Neil Gaiman's Journal

Hi, Neil. I met you for all of 45 seconds at your B&N Coraline signing. You were very patient and friendly to all (to all who got into line, that is). I hope you enjoyed the Lemon Throat Drops I brought you. I've been getting myself up-to-date on the early American Gods journal archives, and I see you once mentioned a book called The Good Fairies of New York. The title sounds wonderful to me, and I really, really, really want to read it. The problem is that it seems to just barely exist. It doesn't show up in a New York Public Library search, nor is it available through barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com (though they have two readers' reviews up, and both are positive). It's not up on ebay or half.com either, and I even checked the entire City University of New York's network of libraries. Can you suggest any way for me to get hold of this book?

Also, I have an idea for a short story or possibly a series of short stories involving fairies, but I need to read up on the origins of fairy-related myths. Can you point me in the direction of a good, enjoyably written, informative book? Much thanks, Tsippa

Ah, I thought, that's an easy one, and went to Amazon.co.uk, where I discovered that Martin Millar's wonderful The Good Fairies of New York is out of print, and so is the Collected Martin Millar, which has it in (along with two other books, both excellent). Then I checked www.bookfinder.com, and while lots of Martin Millar books were around, that one wasn't. So then I went to www.martinmillar.com which has a lot of really good stuff on it, including short stories you can download. Unfortunately, one of the good things he doesn't have up is The Good Fairies of New York (although I learned it's just been published in Germany). You could e-mail him and ask...

As for Fairy Lore, Katherine Briggs's Dictionary of Fairies is the best place to start. And if you never get any further than Katherine Brigg's Dictionary (which is, I think, the same book as her Encyclopedia of Fairies), you'll still know more fairy lore than anyone you'll run into who doesn't study the stuff professionally, or isn't actually herself a spriggan or a trow.

Of course, a quick hunt around also reveals (sigh) that the Briggs is out of print as well. But it's available second-hand from the usual suspects (www.abebooks.com, www.bookfinder.com, www.bibliofind.com, etc.)

...

Got a very pretty-looking foreign edition of American Gods in the mail today, and noticed that the dedication to Kathy Acker and Roger Zelazny now seems to be to "Katy and Roger Zelazny", which makes me ever-so-slightly nervous about what's in the rest of the book.