Excellent Portents

 I'm still in New Zealand, and life is weird but good. 

Amanda and I are raising our small boy, and I love being swept along in his enthusiasms. Zombies was mostly replaced by Star Wars while I was away. Since I've been back, Star Wars has mostly been replaced by Tintin and Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters, and Tintin and Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters appear to be slowly transmuting into Greek Mythology and Asterix and Obelix. This morning he ate breakfast in character as Obelix, complaining about the lack of Roast Boar, and then lecturing me on all the Greek Heroes who battled monsters (his list consisted of Theseus, Perseus and Herakles. He got very excited when I told him about Odysseus.)

Hair prior to recent haircut. I look like a bush.

Hair after haircut. I look less like a bush. Ash and I are poring over The Seven Crystal Balls. Photo by Amanda

I've done one public event since I've been here -- the Auckland Writers Festival. Here's the video of the first event, in which Lucy Lawless interviewed me and Amanda.

I did another talk -- just me -- and a six hour long signing the following day. It was wonderful to meet the people, but I'm definitely out of practice at doing marathon signings. I kept thinking about the nine months I spent on Skye, during which time I probably interacted with a dozen people who were there, and that includes trips to the little shop in Uig and socially distanced walks with archaeologists on the hills. New Zealand has definitely done right by its people, and that just makes the losses around the world even harder.

Amanda's already vaccinated. I'm due to get vaccinated in a couple of weeks.

The Netflix Sandman is taking up a lot of my time right now.  (Today I received a first cut of episode 9, and a finished-except for music and VFX cut of episode 4 to watch.)

Here's the Sandman First Look Behind the Scenes release from Netflix. 

(I saw an earlier version of this in which I could be seen marvelling at a copy of The Sun newspaper with the headline TUG OF LOVE BABY EATEN BY COWS, because the determination of the team to make it Sandman is astonishing -- to the point where I sent an email to Allan Heinberg, showrunning, last week, while I was watching the Dailies, and I told him of an error I'd spotted. He pointed out right back that the error was in the panel in Sandman 10 they'd used as their reference. I told them not to fix it. That kind of fidelity can only be applauded.)

And in the meantime, all of the writing time, and a lot of the meeting time (because the people I am meeting are in countries on the other side of the world it's either early in my morning or very late at night), has been taken up by two other projects I haven't talked about yet, although they've been 90% of what I've been doing for the last 18 months. But let's leave them for the next blog entry. It'll give me an incentive to write one.

Labels: new zealand, Sandman, tug of love baby eaten by cows, What I have actually been doing

Sandman Audio Day

Today is the day that the first adaptation of Sandman is released. 

It's the first three graphic novels, PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES, THE DOLL'S HOUSE and DREAM COUNTRY, released, as  full-cast audio drama, on Audible. The adaptation was written and directed by audio genius Dirk Maggs, and only it's taken 28 years to happen -- since Dirk first pitched Sandman to BBC Radio 4 in 1992. (They said no.)

For years, blind and partially sighted people, or people who for whatever reason couldn't read comics but wanted to still get access to the stories, have asked me if there would ever be an audiobook of the Sandman books. It took a long time, but this is the closest we could come to giving the world the original graphic novels, bumps and all. You don't have the art, alas, but I hope that the performances and the music give you something that translates it to another place.

It should be out now on all the English-language versions of Audible. There should be versions in other languages coming relatively soon.

(It will be out in a few months on CD -- https://www.brilliancepublishing.com/title/50614/alt  -- and I like that they begin their entry: This content is not for kids. It is for mature audiences only. Just like the original graphic novels, this audio adaptation contains explicit language and graphic violence, as well as strong sexual content and themes. Discretion is advised.) 

Sandman was always "For Mature Readers" and this is no different.

Here's an interview with me (and an extract from "The Sound of Her Wings") at the EW site: https://ew.com/books/neil-gaiman-sandman-audible-adaptation-netflix-show/

So many talented actors and voices are involved. 

I'm the narrator -- often reading descriptions of places or characters I wrote in the original scripts long ago for artists to draw, which Dirk has cunningly snuck into the script.

There are hundreds of characters in these eleven hours, brought to you by 68 actors (well, 67 actors and me):

Labels: Audible, Sandman

Sandman Audio Adaptation

In 9 days, on the 15th of July, Audible will release the first of the SANDMAN audio adaptations. These are, well, full cast audiobooks of the first three SANDMAN graphic novels: Dirk Maggs gave me the role of the narrator, and I gave him the original scripts, so often what I'm saying as narrator is what I asked the artists to draw, over thirty years ago.

These are very straightforward adaptations. For the upcoming Netflix TV series, we're starting from now, and doing it as if it was being written, for the first time, in 2020. The audio adaptations are much closer to the original graphic novels, each episode being a comic in the original. Eleven hours of drama. The cast is amazing. The production and the music are glorious. I'm not sure about the narrator, but everything else is sparkling and exciting. I hope you all enjoy it...

For people who need it in a more tangible form, it will also be for sale as CDs.

Click on this, and you will hear James McAvoy as Morpheus...

Labels: Sandman

And by the way, here is some actual news:

My big secret for the last 18 months is finally out, and it feels, literally, like a weight off my chest.

I like that I can tell people what I'm writing when they ask.

Labels: javascript:;javascript:;, San Diego Comic Con, Sandman, Thetthesas

Quick Useful Sandman Slipcase post

A hasty post...

There's a slipcased set of Sandman on the way. It's going to be published in November. I'm so happy. This is something that I have been asking DC to make for a very long time, and I am genuinely thrilled it's going to exist. It will look almost like this. (If you look carefully you'll notice that the final book in the box shown here is not The Wake. That's because that edition of SANDMAN: The Wake has not been published yet.)

(Here's the Amazon listing for it -- they've dropped it from $200 to $125. And I'm sure there are other such deals elsewhere on the web.)

DC are also going to be selling the Slipcase with some copies of The Wake. So if you have the rest of the  books already, you can simply put them into the slipcase.

According to Bleeding Cool, retailers have until this weekend to get their orders in for November to guarantee that they'll get them. So if you want one, either if you want a copy of The Wake with a Slipcase, or the set of all the books, you should talk to your Local Comic Shop now. (How do you find your local comic shop? You could always use http://www.comicshoplocator.com/)

(The current edition of paperbacks contains the same colouring as the Absolute editions, although, obviously not all the extra material in each of the Absolutes. If you already bought the Absolute Sandmans 1-4, feel proud of yourself. You are not required to buy the books again. You are never required to buy again what you already have.)

Labels: absolute Sandman, Sandman, Slipcase

Tour Dates From a Vanishing Author

Sorry that I've been away. I am a bad blogger.

I've been putting off blogging until I had the details of the June AMERICAN GODS TENTH ANNIVERSARY tour, and the last date came in today. (Yes, I know I've mentioned some of these before, and some of them have been up on WHERE'S NEIL. But this is all of them together in one place.)

There's still some information I don't have. I am pretty sure that we'll do most of these events GRAVEYARD BOOK tour style -- do a really long event with lots of talking and reading and being interviewed and audience Q &A, with me pre-signing a few thousand books. It's possible that some of the events may actually have proper signings -- you'll need to ask them.

And an apology - the Washington DC date is already Sold Out. It sold out as soon as it was announced by the Press Club.

New York City – Tuesday, June 21 at 8:00pm. (Was sold out but they have opened the balcony so there are seats again.)
Address: 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, Lexington Ave @ 92nd Street.
(Link: http://www.92y.org/shop/event_detail.asp?productid=T-LC5AE34)

Portsmouth, NH – Wednesday, June 22 at 7:30pm.
Address: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, NH 03801
Hosted by RiverRun Bookstore,The Music Hall and New Hampshire Public Radio.
(Link: http://www.themusichall.org/calendar/event/neil_gaiman)

Washington, DC – Thursday, June 23 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT. SORRY.
Address: National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20045
Hosted by Barnes & Noble.
(Link: http://www.press.org/neilgaiman)
(The Press Club will be selling signed books, though, through their website.)

Minneapolis/ St Paul - Friday, June 24 - 8:00pm
WITS at the Fitzgerald Theatre, 10 E. Exchange St.; St. Paul MN
With Musical Guest Josh Ritter
John Moe and John Munson in charge
(I think there's a real signing after this one, although there will, I hope, also be pre-signed books for those who do not want to wait.)
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/wits/
There are still some tickets at http://fitzgeraldtheater.publicradio.org/tickets/box_office.shtml

(Local controversy about WITS including how much I am being paid to appear and who I am giving the money to at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2011/05/gaiman_to_make.shtml)


Seattle – Sunday, June 26 at 7:00pm.
Address: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave. Seattle WA 98101.
Hosted by University Book Store.
(Link: http://www.bookstore.washington.edu/events/events.taf?page=201106

Technically their tickets go on sale on the 21st but call 1800-3357323 (University Bookstore) & they'll take your order for tickets &/or the book. They'll also take your reservation.)

San Francisco – Monday, June 27 at 7:30pm SOLD OUT. SORRY.
Address: First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA
Hosted by Booksmith
(Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/179279

info: http://www.booksmith.com, and http://berkeleyarts.org)

Los Angeles - Tuesday, June 28 at 8:00pm
Address: Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(Tickets: http://rarebirdlit.myshopify.com/products/neil-gaiman-at-saban-theatre.

Info on www.sabantheatre.org and www.rarebirdlit.com)

Given the jaw-dropping speed with which some of these events have already sold out, or have nearly sold out, I suggest getting tickets early if you're thinking of going, and not putting it off until later.

....

The American Gods illustration above is from http://ka-ha-si.blogspot.com/2011/05/storm-is-coming.html and I loved it.


...

AUDIES 2011

I was thrilled to learn that the Audiobook of STORIES won the Audie Award for Best Short Story Collection -- congratulations to readers Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Peter Francis James, Katherine Kellgren and Euan Morton.

...

Here's a really fun DOCTOR WHO interview that Charlie McDonnell did with me when I was in Cardiff last year:



Charlie is really nice. He also makes great videos and I like his music.

...

This is a great list of Things You Should Think About Reading in Genre: http://yetistomper.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-win-guide-to-2011s-best-of-best.html

...

Right now I'm hiding out in a house borrowed from friends, more or less off the internet (on a very old, slow, practically unworkable steam-driven local internet that probably still has valves, or even sprockets) to get some writing done for people who are waiting patiently for things.

It's fun, beautiful, I swam today for the first time in ages, tomorrow I have promised myself a run on the beach (if I put it down here it has to happen). But mostly I'm just writing.

Last week my glorious wife came out to the Midwest to visit me at home. (So far this year I've always gone to Boston or Brooklyn to be with her, or we've coincided in Mexico and Tasmania and such.) It was wonderful just spending quiet time together, and being with her and with my son Mike, his lady Courtney (Mike just moved to Chicago from San Francisco) and my youngest daughter Maddy.

We cuddled and talked and walked and talked and caught up, and on Monday we failed to go off with Sharon and Bill to inspect the bees because we were still cuddling and talking (fortunately I can check Sharon's Birdchick Blog and see that everyone's doing fine). I'm so curious about the Russian bees. We've gone from three Russian hives to two (we combined two hives into one, using the newspaper method).

And then, all too soon, it was over. It gets harder to say goodbye to Amanda each time, and we're still figuring out how two busy people who are on the road too much can be together as much as possible. We spent time on this trip staring at our calendars and working out times and ways we could match velocity. At some point this year we may go on the road together, we've decided.

It's going to be really hard when she makes her next album, and goes on the road for 18 months to promote it.

For now, you can get an idea of Amanda's schedule over the next few months, and some hints at a couple of not-yet-formally announced events of mine, including a London one, at http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/6092365751/my-new-evil-plans-tour-dates-in-states-uk

...

Former Web-Elf Olga Nunes' plans to take over the world, or at least make art in it, continue to grow. I love the photo at http://olganunes.com/2011/05/post.php, (along with the ad from Kevin Smith's podcast for her LAMP project).

Matt Cheney's Sandman reactions and thoughts continue to be worth reading and following. The latest is "Soft Places", the Marco Polo story: http://www.boomtron.com/2011/05/sandman-neil-gaiman-meditations-fables-reflections-soft-places/. I hope he collects them one day.

Also pleased to see that they are inspiring discussion and thought. Cheryl Morgan takes Matt to task for a comment in an earlier review, while writing (from my perspective, anyway) the most perceptive and accurate summary of Wanda's role in A Game of You I've seen so far at http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?page_id=10825.

Right. I need to go and make art.

...

Here's a photo from the last time I was here, eighteen months ago, with Amanda and Cabal.

He was teaching her Yoga on the beach.



And finally, Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops. One bookseller's list. So funny. So sad. So strangely similar to things booksellers have told me all around the world. Read it and sigh.

Labels: american gods tenth anniversary edition, apologies, downward-facing dog, looking-off-to-the-side dog, Sandman, tour

When We Were Very Young

From seventeen years ago: the SANDMAN episode of Prisoners of Gravity, featuring a very young me, not to mention Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Charles Vess, P Craig Russell, Karen Berger, Kelley Jones, and Harlan Ellison.

Not the greatest quality video in the world. Sometimes I dream about the ultimate DVD collection of Prisoners of Gravity, the one with every episode of that remarkable series. Even the never-repeated Awards show.



(Thanks to @MewNeko for the link.)

Labels: hair retrospectives, me in the olden days, Prisoners of Gravity, Sandman

All Questions, All the Time

The excitement at this end, if that's the right word for it, is all about my son Mike, who was on his bike when a car decided to occupy the same space he was in, and who now has a cleanly broken leg and a destroyed bike (and semi-destroyed bike helmet, and glad I am it was his helmet and not his head). His mum has gone to San Francisco to help him and bring him back. Seeing that he's going to have to work from home, we figured it would be easier for that home to be here, rather than an apartment up many stairs. He'll arrive on Monday, and I've made up a bed for him on the ground floor.

(Wear your bike helmet, he said to the world, making a mental note to buy himself a bike helmet.)

...

Loved this Wired review of Blueberry Girl, mostly for the opening:

The only weird thing about Blueberry Girl is that it's really not weird.

...

One of the best things about supporting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and having this blog and the Twitter account is that occasionally things spontaneously pop into existence. (The connection with Black Phoenix Alchemy is one of them.) Back in January a blog entry someone sent me about a coffee shop in Indonesia selling Author Coffee suddenly turned into several different versions of Neil Gaiman novelty coffee.

Joan of Dark from Strange Brew Coffee in Indiana did one (details, and recipe and pictures at http://joanofdarkknits.blogspot.com/2009/01/neil-gaiman-needs-coffee.html), the Man They Call Widgett came up with another, and Erica from ZubZubicecream came up with a third. Which she has kept on the menu and had pledged to donate the revenue from it to the CBLDF. So I was thrilled when this came in...

Dear Mr. Gaiman,

Sent off a donation to the CBLDF today! I think the best part of hosting your coffee drink is the conversations it sparks, you have some very interesting, intelligent, and well read fans. Honestly though, watching people's eyes light up and hearing them squeal "Omigod, you have a NEIL GAIMAN COFFEE?" is pretty rewarding too! One of the best reactions was having someone order one, drive away, and minutes later pull back in to tell me with slightly glazed eyes that it was the most incredible thing ever. *grin*

Thanks again, and best wishes,
Erica

ZubZub!

Which reminded me that I had never posted the recipe for Erica's Neil Gaiman coffee (with all profits to the CBLDF hurrah) here. It is:

Recipe for one Neil Gaiman Coffee

1 scoop Ghirardelli dark ground chocolate
1/2 shot bitter almond syrup such as Orgeat
2-3 shots of rich espresso
steamed milk
black cherry Italian syrup (I used Torrani)

Put the dark chocolate in the bottom of a glass, add the almond syrup and coffee, then stir.
Cover with steamed milk and foam, then drizzle with dark cherry syrup.

And it looks like this. You can buy it at ZubZub, in Boonville, California.

I was wondering if I might get a book signed by you. Yes, I am aware that I should send it to you with all postage paid, but I have a problem - I don't actually have the book yet. I am looking into buying it off the site and wondering if it might not be too much trouble to pay the extra, or however it might work out, and get it a little sooner than it would take to get it and send it there and back. I was hoping to get it back in time for a present to someone.
-Tanya

You know, I need to update the FAQs on getting stuff signed. The best shot at buying something signed by me is still going to Greg Ketter at Dreamhaven Books. Greg owns and runs the neilgaiman.net website.

Do not send him books in the hopes he will get them signed and returned. The volume of books coming in was such that he had to stop doing that, especially since he downsized DreamHaven to a one-man operation. The books you send just get returned. If you buy a book from Greg, he can get it signed for you, as long as you understand that he has no control over when I will stop by to sign, and as each time I go there to sign it takes longer and there are more books, and because I am on the road a lot, it can often take several months for me to find an afternoon to get back to DreamHaven and just sign books for an afternoon.

Greg cannot guarantee that I will get books signed and personalised in time for birthdays and suchlike. He just can't. I do not live in the DreamHaven basement, and time is always at a premium.

So DreamHaven is always your best bet for getting anything signed, but please, read http://neilgaiman.net/ship-sign.php first. That's Greg telling you what he can and cannot manage:

If you want to have an item signed or personalized, be sure to say so in the 'Signing Information' section of the checkout form. For personalized books, please doublecheck to make sure that all names are correctly spelled before you send the order. If there is a special occasion involved - birthday, wedding, holiday, etc. - you can mention that too. (Please do not request elaborate messages or quotes - they won't happen. Also, Neil is not going to write that you are his best friend, or his biggest fan, or the love of his life.)

Sorry, but we don't take requests for doodles or drawings. They either happen or they don't, depending Neil's schedule and whim.

If you don't need personalizations, and all the items you are ordering say 'Signed Copies in Stock' or 'Signed Edition', they will ship right away just like unsigned items.

For items that need to be signed or personalized, expect a delay of 2-3 months, depending on Neil's schedule. We don't know when Neil will be stopping by. Really. We usually find out less than 24 hours before it actually happens. So please be patient. You can check the news page to see when Neil last stopped by, and approximately when your order was shipped.

Dear Neil,

I have just got my first book published but I do not have an agent and I want to do a book tour. Do you have any idea how I could go about this? Do I need an agent to do a book tour?

George

You don't need an agent for a book tour, but you do need a real sense that there are people who would like to see you and listen to you read from your book and have you sign books for them. Otherwise you're wasting everyone's time, especially your own. (You could be writing another book, for a start.) Spend the money you would have spent on fuel and hotel rooms sending copies of your book with a press release to local newspapers, or drumming up interest on the web, or doing anything that isn't:

1) somehow convince a store that doesn't know who you are or want you that you need to sign there and
2) then try to get people to show up.

Which is no fun. Almost as little fun as staring out at an empty space for an hour, occasionally telling people that you do not work there and you cannot direct them to the toilets.

I'm not saying don't do a tour. I am saying that you had better know why you're doing it, and have people who would very much like you to come and make an appearance in their shops, or who would like a signed copy of your book, before you go.

(I was going to point you at an essay I did on signings and what they are for and how to do them, in a collection of speeches called Gods and Tulips, but I just checked the CBLDF website at http://www.cbldf.com/Neil_Gaiman_s/30.htm and couldn't find it, so it may be out of print.)


Hey Mr. Gaiman,
Do you ever think you'll try writing a comic series again? Rather then just writing the occasional issue of something here or there. Just wondering because I really loved Sandman and would like to see what you could do with another series, given the time.

I very much doubt it. Writing the 75 issues of Sandman (and the follow-ups) took the better part of a decade, and I'd rather take a decade to do something I own and control and that feels like it's mine. 

And that's so much easier to do with prose than it is with comics.

Neil,

how consciously do you think Thief of Always influenced you in writing Coraline? (I know how much of the creative process is a subconscious whirlwind that takes in everything you experience and then surfaces whatever amalgamation of them it decides to at the unsuspecting conscious self from time to time, so the question is impossible to answer precisely, but still, I'd be delighted to hear your own opinion, subjective as it can be.

Yours truly (who made sure to read Coraline to his kids a week earlier than letting them see it in the movie theatre in order for them to first see it in their own imagination).

Well, I was halfway through writing Coraline when Clive Barker's book The Thief of Always came out. I looked at the back cover, thought "Mm. Could be a little Coraline-y" and so didn't buy it. That was how much it influenced me during the writing process. (It also made me sigh, and regretfully let go of an adult book title I'd been treasuring, The Thief of Night.)

About a decade later, some years after Coraline had been published, I was sent a copy of The Thief of Always and a Bernard Rose film script of the book, and asked if I wanted to work on a film adaptation, and I read and enjoyed them both, and thought that really, the book wasn't anywhere near as Coraline-y as I had feared, but thought the Bernard Rose script was really good and there wasn't anything I could add to it, so I passed.

Hey hello Neil
howyou go?
Hey that I spend with the page of coraline
Good of it I do not believe that it is a problem
but what to it my me worries it is that due to the fact that there were no many Mexican they have not liked your movie not many saw her
well alone those of the urban castes your you know: Gothic, darks, gloomers, emos, blablablablba.

But I on the other hand of not being for my sister had not known anything of Coraline and about it I am glad pense that the dirigio such a tim Burton

And it that did not know nothing of you talvez could read your book of coraline
If I could go exposicionde coraline, but not, esat of another side ....... jejejeje is funny of another side as Coraline but I do not have the key to enter

So I have to go
but and of knowing you get my commentary
If itis like that
It will tell you the dream that I had it brings over of the world of coraline
.....
...
..
I ..... I could be in the world of coraline with everything and the village in which she was

There really is a magic that translation websites add to our lives, isn't there? I don't really know what you wanted, but if I had I doubt I would have enjoyed it anywhere near as much.

Hear they're doing Addams Family on Broadway. Based more on Chuck's stuff than tv/movies. Do you opine?

My friend Julian Crouch, who designed and co-directed the Improbable/National Theatre of Scotland The Wolves In The Walls, is working on it. Honestly, anything that casts Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia is all right in my book. I hope it's good, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

(And, um, "Chuck" Addams. Really? Are you sure Charles Addams was crying out for a posthumous nickname? I mean, really sure?)

Dear Neil,

I'm Seventeen and would like to start writing. I was just wondering if you had any advice on structuring a plot for a story. What should I consider before I begin writing

I can't think of anything that doesn't sound facetious or silly. Mostly you should consider whether you've actually got a story to tell, I suspect. Beyond that, just write the stories. You're seventeen. Write some stories. Start them somewhere, finish them somewhere. Give them to friends to read over. Write some more. Structuring a plot is something to worry about once you feel comfortable writing and finishing things and getting to the end; and it's often something that you do in the second draft anyway, or the fifth, where you reread what you've written and realise that perhaps it will be more effective if you start it at the end or in the middle, or from the point of view of the invisible cow. Just write your stories, as best you can.

Neil, I just wanted to let you know that not only does my 4-year-old love "Blueberry Girl," but all on her own she decided that she wanted me to read it aloud to her -- while she danced. The cadences and beautiful illustrations have inspired her that much.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Best letter of the day. Thank you back.

i need to learn more about you pleas I need this for a reading report BTW I LOVE GRAVE YARD BOOK

I suspect that you aren't reading the blog, and are waiting for me to reply. But just in case you are reading this, and while I won't do your homework, you should find most of what you need in http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/About_Neil or http://www.mousecircus.com/MeetNeilGaiman.aspx.

What will limit be on the number of items that can be signed at Luminato in Toronto and WorldCon in Montreal? Also I love all of your work, you are awesome.

I don't know. It'll depend on the number of people who need things signed, and how much time there is to sign them. I can hazard now that it won't be more than three.

Hi Neil,
Hope I win the randomly answered questions contest...
My wife just bought tickets for the Coraline musical as well as a trip to NYC for my birthday (June 11) and I am thrilled. Two questions.. 1. as you are a Sushi connoisseur, any tips for great but affordable (in other words, not NOBU) NYC sushi? 2. OK if I send my Playbill to Dreamhaven to be autographed? Thanks.

I love the various Nobu restaurants I've been to, but am never mad keen on their sushi. (The miso cod, on the other hand...) My favourite place to eat Sushi at in NY is still Sushi Sasabune. (Here's info on it.) Not cheap, but not crazy expensive, and memorable.

And no, I'm afraid not. Best bet is to find me at a signing of some kind.

Is the information on this link (about you) true?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Neil_Gaiman_divorced

Or is the internet spreading rumors? Apologies for the nosiness - it just seems silly for people to spread rumors like this.

Oh, there are creepier people spreading worse rumours. And at least this one is true (and you'll find Mary described as my ex-wife in most of the recent interviews).

It's very odd being the subject of Internet Gossip. I mean, it's not what I thought I was signing up for when I started writing stories (and definitely not what Mary thought she was signing up for). Mostly I try and keep this stuff way off the blog, partly because I figure that the moment you do start talking about it, you lose any right to try and say "No, that's actually part of my private life, and is honestly none of your business," about anything, and partly because Mary is much more private than I am about all of this, and opted out of the blog many years ago, of her own volition, like the single Osborne sibling who elected not to be in the show. And besides, anyone whose business it is to know, knows.

But at the point where it's turning up on Wiki-Answers... (shakes head).

So let's see: for the record, we separated well over five years ago, did the paperwork on the divorce over a year ago, remain close and supportive, love being parents together and enjoy being friends (and, like in some early seventies sit-com, next door neighbours) more than we did being a married couple. She's terrific -- and is, as I said at the top of this, currently off looking after and bringing home a broken-legged son.

There.  

Hiya,

So, you clearly have novels in you. But do you have something longer in you?

I've recently become a fan of sorts of heptalogies (seven book works). Harry Potter is the most obvious example but the two I've recently read that struck me as pure masterpieces are King's Dark Tower series and Weiss and Hickman's Death Gate Cycle.

I have a sinking suspicion that the best work from you will come after wrestling with stories and themes that might only fit in a longer work.

Something like the ten volume (or twelve, or fifteen volume, depending on which spin-off books you count), 2,500-plus-page-vastness of Sandman, you mean?

Yep, I can do that.

No,  no real plans ever to do it again. But you never know: if I wind up starting a story that I realise demands that kind of length, I'll write it at that length.  Certainly, in the decade since I finished Sandman I've really enjoyed not writing multi-volume epics.

Labels: divorce, DreamHaven Books, huge brick-like multivolume epics and why I'm not writing them, Sandman, signing as much as I can, Sushi Sasabune New York

Trees

Just a small post to say that the snow is falling and falling and falling, and walking the dog is like walking into a Christmas Card, and that http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas08/entertainment/neil-gaiman-hanukkah-with-bells-on-1203307.html is the small, true memoir I wrote for the Independent on Amanda Palmer's tourbus in Chicago two weeks ago.

It should have been a ghost story, but there you are.

...

Mostly the emails that break one's heart don't ever get posted here. This one I replied to, but, with names removed, I'm also putting it up here...

Hi Neil! My name is [name removed]. This is going to be pretty random, but I hope that you actually recieve and read this message. I have been dating [name also removed] and [he] informed me that you were his brother. This christmas I want to make him a personalized journal with photos of his friends and family. I was wondering if you had any photos of your family, the rest of your brothers of even your father. I'm having some trouble collecting photos from [him] and your father's side of the family. I understand that you might not take this message seriously but I honestly hope you do. If you have any doubts about whether I am actually dating [him] or just some crazy fan call and ask him about me, but please don't mention the journal. I don't want the surprise to be ruined. Thanks for you time and hopefully I'll have some pictures in my email inbox soon?

...and I told her that I don't have any brothers, just sisters, and that I didn't know the gentleman she had named, and that I was sorry. And I really am.

I never know how to respond to people who have been dealing with people who pretend to be me (it's happened a few times now) or pretend to be friends with me. This is the first time someone's claimed to be family...

...

Russell Cherrington wrote in to let me know that Harrods still have copies of the Bloomsbury signed and limited edition of The Graveyard Book for 25 pounds. (Most places in the UK are, he told me, out of them, and they're on eBay for 75 pounds.)

sir

what order should I read The Sandman in?

thanks

rob.

It would probably work best if read in order, but it doesn't matter that much. Just make sure you read the last two books last. (Which reminds me: this is one of the most interesting pieces I've read about Sandman in ages.)

...

Also, an Amazon oddity that made me happy -- The Thirteen Clocks, by James Thurber is riding high in the Amazon.com top 100. (#33 as I type this.)It's the one I did an introduction for, and that my burbling about in this very blog helped bring back into print. I'm hoping that people will get it as presents and that they will read it aloud to each other.

It's a wonderful book.

(Edit to add: Aha! It's Daniel Pinkwater's fault! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98558194 Listen to the talk.)



(And the UK Amazon is selling The Graveyard Book for 50% off. Which is disconcerting.)

Labels: bookshops, family ties, Sandman, the perils of famousness

Barely a post at all...

Me. Two years old, in Purbrook Gardens, Waterlooville, Hants. I looked on Google Maps, and the place is still there, tree and all. (Expect more strange photos in the days to come from the misty Gaiman archives.)


P. Craig Russell's adaptation of Sandman:The Dream Hunters is marvellous, and he is getting, rightly, real acclaim for it. In this video he tells the story of why he's suddenly found himself drawing another two pages at the very end of the final issue, after the thing was all done.




Right. Back to Batman.

Labels: P Craig Russell, photo of me with a car in the background, Sandman

The war on fame...

I'm still proofreading and copyediting. Today I also tackled a small heap of fanmail, some of it going back an embarrassingly long time. Meanwhile Lorraine and the new Mystery Aide were recreating the downstairs office.

You would not believe the strange things that have been found during the haul-everything-out, move-all-the-furniture, move-it-all-back process. Things believed lost for years. Things I'd forgotten I'd ever been given. Amazing, strange things... (All of them currently in plastic tubs in the hall).

The Walker event with me and Dave McKean is up on the web -- http://channel.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=3651

I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with the UK Director of Public Prosecutions, but I do, vigorously. http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1997397,00.html


Do I have to ask you a question? (I only asked so I could comply with the bold "YOUR QUESTION" above this field.)
I just wanted to show you some pictures (not of me, though you probably get some like that - ick, poor you) but of a doll version of Dream that I commissioned last fall. The artist has finished him, and people have been telling me I should show you. Donn, the artist, said it was all right if I did. He sculpted the doll himself and painted it, and a friend of his does the clothes. Donn took the photos. So here you go:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/misanthropicbliss/progress/dream_stand.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/misanthropicbliss/progress/dream_sit.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/misanthropicbliss/progress/dream_stand_clothes.jpg Not bad, eh? :)Take care.- Ceiridwen

That's marvelous. No, you don't have to ask a question (although you're more likely to get a reply if you do). And while nobody ever sends photos of themselves, they do send links to their art, and to things they've made, all of which I look at and a very few of which I post here. This one, for example, I thought was amazing:

Just in case you don't know already...Abi Sutherland, a Making Light regular, is donating a gorgeous specially bound edition of 'The Dream Hunters' to the Mike Ford Auction and Extravaganza at Boskone next month. http://evilrooster.com/items/2007/01/the_dream_hunte.html

I'm tempted to bid on it myself.

Hi Neil,
I suspect you've been bombarded with this one, but in case you haven't this might be another reason why you need a mac http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html
Regards,
Guy

Actually, I think the Mac to PC ratio in the house is now significantly more Macs than PCs. I'm the last PC holdout in the family, and I'm as likely as not to be found using the office iMacs -- more likely for some things. If only they'd make a Macbook that weighed next to nothing, I'd probably grit my teeth and go and find somewhere that would translate all my old WordPerfect 4.2 and 5.1 files into a current more Mac-friendly format, and go over to Mac laptops.

I tend to write on baby laptops that don't weigh much (this is what I've been using for the last couple of years). Sooner or later I'll pick up (literally) a new lightweight Macbook and decide I wouldn't mind carrying it through a hundred airports. But they need to make it first...

And the program looks terrific.

You are going to go back through the blog and label all the old entries aren't you? You know...in your spare time...for the sake of completeness.

Lynn

PS: Come on...ya know you want to!

Well, yes. I do want to... I'm not sure where I'd find the time, though. But I promise I'll keep labelling the new ones.


Do you enjoy fame? Reading your journal, I almost feel sorry for you as you describe a press junket, with the continual interviews and sore writing arm. But this is what writers strive for, isn't it? Huge adoring readerships, exotic locales for book signings, bestseller lists. Does fame have an effect on your writing?I saw you read when I was in college in Madison, and was inspired by this floppy-haired Brit with a sense of humor; you looked exactly as a writer ought to look. It gave me some hope that being a writer could be good. I loved Neverwhere, and I adore your effervescent prose, which seems effortless and light as a feather, but like any souffle, I suspect it's actually quite difficult to get it so. And as a separate note, having grown up in Wisconsin, thanks for the descriptions. Your bit about the House on the Rock was perfect. Cheers,-Jessie

Do I enjoy fame? No, not much. I quite like finding myself in interesting places, but I like being at home more. I like having readers, and I like meeting readers, I love reading aloud and I like that I don't have to get up early in the morning and go and do a job I don't enjoy. Making stuff up is still great except when it's not. But I'm never entirely comfortable with the rest of it. It's still weird that I live in a world in which more people know me than I know.

But mostly I don't think about it.

Hi Neil, in fact it’s not a question but a little feedback from one of your Chinese readers. I posted it on neilgaimanboard.com, and some kind people told me you don’t read that board. So I check the fqa and find here to say what I’d say. I hope it weren’t too rude, and I’m sorry if I interrupted you.
American Gods the simplified Chinese version has burst out on December, 2006. My friends and I all read and fell for it. WOW. And the translator treated your baby well. I think the Chinese version is precise and beautiful. It was said Good Omens has been on the way. So, be prepared for the rush of loving words from Chinese dreamers. ^^
...
Best wishes.
Yours,
Carmina

Which I'm mainly posting because normally people write to tell me that the translation in their part of the world is sort of disappointing, and it's lovely to hear about one that people are happy with.

and finally, a few people -- all enthusiastic fans of the site and the podcast -- wrote to let me know about this...

Afternoon Sir!
Not a question as such, more of a heads up. I love genre fiction - always have done. There is a 'podcast' I have been listening to for a while now and most recently they did a 2 part show about your goodself. It's hosted by 2 geordies who have a real passion for anything good - hence you and your work being featured! They have such a relaxed structure to the show, it's like listening to a Ronnie Corbett joke when they're in full flow!
Please give it a listen and let them know how they're doing - it'd mean a lot to them to get some feedback. The show can be found through itunes or at www.starshipsofa.com .
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know you are busy.
Have a great week,

Alastair Webster
Liverpool.

Labels: Ambidextrous Computing, Chinese edition, fame, labels, podcasts, Sandman, The first post to mention the Mystery Aide, The War on Terror or Drugs or other abstract concepts, tidying the office, Walker