I'm sure you've been told by others, but Anansi Boys will be published in two parts in Japan. The character on the orange copy means "above" and is the first volume; the green copy has the character for "below" which indicates the second. (Books in three parts get "middle" for the second volume, and "below" means the third. Books in more than three parts, well, sometimes it varies--above 1, above 2, middle 1-3, etc.-- but usually they just number them.)
And in case you were curious, the title is "Ananshi no kechimyaku" (or "ketsumyaku") which would literally mean something like "the blood inherited from Anansi." For values of blood which are more metaphorical. A nice, slightly uncommon term.
and...
Hi Neil...
I'm sure a bazillion people have caught this (if you didn't!), in the third panel of the first page you posted for Coraline, the dialogue balloon says "CArOline" if I'm not mistaken.
Happy Holidays and thanks for the good stuff!
Mark Del Franco
It's meant to read "Caroline". Misses Spink and Forcible get her name wrong.
and on the subject of Coraline...
When I was in Portland last week, at the Laika Studios, I joked about putting one of the Coraline maquettes under my coat and taking it home with me. It wasn't much of a joke, really, more an expression of mingled admiration and longing.
Today a huge box arrived, inside which were thousands of foofs and a smaller, wooden box, screwed shut. I took out the smaller box, removed the screws and took off the lid, and found myself looking at a handpainted movie Coraline. She's sitting upstairs in the TV room right now, because I felt like it would be wrong to simply put her into a display case and lock her off from the world.
I'd post a picture, but I suspect that that might be a bit dodgy, so I shall wait until the official photos of my set visit surface, and you can see a little bit of what they're doing. Stylistically, the characters look a little like a mashup of early Ronald Searle and UPA cartoons. But you'll see...
Hello Neil, please forgive but permit me to say, that I am an exceedingly large fan, and that I greatly admire your work. Now then. I have been wondering for some time which books, or writers in particular, were some of your favorites when you were my age (that being the formidable age of fifteen), how you feel they influenced your later writing style, and if you had already begun to find an interest in writing as a medium at this particular age. This is just something that I have been curious about, and would be delighted to know. If the answer which I seek is already located within the deep annals of this webpage, please accept my humblest of apologies. Thank you for your time, I appreciate it greatly.-Matthew
Let's see. When I was fifteen my favourite authors were probably Samuel R. Delany, Mervyn Peake, Will Eisner, Michael Moorcock and Ursula K. LeGuin. My favourite book that year, mm. Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, I think.