It was exciting to see Neil Gaiman live at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on the weekend. It was a satellite event of the Sydney Writers’ Festival (surely one of the world’s best writers’ festivals). As Jemma Birrell, Artistic Director, mentioned in her introduction, Neil has over 2 million twitter followers so no wonder […]
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Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: neil gaiman, Book News, Dave McKean, Stardust, coraline, Sandman, Odd and the Frost Giants, Graveyard Book, Signal to Noise, the rabbits, FourPlay, Mirrormask, Fortunately the Milk, Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Book Reviews - Fiction, Joy Lawn, The Sleeper and the Spindle, Hansel & Gretel, Ocean at the End of the Lane, SWF, Tragical Comedy, Wolves in the Walls, Add a tag
Blog: Boys Rule Boys Read! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: audiobooks, Odd and The Frost Giants, Kringle, Lost Worlds, Add a tag
Yeee-haa, book-reading buckaroos, this here's the Kandy Kane Kid. I come around every December, telling guys about good reads.
Blog: Boys Rule Boys Read! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Marvel Adventures Thor, John Matthews, Sword of Fire and Ice, Paul Tobin, Norse Myths, Mike Collins, Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book, Odd and The Frost Giants, Super Heroes, Add a tag
Well I could talk about a bunch of things before I give my take on some cool reads, but I just can't wait!!!! Oh wait a minute, Jedi Master Zack's Book Club for The Graveyard Book looks awesome!!! So if you can participate I highly encourage you as this book just rocks!!!!! Now let's get right down to talking about some reads I truly enjoyed:
The Chronicles of Arthur: Sword of Fire and Ice by John Matthews and Mike Collins - This Graphic Novel (GN) tells the story of young Arthur and his tutelage by Merlin on the island of Avalon, away from the land of Great Britain (also known as Albion) that he is destined to rule. The island of Avalon is ruled by the mysterious and mystical "Sisterhood of the Nine" and inhabited by many strange people and creatures such as: The Green Knight, The evil Fir Bolg, The Questing Beast, The Great Lord Arawn of The Underworld and more. Young Arthur learns many lessons in this GN filled with adventure leading to his becoming King of Albion. This is really a well done crafting of one version of the Arthurian Legend.
Odd and The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Philippines, Odd and the Frost Giants, amanda palmer, blogger oddnesses, The Graveyard Book Halloween Party Competition, What Bees Smell Like, Add a tag
Spent a lot of the time off the web, which was good, and something I'd been looking forward to. Wrote two longish short stories which I now have to type.
It got autumnal in the UK toward the end of our stay, and cold, wet and dark in Scotland. I had a couple of days of warm when I arrived back in the midwest, but it is now, today, officially, chilly Autumn. The trees are laden with apples, the grape-vines are covered with grapes, and the tomato plants are hung with very late tomatoes that need to be canned or salsaed or just cooked before they rot.
I landed in Minneapolis (after a massive 22 hour journey which began in Scotland), spent a night at home, saw my bees and went straight to the Midwestern Booksellers Association meeting, and was honoured with their Children's Literature Award (for The Graveyard Book). Also I chatted to a breakfast of booksellers about Odd and the Frost Giants.
I don't think I've said much about Odd here recently. It's out in the US now, in a shiny new hardback edition, with new illustrations by Brett Helquist. It's a book about using your head, I think. And about beauty. I talk about it at http://www.mousecircus.com/bookdetails.aspx?BookID=18
There's a "trailer" for it here:
(and, for those who do not have a helpful bookshop locally, the Amazon link is http://www.amazon.com/Odd-Frost-Giants-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0061671738).
I learned this morning that The Graveyard Book Audiobook I recorded won the UK Children's Audiobook of the Year (Dawn French won UK Audiobook of the Year for Dear Fatty, although I was disappointed that the article from the Independent doesn't mention the talented Lisa Tarbuck, who actually read the audiobook).
Strangely enough, the most frequently asked of all the questions waiting for me when I got back was What do bees smell like? Honest. So picking one of those from the pile...
Dear Mr. Gaiman,
My 5-year-old son, Avi, asked me what bees smell like. I told him that I don't know and was sad not to be able to answer such an excellent question. Today it occurred to me that you might have smelled bees. If you have, would you be willing to answer Avi's question?
Thank you for your time!
Elizabeth Israel-Davis
Portland, OR
Mostly bees, and bee-hives, smell honeyish, a thick sweet smell. If they get sick they can smell bad. But mostly they smell like honey.
Hey Neil, All Saint's Day is coming and I want to dance the macabray with my friends. Do you have any dance instructions other than "Step and turn, and walk and sway"?
Loved the book.
Jane
I think that readers of The Graveyard Book who perform their own version of the macabray will always be right. And should put video footage of themselves performing it be put up, I will try to link to it.
Which reminds me -- around this Hallowe'en many independent bookshops in the "lower 48" of the US are going to be having The Graveyard Book parties, in a bid to lure me out to sign in their shops in December. If you want to dance the macabray, or just enjoy a particularly graveyardy night, you may want to check if your local bookshop is doing one, and when.
(And if the bookshops who ARE going to be holding a Graveyard Book party want to let us know about it, then email your shop's name, the location of the party, the date and the time to [email protected] and we will put a Master Graveyard Book Party list up here.) (Even if your party is in a location like Hawaii, Alaska, Manilla, Omsk or Edinburgh, places which do not qualify for win-a-Neil-Signing.)
Dear Neil,
I've been ogling over your bookshelves on Shelfari (of course) and noticed that you have the same bookcases that a lot of bookstores do, with the upslanted bottom shelf. I've been trying to figure out where to order these ever since I saw them in bookstores. Could you let me know where and about how much these are? Thank you!
~Karen
http://theblackletters.net
Alas. I bought them from my local bookshop when they went out of business, some years ago, and do not know where they got them from.
Mr. Gaiman,
Are you aware of this:
"Young adult writers! Detroit teacher of blind kids wants your ebooks for her Braille printer!"
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/13/young-adult-writers.html
love you, love your work,
-- Justin
I was -- Cory sent it to me -- and I'll be getting them files for the Children's books. But I'm happy to spread the word further.
Amanda, Amanda, Amanda.
I miss hearing about your books and writings.
I am tired of hearing about your girlfriend...
You know, I wasn't going to mention Amanda in this post, until you reminded me. But we just spent six weeks together, working on the film and travelling and going to each other's events, and this blog, even when it gets a bit sporadic (as it has done over the last couple of months) is mostly going to be about what's going on, and who I'm with, and what I'm doing. If I'm somewhere doing something with Amanda, she'll get mentioned. (It's probably just as bad for some of her fans, who are going "who is this Neil and why is she singing to him anyway?")
...
Finally, most of you probably know about the recent typhoon that hit the Philippines, and the flooding and loss of life. If you missed it, here's the BBC news, and here are some eyewitness reports http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/8276970.stm.
Blog: Neil Gaiman (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: free book, my ankle hurts, Odd and the Frost Giants, Dave McKean, world book day, Add a tag
Lots of lovely letters from people about where and how they found authors for free whose work they then went on to buy, although I was vaguely hoping someone would write a letter saying, "If you're so fond of Free, then why don't you write a book for free, that you don't get any royalties on, that could be given away or sold incredibly cheaply, just to encourage people to read? Yeah, what about that then, smartarse?" But nobody has.
"13 million school children in the UK will receive a World Book Day £1 Book
Token which can be exchanged for a World Book Day £1 Book, throughout March,
from over 3,000 participating bookshops and book retailers across the UK and
Republic of Ireland. The £1 Token can also be put towards any book or
audio book costing £2.99 or more. The World Book Day £1 Book Token is sponsored
by National Book Tokens and redemptions are funded by bookshops across the
country."
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: history, Politics, Russia, A-Featured, World History, soviet, Stalin, archive, archival, researcher, resettlement, Add a tag
Yesterday we presented part 1 in a 5 part series about The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin’s Special Settlements by Lynn Viola. Today Viola takes us inside the archives in Moscow.
I could not have carried out the research for this book without access to archives, for the entire terrain of Stalin’s special settlements had remained a state secret throughout the Soviet era; even use of the term special resettlement was forbidden. Neither the word, nor the world of the special settlements, existed officially. (more…)