Ever since I was a schoolboy, serious throat ick seems to be my body's way of telling me that maybe I should stop moving around for a day or two and think about getting some sleep, so I guess this is best seen as an enforced day off.
I've finally now seen a few rushes from Stardust, which looked really cool - the De Niro/Gervais scene was wonderful. Visually, it's really interesting - it didn't look like a fantasy film, which I liked, but to be honest I only had a few minutes to look at a heap of DVDs, which then vanished again, so there's not a lot more I can tell you. Some photos of locations are up on ain't it cool - http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23514 and at this forum http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=266999.
Over at The Dreaming -- http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/ -- Lucy Anne has done a recent update, but also appears to be getting tired. (If you like what she's been doing, let her know. I think she's been doing a fabulous job...)
I see that ANANSI BOYS has been nominated for a Mythopoeic Award this year -- http://www.mythsoc.org/awards.html -- which made me happy. But I wouldn't want to be a voter or a nominee in any category of those awards this year -- too many excellent books for the voters to choose from.
Hi Neil.Is it OK to like the old Sandman colors a lot more? Will they disappear forever?I know the old colors looked real bad in some places, but the one page you showed us was, I think, OK, but the new coloring seemed too computer-y for my taste.Weel, sorry to bother you with color discussion, I shall go back to my own colors now. Thank You.Cédric
Of course you can like them more if you want. But you'd be amazed at the places in the recolouring where you can now tell what's going on, where you couldn't before.
The biggest difference is in the first five issues, when everyone was new to this and none of us had a clue what we were doing.
Neil buddy,I just finished reading Eddie's Fate of the Artist and I seem to remember hearing about the "Pantry pry spoon" mentioned in the book, from this very blog. Still, I find myself asking, because Eddie seems so esoteric and quirky in the book, is Eddie Campbell like that in real life and does his family really at the mercy of the "whims of the artist" as they appear to be? You would know having known him for so long, so is this really Eddie's world and we're just living in it? Aaron
I think it would be fair to say that, in my experience, the portrait of Eddie and the assorted members of the Campbell family and occasional visitors, as portrayed in his ALEC comics series are accurate. If you were to ask the members of the Campbell clan about it they would probably point out that they spend very little of their life on that sofa, or perhaps that that stopped wearing the dress Eddie always draws them in about a decade ago, or that their perspective on events is perhaps under-represented. But it's just like that.
At the end of this post from last year -- http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005/09/leaving-soon.asp -- Miss Hayley Campbell wrote to tell of an incident that hasn't turned up an Eddie comic, but might as well have done.
The story of my visit to Eddie's house, as reported in After The Snooter, is actually a combination of two different visits, but everything in there happened like he says it did.
Which reminds me -- I loved this little Eddie comic/interview at Powells.com http://www.powells.com/ink/campbell.html
And you can read the first nine pages of After the Snooter at http://www.artbomb.net/pdf/snooter.pdf courtesy of the fine folk at artbomb.net (here's Matt Fraction's review of Snooter.
And I hope that sooner or later someone gets all of Eddie's Alec material collected into one huge book. ABSOLUTE ALEC or ABSOLUTE EDDIE CAMPBELL. I'd buy a copy anyway.
I can't wait to get my hands on the complete Absolute Sandman set. I've read in your journal that Vol 1 is due November 2006. Any target release dates for Volumes 2-4? Will a boxed set of 4 ever be released? If yes, when? I've been trying to complete the 10-volume hard cover set of the Sandman series (specifically the numbered unifying trade dress designed by Dave McKean... I believe it's the second print... Vol 1 is purple and the colors go all the way to green...yellow...red...). I'm missing volumes 2,3,4 and 6 and I can't find them anywhere. I've even tried Amazon.com and eBay. Any idea/tips where I can get my hands on these books?I must say, you are a god among men. Thanks for the wonderful stories.Kind regards,Tonichi Tuason
I believe that Volumes 2 and 3 will be out in 2007, and the final volume should follow in 2008, along with a Bloody Great Box that they will all fit neatly into, for purposes of display. I can't help on the missing hardbacks, but my default answer to "Where can I get..." is usually start with DreamHaven Books' online store http://www.neilgaiman.net/ . (Current info at http://www.neilgaiman.net/news-home.php)
Hi Neil,Thanks very much for the time you took for an interview at Balticon, I know you were tired and I very much appreciate your time. I wanted to let you know the podcast with your interview is live, located at http://shouldwrite.blogspot.com/2006/06/special-show-7-neil-gaiman-interview.html Best,Mur lafferty
I Should Be Writing - www.ishouldbewriting.com
You're welcome. I have no memory of what, if anything, I said during the interview with Mur and Paul, or during the interviews with Count Gore De Vol (http://www.countgore.com/Rack.htm this week only) or with Fast Forward TV, done on the same day.
I just fell asleep WHILE TYPING THIS. Which is my cue I think to stop.