Listening to a cassette of the Dawn French reading of Coraline right now with this great big smile on my face. It seems somehow much more subversive coming from Dawn, because her voice is so fundamentally reassuring and safe. And what she's saying isn't...

She is SO good.

Big article in Variety today, on the front cover, about me, and all the things of mine that are under option and aren't necessarily being made, mostly because it looks as if the Coraline film really will happen. Unless it doesn't, of course.

Lovely review by Tasha Robinson of Murder Mysteries and Coraline over at The Onion A.V. Club | Words. The two books make an interesting pairing, and Robinson remains an interesting reviewer. She's one of those people who one wishes could get more space to write longer about things -- her Alan Moore reviews in the Onion have been really fine.

Juggling stories right now, trying not to blow too many deadlines. Many years ago I pointed out that deadlines are cowardly: they don't stride out alone. They run in packs, and leap out at you all at once. And the end of July is one of those times.

I know you answered before that you won't be making an appearance at this year's San Diego Comic Con, but I just heard a rumor from a friend of a friend in the industry that you would be in San Diego that weekend doing some kind of interview for the History channel about a "History of Comics" sort of thing, and so i was just asking if you'd be making any kind of suprise appearance there?
And if not, well I'll be in San Diego anyway for the Comic Con, so would you fancy catching a bite to eat with a fan?

It's just a rumour, I'm afraid. I won't be at San Diego (or in San Diego) this year. Next year, though...

And I hear from Bloomsbury that the tickets to the Foyles event in London are starting to go fast, so if anyone's planning on going, they may want to get a ticket now. www.foyles.co.uk then go follow the links to event tickets to get one. (I'd give a web address but it was all pop-ups and things.)

Congratulations (and lots of them) to Puck and Melany over at The Dreaming. Look at the July 28th entry to see why.

For those craving some info about what Coraline is doing on the various bestseller lists, you'll find lots of them here.Locus Online: Bestsellers on General Lists

A few people wrote to tell me that (for example) "Humanoid Publishing is releasing a graphic album called Coraline written by Denis-Pierre Filippi and artist Terry Dodson illustrating it that will be released sometime in 2003. Doesn't your publisher own the copyright to the title Coraline? What are your thoughts on this? I read about this at Comicon's Newsarama website."

i don't know anything about it. It seems an odd sort of name to pick for something, given the rather enormous possibility for confusion. You can't copyright titles, though.


Hi, I've been reading your online journal since its inception and I noticed that you rarely mention anything about your comic book related achievement. I only recall one occasion in your online journal when you mentioned your work "1602". Can you share any details on this project? Also, why don't you ever mention the deal you made with Marvel Comics that some of the proceed from the sale will go toward your lawsuit against Todd McFarlane over Miracleman/Marvelman in your journal? Or any recent developement regard the Miracleman/Marvelman lawsuit? It just seems that these are the sort of things I read about in other comic book news website like Newsarama but your own.

Raymond

Well, 1602 is being kept quiet because that's the way Marvel wants it. Mostly because we don't want people bored by it before it comes out. When we're ready to talk about it, we will. I've written the first chapter, and Andy Kubert has almost finished drawing it. I've seen about half of it, which is far and away the best stuff of his I've seen. I'm madly trying to get the notes for chapter two turned into script for him on Tuesday.

Actually all of the proceeds from the 1602 deal went straight into the lawsuit; justice is very expensive in the US. The trial starts at the end of September. I don't talk about the legal case because I'm perfectly to content to have it tried in court. And, I suppose, because it's the least pleasant side of being a writer -- you may have to sue publishers who don't pay you royalties, renege on agreements and so on.

I've certainly mentioned Endless Nights here, which is the new Sandman/Endless book I'm doing for DC. It'll be released in February, kicking off Vertigo's 10th anniversary celebrations.

The only other comic I'll be doing right now is a story for art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's wonderful Little Lit series, to be illustrated by Gahan Wilson.

Aaaaugh!! Must you taunt your Mac using fans with the tease of a Coraline Bookwrap when it's not available for us? Cruel, cruel Neil. Is there a chance this can be posted somewhere for the rest of us?

My son recently converted from PCs to become an OS X Mac person and is evangelising busily from his Bay Area hide-out. (I shrugged and bought another Dell Latitude Notebook to be my day-to-day computer.) My assistant Lorraine is also a Mac person and my daughter maddy would be exclusively a Mac person if it weren't for her Scooby Doo game, which only runs on a PC. I only tell you this to assure you that many Mac people are near and dear to me and I would never do anything intentially to taunt, tease or torment any of you.

I'd suggest e-mailing the bookwrap people and telling them that mac people have rights and are real human beings who deserve to see me trying to remember how to talk in the morning.

I have to ask: which character is based on you in Diana Wynne Jones' "Deep Secret?" Thanks, Sabrina

Well, apart from me myself (I think I'm on a panel aren't I?) I'd suggest that you look for the character who has difficulty remembering how to talk in the morning. (The breakfast really happened, although it was at a Milford SF conference rather than at an SF con.)

I haven't seen a lot of information about this elsewhere, but I was wondering - I know that Sandman attracts a large female audience, but has there been much written about this? At least in terms of the audience's size.

Better way of putting it - did anyone ever figure out the male:female ratio?

Thanks a bunch - especially for bringing me into this crazy world of comics. I might not have found it without you.

I don't know if anyone's ever 'figured it out' but from the point of view of the person doing the signings, it's normally about 50/50.

Another Coraline review here at The Alien Online - Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror News, Reviews, Articles and more...

We'll put this up soon enough, but for now here's a sneak preview of the CORALINE "bookwrap".

I would like to point out the camera adds ten pounds, several days of stubble and a hangover.

(This was shot during the Book Expo America, fairly early one morning after the Rock Bottom Remainders of the night before. Go to http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal_archives/2002_05_01_archive.asp and down to the May 4th entry for details.)

The people at Bookstream pointed out I had toothpaste on the side of my nose before filming started, so I went and wiped it off, and wondered just how I'd got toothpaste on the side of my nose that morning, because usually I just put it on my teeth, but decided it was a good thing I hadn't tried to shave when I got up as by that point I could have been missing several ears.

You will see lots of interesting people, many of them looking much more awake than yours truly at http://www.bookstreaminc.com/demo including a close associate of Lemony Snicket, a secret french wire-walker, and the editor of the Microsoft Encarta College dictionary who in her first bit explains that the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary is designed "for our twenty-first generation of students" and then mispronounces "plethora", which cheered me up no end when I saw it.

David Niall Wilson reviews the American Gods audio book I'm really proud of the audio book -- still wish it hadn't been cost prohibitive to do the CD version (sigh).

Then again, TWO PLAYS FOR VOICES is getting lots of pre-publication attention, so who knows?

According to USATODAY.com - Publishers search for next 'Harry Potter' I'm a "sci-fi writer". Isn't that cool? When I was a kid, I really wanted to grow up to write science fiction, and I've always felt like I might have had a chance at being the next Heinlein or Asimov or even Stanley G. Weinbaum if I'd only paid a little more attention in Biology, and if I hadn't hated Physics (or at least, my physics teacher) quite so much. And if I had a mind that went to those places. I'm very used to being described as a comics writer, a fantasy writer, or a horror writer. Or just a writer. But I think this is the first time I've been a sci-fi writer (a word I find cutely retro, like hi-fi, and, while I'd not use it, not offensive, although I have friends who do not like it at all).

Reading Maddy Daniel Pinkwater'sThe Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, although after we read the chapter with the best ever description of Laurel and Hardy in it, and I discovered she'd never seen any Laurel and Hardy, I'm also now playing her fifteen minutes of FLYING DEUCES a night so she can see who they are and what they do. And am ordering some DVDs of the classic short films, so that I have them and she can see them...

A University of New Mexico book review which finishes with a warning: If you don't want to be left with an uneasy feeling deep in the pit of your stomach and an unsettling fear of black buttons, then do yourself a favor and leave this book where it sits.

I think books should all carry warnings.