: Balboa Theatre 8:00 PM
https://artpower.ucsd.edu/
Austin, TX
Venue: Dell Hall, Long Center 7:30 PM
Denver, CO
Venue: Paramount Theatre 7:30 PM
https://www.ticketmaster.com/
Hartford CT
The Bushnell Performing Arts Center. 7:30 PM
https://bushnell.org/shows-
Philadelphia, PA
Merriam Theatre : 7:30 PM
https://www.
Chicago IL
Auditorium Theatre 8 PM
Madison, WI
Venue: Orpheum Theater 8PM
https://madisonorpheum.com/
(This one is sold out, I'm afraid.)
Indianapolis IN
Clowes Auditorium at Butler University 7:30 PM
https://butlerartscenter.org/
Cleveland OH
Playhouse Square 7:30 PM
Columbus OH
Palace Theatre. 7:30 PM
Dallas, TX
AT & T Performing Arts Center. 8:00PM
https://www.attpac.org/on-sale/2022/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman/
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Houston TX
Jones Hall / Society for the Performing Arts. 8 PM
https://spahouston.org/events/
Los Angeles CA
The Theatre at Ace Hotel. 8:00 PM
https://www.axs.com/events/
Pittsburgh PA
Carnegie Music Hall 7:30 PM
https://www.ticketmaster.com/
All the details are also over at https://www.neilgaiman.com/where/
Labels: An evening with Neil Gaiman
So, let's see.
I was the castaway on Desert Island Discs. This probably doesn't mean anything to anyone who isn't from the UK. (You can hear it at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00120cb.)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in St Martin's Lane, with a press night on Nov 4th. I saw it (my father-in-law Jack was there as my family guest) and marvelled at how something I thought was as good as it could be when I saw it at the Dorfman Theatre had somehow managed to become bigger and better and more powerful.
It's collected a slew of five star and four star reviews, and a bunch of award nominations.
If you're in or near London, you should see it. It's special. https://www.oceanwestend.com/
It's on until May 14th 2022, when we lose the theatre to another show, and Ocean goes on tour around the UK.
(Remember, every day they release a limited number of £25 Rush tickets at https://www.todaytix.com/london/shows/21527-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane)
In October and November I was working on Good Omens 2 and on Anansi Boys, each on a different side of Edinburgh. Both astonishing casts and crew. Anansi Boys is shooting in one of the biggest studios there is. You won't believe Brixton...
I'm back in New Zealand currently to be with a small boy and his mother. (I got very lucky in the MIQ lottery.) I've been able to showrun remotely, because technology is amazing these days and lets you do that, but it's definitely easier to do while I'm in Scotland, and easier on everyone else to have me there.
Which reminds me... There's a piece of Good Omens news I've been keeping close to my chest, but I think as we prepare to go back to shooting, it's time to let this particular Cat out of the bag:
When I first started planning Good Omens 2, I thought it would be a good idea to have what I started referring to as "minisodes" -- stories that begin and end within a larger episode, ones that dive into history. And I thought it would be fun to invite some other people to write the minisodes. We have three of them.
We've announced that I'm co-writing the show with John Finnemore. We haven't told you that John has also written a solo-story set in biblical times, though. He has. It's thoughtful and funny and wise.
We haven't told you that novelist and screenwriter Cat Clarke wrote a story set in Victorian times in Edinburgh, have we? She did...
I asked Cat if she wanted to say something about it, and she replied,
‘When Neil kindly invited me to join Good Omens 2, I bit his hand off. (Terribly sorry about that, Neil. Hope you’re managing to type OK?) It’s been an absolute joy to play in the glorious sandbox that Neil and Terry created. I can’t wait for the world to see our favourite angel and demon get into a wee bit of a pickle in Edinburgh.’
And there's one other minisode, written by two people working together: Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman. Jeremy is a writer (and one of the members of the League of Gentlemen -- he was portrayed by one Michael Sheen in the League of Gentlemen movie) and Andy's a writer, a worker of strange miracles and an actor. They are best known as a collaborative team for writing Ghost Stories, as a play and a film. Their story is set in London during the blitz.
They sent me a message too: ‘We’ve had such a great time writing for Good Omens 2. It’s been a true privilege to be allowed to dive into Aziraphale and Crowley’s lives. We hope we’ve been able to bring laughs, magic and a few scares to this wonderful world.’
...
Sandman on Netflix is doing brilliantly. I can't wait for everyone else to see what I've been seeing.
And from 28th of April until the 26th of May, hitherto unknown strains of Covid permitting, I'll be on an American Tour, doing most of the cancelled and postponed Evenings With Neil Gaiman from 2020 and 2021. Details at https://www.neilgaiman.com/where/ and links to tickets on each entry. (Madison WI has already sold out.)
...
And I didn't get to write a New Year's Wish, because I've been sole parent for Ash while Amanda is away at a lovely Yoga and Hiking retreat in the South Island, and there wasn't the time to write one and stay up with a small boy to welcome in the New Year. Perhaps I'll write a belated one, perhaps not... (This blog is being brought to you by an iPad and Scooby Doo and Mystery Incorporated.)
Labels: Andy Nyman, Back on Tour, Cat Clarke, Jeremy Dyson, Letting the Cat, Minisodes, the Andy and the Jeremy out, The Ocean At The End of the Lane
My current crusade is to make sure creative people have wills. Read the blog post about it, and see a sample will.