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Thanks so much to J.P. Roberts for telling me about five time king of the hobos Maurice "Steam Train Maury" Graham. A fascinating character who later in life decided to start riding the rails like he did when hew was young, leaving a note ion the kitchen table that said " See ya". He was often seen at hobo "jungles" ( large, temporary hobo towns) where he was crowned king of the hobos five times in their annual festivals. Every year he dressed up as Santa, he visited schools and veterans hospitals and prided himself on never stealing.

Currently researching the Depression and hobos of and round that period for Flying Boat. Work like this can be hard as hundreds of pages may not yield anything that finds it's way into the story. However, it is a fascinating subject, a whole secondary world that really existed and impacted our world today. A lot of kids were riding the trains in the States for various reasons then. Some people were well educated and carried around books like Walden. If anyone has any stories about family members who were hobos or anything like that I'd love to know.

by Melissa Sweet Houghton Mifflin 2008 Covers are funny things. You're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but a lot of time goes into making those covers appealing so that you'll pick them up. Also, after the umpteen-millionth time you decide to ignore your gut feeling and give a book a chance despite its cover, and get burned, you decide that maybe you should trust the gut a little

There are lots of articles about Rory Root from all across comics... Here's Tom Spurgeon, and Brian Hibbs and this is a lovely tribute and an excellent round-up.

He was such a good guy. The world of comics is better for him having been here.

...

So there's news articles that say that Steven Moffat is taking over Doctor Who, and other articles saying that Russell T Davies is leaving and then there's lots of emails arriving today saying things like,

'Lo Neil,
As a great fan of Doctor Who, I've been dancing around the room after hearing that Steven Moffat is taking over as Chief Writer and Executive Producer of the series in 2009. Russell T Davies has done a brilliant job bringing the series back to life, but now that he's decided to leave I can't think of anyone better to take over than Mr. Moffat.

Anyway- my real question is whether or not we'll finally see a Neil Gaiman DW episode? We're all quietly hoping the idea came up during your dinner back in March in Bar Shu... I know you're a very busy person, but it would be the perfect combination for so many fans!
Rachel

I think it's great news -- what Russell Davies did over the last few years was remarkable: as a writer and as a show-runner he brought Doctor Who back, sure-footed and smart and with a heart. (And even the few mis-steps were easily forgiveable. Maddy and I agreed that there were bits of plot in "The Doctor's Daughter" that necessitated not just suspension of one's disbelief but the surgical extraction of said disbelief before dangling it over a vat of bubbling acid in the hopes that it would shut up. We loved "The Unicorn and the Wasp" though).

I'm really excited about Steven Moffat taking over -- always assuming that it's not just a publicity stunt on his part to try and get "Blink" a Hugo, as a countermeasure to Mr Cornell's car-crash-to-get-the-sympathy-vote.

And it was a terrific dinner: they do fantastic dry-fried green beans at Bar Shu (it doesn't sound like it would be fantastic from the menu, but it is).


Hi Neil!

I wanted to let you know about an experiment of mine and I think your fans might be interested in! You may have heard about 1000 Journals (www.1000journals.com), the traveling journal project where people around the world passed around journals and notebooks and drew/wrote about their thoughts about anything! Well they've continued the project at www.1001journals.com! I have started three notebooks that will (hopefully) eventually be filled by your fans around the world with drawings, poems, random thoughts, etc about your work. I was wondering if you could put a word out to people and let them know about this experiment so we can start sending them around to fans everywhere! They can create an account at www.1001journals.com and sign up for Journals #2932, 2933, 2934. It's currently capped at 10 people per journal but I can increase the signup capacity once the cap is reached! I think this would be super fun!

Thanks

Katherine

It's posted. Good luck.

Neil,

I was reading your blog about the Tasmanian tiger a bit ago and found it very interesting. Today, while perusing the BBC news site (I like seeing many sides of an issue) I found this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7408840.stm

I thought you would find it interesting.

Thanks,

Lily

I'm fascinated by this one. I really want to see a Thylacine in the flesh...

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Renee French is posting a drawing a day at http://reneefrench.blogspot.com/


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Why have I never posted this here?

Finally back in print in its original form after 30 years, Sam Gross’s I Am Blind and My Dog Is Dead is now available in a new hardcover edition, introducing a new generation of readers to his unforgettable and original brand of dark humor, little match girls, confused pets, bewildered children and blind men. A long-time contributor to The New Yorker, Sam, a legendary pioneer of bad taste, has become one of America’s best-loved cartoonists and inspired many to take up the art, including John Callahan.
Whether it is already an old favorite or a new discovery, this book will delight readers and have them laughing for a long time to come. Have yourself a twisted little Christmas!