Well yesterday he had a book signing at Borders in NYC. And of cousre I went or else I wouldn’t be making this post.
Anyway, I’m aware that none of you know who I am, but that’s ok because I’m very excited and need to tell EVERYONE about yesterday.
So I went to the book signing with my friend Missy. When we got there you got to write down any questions on blue index cards and he might answer them later. I asked if I could write, “Can I give you a hug?” and Missy said, “Can you ask if ‘WE can give you a hug’ ?” So I did.
After Neil Gaiman got there, he introduced himself and read Wolves in the Walls. Then it was time for Q&A. He got my question and I was a little excited and a little embarrassed. He read it and then said, “Sorry, not right now.”
After that was time for the book signing and after about three hours of waiting (which included a rather vigorous game of Coraline racquet ball, that is that me and my friend used our Coraline books to hit a rubber ball back and forth which annoyed the hell out of everyone else one line, but kept us busy) we finally got to go up. Missy said, “We’re the people who asked for a hug” Then Neil Gaiman surpised us and said, “Well I did say yes, didn’t I? Would you like those hugs individually or together?” Both of us didn’t know what to say so he said, “I think individually would be better.” and So we each got a picture hugging Neil Gaiman!
Wheeee! And I’m just so excited that I got to hug Neil Gaiman b/c he’s my favorite author and thought that lots of people should know!
I’ve met Gaiman in person twice, now, and both times I’ve been impressed with how personable and agreeable his is with his fans. No topic is really off-limits to talk about, and he’ll do most anything for his fans, many of whom are very… dedicated. On top of that, he’s a wonderful reader, and hearing him read his own work is an absolute joy. He really knows how to work an audience, whether it’s a dozen people or 500.
jeanster, they just get better from there. Just wait until Brief Lives, or even Dream Country.
Heh…I just started reading Neverwhere - I’m only about 100 pages in, but it is good. I haven’t read anything else by Gaiman, but I thought it was kind of funny that there’s thread about him just as I peek into Cafe Society before heading off to the balcony to read!
My brother owns hundreds of books - surely several by Gaiman. I might end up reading them if I get the chance to search his personal library
He really is an abnormally personable and friendly guy. For a while before the WWW really took off, I was a member of a BBS service called GEnie, and the message boards there had a fan forum for Gaiman’s work, Sandman in particular. Even though the WWW hadn’t taken off yet, there were still rabid fan enclaves all over the place, so a fan forum for a writer or comic book wasn’t that unusual itself, but Gaiman was really involved with it. He’d respond to all the threads, not just the terse responses you expect to get from The Object of Affection of a message board, but detailed answers, chit-chat, whatever.
This was back when I was shameless, so I sent him a really long-winded, gushing fan letter over e-mail, and he sent me a much more detailed and interesting response than the message deserved to get, talking about everything from The Sandman to The Pogues. I was extremely impressed.
And of course his writing is pretty good too. His prose stuff doesn’t impress me all that much, but he’s one of, if not the master of intelligent comic book writing. Dripping with ideas, extremely well-read, but more importantly, able to understand exactly how to combine sources and inspirations and come up with something cool out of it. And he’s got the perfect tone, too – not so serious to be dry and overly cerebral like Alan Moore tends to be, dark where it’s appropriate but not revelling in senseless “grim-n-gritty” stuff like everybody else tends to be, and not so goofy as to be completely trivial. Plus Good Omens is one of my favorite books ever.
I envy you jeanster. That is one fantastic series: deep and bittersweet and… whimsical. Reading it for the first time is quite an experience, and I hope you don’t get spoiled for anything that happens (cordon yourself off!)
Just wanted to chime in and say if you think he’s personable in person (I haven’t had the honor of finding out myself), you should check out his blog. Fun stuff. 'Specially his LotR fanfic parody thing (just a few paragraphs) that should be in the archives somewhere.
He also has a short story on the whatisthamatrix.com website that is great. Some googling with his name and The Matrix oughta find it for you.
I just finished reading his story on whatisthematrix.com. I like his interpretation of the matrix. I think I’m gonna go read Sandman the next chance I get. If this story is any indication, Sandman should be excellent.
I’m envious of any person who has the chance to read Sandman from scratch. Its a great piece of literature. I’m looking forward to is Endless Nights, too.
Gaiman is supposed to be doing something called “1703” (?) for Marvel Comics involving an Elizabethan world of Marvel’s characters.
I read recently that part of the plot is that Nicholas Fury is the head of Queen Elizabeth’s secret police, pitted against Octavius von Doom, known as The Handsome.
I’m also a huge fan of Neil Gaiman from “Black Orchid” to “Sandman” to “Good Omens”, Neil Gaiman is in my top five favorite writers today. Speaking of “1602” the first part comes out this Wednesday.
He does seem to have quite the powerful sway over many of the ladies I know. I can’t say I see it, personally. I think he’s charming and funny, and his accent is great, but I wouldn’t exactly call him “sexy.”
However, many of the girls I’ve talked to at Gaiman signings think he’s pretty hot, and meeting him in person only seems to enhance that impression. I guess I’m just not part of the “target audience,” as it were.
Oddly, I didn’t like American Gods at all. It was something more fundamental than the concepts (much of which I thought were re-hashed from Sandman): I think I actually didn’t like his writing style.
Okay, I am now up to Book 6 of the Sandman series: Fables & Reflections. Love it!
Has anyone here seen the one where Abel tells the story of when Death and Morpheus were little children? I dare anyone to not go all “ooooh and awwww” from seeing them as adorable kids.
“Preludes & Nocturnes” is actually nowhere near as genius as the rest: it feels like more of a conventional DC comic, but it leads into some really, really incredible stuff.
