Neil Gaiman will be at a lecture and book signing at a local bookstore tomorrow evening. I have my ticket, a copy (of a voucher) of his new book (Anansi Boys), and a copy of Wolves in the Walls for him to sign for my son.
I understand there may be a Q&A part of the presentation. I already know one question I’m planning to ask:
“Who’s the forgotten god in American Gods?”
I just hope I’ll be able to remember the answer.
Any other questions I should ask?
Well, perhaps you could ask him if he is going to write the new Thor for Marvel.
Not terribly relevant to his other works but I’d love to know 
Had he been tapped to do that? That would be quite cool.
Ask him this: “In Sandman, the part where Dream goes to hell and sees his lost love. And where Lucifer has decided to give up being lord Hell. And then all of the other mythological characters want the key…THAT WAS AWESOME!”
Who wins in a mystic battle – Harry Potter or Timothy Hunter?
What turned Delight into Delirium?
Or what did Death say at the funeral? Might even get an answer for this one.
All my friends are going to see him tonight.
I called them nerds.
But seriously, I love American Gods.
OOooo. Good ones.
Okay, okay.
Whatever happened to the first Despair, and how was she different from the current incarnation?
Where was Dream coming from when he was trapped in the circle?
Who were the gods Dream killed whose bones he kept to make his battle-helm and the Gates of Horn and Ivory?
What does Death say to people when they are born?
What precisely caused Destruction to quit?
We’ve seen Dream cause and control dreams, and Death grant immortality, and others of the Endless directly influence mortal beings in their realms. But does Destiny ever directly change the fates of others? And who wrote the book of Destiny? Similarly, who wrote the Book of Cerements the Endless used for Dream’s funeral?
What happened on the planet where the first Dream Vortex grew unchecked?
Is Desire a hermaphrodite?
Have any of the female* Endless, including Death, given birth? * (This includes Desire.)
Will Destruction ever resume his duties, or, failing that, allow someone else to control his Realm?
Um… Yeah.
Those are good ones.
I had forgotten that Despair had been replaced.
2 is a McGuffan and 3 would be meaningless to us mere mortals. These gods existed and were destroyed before humanity was born, so who they were would be meaningless.
Nice.
Good ones, especially the idea of Destiny reaching out to control fate.
Perhaps that’s related to Delight/Delirium?
Sometimes - Desire can be male, female, both, or neither depending on his/her mood.
Good thought. We know that Dream has had at least one child.
My guess is probably not.
Keep the questions coming.
Ask him if there are any new developments or plans for Miracleman/Marvelman, either reprints of the existing work by him and Alan Moore, or a continuation of the storyline he never got to finish. I doubt he would go into the legal specifics with you, but I know fans everywhere would love to have that stuff back in print.
Minor Endless Nights spoiler.
Despair v.1 shows up briefly in there.
–Cliffy
Hey middleman, this made me snort chocolate milk out of my nose. Seriously. Keep up the good work.
Neil was a very pleasent man. He seemed a little tired, as would I if I had just flown in from New York after staying up until 1:30 AM singing autographs.
We had a nice little chat regarding our kids. Being That Guy[1], I had to show him a picture of my son. I came away with an autographed first printing of Anansi Boys and an autographed and inscribed first printing of The Wolves in the Walls for Fang.
Unfortunately, because the lines were long, and I didn’t want to monopolize his time, I didn’t have much of a chance to pass on any of the questions.
Oh, and middleman: That other time, when Dream and Delirium are on Earth. And Delirium is driving them. And Matthew is all like, “Ah! Don’t hit that! Watch out for that truck!” That was cool, too.
[1] Those Guys don’t ask for much, just that you sincerely pretend to care.
Sounds like you had a perfectly delightful evening with a writer I admire immensely. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous and DAMN YOU for making me think we’d get any of these questions answered. AARRGH.
The poor guy looked exhausted, and it was only the second day of his tour. I just didn’t have the heart to bug him any more than I had.