Holy Thundering Sludgebuckets! THANK YOU!

The Humble Bundle went live almost ten hours ago.

It's broken all the previous Humble Bundle records for Books.  As I type this, about 7000 people have already bought the  Bundle. It's raised $133,000. And it's done something really peculiar...

The average donation (right now $18.88) is actually higher than the level we had set as our top level ($15). This means that the books we thought were going to be mid-level books are actually, much to our surprise, the top level books.

This means a few things, including some changes of plans in the week ahead to make sure that as many people as possible get as much stuff as possible...

There's a great interview with me over at The Nerdist where I talk about embarrassment and age and why I'm willing to let some of the embarrassing stuff from the basement and the attic out. (Well, out for the next 13 days, anyway.) It's at http://nerdist.com/exclusive-neil-gaiman-discusses-uncovering-rarities-for-humble-bundle/

One of the best unexpected side-effects of this has been an ask me anything on Reddit with my daughters, Holly and Maddy Gaiman. You get a great sense of their personalities. They are both very funny in very different ways. For anyone wondering, this is what they look like now.

Maddy is the author of this book. Or she was, in 2002. It's letters and poems we sent each other while I was off writing American Gods, and she was Very Young. Only 100 copies were published, and given to close friends. And now it's part of the Humble Bundle too...

So thank you, and thank you again.

If you haven't bought it yet, you can still get your rare and collectible eBooks, eComics and eWhatnots at https://www.humblebundle.com/books for the next 13 days and 14 hours. 1249 pages of  stuff. All the money goes to good causes, and you can control how much of it goes to charities, to the creators, to Humble Bundle...

(There will be more stuff in the bundle released midweek. If you've already bought the bundle you will get it all without having to pay any more.)

...

Also, things I should mention:

Miracleman #1 is out! The art by Mark Buckingham has never looked better. The story by me is, well, I'm still proud of it, after all these years. If you've wondered what the fuss was about, it's a great place to start and should be at your local comic shop.

http://marvel.com/comics/issue/50326/miracleman_by_gaiman_buckingham_2015_1

The Global Goals: On the 25th of September, the UN will officially adopt the new Global Goals. Head over to http://www.globalgoals.org and learn what they are, and what you can do to change the world for the better...

Before that, Penguin are going to be releasing the world's first Post-It Note book, to draw awareness to the global goals: I helped, a little, in making it happen: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/richard-curtis-and-neil-gaiman-michael-joseph-global-goals-curate-worlds-first-post-it-note-book-311417  Richard Curtis did all the heavy lifting.

And, in case you were wondering...

Labels: Global Goals, Holly, Humble Bundle, Maddy, Miracleman, thank you so much

Leavings and Partings

When I started this blog I didn't even have a digital camera, and Maddy was six. Here's a photo of us from 2005, age 11, taken on an old Nokia phone, the earliest photo I can find of us together on this computer.

Here's guest-blogger Maddy in 2007 in Budapest, directing Hellboy 2, to the bewilderment of Guillermos Del Toro and Navarro.

She took this last week on her phone, when we went on a short father-daughter road-trip. She's seventeen going on eighteen.

In two hours she drives off across the country to go to college.

I'm so happy for her, so completely proud, but, at the same time, the joy is suffused with melancholy: I feel like an era is over, in a way that I didn't when Mike and Holly went to college. That was that.  I've co-raised three remarkable children and now have an empty house. (If you exclude the dogs, houseguests and all the people wandering around.)

And I've been waiting for so long for a time when I could go anywhere and do anything (as long as the anything is writing stuff people are waiting for), and now it's here and I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. (With perfect timing, Amanda starts rehearsals for her 14 month World Tour this week, and says "Why don't you go somewhere that makes you happy and write?" She's right, of course, as she normally is. I just need to work out where that is.)

Right. I will go for a jog by the river now, and then type out a story.

Labels: being a parent, Maddy, the terrors of absolute freedom, what Maddy looks like

Graduation, and further commencement fall-out...

Today, Maddy, my youngest daughter, graduated from High School. I was asked if I'd like to deliver the address, but declined. I wanted to be a dad, and sit in the audience with my family and beam proudly, and wander around taking photographs afterwards of Maddy and all her friends. And that's what I did. It was great.

When I started this blog, she was six. 

I love you Maddy Gaiman, and am so proud of you.

Soon there will be nothing keeping me in the midwest except inertia, and this is where my stuff is. And my bees. I'm hoping to spend more time on the West Coast with my two older children, and much much much more time on the East Coast with my wife, when she finishes her 2013 world tour, at any rate.

In the meantime, I'm reposting this cartoon.  You'll need to click on it to read it at its home page, as the way Blogger software is set up these days does not agree with it, and I can't get it readable here. It's from http://zenpencils.com/comic/50-neil-gaiman-make-good-art/  It's by Gavin Aung Than, and I hope I get to thank him personally for doing it the next time I'm in Melbourne. He's taken a bit from the middle of my UArts commencement speech and made it into a comic.

The speech has been, I was bewildered to learn, viewed over 335,000 times on Vimeo, and is now captioned in English, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish at http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/IOH3jJ6INIof/info/neil-gaiman-addresses-the-university-of-the-arts-class-of-2012/ . It's still in its original vanilla form at http://vimeo.com/42372767. And it's even crept onto YouTube -- which may be useful for people in countries that have blocked Vimeo.

Labels: Maddy, Maddy Graduates, make good art

Life, and other Spoilers

I got up astonishingly early this morning to take Maddy to State for Violin (solo and duet), then I spent much of the rest of the day doing Dad duty -- taxiing, taking photos and suchlike -- as Maddy went to Prom. It all seems alien and weird to me, Prom and such, like something people made up in films that doesn't actually happen in real life. (It definitely didn't happen in my life: the nearest we ever got to it was the Sixth Form Disco, during the course of which I discovered that any music I liked could actually clear a dance floor in seconds.) But it means much to her, and is such an American symbol...

I'm in a strange, reflective mood: my youngest child is so very grown-up. She and I went to pick up the final bits of stuff for her Prom in Bridal shops this morning, and I found myself pondering life and adulthood and marriage and suchlike, and wondering whatever happened to the little girl who woke up from a nightmare and told me there were wolves living in the walls of her room.

Which meant that when I was sent this Because the Origami video, this evening, I got slightly more sniffly than I might otherwise. But it's a beautiful film.

Because the Origami - 8in8 from Ben Jacobson on Vimeo.

(It's also generating intense and passionate discussion over on Facebook.)


....

It's a week until my episode of Doctor Who airs. Saturday, May the 14th, at 6:30pm.

I'm excited. I'm also very aware that Spoilers can ruin some or all of the fun of an episode. I don't like them, myself.

Last season I knew everything that happened in Doctor Who, was sent a script for each episode as it was completed. Then my episode was moved. For this season I chatted to Steven Moffat for twenty minutes about what he wanted to do with the arc, what he wanted me to slip in to my episode, what was changed between this season and the one the original one was meant to be in, and then I went away and wrote.

It's great. I can watch as a viewer, with my family and friends, and not know what's coming next.

But for the curious...

The BBC has put up a page of links to stuff about my episode. There's the "Next Time" Trailer. There are two minute-long sections of story. There's an introduction, in which Arthur and Karen talk about the next episode, and I can be seen reading a bit of script. And there's a trailer for the next Doctor Who Confidential.

If you're not interested, or you are very interested but want to keep yourself Spoiler Free, click away now. I'll put a bunch of space between this sentence and the next thing, where there will be a slightly spoilery image, and the name that the episode is called.













And look, the next thing isn't anything to do with Doctor Who. It's a photo I took this evening of my dog, to give you a chance to click away from this page, and in case your eye does that thing where it just sort of wanders down...


Last chance to leave...

Okay. You're on your own. We're in Spoiler territory now. This is the Trailer:

People have asked if I am the voice that's heard in the episode. I am not. It is the voice of the wonderful Michael Sheen.

This is the first of the previews. It's from the first few minutes of the show and doesn't give much away at all...





The second preview doesn't currently have an embed option I can find. It's at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00gszls and the story is well underway by the time this bit happens. It is Very Spoilery in the sense of telling you stuff that you would otherwise know only by watching the episode.

Here is the Introduction, in which Karen Gillan says I am clever, and I read a bit of script. It's not very spoilery.



The page I got all these links from is here... http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_110507_02

This last, from the Blogtor Who site, is the Doctor Who Confidential trailer from this week. When I went to Cardiff last year I was followed everywhere by the Confidential team, which was brilliant as it meant I was allowed to poke around in crannies and wander all over and generally do things that writers are (very wisely) discouraged from doing (as recorded in this blog entry). It's long enough ago that I have no idea what was actually filmed or said, and will be watching it next week when it airs very nervously, hoping my hair doesn't do anything particularly unlikely while people are looking. And yes, Spoilers.

Labels: 8in8, Maddy, spoilers

You're Sixteen, you're Beautiful, and You're Very Much Your Own Young Lady.

Today is my daughter Maddy's birthday. She was seven when I started this blog. She's about to turn sixteen. We went out this morning (well, technically yesterday morning) together looking for a car for her - she's spent the last month on the internet, hunting for cars in the price range I've given her than she wouldn't be ashamed to be seen driving. And she found one, and we test-drove it, and now she's going to be a girl with a car, and I feel just a bit older, because my youngest child is driving.

I wish she'd come and guest-blog some more, but she says she's self-conscious, as she meets strangers who tell her how much they like it when she blogs, and she would hate to disappoint them. She's the funniest person I know, has the sweetest disposition and the sunniest smile, and I love being with her, whether we're going around the world together having adventures or just watching The Big Bang Theory.

HAPPY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY, MADDY GAIMAN

..........................................................................................................................................................................

I'm flying to the UK on Sunday for the Doctor Who table read on Tuesday. This morning I was sent the producers' "this is what we can afford" edited draft of my Doctor Who script. I'll do a polish on that. And then we're pretty much done. I think. I hope. I pray.

(Seeing a few people have asked, writing a Babylon 5 episode was much simpler: I think it was two drafts. But it was all existing sets and basically no special effects. My Doctor Who episode is Bigger in every way, inside and outside: I've asked them for the impossible, and they've knocked themselves out to give it to me, and when they can't they've managed to somehow give me the very improbable.)

...

Neil,
I am preparing to have about 12 super reluctant Jr High boys listen to a CD of the Graveyard Book, as they follow along in their books. I haven't been able to find any lesson plans on this book. Will you please take a minute to tell us a little about the background of this book, and maybe some additional graveyard ideas you left out. We are pretty excited to get started.
Thanks, Dianne the Librarian

I asked Elyse Marshall from Harper Childrens, and she said:

Here is a link to our reading guide: http://files.harpercollins.com/PDF/ReadingGuides/0060530928.pdf It has excellent discussion questions and extension activities – perfectly suitable for teachers. The guide was written by a middle school teacher with this audience in mind, actually.

Also look at the videos on Mousecircus.com, at http://mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx. In addition to the videos of me reading chapters, there are also edited highlights of the Q&As from the tour, in which many questions are answered.

...

Dear Neil,

I wrote a piano suite based on various tales from Fragile Things. You can hear it here:
http://www.tide-pool.ca/fractal/compositions/Thor_Kell_-_Fragile_Things.mp3.

It was played by my friend Jillian Hanks, who is fantastic. There fifteen (very) short movements:

I: These People Ought To Know Who We Are, And Tell That We Were Here
II: Mapmaker
III: Inventing Aladin
IV: A Study In Emerald
V: Closing Time
VI: Locks
VII: Instructions
VIII: Harlequin Valentine
IX: The Problem Of Susan
X: The Day The Saucers Came
XI: Pages From A Journal
XII: October In The Chair
XIII: Other People
XIV: How To Talk To Girls At Parties
XV: Sunbird

I hope you like it, and thank you for all the stories.

Best,
Thor

That was beautiful! Thank you.

Dear Mr. Gaiman,

I'm sure this email is, by now, a common refrain from your many journal readers, so I apologise in advance.

That said; please end your journal.

I understand, because of your recent grand successes (congratulations, by the way), that regular blogging might be either difficult to find time for or has been supplanted by the appealing immediacy of Twitter, so I think it is time for the journal to come to a natural end.

Look at Mr. Campbell's blog - 'frozen in time', your very own words. I think your journal, which has been one of the more impressive online blogging documents in the internet's relatively young history, deserves better than to stumble along like a ballplayer past his prime, occasionally swinging and hitting, mostly missing (in this analogy, a 'miss' is a day or event unblogged, and there's been a few of those recently).

Perhaps you can archive as a document of a time period for all to read and enjoy. Or perhaps that long hinted-at publication of sections of it might eventuate. Either way, the journal as it is has had its day. It's done its job. Its time is past.

(Gosh, how many more its / it's can I use?)

Please don't see this as an attack. I am, and always will be a fan, but I've loved coming to this journal over the years and to see it in its current state is a shame.

(Time was I checked it once, twice a day. Now it's once a week, at best. I've even removed it from my Mac Top Sites. Gasp!)

Evolve your website. Make Twitter the key element, and have the journal, along with stories, upcoming events, etc. a reading experience. A document of a part of your life and career, frozen in time, unchanging, perfect for its moments, for all to enjoy.

My best wishes and hopes for continued success,

Scott Dixon

I don't think anyone else has asked for me to stop it. But no, no plans to end it at this point.

The blog's on a sort of limping Hiatus until my work on Dr Who is actually done done. (As explained in http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/07/normal-service-will-be-resumed-as-soon.html) and then it'll come back in some form or other. Not sure what. But I'll be working flat out on the next book, and blogging's fun when you're booking. It's a nice warm up exercise for the mind and the fingers.

Labels: bigger on the inside, blogging about the blog in a strange mirror-like pattern that leads into infinity, Doctor Who, Maddy, piano music based on short story collections, teaching the graveyard book

The Father's Day & Invisible Plane Post

Two of my children have grown up and gone away, and I have one left at home (here seen piloting her invisible plane, in a photo by Kyle Cassidy). And it's Father's Day, which seems like the best time to mention how much I enjoy, and appreciate, being a father. I've learned more from being a father than from anything else I've done, any books I've read, anything I've studied, anyone I've spoken to. It's a good thing being a father, if you enjoy it, which I do. So this is where I say thank you to Mike and to Holly and to Mads, for teaching me so much. And for being smart and loving and funny.

Last night Maddy told me she has Planned Things for today. I do not know what these things are. She and her friends have not yet woken from their sleepover. Last night I used them as guinea pigs to test out some BPAL prototype scents Beth had sent in my direction. Last year's Snow Glass Apples scent and booklet was a huge success when it was released at Comic-con, both as a scent and as a snapped-up CBLDF benefit unique thing (here's a CBLDF link to what appears to be the last few copies/bottles in the world). This year's scent is remarkable. I forgot it was meant to be a secret, and cheerfully unbagged the cat on Twitter, but will be slightly more circumspect here and say only that it is a scent that will accompany a short story that appears in Fragile Things and M is Magic, concerning the eating of things.

(Beth, Goddess of BPAL, sent me three different versions of the scent in question, and let me choose. I picked the version with Raisins and Smoke, but without Beer. For some reason the beer made it smell like coconuts, when applied to skin. Everything Beth does is alchemy and magic as far as I am concerned.)

Over on CBC's Definitely Not the Opera, the wonderful Sook-Yin Lee interviewed me about being a father and being a son, and that's now up in their Father's Day special. (It's a really good interview, much of it stuff I don't recall being asked in interviews before. It starts about 55 minutes in, and ignore the awkward link-edit at the beginning that makes it sound like I'm saying that my small son and I were newlyweds.) The MP3 file is at http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/dnto_20090620_17235.mp3

This writer has a list of "Five Things Someone Else Should Do."

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2009/06/leave-an-idea-take-an-idea-five-things-someone-else-should-totally-do.html

(Sorry about the awkward link). Among them is "Ideas in Abundance," taking Madoc's outpouring of ideas in "Calliope" and actually writing stories around them. Have you ever considered authorizing such an anthology?

The writer in question is the remarkably brilliant China Mieville, who is smart and prolific and a nice guy to boot.

And no, I don't think I could officially authorise such an anthology (given that the Sandman is owned by DC Comics.) If someone did it, however, on the web or on paper, I would be delighted.

Hi again
I was looking at my new-from-Amazon Crazy Hair book (pretty pictures, lovely rhymes), when something seemed a bit odd. Did you change the second line? I remember you reading it three years ago, and I remember something like "I am thirty, Bonnie's three".
Now I see it's "We were standing silently" or something like that.
Just out of curiosity, am I right, and why did you change it?

ET

I changed it because, when Dave had finished the illustrations (and it took him many years to do Crazy Hair), Bonnie really did not look like she was three. Not even a little bit. And it seemed much easier, and quicker, for me to change the line than to ask Dave to repaint every page.

Hi Neil,
"The native dragons of the British Isles"
The term British Isles is a bit of a sore point.
I'm an Irish fan of yours. The term British Isles suggests Ireland as part of the Isles. We are no longer part of Britain and up to the point of the vikings you mentioned we were not part of Britain either. I know it might seem like a silly point to you but the term still strokes a lot of old wounds with people here. And I know it was not intentional, so I thought I would clarify for the future.

I hope the writing is flowing and all is well in your world,

Declan

Ah, there. I managed to give offense while just trying to figure out a way of talking about the places that these stamps were sold. If it's any comfort, I wasn't thinking about Ireland while writing that sentence. (And just read the Wikipedia discussion with fascination.)

Hi Neil -

you may want to let your readers know that in addition to the presentation pack you can also purchase postcards of the stamp designs - which will be absolutely perfect for filling the conspicuous Neil Gaiman bumpersticker void. (Seriously, please tell the Neverwear people to get some bumperstickers up - the 'How to talk to girls at parties' art or the 'lil Sandman would be fabulous... If I were creative enough, I'd make a black & white bumpersticker w/the silhouettes of the Endless on it, but alas - my skills are lacking.)

I just ordered both from the US with no problems, btw.

Thanks for the stories!

I'll get onto it. Any Neverwear suggestions should be directed at Kitty, at her blog: http://kittysneverwear.blogspot.com/

Hey Neil,

Wayward young writer here.

I have a question concerning characters. Most of the writers I respect seem to create autonomous characters inside their own mind. This process sounds mad and delightful and impossible, at the moment.

I feel that my characters are glaring flaws in my stories. I want them to feel real and sovereign to my whims, instead of contrivances.

If you have any time to bestow some advice, I would greatly appreciate it. Just a revelatory aphorism or two.

Also, thank you for so many wonderful stories. Your stuff is guiltless pleasure reading.

Sincerely,
Dan Kelly

When I was a young writer I would come up with stories, and then put characters into them. And each of the characters would often feel like, in Thurber's words, "a mere device".

I think the breakthrough for me came when I started writing comics -- because I believed in them. Because sometimes I would be using characters I hadn't created, but simply cared about. And over the next few years I learned that if you cared enough about your characters, what happened to them was interesting.

I'm not sure that's much of an aphorism, but it's important to care about them, about who they are and what they do. And (for me) for them to be people I would want to spend time with -- I don't really care whose side they are on, and they can be monstrous on the outside or, worse, on the inside, but you still have to want to spend time with them. If you met one of these characters socially would you talk to them, or make an excuse and flee?

(As a sidenote, I think the years I spent as a journalist doing interviews for magazines really helped as well. I learned a lot about speech patterns, and ways of describing people, and letting their words describe them. But more importantly, I learned that if you are actually interested, and not faking it, people will tell you anything, and you will take pleasure in their company. So my suggestion for any young writer is, talk to people, especially people you would normally avoid talking to. Find out their stories. Figure out how you would put them into stories, if you would, or just describe them with a few words.)

Hello Mr. Gaiman,

My question, or requested suggestion, is how to properly utilize personal tragedy to fuel writing. For reasons that do not bear explanation, someone that was unhealthily important to me has left, and I have continually tried to use it as inspiration, but it's having quite the contrary effect.

I have the kind of free time any writer would dream about, but none if it is productive, and I would like it to be.

So, again, any words of wisdom would be very appreciated. And if not, I understand given your busy schedule.

Thank you either way.

I don't think immediate tragedy is a very good source of art. It can be, but too often it's raw and painful and un-dealt-with. Sometimes art can be a really good escape from the intolerable, and a good place to go when things are bad, but that doesn't mean you have to write directly about the bad thing; sometimes you need to let time pass, and allow the thing that hurts to get covered with layers, and then you take it out, like a pearl, and you make art out of it.

When my father died, on the plane from his funeral in the UK back to New York, still in shock, I got out my notebook and wrote a script. It was a good place to go, the place that script was, and I went there so deeply and so far that when we landed Maddy had to tap me on the arm to remind me that I had to get off the plane now. (She says I looked up at her, puzzled, and said "But I want to find out what happens next.") It was where I went and what I did to cope, and I was amazed, some weeks later when I pulled out that notebook to start typing, to find that I'd written pretty much the entire script in that six hour journey.

So my suggestion is, stop trying to use it and do something else. (Which sounds a bit dim and simple when I put it like that. "Doctor. It hurts when I do this. What should I do?' "Stop doing this." But you know what I mean.)

Right. Girls are stirring in rooms above. I shall make them pancakes with sliced strawberries in them.*







*When I am king I shall make out of season non-local strawberries illegal. They don't taste like strawberries. Every year in June I have to remind myself that actually, I like these things, and that sun-warmed strawberries fresh-picked in season are one of the heavenly delights of the world. It's those big red faintly starberry-flavoured things called strawberries that turn up the rest of the year I dislike.

Labels: BPAL, China, Crazy Hair, father's day, Maddy, strawberries and how I will fix everything when I am king of the world, writing things

The Littlest Beekeeper

 

 

A beautiful Spring day. I worked on things that I'm late on, including an introduction that got away from me, and then went out with Lorraine and Maddy and checked the bees (four hives, all brightly coloured. Three hives still to go.) Then I took a few more photos, mostly of the gazebo and of bookshelves and, seeing she was there, Maddy.

Looking at the finished photos was of those odd, heart-stopping moments for a father, when you realise that your little girl has started to wear the face she'll wear as a teenager and beyond. And it seems like only yesterday she was a wee thing hiding in the leaf-pile next to you...

circa 2002

...and then, and it seems like no time has passed at all, and she's a very long way from the leaf-pile.

 

And I must stop blogging as I am falling asleep...

Labels: bees, Maddy

From the man on the sofa

Two small things:

Firstly, I've meant to post for a while that if you are in the US (or have figured out a way to give a computer the impression you're in the US) you can watch the whole of The Prisoner, the Patrick McGoohan series that was such a part of my mental landscape growing up, legitimately online at http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-prisoner-1960s-series/. I think it's great that they've put it up. As a teenager, before videos, I collected all three of the Prisoner novels, just to try and get back to the Village, and was unsatisfied by all of them. Finally got to watch them again on Channel 4 in the mid 80s, and they were just as good, and as odd, as I had remembered.

And secondly, Miss Maddy is interviewed by The Fabulous Lorraine, over at Lorraine's blog. Well, it made me smile. http://lorraineamalena.blogspot.com/2009/02/interview-with-maddy-gaiman.html

Labels: Maddy, The Prisoner

Now, when twilight dims the sky above...

Maddy and I are now in Brazil. We got to the airport in Sao Paulo where the driver and Tom Stoppard were waiting, and then we drove down to Paraty. (At no point did I say to Tom Stoppard, "Funny old world innit? You wrote a film called Brazil, and now we're here." Tom Stoppard is, I discovered, who I want to be when I grow up. I did, however, tell him how much I liked his Waterstones story card.)

Anyway. All is good. We went off on a boat to an island and had a very late lunch, or a very early dinner, and after dinner I lay down on the roof of the boat as it chuntered back to Paraty and watched the sun set and slept under the stars, waking just before we docked.

I have a plan for Saturday -- I spoke to the Festival organisers and they seem happy with it. After the programme item (starts at 11:45, finishes around 1.00pm) I'll sign for whoever's there for as long as it takes. I figure this may take a while, but basically anyone there who wants a signature, whether they made it to the official event or had to content themselves with the big screen overflow or are just wandering around Paraty clutching an ancient Portuguese translation of Sandman. So if you were wondering whether or not it was worth your while making the trip to Paraty, yes, if you're here then, I'll sign your book.

Not a question, just a post on a glorious clockwork tower I thought you might enjoy.
http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2008/06/san-marco-clock-tower-venice.html

I was thinking the other day that it had been a while since I'd posted a link to cabinet of wonders - http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/ - as I've been enjoying the recent grand tour, so I took this as a reminder. (My favourite recent article was http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2008/06/languages-of-tone-and-rhythm.html)

dear neil,
did you know that people are selling the graveyard book on abesbooks.co.uk?? is that allowed??

i've entered the epitaph competion because well i just had too what with the desperation and the sweaty paws and whatnot! Even so it feels a little like cheating, and in the unlikely event of winning a copy, i do think i might miss out on the all hallows atmosphere!

just thought i'd do a little 'grassing' seeing as i was in the neighbourhood, the stink of spoilsports to me! they wouldnt allow that with that Potter boy so why Bod?!

davey

Well, the publishers didn't send out advance reading copies with the Harry Potter books -- they were extremely strict about shops violating the on-sale date, though, which is a slightly different thing. Here you have books that people have been sent or given that they are putting up for sale on eBay or Abebooks.

The covers of the ARCs all say "Not for sale" on them, but most of the copies for sale are being sold by booksellers who got them at Book Expo America, and many of those booksellers use the sale of the various advanced copies of books they got there as a way to fund their trip to Book Expo. Which is my way of saying I can't get mad about it.

I'm most disappointed when copies proudly proclaim themselves to never have been read. The reason for the advanced reading copies is so that people can read them. So I hope the people who buy them on eBay or elsewhere read them and tell people about them, and don't just put them away in the dark as collectibles.

Is "bugger me sideways with a coracle" a real expression, or did you make it up?

You mean the two things are mutually exclusive? Everything has to be made up first... I mean, take the following as an example:

Hey Neil,

I found the most interesting thing today. I received a book order today including Creating Circles & Ceremonies by Oberon and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart. It's a Pagan ritual book. Anyway, I was looking through the appendices and they had a section listing Pantheons of different cultures and religions. Guess what was included in the list? THE ENDLESS. I was shocked! Apparently, people have created very successful rituals using the archetypes of The Endless. I guess your characters have taken on a life of their own! Just thought you might be interested in knowing that little tidbit.

Sincerely,
Christina

Labels: advanced reading copies, boats, Brazil, Maddy, The Graveyard Book, Tom Stoppard

picture time

Hey world! It's Maddy G-Dogg. Guess what! IT'S PICTURE TIME! WOOOOOOOO

Myself, Dad, Heather and Henry Selick. Yeah, we look cool. I know.

The Wonderful Madeleine and Henry Selick's son, Harry.

Me getting my make-up done! Oooh la la!





Henry's magnificent assistant Shelley!! And I would just like to point out that behind her, there now sits a napkin. On this napkin, written in the finest of magenta ink, is:

Maddy Gaiman is amazing!
-the world.
P.S. I heart Shelley

Marvelous Maddy and Shining Shelley!

Dad, me and Merrilee in a yummy little sushi restaurant! P.S. If your daughter has never tried a Caterpillar Roll, please do not persuade her to pop one in her mouth. The whole eel and avacado thing is not something that a particular 13-year-old is a fan of.

Me with my chocolate pig named Franklin. :)

That's all for now folks. Oh and by the way as I am writing this, my father, aka the brilliant yet slightly odd Neil Gaiman, is downstairs signing some books like crazy! GOOOOO DAD!

Bye. :)

Labels: evil caterpillar rolls, Maddy, photos

Maddy Is Back

Hey everyone!! Well this is Maddy Gaiman and I would just like to say that I am very tired! Today was a long day and now I totally know how dad feels after he gets done with a day of interviewing, or at things like Comicon.

Well we arrived at Laika studios this morning at like 10:00, ate a nummy breakfast, and went on a tour around the sets of Coraline. It was amazingly super cool!! There are sooo many sets for all the different scenes in the movie. Then I interviewed Henry Selick and my dad, then did a bunch of little TV spots for things like [censored by her father and Laika] and [censored] and [censored], where I would be all like "Hi! This is Maddy Gaiman. Stay tuned for an exclusive sneak-peek of the cool new 3-D animated movie CORALINE!".

After that I interviewed Georgina Hayns and Deb Cook who are the heads of the departments for puppets and costumes for the puppets. It was pretty wonderful. I love all of the puppets, too. I would never have the patience to do what the people working there do. With all the fine detailed things, and moving the puppets a tiny little bit every shot and taking a picture and then moving them a little more, my head would about explode!! That takes talent I tell you. Oh, and we also saw about 20 minutes of footage in 3-D and that was also pretty darn fantastic. The film is coming along great so far and I simply cannot wait to see the finished version!


Okay, well I better get to bed because I am pretty tired. But hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some more wonderful blogging!


Talk to ya lata skatas!! :)

Labels: Coraline movie, Maddy

Rain and suchlike

Good morning! Miss Maddy and I are in Portland. Last night we went to Henry Selick's house and met his family and lots of nice people from Laika and ate lots of amazing food (and I also drank my first cup of the kind of coffee that's made from beans that have travelled through the digestive system of the civet cat [Paradoxurus hermaphroditus]).

Today it's off to Laika to visit the Coraline sets (all 40 of them) and to be interviewed for the DVD extras. Maddy will be doing the interviewing.

I have to get dressed... Here's Maddy:


Well helloooooo everyone I missed you so! Um well today we are going to visit the Coraline sets as I see Dad already mentioned, but I am very excited because everything is going to be super cool! Plus I'm going to interview people so you better watch out because the new Larry King is right here. :) Just kidding! Or am I? Anyways we have some pictures of last night's get together but I do not exactly have the camera with me right now so I guess you will just have to wait until later to see them. It will be the time of your life! Ok, well have a really great day. :)



Me again. People have sent me lots of important emails this morning, many of them letting me know that a bee truck overturned near Sacramento.

Millions of swarming honey bees are on the loose after a truck carrying crates of the buzzing insects flipped over on a highway in Sacramento.

The California Highway Patrol says 8-to-12 million bees escaped from the crates in which they were stored, swarming over an area of Highway 99 and stinging officers, firefighters and tow truck drivers who were trying to clear the accident from the roadway.

CHP Officer Michael Bradley says at about 10 a.m. a tractor trailer owned by Inter City Inc. flipped over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Wash. The flatbed was carrying bee crates each filled with up to 30 thousand bees.

Bradley says several beekeepers driving by the accident stopped to assist in the bee wrangling. The beekeepers called their colleagues, who responded and came to help repair damaged bee crates and get them loaded onto two new trucks.

The bees were on their way back to Washington after being used in the San Joaquin Valley to pollinate crops.

(I don't think they were swarming at all. But hurrah for the drive-by beekepers.)


And meanwhile,

Novelists Strike Fails To Affect Nation Whatsoever

Labels: an amusing article from The Onion, bees, Coraline movie, Henry Selick, Maddy

The Guest Blogger Reviews Sweeney...

I read this...

I was interested to hear your take on "Sweeney Todd," because I also loved it and thought it was brilliantly done. My thirteen-years-old-in-four-days daughter is begging me to take her to see it, so I have to ask: how did Maddy like it? I'm hesitant to take my daughter due to the graphic nature of the film, and while she thinks I'm being overprotective, I think I'm simply being considerate of her sometimes oversensitive nature. So, I'd love to hear Maddy's opinion on the film!

and sent it on to Miss Madeleine, who replied....

Why hello there blog readers! This is Maddy. I would like to say that I, being thirteen-and-four-months-years-old, enjoyed Sweeney Todd a lot! If you're almost thirteen I don't think it should be too bad. In my opinion it was a little bit icky, but I just turned away or covered my eyes at those parts. They might have made my stomach lurch a little bit, but I mean it's not enough to give me nightmares or anything. If your daughter really wants to see it then I think it would be a mighty fine idea! Have a nice day. :)


and an informative PS on the post from this morning,

Hi Neil,

Regarding the woman who was offended by Stardust: I work in a Barnes & Noble and can say that it is not categorized under Young Readers (which has a sign indicating a recommended age range up through 12). It is only available in the Teen Fiction and SciFi/Fantasy sections.

Also, when I was 12, I think I was starting to read Stephen King.

That was my assumption. (The first bit anyway, about the placement in the bookstores. The bit about what people read at 12 -- I'd just point at what I said this morning. I don't think it's about age, at that age. I think it's about who you are and what you're ready for in your fiction. Some 12 year olds are ready for Stephen King, some aren't. Maddy discovered King on her own age 12 and loved him. I gave Holly Carrie when she was an 11 or 12 year old Goosebumps fan and scared her off horror for life.)

Labels: Maddy, Stardust, Sweeney Todd

The Night Before Hallowe'en...

An urgent message from Dave McKean, who is making a low-budget film called LUNA right now:

I urgently need 2 white paper origami crabs to appear in a scene in Luna, like this one:
http://db.origami.com/displayphoto.asp?ModelID=2244
if anyone is willing to make them and send them to the UK straight away, I can pay a small fee to cover time (or a signed drawing or book?), give them a name check in the final credits, and give them a fedex account number for shipping.

Go to the FAQ page if you're an Origami whizz (and I know there are Origami whizzes out there, as I get given amazing things at signings) and drop me a line, and I'll put you straight in touch with Dave. Who will probably soon be drowning in Origami crabs.

Went in to Hair Police today and saw Wendy who turned the strange messy mop that my hair had turned into into a rather nice haircut. From there to Dreamhaven where I signed lots of stuff for Elizabeth and the www.neilgaiman.net site, including a half a ton of Absolute Sandman Volume 2s. As I drove home Roger Avary called to let me know that he's reopening his website after a couple of years without one -- http://www.avary.com/.

Then to Maddy's Parent Teacher conference. She's doing wonderfully at school, and got an impressive report card -- which, for the first time ever, she really had to work for, as she came to the UK for the Stardust premiere and having lost a week of schoolwork. (She's coming to LA with me for the Beowulf premiere, but is only missing one school day to do it.)

And then home. Opened the copy of Bust I'd picked up at DreamHaven (officially I get it for my assistant Lorraine, but I always read it first -- sort of like when I'd pick up a copy of Bunty for my sisters as a boy), and found myself staring at an unexpected advert for the Good Omens and Stardust scents from BPAL. Which reminded me that I had meant to congratulate the amazing Beth, who is the mind (and the nose) behind BPAL -- and a woman who has raised an enormous amount of money for the CBLDF this year -- on her wedding.

(And if you haven't looked at the CBLDF site recently -- http://www.cbldf.org/ -- Gordon Lee goes to trial on Monday. Finally. After three years, two completely different sets of "facts", and $80,000 in legal bills so far for something that should never have been a police matter in the first place... http://www.cbldf.org/articles/archives/000318.shtml for the story so far.)

Lots and lots and lots and lots of emails from people telling me that Marmite can be found all over America, normally beside the baking supplies (probably because of the word Yeast). I don't think I'm going to need Marmite again for another couple of years now, but than you all for the info.

(first time question!)

I've just heard from a friend who was quite annoyed. He met this famous UK author while the author was doing research on his latest book - and the author used my friend's anecdote as quite a major plot device in the book. However, my friend wasn't asked for permission or acknowledged in any way.

Has this ever happened to you (in the opposite direction of course)? I'd think there'd be lots of stories you've been told bubbling in your mind, and sometimes you wouldn't even realize that a story has been told to you by someone else. Would you contact someone if you were using a story of theirs?

I try reasonably hard to credit people who helped (see the very long list of names at the back of American Gods) but find it hard to find fault with the author in question. Authors are packrats. If you tell us an anecdote -- unless you preface it with "I am about to tell you an amusing and/or interesting anecdote. Should you at some future time use it in a book you will need to contact me to obtain my permission, or at least credit me by name. I shall now tell you the anecdote and then give you my contact details in a form in which you won't lose them," -- then it's fair game. I think our attitude -- I don't speak for all of us, but enough -- is that if your friend thought his anecdote would have made a good book, he should have written it himself.

I don't know the names of the people who took me down the sewers or into the disused tube tunnels when I was doing Neverwhere, but their anecdotes certainly made it into the book. I didn't give the name of the financially dodgy agent whose interesting approach to paying over royalties inspired the character and behaviour of Graham Coats in Anansi Boys either (probably a wise move, that). And, as you say, very often you know someone told you that Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria obtained a doctor's note to get out of being married, but who it was or when has melted down in the compost heap in the back of your mind to the brown sludge of memory. It's like remembering jokes, and who told them to you. The shape is now there in your mind, and you know the punch line is "Two coffees and a choc ice," but how it entered your head is a mystery.

(And it's worth pointing out your friend might be wrong. I get letters sometimes from people saying "You got this from me." And the people who send the letters believe it, but it's not the case. I find myself replying "Actually, I wrote this four years before you wrote your story," or "I understand you think I got this from something you said. Actually the entire story was in this newspaper on this date, and that was where I got it from.")

Having said all that, I'm also really sympathetic to your friend. Many years ago I was on a panel where I said "I'm going to write a book called X," and no-one laughed longer or louder than the bloke next to me on the panel who, eleven months later, brought out a book with the title I'd mentioned. I was in a conversation with another author who mentioned being stuck on a plot thing, and I said "Oh, that's an easy one," and made a suggestion, and suggested a title for the book for good measure, and he said "I owe you lunch for that one," but I scanned the acknowledgements in vain looking for a thank you when the book came out, and didn't get a lunch out of it either. And conversely I have fuzzy warm feelings for all those people who wrote books and actually did say thank you, and used their acknowledgments to acknowledge.

...

After a long day, i got "your" love letter that the new york times sent out. It was rather funny and made me laugh a lot.(was even funnier trying to explain to my roomate that it wasnt a real love letter)Did you have anything to do with the writting of those love letter? Or did the new york times write them without the help of the varies authors? Do you know if every one got the same letter? Just curious, thanks.

Yes, everyone got the same letter (it's the UK Times, by the way, not the New York one). And yes, I wrote it. (Really, it's a short story.) The day before me people got one from Margaret Atwood. Today, I think it's Leonard Cohen. I think you can still sign up for the last three... http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/commercial/article2623706.ece

...

Finally -- this gave me a warm and happy smile.... http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/when-the-wolves-come-out-of-the-walls-its-all-over/

Labels: BPAL, Bunty, CBLDF, crabs, Dave McKean, Hair, Maddy, Marmite, origami, Roger Avary, why it can be dangerous to talk to authors

In Which Maddy Turns Thirteen, Half a World Away

I saw this written, by Maddy, on the fridge door a few months ago, and stopped and took a picture of it.

(Of course, she is.)

I realised, looking on my computer for pictures, that this photo -- about ten weeks old -- is already out of date. She looks older. And when I next see her, she'll be older still.

Happy Birthday Madeleine Rose Elvira Gaiman. I love you and I miss you.

Labels: Maddy

the circus drums in the distance...

This coming Monday the interview media circus for Stardust begins, or it does for me anyway. So I went in to Minneapolis yesterday and got a haircut from Wendy at Hair Police, so I will look less like a man with a honey badger growing on his head in the photographs, then I nipped down to DreamHaven and signed stacks of books for them (some that people had ordered and some so they could sell them over at their www.Neilgaiman.net shop). The circus starts Monday and then, with a few outbreaks of Beowulf on the way, it barely stops until about August the 3rd. Argh.

Let's see... Actor Doug Jones talks about me and Miss Maddy visiting the Hellboy set over at his blog, and the day the three of us went to Margaret Island. His blog is just like him. http://dougjones.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/i-think-im-still-alive/

(Here's Maddy and Doug -- sans Abe or Faun or Silver Surfer makeup -- on the bridge the Sunday of fountains and Viggo Mortenson, with Margaret Island in the background. The next time we saw Doug he had shaved off most of his hair, because it's more comfortable, and cooler, to have your head encased in latex if you look like a marine recruit.)

Film Ick reviews the script to Hellboy 2 at http://www.filmick.co.uk/2007/07/all-hellboy-2-you-can-handle-for-one.html.
From the bits they quote, it's obviously an earlier draft of the script than what's being shot currently in Budapest, but you definitely get the flavour. I enjoyed the first Hellboy film, but didn't think it was a major Guillermo Del Toro work. I'm pretty sure, from all I've seen and from reading the script, that the second film will be one of those sequels that improves and deepens and is seriously better than the first film in the sequence, rather than being one of those films that gets knocked out quickly to try and get people to buy tickets for something not quite as good as the thing they liked the first time around. Guillermo sees it as an upbeat, comic-book-based companion piece to Pan's Labyrinth, anyway.

...

I keep meaning to write about, or at least link to, Heather McDougal's Cabinet of Wonders

http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/

which is fast becoming one of my favourite stopping off points on the web. It's a blog of essays and pictures of things I either know a bit about and wish I knew more, or about things I know nothing about and really really needed to. Everything from Ossuaries to astrolabes, automata, orreries and shadow-puppets, and even short films of stop motion beetles, like this one.

Start back in March and come forward, or just poke around the coolness...

And not far behind it for sheer interesting stuff, if a little more narrowly focussed, is

http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/

yesterday's future, today.

The link stolen from Eddie Campbell's blog, 1947 comic artists drawing their most famous characters blindfolded... http://a-hole-in-the-head.blogspot.com/2007/07/eyes-wide-shut-in-1947-life-magazine.html

And finally, for when you need a complete trilogy of movies condensed into one tiny pill (like those retro-future "instant roast beef dinner" pills from Just Imagine):

http://xkcd.com/c254.html

Labels: cabinet of wonders, doug, hellboy, interviews, Maddy, yesterday's future today

My Cheesy Goodbye!

Hi!! Well it's my and dad's last night in Budapest!! This will be my last blog post for a while, but I think I will be doing some more guest blogging while we are at the San Diego Comic Convention, and/or for the Stardust Premiere. Today I had to say goodbye to all the friends that I made on the Hellboy set! I am not going to name them all because I might leave somebody out and then I would feel super de duper bad... but I do want to say "bye" to Gabi the script supervisor because she was so nice and gave me a pretty ring!! (And she reads this, so she better be smiling to herself right now.)

I had such a fun time blogging for the past two weeks, and I'm really, really glad that so many people enjoyed it! Dad did a book signing tonight and Doug and I went down to keep him company and tons of people said they loved the stuff I was doing. My father dearest also got a lot of e-mails from people we know as well as people we don't know, saying things like they really, really liked it, and that I was a great writer, and I should get my own blog! Well I'm glad you liked it, thanks for saying I'm a great writer, and no, I'm not going to get my own blog anytime soon so you should just keep reading this one and maybe I will pop up here and there. Keep a lookout for the Hellboy movie, and be sure to buy the DVD! Ok, I guess I should also thank everyone on the set that was helpful and were really kind! (Especially people whose middle or last names begin with "A", *wink wink,* you'll get it if I've talked to you about that...) Hungary is a great place and I hope I can come here lots in da future!



A picture of me saying goodbye! Sorry about the hand-writing... It's very sloppy because I had to write it backwards!

Thank you soooooo much for reading this everyone.

From,
Maddy Gaiman

Labels: budapest, bye, doug, gabi, hellboy, hungarian signing, Maddy

I still haven't improved on this whole title thing.

Hi there! It’s Maddy again! I’m very sorry that I didn’t do an entry yesterday but I just didn’t feel like it. Apparently everyone was quite upset though because tons of people on the set came up to me today and they were like, “Hey, there was no blog post last night, what’s up with that?” Well now I am back and ready for action! Speaking of action, yesterday during this little photo shoot type thingie Guillermo wanted me to shout action like he does, but I was too embarrassed. Instead of his big “ACTION!” I was more like “Action”. Then at the end he said, “And that’s a…” but I wasn’t sure what to say so I said "wrap" but I was actually supposed to say "cut"!! Geez Maddy, that’s a no brainer!! So anyway nothing too exciting happened today but I saw some film tests from yesterday a little while ago and its sooooo super cool! I’m not allowed to give details though, so you better just go see Hellboy 2! There was also this one take that was hilarious and everyone was watching it. I saw it like 13 times but it never got old! Hopefully they use that one in the film!! Well, since I shouted out to my friends last week and I did a big thing for my sister three days ago, I would like to say hi to my mother dearest today. “Hi to my mother dearest today”. ☺☺ On Monday they are filming on a different set which is pretty exciting!! It is a change of scenery, which is good because I was pretty bored today. I’m not reading anything at the moment so instead of just sitting there reading my book in one of the chairs in front of the monitor, I actually watched the monitor! Crazy, I know! But then it gets super boring when they are like setting up the set, or when it’s in between takes. That part usually involves me going to the food table and eating a lot, or talking to some of my bestest buddies on the set, or playing a game on one of my bestest buddy’s cellular device, or just sitting there while the crew move around. Oh my good golly gosh I just realized something! I will only be in Budapest for five more days! That means I will only be blogging for five more days!!!!!! Ohhhh… the pain … the sorrow... I know you all are feeling it. I am also kind of glad to go home, because I have missed it! I will also miss it here too; for I have made lots of friends that I might not ever see again! OH NO!!! Well we have some pretty fun stuff planned for this weekend so I will tell you allllll about it in the days to come. Woot woot! I hope you all have a (looks online for an adjective that is a synonym for great) delightful day/morning/afternoon/evening/night.

From the desk of Maddy Gaiman

Labels: Action, budapest, Maddy

Photos!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Howdy! It is Madeleine the Great!! Okay, well nothing very exciting happened today so it will just be several pictures with captions.

Today I pretty much ran the entire set.

Here is me supervising everyone.
I was talking to Doug Jones, and giving him advice on playing Abe, ("You're looking a little blue today, maybe you should get some cheering up before going on camera" ), when someone took this picture.

Now I am telling Guillermo del Toro and Guillermo Navarro what to do. GDT might be the director and Navarro may have won an Academy Award, but as you can see they do whatever I say.

Here is Doug Jones and some strange man. We got the strange man kicked off the set because he was scaring little children. :)

Tomorrow we are back in the studio, and I hear some pretty fun stuff is going to be happening! I shall report back in the days to come...

My best regards,
The Official Web Maddy

P.S. Sorry for stealing your saying, Official Web Elf.

Labels: Four Photos, Maddy

Ice cream is a food group.

Hey everyone! It's Maddy again!! Today was a pretty action-packed day. A lot of stuff was filmed on the set and I sat through it all (except I slept in a trailer for a little bit because the jet lag was catching up to me). Guillermo took his personal assistant Russell, Dad, and me out for ice cream so we didn’t end up eating the not so tasty lunch they have on set!! (That’s a good thing.) None of us had any real lunch actually but that’s okay because GDT (I’ve noticed that that’s one of his nicknames ‘round here) claims that ice cream is a food group. It was kind of funny because while we were eating my father dearest said I should put the whole ice cream thing on this blog, and then Guillermo insisted that we go back and try the lemon sorbet because then I’d really have something to blog about. It was delicious by the way. ☺ I met more of the cast members today including Doug Jones who plays Abe. He is very nice but his costume is kind of smelly. I think it’s the leather. Oh, and I have some simply brilliant news!! Selma Blair thinks I’m cute, Claire Danes thinks I’m funny, Doug Jones thinks I’m gorgeous, and Guillermo del Toro thinks I should eat more ice cream. Pretty mind-blowing, I know! Anyway… today’s picture is one that my dad took of me with his phone when I was standing there unaware. (That rhymes. I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it.)



Apparently my padre is learning a lot about directing from Mr. del Toro and I think that he is also helping with the dialogue in the script. Oh Madeleine, Oh Madeleine how lovely are your branches… tee hee, sorry that is in my head. I replaced the words Christmas and Tree with Madeleine though because I think it gives it a nice little jingle. Plus Madeleine is my first name. Anyhoo, we won’t be going back to the studio until Monday, but on Sunday we are going to see Tori Amos who just happens to be here the same time we are. Also Selma’s birthday is tomorrow so today they had cake for her at the end of the day. It was very appetizing. Someone gave me bubbles to blow when the cake came out and everyone was going to blow kazoos and stuff, so I set the bubbles on my chair but when I came back they were gone. Tear. Ah, well it was still fun. Dad also took a really good picture of me and Selma but I’m not allowed to put it on here for reasons I am not allowed to mention on here but don’t get curious because it’s nothing big. Also curiosity killed the cat. Alrighty, well I best be finishing up! I’m not promising that there will be an entry tomorrow but we shall see. Fare thee well!

Labels: Abe's smelly costume, Curiosity, food groups, ice cream, Maddy