On banning books and escaping from the attic...

Another not-quite-back-on-top-of-things-yet day. Awake at 5.00am expecting to drift back to sleep, and I didn't. Ah well. Wandering around the house unshaven, in my oldest dressing gown, feeling vaguely scary, like a crazed uncle who has escaped from the attic.

Frost is predicted for tomorrow, so lots of frantic apple-picking and tomato-gathering is happening right now. But I am not doing it. I am wearing a ratty dressing gown and blogging.

Hi Neil,
I know you're a wonderfully self assured and present writer who may not need more Positive Thoughts, but what the heck, here's one.
I wanted to say in response to the "tired of hearing about Amanda" reader that I'm on the other side. Not that I want every post to contain Amanda, but I always smile when you do mention her and what fun you all have been having. You do the same when talking about Holly, or Maddy, or Mike, or Bees, and that's cool. Maybe people don't want to hear about them either, but whatever. :)
I think they're all great and I love to hear your stories. It makes us feel a little part of your life (for those of us who know you're a Real Life Person and not just an Award Winning Writer.) I will sometimes tell my husband, "Guess what Neil and Amanda did!" Or, "Maddy's going to meet the Jonas Brothers!" or "Amanda just auctioned off a date with Holly!" or "Mike works at GOOGLE!" (My husband is a computer programmer so he was very excited about that.)
Anyway, if that makes me weird, so be it, but the internet has a way of forming a community that we're all still figuring out, and is wonderful, and intertwined, and sometimes fantastically small. Just the way I like it.

Love and Laughter,
Mel

Oh. Good. That makes me happy. I don't think I like being an Award Winning Author very much -- it seems to carry with it an awful lot of respectability and such that I know I didn't sign up for, but I love being a Real Life Person, and delight in being Maddy and Holly and Mike's dad, or being the person who comes up with the plan to unite Zoe, the blind cat in the attic with Hermione, the deaf cat in the basement. (NB. This plan may not work.)

And the most interesting thing to me about this internet thing is that we all are sort of making it up as we go along.

Hey Neil,

Just wanted to let you know that I, personally, have no issue with you talking about Amanda. On the contrary, it let's me (and the other fans) know that you're happy. And that makes me happy to know it.

My question for you is, with Halloween coming up, do you have any favorite traditions? I'm trying to think of some good ways to celebrate the spookiest night of the year, so any ideas would be welcome!

By the way, congrats on staying on the bestsellers' list for so long! The Graveyard Book is amazing!

- Samantha

Hallowe'en traditions? Not really. For the last few years I've gone to my assistant Lorraine's house (she's been away) and scared children with a rather sweet looking rabbit that opens to reveal huge teeth and tongue... and a small bar of chocolate, sitting on the tongue.

And there are poems I like to read to Maddy on Hallowe'en.

(This year, however, I will be in Singapore on Hallowe'en. So I will read Maddy her poems when I get home.) (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135663652857)

Which reminds me. I'm in Cleveland talking and signing on Sunday and Toledo talking and signed bookplates on Monday.

...

It's Banned Books Week. There's a rather mad Wall Street Journal Editorial explaining how silly a Banned Book Week is (after all, if you're a kid and a book that somebody's parents didn't want any of you to read is removed from your school library, it's not really banned: you have the freedom to save up your pocket money and go out to the well-stocked bookshops you can somehow find in every American small town and buy a copy for yourself). The editorial doesn't quite go as far as claiming that libraries are UnAmerican, but it strongly implies that all librarians and people who work in libraries are, along with people who support the First Amendment -- unless they're trying, reasonably, like Good Americans, to stop other people's children from reading things they don't like. There's a cartoon of Good Americans being intimidated by a Scary Librarian too, for anyone who missed the point.

There's a ( from my perspective) sane reply to it over at the Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-e-bertin/banned-books-week-still-n_b_302248.html although I was more interested in the pie charts over at the ALA site, showing what books get challenged and who challenges them. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengesbytype/index.cfm

I've got a few letters from librarians over the last few months copying me on conversations about middle school libraries getting nervous about The Graveyard Book (the saddest bit of which was one worried middle school librarian explaining that she had no intention of reading it, but wanting to find out from other librarians if it was the kind of book that might get her into trouble) but on the whole my books seem to be relatively unbanned and unchallenged. I'm always aware that the next book I write might tip things over the edge. Or that some twerp might decide to challenge Coraline or The Graveyard Book, or Blueberry Girl...

...

According the the Guardian,

After winning a trio of major literary awards in the US, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book has landed a nomination for the Booktrust teenage prize on a shortlist which is being described as the award's most subversive yet.

Hurrah for subversive award nominees.

The nominees are
Auslander by Paul Dowswell
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray
The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Details and a photo at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/21/booksforchildrenandteenagers-awards-and-prizes
...

Jonathan Carroll on Twitter pointed me at the photos of Australian criminals at http://www.atimetoget.com/2009/07/early-sydney-mug-shots.html from which I wandered to http://blogs.hht.net.au/justice. Haunting photographs. Much more fun than mug shots at the Smoking Gun.

...
Right. I better post this and start signing sheets for the limited edition of Neverwhere that Harper Collins are bringing out this year. (And that reminds me: Subterranean Press are doing an edition of Smoke and Mirrors, illustrated by and designed by Dave McKean. It's not cheap, but it gets more expensive on Friday. (If you liked Dave's very sold-out Subterranean edition of The Graveyard Book, this will be like that, only more so, because all the illustrations are original.)
...

And finally, we have a Magical Hallowe'en Party Map. It's at
http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Graveyard_Book_Halloween_Parties. Five independent bookshops have listed their parties. I know -- from things booksellers have said to me -- that there are more to come. So, if you have a shop and a party planned, let the webgoblin know and he will make sure that your store is on the list.

Labels: banned books week, halloween traditions, neve, subterranean

drive-by blogging

Catching up on things, so this is just me nipping on to say that the sold-out SPIN Housing Works me&amandapalmer event on June 3rd has posted a handful of front row tickets that they are auctioning off, ten in all.

Housing Works is a good cause ( see http://www.housingworks.org/social-enterprise/).

You get a front row side table for two at the event, a signed poster and complementary drinks. You can bid for the five front row tables at http://www.shophousingworks.com/auction.cfm?storeID=7&windowImageID=1313. At least right now they haven't gone into the world of silly money.

Also, for those of you who were asking about the super-fancy and super-sold out Subterranean Press edition of The Graveyard Book, Bloomsbury Books has a final 50 copies for sale at their website. Yes, it's expensive, and is far and away the best of the Subterranean Press books, designed by Dave McKean.

And finally, this is disappointing: http://www.cbldf.org/pr/archives/000390.shtml

Personally, I wish the CBLDF had been running the case, and not Mr Handley's lawyers. I am sure they feel they did the right thing, keeping him out of prison for owning manga and not allowing it to go to trial, but it's a bad outcome all around: bad for him, bad for comics and bad for the First Amendment.

Labels: CBLDF, honestly who didn't kill Amanda Palmer at this point, Spin Housing Works event, subterranean

Without tea surging through my system, how will I know what to call this post?

It's Spring. The mud-rivers surround the house, snow is melting, and the cheerful atmosphere of this morning's walk was sort of ruined when the dog shot off delightedly into the woods and came back a minute later with a large woodchuck who would now no longer be chucking wood clamped between its jaws.

(It was just-buried when the man grouting the kitchen floor said that really, he would have liked it for taxidermic purposes. An offer to dig it up was considered, but then turned down as, he said, his freezer was pretty full at present. I guess I'm back in the country, aren't I?)

I am On Diet. I am also Off Tea for now, because it seemed easier to keep track of what was going into my mouth if I stopped drinking tea and started drinking water instead. My uncaffeinated state is a lot mellower and blanker than I am used to and it apparently has a mild headache and the deep conviction that if I just head for the kettle everything will be okay...

The mail brought a copy of Dark Horse's long-promised Michael Zulli adaptation of THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF THE DEPARTURE OF MISS FINCH, with a post-it note from my editor, Diana Schutz on the top corner saying "Finally! A Print job I could approve." I assume it'll be in the comic shops in about a month or so, as the copies make their way from China.

Subterranean Press, who seem to be doing more and more of the limited editions of my stuff these days, have just announced that they are doing a very lovely-looking edition of INTERWORLD, by me and Michael Reaves. As they explain,

Michael Reaves has recently had considerable health problems related to Parkinson's disease, with one round of brain surgery completed, and another in near future. All of the profits from this limited edition will go to Mr. Reaves to help him with his medical and daily living expenses. Soon, we hope, he'll be feeling much better and back to bringing us wonderful novels such as The Shattered World and The Burning Realm, to name two personal favorites.

Which was a really nice gesture on Subterranean's part. Michael's not in great shape right now, and I'm sure it will help. The book is a very limited edition -- only 500 signed and numbered copies, so I think they'll go fast. (Subterranean's M Is For Magic has already sold out.) You can order it here.

Hullo Neil!

I am currently going through the lengthy process of getting my passport and other such things, before my husband and I move to Japan. I've been sort of asking all of my friends who've spent time outside of these United States these questions, and thought I'd ask you as well! What do you find most enjoyable about visiting other countries? Most overwhelming? Most intriguing? And do you know of any exceptionally delicious sushi spots in Tokyo? And what percentage of jeans in those tubs of yours would be black, out of rampant and strange curiosity?

Eagerly awaiting The Graveyard Book,

Amy

I love the difference in other countries, the way it makes me re-examine what I think of as normal, the tiny differences in culture and behaviour, the sound of people talking in foreign languages. I love the food (even in countries where I don't like the food, I like the difference of the food), and I love feeling slightly adrift.

Most overwhelming? That sinking feeling you get when you realise that something huge has just gone deeply wrong and you don't speak the language. Most intriguing? Not sure...

And all of the jeans are black, except for the ones that used to be black a long time ago and are now just a blackish sort of grey.

...

Lots of Vista advice (and an offer of memory, which I think is really kind of someone) which I'll do a round up on in a few days, for anyone else who might have bought a new computer and found it a bit less than they were expecting.

...

Jody Scott is dead -- she died on Christmas Eve. I only met her once, in the UK, in 1984, when she was over to promote the Women's Press edition of I, Vampire, and I liked her very much indeed -- partly because I liked her books, I, Vampire and Passing For Human. I thought it a pity that she had real trouble getting her other books published. On her website she says of herself,

Ms. Scott attended Daniel Boone grammar school, Senn High, North Park College, Northwestern U. and U.C. Berkeley before crying out in clear, ringing tones: "Enough of this crap. If you wanna be a writer never, NEVER go to college or you'll come out a brainwashed zombie who offends nobody but writes like everyone else or as Monty Python used to say: 'Dull, dull, dull!'--the L's sounding like W's." Our subject then worked as a sardine packer, orthopedist's office assistant, Circle Magazine editor (knew Henry Miller and Anais Nin), artist's model at Art Institute Chicago, factory hand, cabbage puller (in Texas where I was arrested with my buddy Don Scott for hitchhiking and slapped around then thrown in jail for eight days; how stupid can "The Law" be? Its reasoning was: my gay friend {close pal of Leonard Bernstein and Tennessee Williams} had long hair, therefore we must be criminals), blue movie maker, headline writer for the Monterey Herald (that's where I got my spare, lean style), bookstore/art gallery owner, vacation land salesman and at many other fascinating trades, spent six months in Guatemala (in Antigua enjoyed a night alone with Gore Vidal at his house both madly talking) and now lives in Seattle in a falling-apart house choked with ivy and blackberry brambles a stone's throw from Puget Sound and is the winner of the America's Ugliest Couch contest upon which I write every day from 9 AM to 2 PM Pacific time. If you'd like more, send in that check in any amount but HURRY PLEASE! This offer, like its author, ends soon.

And she was right, and it did. Steve Jones and I used to send her occasional cheques for her poem in NOW WE ARE SICK, but I doubt they were enough. You can read the first chapter of I, Vampire here, and second-hand copies are easy to find.

Now I'm going to take the dog for his second walk of the day, and I really hope that nobody dies this time.

Labels: death of groundhogs, jody scott, Michael Reaves, spring, subterranean, why go abroad