Neil Gaiman Book Signing

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FullerH

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Nov 25, 1998
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I went to a book signing by Neil Gaiman last night at the local Borders, as indicated by this quote from a different thread:
shaldaq said:
You don't need to, Hugh. I'm a big Gaiman fan.
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FullerH said:
He is on book tour for his new novel, Anansi Boys, and will be speaking at the Borders in Baileys Crossroads, VA, about 15 minutes from my house. Guess where I'll be Sunday evening, with my ticket to get my copy of the book signed, etc. They are raffling off a $200 statue of Morpheus to raise money for hurricane relief, so I'll be buying a tivket or three, though I have no earthly idea what I'd do with the thing if I actually won it.
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I didn't win the raffle, but his talk was really fascinating. He had a story about his writing carrer that I found both funny and interesting. The first was way back in the late 1980s when he was a movie and music critic for a London paper and he was asked to write a biography of a popular musician. He responded that he would love to do a bio of David Bowie. The lady from the publisher said that he didn't quite undersatand, that he had 3 -4 choices, including Duran Duran and Barry Manilow. He chose Duran Duran and, in due course, produced a bio of him, which he hated. It turned out that it sold rather well and he made a bunch of money off of it, enough that he considered making writing books his full-time job. But he decided against that as he felt that he would go crazy writing full-time about things that held no interest for him, so he continued his newspaper work and continued to build a followiing for his fantasy writing. Eventually, as we know, he became a best-selling author as a fantasy writer and genuine media personality all on his own. Some years later, he was at a yacht party and met Duran Duran and mentioned that he had written a bio of Duran Duran. Duran Duran asked which one it was and Gaiman named it. Duran Duran said, "Oh, the one with the grey cover. That was one of the best ones." To which Gaiman noted to us, "You can never know."

When I got to him for my book signing, I was number 185, I said, "I want to thank you for all of the pleasure that your books and graphic novels have given me. I am on my fifth reading of the Sandman Series and each time that I read it, I find more in it." A very tired Neil Gaiman broke into a big grin and stood up to shake my hand and to thank me for my compliment, saying also that he had intentionally written the Sandman Series so that, as you read each story, each collection of stories, and the entire arc as a unity, different things would appear and that he was glad to hear that it had worked. I went away happy to have offered him something.

I heard form others in the line that he had been some 5-6 hours on Saturday at the National Book Fair on the Mall signing books, and he looked it. But he was still quite a funny and animated speaker and I recommend that you go to see him if you have the chance while he is on tour for his latest novel, The Anansi Boys.
 
You should have seen some of the folks who turned out last night. One was dressed as Destiny, another as Destruction, a third as Delerium, complete to her orange hair, and several young women had their eyes marked with the "Eye of Horus" markings that Death wears. For those who are not familiar with Gaiman's Sandman Series, these are four of the seven "Endless", anthropromorphized seminal spirits, I suppose you could call them. I assume that the dude in Renfair garb was trying to be Destruction, what with his ponytail and beard, as I seriously doubt that anyone would have the nerve to show up at a Gaiman event in Renfair costume, given Gaiman's stated opinions about Renfairs.

There were a lot of Goths of the modern kind, not of Dark Ages variety. Are Goths particularly fond of Gaiman or does he attract those who want to look like his Death character?
 
Not being a Goth myself, I don't know. I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself, Hugh. It is extremely difficult for me to get to book signings and the like. Since I have 2 1/2 year-old twins, it is rare the we get evenings out.

I did buy the book, though.
 
My mom went to see a few authors speak at once. I think like 4 spoke, and Neil Gaiman was one of them. I'm disappointed I didn't get to hear him speak, but he drew a pretty cool pic of a moon on the inside and wrote "sweet dreams".
 
shaldag said:
Not being a Goth myself, I don't know. I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself, Hugh. It is extremely difficult for me to get to book signings and the like. Since I have 2 1/2 year-old twins, it is rare the we get evenings out.

I did buy the book, though.
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Shaldaq, been there and done that, twice. I am now 62, nearly 63 and have a thirty-two year old son with children that age and an eighteen year old daughter. It is time for me to let go and let God handle them and enjoy being a grandad. As the Marines used to say of fellow Marines checking in at the Pearly Gates, "Another Marine reporting, Sir. I've served my time in Hell."
 
The only book signing I've ever been to was by Neil Gaiman. I got him to sign my copies of Smoke and Mirrors and Sandman #50 (Ramadan).

I'm in the middle of American Gods right now, and waiting for the girlfriend to finish with the first three issues of the new Marvel 1602 miniseries. Neil get around these days. :D
 
I saw him speak at MIT back in 2001, along with Harlan Ellison and this other guy who had two first names... Peter Brian... David Peter... something like that.

Very enjoyable evening, save for the fact that that was when my wallet was lost/stolen. :mad:
 
I read it and enjoyed it quite a lot. It has the Anansi or Spider God from American Gods in it, although he dies early on in the book, sot of. He is a god, after all, and a trickster god at that. The book is really about his two sons and how they learn about one another and then learn to get along.

I had bought a copy for my son, a Gaiman fan, and had it autographed for him. Here is his email to me on it:
Dad,

I just finished Anansi Boys. Very interesting, and laugh-out-loud funny in several places. Thank you for it!

I'm sure that you already know this, but Neil Gaiman has a weblog:
http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/

Thanks again.

Love,
Rob
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Actually, I did know of his weblog but I didn't know the address.
 
Has anyone been to see his new film, "MirrorMask" that just opened? How do you like it?

Also, does anyone have the dvds of Neverwhere, the film version? If so, how are they?
 
IT JUST OPENED!!! I AM SO THERE. THANKS. KEEP AN EYE THIS THREAD FOR A REVIEW BY THE END OF THIS WEEKEND!
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Walking Man, I am niot certain why this should be, but there is only one theater playing the MirrorMask in the Washington, DC, meropolitan area and that is way downtown at 11th and E Sts., NW, in Washington, DC. There is almost no place to park down there and I am not able to ride the subway at the moment because my knee is in such bad shape. I hope that the film stays around until I have sufficiently recuperated from my knee replacement surgery, now scheduled for 11/14/05, for me to go see it. I wonder why it is running in but one theater? This is the same strategy used by the original Star Wars film and it seemed to work for them, building great demand for the film before it went into general release, and I can hope that this is what they plan to do with MirrorMask. Or, are they afraid that there is not a sufficient market for a general release?
 
Well now! I guess that I and my bum leg will have to go down to see it, if at all possible.
 
I caught up with him some years ago. He signed the Death mini-series for me. Still a treasure to me.
 
If I don't see it now, I'll rent it at home. I don't see it as being a must see on a big screen, like some movies. I think this one will be just fine on my (rather large) small screen.
My copy of the Anansi Boys just came in, and I ripped through the first two pages. Neil really knows how suck you into a story. :) :thumbup: :cool:
 
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