See, kt got tickets to an event that she was dying to go to last night, but was unable to because of thanksgiving. So, she gave the tickets she had already gotten to said event to me and Assunta.
We got to meet Neil Gaiman last night.
See, Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, I loved his work before I even knew what it was. I used to read sandman 6 years ago and I never even made the connection to Neil Gaiman until I started buying the books for myself. Neil is the author of a whole shitload of books that you should read if you ever get the chance: Neverwhere,Stardust,American Gods, The Sandman Series,Coraline and Mirrormask.
His books are some of the best I've ever read, so much so that events in the books can still suprise me no matter how many times I've read it in the past. So we went up to Toronto, along with 700 other people, to wait in line for hours for this event. We get in, and one of the first things we get to do is watch clips from his upcoming movie Mirrormask. It was amazing, Mirrormask looks absolutely amazing, combining some of the best of current animation with some of the strangest techniques for movies I've ever seen. It's about a little circus girl who wants to run away and join real life, it takes you inside her dreams... and at some points it was almost like walking through a pop-up book from when we were little kids. Can not wait for that to come out!
The new books, Anansi boys and Smoke and Mirrors.
His new book also just came out. The opening line to Anansi boys is "God is dead. Meet the kids". He did a 20 minute reading from that, what really struck me was, not so much the fact that Neil Gaiman was doing a public reading, but the fact of how well he did it. Sublte little shifts in posture and voice and tone as he switches characters, pauses in the right places. Anyone can read something out loud, but with him it almost made you want to go back to the days when stories were told by the bards in front of a fire. Days when the audience could almost feel the characters in the story were real.
After that, there was a Q and A session, when you got in the door you wrote down a question you'd like to know the answer to and they picked out a stack of them to ask him. Of course someone had to ask: "Don't you think it's ironic that the tag-line for your new book is "God is dead. Meet the kids" and you're currently doing a reading in a church?" To which Neil replied, "Well, I like to think that if there was a god, he, she... it would have a sense of humour and enjoy the book, and if there isn't.... well it's not really going to matter is it?" Some of these questions were weird. "If you were given a pet squirrel, would you let it wear your make-up?" (an: my pet squirrel could wear any of my makeup that he could find) you could tell that he was trying so hard not to laugh through half the questions... and he was so wonderfully snarky!! Q "Can you confirm or deny the rumours that you're going to be working with Joss Whedon at any time on a project?" An: "Absolutely."
After that it was the signing, and you really felt bad for the guy, cause it was 9pm by the time they started and you could tell he was going to be there till about 2 in the morning. And the poor guy had just flown in from doing a signing in vancouver last night! So me and Assunta get up there, having spent almost the entire time in line agonizing over what we should get him to sign and to whom. We finally settled on: Smoke and Mirrors for Assunta Neverwhere for KT Smoke and Mirrors for Drew Anansi Boys and Endless nights for me. So we get up there, and we're still feeling horribly guilty cause KT couldn't come, so we phone her up on Sunta's cell and then hand the phone to Neil Gaiman. I have the distinct feeling she wanted to kill us for a minute there....
All in all, a great event, amazing to meet a favourite author and not have him dissappoint you in real life like so many people do...
That's all, for now, I leave you with a portrait of the character Death from The Sandman Series done by the artist Alan Lee. Cheers!!
Meru at 2:11 AM