I came over to do three things: to give the BBC a day to promote Episode Four of the next season of Doctor Who, which I have written; to see Hilary Bevan Jones, a wonderful producer with whom I've been working for years, about a couple of things; and to see Diana Wynne Jones.
Diana's been my friend since about 1985, but I was a fan of hers since I read Charmed Life in about 1978, aged 18. I've loved being her friend, and I'm pretty sure she loved being my friend. She was the funniest, wisest, fiercest, sharpest person I've known, a witchy and wonderful woman, intensely practical, filled with opinions, who wrote the best books about magic, who wrote the finest and most perceptive letters, who hated the telephone but would still talk to me on it if I called, albeit, always, nervously, as if she expected the phone she was holding to explode.
As an author she was astonishing. The most astonishing thing was the ease with which she'd do things (which may be the kind of thing that impresses other writers more than it does the public, who take it for granted that all writer are magicians.But those of us who write for a living know how hard it is to do what she did. The honest, often prickly characters, the inspired, often unlikely plots, the jaw-dropping resolutions.
(She's a wonderful author to read aloud, by the way, as I discovered when reading her books to my kids. Not only does she read aloud beautifully, but denouments which seemed baffling read alone seem obvious and elegantly set up and constructed when read aloud. "Children are much more careful readers than adults," she'd say. "You don't have to repeat everything for children. You do with adults, because they aren't paying full attention."
She dedicated her book Hexwood to me, telling me that it was inspired by something that I'd once said about the interior size of British Woods, and I wrote a doggerel poem to thank her.
(Hang on. I bet I can find it. There.)
There's a kitten curled up in Kilkenny was given a perfect pot of cream
And a princess asleep in a thornwrapped castle who's dreaming a perfect dream
There's a dog in Alaska who'll dance with delight on a pile of mastodon bones
But I've got a copy of Hexwood (dedicated to me) by Diana Wynne Jones<0 Comments on Being Alive. Mostly about Diana. as of 1/1/1900Add a Comment
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- Mr. G is home. I expect we'll be hearing from him soon. Currently he's decompressing, surrounded by rollergirls.
- Over at NeverWear.net, there's a new print for sale, Mr. G's poem, IN RELIG ORAN, illustrated by Michael Zulli. Kitty also interviews Mr. Z.
- The sixth season on Doctor Who will premiere in one month, April 23rd, on BBC America. My understanding is that it premieres on that same day in the UK as well. My household is very excited.
- Speaking of premieres, six days prior, April 17th, HBO's adaptation of George R. R. Martin's GAME OF THRONES premieres.
- Sir Terry Pratchett announced, on my birthday no less, that a GOOD OMENS television miniseries is in the works from Terry Jones.
- Pat Rothfuss has completed his reading tour for THE WISE MAN'S FEAR. I attended both his stops in the D.C. area, and was pleasantly not surprised to see a great many familiar faces from past readings by Mr. G. At the Library of Congress, I sat next to a young woman who, unbidden, told me that NEVERWHERE was her favorite book, and how the last time Mr. G had come to the National Book Festival she had sat on the ground in front of the first row. I didn't tell her that I remembered her sitting in front of me, or that I was Mr. G's unassuming web goblin.
- I tried to start a #hipstersandman meme but it hasn't gone anywhere.
I haven't the talent for it that Bill Stiteler has. - Be seeing you.
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When last heard from I was in Wales, for the Doctor Who table read. And then I was off the world picking plums.
I'm still off the edge of the world right now. I was exhausted when I got here -- more exhausted than even I knew, I think. Too much travel, too much nothing ever quite stopping, too many meals on the road. I felt old and creaky and tired.
I spent my first week catching up on my sleep, eating sensible meals that I made myself, mostly veggies and fruits and fresh-caught fish (courtesy of the neighbours, who would walk up the hill and tap on the window, and give me fresh-caught mackerel and such. I gave them bags of plums). I did a lot of walking. Then I got a bicycle, and started going on daily bike rides, two miles to start with, which turned into six to ten miles each day as soon as I started to get into it. I'd take photos of things I'd pass while bike-riding using my little Nexus 1 phone camera and then knit them together with a stitcher program called Hugin.
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Neil,
I am preparing to have about 12 super reluctant Jr High boys listen to a CD of the Graveyard Book, as they follow along in their books. I haven't been able to find any lesson plans on this book. Will you please take a minute to tell us a little about the background of this book, and maybe some additional graveyard ideas you left out. We are pretty excited to get started.
Thanks, Dianne the Librarian
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The two characters are similar enough to suggest that either Dark Ages (McFarlane) Spawn
is derivative of Medieval (Gaiman) Spawn or it is the same character to which plaintiff owns
the copyright.
Much as defendant tries to distinguish the two knight Hellspawn, he never explains
why, of all the universe of possible Hellspawn incarnations, he introduced two knights from
the same century. Not only does this break the Hellspawn “rule” that Malebolgia never
returns a Hellspawns to Earth more than once every 400 years (or possibly every 100 years,
as suggested in Spawn, No. 9, exh. #1, at 4), it suggests that what defendant really wanted to
do was exploit the possibilities of the knight introduced in issue no. 9. (This possibility is0 Comments on Cutting stuff, watching parking meters, getting graphic in Sydney as of 7/30/2010 9:40:00 PMAdd a Comment
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I decided to do Anansi Boys as a TV series, and to the script myself. And no sooner had I decided to do that, when I got a call from a Hollywood Producer.
“I was on tour with [a star who shall be anonymous for now],” he said. “And I bought the paperback of Anansi Boys in an airport to read on the plane. We started reading bits of it to each other for the rest of the tour. Can we make this into a movie? Will you write the script?”
I normally say no to adapting my own stuff into film. But I wanted an Anansi Boys adaptation I could be proud of, and the radio adaption had left me wanting to go "No, this is what I meant". So I said yes.
And I set time aside to work on it. I was going to start in late March 2009.
At the beginning of March 2009, my always-healthy father died unexpectedly, of a heart attack, during a business meeting.
Oddly enough, Anansi Boys begins with Fat Charlie Nancy’s father dying of an unexpected heart attack, which sets the events of the story into motion, although his heart attack is embarrassing and funny. My dad's wasn't really either.
And for about a year, I’d open Final Draft (my scriptwriting program). I’d open the Anansi Boys script. I’d look at the three or four pages that I'd done for a bit. Write a sentence, or delete one. Then I’d close Final Draft and do something else. Write a short story. Work on a book. Blog. Anything, really. I just didn't write the Anansi Boys screenplay.
Which carried on until March this year. I went out to LA for the Oscars, as CORALINE had been nominated for Best Animated Picture. I’d even written an interview with her, animated by Travis Knight, that was shown during the Oscar ceremonies, which is, I'm pretty sure, so far the single thing I’ve written that has been seen by the most people. The Oscar ceremonies fell on the anniversary of my dad’s death. It was a very strange, sad day – made peculiarly worse because I knew I should have been enjoying it, and I wasn't.
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From Barnes and Noble.com. Not sure if I ever posted this, but here it is anyway...
...
I just read on Mr. Gaiman’s journal about some of the events he is doing for National Library Week. Since these events have limited seating, I thought Mr. Gaiman might wish to mention that anyone around the world can watch him speak via Internet streaming video on April 12, from 6 to 8 during the ALA-JCPL videoconference. More information at http://gaimanatjcpl.org
Just a thought if you want to pass it along.
Thanks,
RON
The Ron is Dr. Ron Critchfield, Director of the Jessamine Public Library, which I talked about on this blog here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/local-man-in-hate-mail-outrage-shock.html You can read about this at http://www.atyourlibrary.org/join-neil-gaiman-live-internet-event. So, yes.
...
I haven't talked about Dick Giordano's death here. You can read about Dick from Karen Berger
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And then there's this. Which deserves its own blog entry too.
UCSB was great. UCLA was harder, as I was reeling a little from lack of sleep from the signing the night before, but the people there enjoyed it.
(Also, the Nexus 1 phone is wonderful, especially with the lastest update, allowing us to make things bigger or small by pulling them apart or squeezing them, which was the one thing that iPhones did I envied.)
Also LOTS of questions to answer and comments to post.
But first, sleep.
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Hi Neil,
Have you seen this?
http://www.dvdrama.com/imagescrit2/t/h/e/the_graves_1.jpg
It's a poster from a movie directed by Brian Pulido:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1203517/
Regards,
Fred
Yup, I've seen it. I was amazed and amused.
Hello, Mr. Neil.
This is my question: You lived most of your life in the UK but now live in the United States, right? Which one do you consider to be your home? And for that matter, what do you think classifies as a 'home'?
I'm asking this because my mother died in January. I'm a seventeen-year-old kid. I think I've forgotten what my home is supposed to be. The concept 'home' seems strangely alien all of a sudden.....
I was hoping someone who's experienced two potential 'homes' might help- and explain it in a way my comic-book-fried-mind can understand.
Best wishes.
Chelsea
I find myself remembering the Richard Burton (the actor, not the Arabian Nights one) line about "Home is where the books are". And by that token, home is the one in the US.
But truly, even now, when I go to the UK I think, I'm going home. And when I go, er, home, I think I'm going to America. Probably why I've never taken citizenship...
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Gaiman's ghost story is not just about the thrills and chills, although there are plenty. The book is in fact literary and layered. Gaiman gives reassurance that even sinister circumstance cannot squelch our human capacity to grow and change for the better. So as in all worthy coming-of-age stories, the ending turns out to be a new beginning.The Chicago Tribune,
...combines realistic dialogue and fantasy possibilities to tell a story that's not about sensationalized violence but about life's potential for happiness. Take time for this one, as it's quite remarkable; many adult readers, no children attached, have found it quite a compelling read.The New York Times made it an Editor's Choice, but not The Boston Globe, in the first example of Thumper's "if you can't say something nice about someone don't say anything" motto book-reviewing I can remember. The entire review is:
I found the book ghastly, literally and metaphorically, and since Gaiman is a writer whose inventive genius I respect, I'll pass on without further comment....which just left me wondering how something can be metaphorically ghastly. ("It was ghastly -- and I mean that metaphorically!") and concluding that Liz Rosenberg is probably trying to use metaphorically as the opposite of literally, whereas what she actually meant was that it was ghastly in several senses of the word (ie. filled with dead things and ghosts and she didn't like it one little bit). Ah well. I hope she likes the next thing, whatever that is.
It was predicted that it would be the #3 film this weekend. But by the end of the weekend, we were actually #2. Champagne would have been drunk if we weren't losing most of our 3D screens to the Jonas Bros on Friday.
I've talked about Julie Schwartz here a few times. Read this. It's wonderful, in all senses of the word.
March 1-7th is Will Eisner Week. As we learn at http://www.cbldf.org/pr/archives/000386.shtml
Will Eisner Week is intended as an ongoing celebration that will promote graphic novel literacy, free speech awareness, and the legacy of Eisner himself to a broad audience. This first annual celebration is themed "The Spirit of A Legend," examining Will Eisner's seminal Spirit comic, as well as the spirit inherent in his work that has inspired generations of comic readers and artists. This theme will be explored at events in Minneapolis at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, in Savannah at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and in New York City.
In addition to events, a variety of academic papers and group activity assignments are available on WillEisnerWeek.com.
And last of all...
On Saturday March 7th, at Books of Wonder in Manhattan, Charles Vess and I are doing a signing. The event starts at 1:00pm. I'll read Blueberry Girl (it isn't very long. Maybe I'll read it twice, or verrrry sloooowly) and Charles will have art on display and prints for sale, and we'll do a Blueberry Girl Q&A, and it should be fun. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough space, but Peter at Books of Wonder reassured me that they've moved into a new shop since last I was there, and hosted J.K. Rowling, so they will have no problem coping with numbers of people who will turn up. So, hurrah, turn up. They'll be donating a percentage of the profits to RAINN, because I originally wrote Blueberry Girl for Tori and her as-yet-unborn-daughter, and that seemed like the right thing to do.
(Click on the poster to make it bigger.) (An early Blueberry Girl review, from a young girl and her mum.)
(Worth mentioning that Please note that you are welcome to bring one book from home to be signed for each book you purchase on the day of the event is a mistake. It may be true for Charles, but it's not true for me. Current plans are that I'll sign three things per person, and if the numbers of people get too big, that may have to go down.)
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Problems with cell phones complicated by a just-received email from my assistant pointing out my phone charger is still at home.
Soon I get in car and head into deepest Cornwall for a birthday. Then straight back to London for a day of meetings and interviews. Then I fly home to the US and collapse, completely and utterly.
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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
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...
...
Renee French is posting a drawing a day at http://reneefrench.blogspot.com/
...
Why have I never posted this here?
Dinner with Steven Moffat in Bar Shu, spent mostly in enthusiastic Dr Who neepery.
I love my life.
...
As a side note, running Windows Vista on the Panasonic w7 is making me really nostalgic for 1986. Whoever thought I'd get to type things then stare at a blank screen for a bit and one-by-one watch the letters appear? Cory and Mike's "Why Don't You Run Linux?" talks are staring to seem much more sensible.
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I reviewed Kate Christensen's most recent novel The Great Man very briefly back in June, though not nearly enough to get across my enthusiasm for her witty, compassionate, sly, suspenseful story, with some jabs at the art world and the patriarchy to boot. I've also loved all her previous novels -- In the Drink, Jeremy Thrane, and The Epicure's Lament -- and I was thrilled to host her at a book party at McNally Robinson in mid-August. She graciously agreed to be a part of the Brooklyn Lit Life series, and her answers seem much like one of The Great Man's heroines, Teddy St. Cloud: basking in the uniquely vibrant isolation that's on offer in the borough of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Lit Life
Kate Christensen
Why Brooklyn? What made you decide to live/work here, in both practical and emotional terms?
Brooklyn is the best place to live in the world, at least in terms of the places I’ve seen and visited and lived. I’ve lived in Greenpoint for almost 5 years, and before that I lived in Williamsburg – I moved to North Brooklyn in 1990 and except for a 3-year stint in the East Village, I have lived here ever since. North Brooklyn has low rooftops and big skies, cozy public hangouts, an undeveloped (until recently) waterfront, and a sense of scruffy, do-it-yourself, gritty, boho glamour. Of course that’s changing now, commercializing and verticalizing, but maybe, I hope, not as drastically as it appears on the surface. There’s plenty of neighborhood left here.
Is there a Brooklyn sensibility or character? How would you describe it? How does it differ from the character of New York City as a whole?
A Brooklyn sensibility… I don’t know – there are so many different neighborhoods here, so many different kinds of people – Brooklyn has a sense of community I didn’t find in Manhattan. Greenpoint is neighborhoody – but not in a small-town way, in a big-city, multicultural, mind-your-own-business way. Manhattan feels crowded and claustrophobic and touristy by comparison. I haven’t lived in any of the other boroughs, so I couldn’t compare it to Queens or the Bronx. There’s also an expectation that of course we’re all different races, religions, and ethnicities – a profound sense of tolerance for our own. Bu tin terms of the changes being wrought right now, there is also fierce, emotional, loud, organized resistance to incursions from corporate takeover of small businesses – opposition to the high-rises going up everywhere – but we can’t stop it.
What about your particular neighborhood? Does it have its own unique character? This can include the kinds of people you tend to find there, particular characters or places that epitomize the neighborhood, etc.
Greenpoint used to be a rough and tumble place, an immigrant waterfront community. Now it’s gentrifying, of course, because what isn’t, but it’s still got grit and edge – it used to be predominantly Irish and Italian, but now it’s become a Polish enclave. Many of the shop signs up on Manhattan Avenue are in Polish, a lot of the store clerks speak Polish. Polish food abounds up at the Associated, my local grocery store. But they also stock Matzoh and refrito. Over towards the Newtown Creek, it’s still very old-school, very rough. But the closer you get to McCarren Park, the more hipsters driving Priuses you see.
What do you think of the direction Brooklyn, or at least your neighborhood, is going? What does the future look like in terms of economics, demographics, culture, and other changes?
More corporate high-rise condos, less affordable housing, and everything that implies. It sucks. People in the neighborhood have fought hard and long and vocally against it, but it’s unstoppable, or so it seems.
Is there a Brooklyn literary sensibility? Which writers or works most emblematize Brooklyn for you? Which older writers set the tone? Which contemporary writers are you reading with interest?
I always think of Henry Miller as the quintessential Brooklyn writer -- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as the quintessential Brooklyn novel. I read everything Jonathan Lethem writes. I loved Jami Attenberg’s forthcoming The Kept Man, which captures something essential about Williamsburg. I don’t think there’s a literary “sensibility” here per se at all –every Brooklyn writer I have read is a singular bird. I would say there’s an enormous concentration of talent and even brilliance here, though.
Why do you think Brooklyn has such a dense population of writers? Is there something particularly literary about Brooklyn? Where and how do people read here?
I don’t go to readings in Brooklyn. I once read at Millie’s in Ft Greene – years and years ago – it was my first public reading. But I haven’t read here since. I think writers love to live here because it’s New York City, but you can hear yourself think; you can walk the streets anonymously, lost in your thoughts, but you can also see the sky and have a sense of being enclosed in a neighborhood. It’s the best place in the world to live if you’re a writer, I think.
What events, series, readings, happenings, places, stores, publications, movements, etc. seem to you currently interesting or important in the Brooklyn literary world?
None – I am totally disconnected from whatever literary scene there may be here.
What do you think would make Brooklyn better as a literary place? What does the borough still need? What are the opportunities and challenges it faces?
We need a great bookstore right here in Greenpoint with a café, a bookstore with a neighborhoody feel where people can hang out and sit in armchairs, drink a cup of tea, attend low-key readings.
Imagine the ideal Brooklyn bookstore or literary venue, a place you'd like to read on your own or participate in literary community. What would it be like? What would it avoid?
It would have an inviting atmosphere – good music – tea and coffee – dog-friendly. Great books, old and new, major publishers and small presses – but chosen with a sense of real quality, a knowledge of what’s worthwhile, what’s important, and what’s just plain entertaining page-turning fun.
Note: After she submitted her interview, we had a great email exchange about Word Books, a six-months-old bookstore on Franklin Avenue in Greenpoint, which Kate promises to visit.
Hello and greetings! I read your blog from time to time and felt that I should say something to you.
My name is Kimberly Richardson and I am the owner of the online bookstore Viridian Books, the home for the freaky reader. My stock usually consists of: science fiction and fantasy ( and everything that falls outside of that category but still linked to it), horror, Gothic fiction and non-fiction, unusual history, poetry, drama, alternative religions, and anything else that stimulates the brain.
I wanted to know if I could add your blog as a link in my store. You have really great blogs and I want others to read your work as well.
I will not add you to my list unless if I have permission.
Feel free to check out my site: www.viridianbooks.com
My e-mail address is: [email protected]
Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon!
Absinthe Dreams,
Kimberly
Owner/Resident Muse
Viridian Books
Enter the Viridian....