Making a dent on the tabs but not a big one

I know that blogging in the bath is probably a mistake, but it's a big bath and wonderful to grab some down time and close a bunch of tabs, and when I get out of the bath I'm going to sleep the sleep of the over-interviewed.

(The biggest problem with being over-interviewed, and exhausted, and testy, and very, very tired, is you get much too honest. Journalist today, "Do you write books with fantasies because you are not happy in the real world?" Me, "Why would you  ask such a question? I mean, do you actually think that people write fantasies because they're miserable, while realistic novelists are all incredibly happy? Is that what you really think? I mean, it seems an astonishingly silly question even to ask. Do you have a point or a reason for asking it?" It was several hours later that I realised that I might have torpedoed my reputation for gentle diplomacy in this part of the world.)

For anyone in Canada who has been made sad and not happy by me being around and not signing anything, I will be back in Toronto for a festival in June (details to be announced) and back in Montreal as GofH at "Anticipation", the WorldCon,  in August.

Here's the PBS Newshour interview, Jeffrey Brown on Art Beat, following on from me winning the Newbery.

A podcast interview with me at Just One More Book, much of it about Blogging and twittering etc.  A fun interview at the Daily Beast.

The New York Times writes about the history of Coraline, and about the 3Dness of it all. I have now been interviewed by Women's Wear Daily. A radio interview yesterday spawned http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=1249466.

Fangoria reviews the Coraline movie. So does Geek In The City. So does Variety (the biggest one so far, in some ways). And while I think of it, here's Rotten Tomatoes, with links to most major reviews:http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coraline/

Collider's review has my favourite opening paragraph:

Amidst a flurry of the traditional Valentine's Day Hollywood rom-coms, February contains such counter-programing as "Coraline" and "Friday the 13th". Of these two films, I can say with some certainty that one features some of the most genuinely terrifying sequences to hit the big screen in years, while the other is about a killer wearing a hockey mask.

A lot of people who saw previews have written asking me about the Coraline soundtrack -- it'll be up on iTunes at the end of the week, and out in stores by the end of February.

Best Henry Selick interview so far: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=51902

Having just won the Newbery for best American children's Book, I felt like The Graveyard Book had somehow cheated my way onto the list of best foreign children books. Proud that the Audio Book made it onto the ALA 2009 Notable Audio Recordings list though, or the Best Books for Young Adults.

http://www.sarahdope.com/wordpress/ is keeping an eye on Coraline stuff, and has lots of amazing links; and so is the excellent Coraline-stuff blog http://evilbuttons.blogspot.com/

Judith at Misrule.com.au tried to keep track of the various interviews and failed, but has a really good list of useful and important stuff anyway. (The whole blog has excellent thoughts of children's fiction, particularly from an Australian perspective, where the Australian press sometimes has a strange habit of always being about 15 years behind everyone else when it comes to realising that things like children's books, graphic novels or genre fiction might actually have some validity or even readers.)

If you're going to be in Dublin (the one in Ireland) on the 15th, here's the link to the CORALINE screening. I'm sure I'll be doing an intro and a Q&A for it. http://jdiff.ticketsolve.com/events/events_for_show/702397

&those Coraline Dunks are going for HOW MUCH?

From last October, here's the reading and Q&A from Fidra in Edinburgh: http://www.fidrabooks.com/fidraplus/fidracasts.shtml

...

I am now out of the bath and on the bed. One by one each of my brain cells is drawing the shades, and going to sleep, while I continue to type:

Finally, nothing to do with me dept: a new season Masters of Song-Fu begins, this time with added Neil Innes joining Paul and Storm as the Iron Chefs of songwriting. My favourite previous song Fu songs are Paul and Storm's "Live" (which they performed when they were a support act for me in Manchester) and of course the JoCo "Monkey Shines" (the song that inspired the video that made me a TV star). (Damn. That was more to do with me than I thought.)

Also, I keep meaning to post this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/4370072/New-pornography-laws-could-make-comic-books-illegal-claim-campaigners.html an article that makes it look as if some comics might become illegal in the UK if a new law is interpreted in stupid ways. And I am resigned to laws being interpreted in stupid ways.

Fantagraphics is having a 50% off sale on some books, including their HANGING OUT WITH THE DREAM KING and SANDMAN PAPERS.

And posting about Worldcon (which I did, way earlier, honest) reminds me, this year, for the first time there will be a "Best Graphic Story" category of Hugo Award. (That was a very clunky sentence. Sleep soon.) It will cover any science fiction or fantasy narrative in graphic form appearing for the first time in 2008. You can read about it here. If you were a member of Denvention, or are an advance member of Anticipation, you can nominate things: http://www.anticipationsf.ca/English/Hugos is the Hugo page, with links to the nomination form. Nominations must be received by March 1st. (This awards blog good.)

Last little brain cell just went dark. Night night.

Labels: completely abandons the idea of writing lots of labels and goes to bed instead