Neil Gaiman

fipindustries: the best of give up-gaiman One of those...

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:15:10 -0500

the best of give up-gaiman

One of those “if I could turn back time 12 hours and not put up that photo” moments…

"When was super depressed, I wasn’t working—I was always too depressed. Hemingway did his best work..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:01:08 -0500

“

When was super depressed, I wasn’t working—I was always too depressed. Hemingway did his best work when he didn’t drink, then he drank himself to death and blew his head off with a shotgun. Someone asked John Cheever, “What’d you learn from Hemingway?” and he said “I learned not to blow my head off with a shotgun.” I remember going to the Michigan poetry festival, meeting Etheridge Knight there and Robert Creeley. Creeley was so drunk—he was reading and he only had one eye, of course, and had to hold his book like two inches from his face using his one good eye. But you look at somebody like George Saunders—I think he’s the best short story writer in English alive—that’s somebody who tries very hard to live a sane, alert life.

You’re present when you’re not drinking a fifth of Jack Daniel’s every day. It’s probably better for your writing career, you know? I think being tortured as a virtue is a kind of antiquated sense of what it is to be an artist.

”

- In an interview with The Fix, Mary Karr debunks the toxic mythology that it is necessary to be damaged in order to be creative. My own vehement defiance to that mythology is what led me to choose Ray Bradbury – the ultimate epitome of creating from joy rather than suffering – as the subject of my contribution to The New York Times’ The Lives They Lived.

Pair with Karr on why writers write.

(via explore-blog)

mbrainspaz: Neil Gaiman’s, ‘That’s all I’ve got’ face. By now,...

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:04 -0500

mbrainspaz:

Neil Gaiman’s, ‘That’s all I’ve got’ face. By now, twenty people have probably already done this, but I’ve had a boring morning so have another anyway. :)

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A Free Short Story by Neil Gaiman, Plus a Preview of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:58:53 -0500

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A Free Short Story by Neil Gaiman, Plus a Preview of The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

minimal-pilgrim:

Something to make you smile:

A free download from audible.com of Neil Gaiman reading his Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and H.P. Lovecraft inspired short-story ‘Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar’ from his collection “Smoke and Mirrors.”

(It also has a preview of “The Ocean at the End of the Lane.”)

Not to be rude, but could you specify what makes you uncomfortable? Amazon's monetisation of fanfiction or fanfiction itself? I have met too many people that might take such a quote out of context to attack fanfiction writers and make them feel bad, even though the original author has nothing against fanfiction. Thank you.

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:19:50 -0500

Not to be rude, but did you read the Scalzi article I linked to? The one I said I agreed with? I think that specified exactly what made me uncomfortable.

And, because it hasn’t been reposted here in weeks, here is what I think of fan fiction: http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/21746253134/neil-gaimans-opinion-on-fanfiction

Why I probably do not hate you

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:11:22 -0500

Every now and again, like this morning, I get sad/upset/angry/frustrated asks from people whose previous asks I haven’t answered, and who think it’s because I do not like them or their questions. And it’s not either of those things. So…

This is to reiterate:

1) I get about 100 asks in a day. Sometimes more. Never fewer than 50. I can’t answer 50 asks a day. It would be a full time job. I have lots of full time jobs already.

2) Right now I’ve got almost 20,000 of them sitting in the inbox. The way that Tumblr works, I can’t search old ones, can’t really do anything to archive them or even easily get to last week’s ones. If you sent in an ask when I was on the road and a lot came in I may not even have seen it, because I have only so much time to sit and scroll down. It’s unfair but that’s the way it is.

3) If I didn’t answer you it doesn’t ever mean anything more than, I didn’t answer you. I may not have seen it. I may have meant to answer and then a few hundred messages came in and I never saw it again. (This happens a lot.)

4) There are a lot of questions that come in that are very unlikely to get answered because they have been answered before. The possibility of my answering you, having read what you sent in, is much much lower if I answered the same thing yesterday. Or last week.

5) The Archives of this Tumblr are your friend. So is the blog over at http://journal.neilgaiman.com/ and its archives. I’ve been answering questions for about 12 years. There are lots of answers out there. Someone has already asked me what I think of Fan Fiction (I think it is a good thing) or if I would ever want to be show runner for Doctor Who (I wouldn’t) and I have answered them, lots of times.

And that’s all I got.

(Here is a photo taken by Kim Butler of me making my That’s All I Got face. I hope it helps. )

Hi Neil! You may or may not have heard about the new fan fiction platform that Amazon is launching (Kindle Worlds, I believe it's called). If you've heard of it (there's a post going around tumblr about it), what are your thoughts? I myself don't like the idea of fan fiction becoming monetized in this way, but am I jumping to conclusions?

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:45:00 -0500

See the post that I put up on this a couple of days ago, linking to Scalzi’s blog.

Short answer, it makes me uncomfortable. (Having said that, I learned that fanfiction existed when I was about 15 because I read a professionally published collection of the best of Star Trek fanfiction. So I do not have problems with the concept of professionally publishing fan fiction, if the rights holders are comfortable with it. I’m more uncomfortable with Amazon’s role in this.)

The ticket for the Nashville signing covers the book as well, so I'm wondering: will they be hardcovers or paperbacks?

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:40:36 -0500

All of the books that come free with the tickets to the signings on the tour will be first edition hardbacks. The paperbacks won’t come out for a year.

ghouliesandghosties: Alright, NOW I can finally announce what...

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:16:10 -0500

ghouliesandghosties:

Alright, NOW I can finally announce what I’ve been keeping bottled up for ages!

It is worth noting that this is the most exciting and fantastic thing that has ever happened to me. I’ve always dreamed about illustrating a Gaiman book, and this is more than I ever could have hoped for.

Neil Gaiman’s Calendar of Tales website is finally up, and I am very flattered and very honored to announce that he chose my illustration for November. I remember finding out while I was at work and sitting in front of my computer and crying on the library books. Now the kind comment he’s written is making me cry again. I’m a bit of a mess right now.

I don’t think I can express how honored I feel to have been part of this, and how happy I am that I was able to give back a little. Neil’s work is incredibly inspirational to me. I have been lucky enough to meet him twice (and Amanda Palmer once as well!), and I cannot say enough how wonderful they are.

Please do go and look at all the wonderful submissions, and check September for my friend Katie’s submission!

And again Neil (I already tweeted this at you, but I’m going to shout it into the void of the internet yet again in the hope that it will reach you), thank you a thousand times! I can’t say that enough.

Fair warning: This will come across as impertinent, though I don't mean it that way at all. How many times was your first book rejected by agents when you first queried? (I'm asking because I adore your writing. I'm wondering how many people are now kicking themselves for 'what could have been'.)

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:55:00 -0500

I didn’t think to get an agent until I’d had my fourth book published.

My first book-sale was off an outline that I sent to about five publishers. Three said no, one bought it and one is still going to get back to me. My second I was called by a publisher and asked to write it.

About book four I decided it was time to get an agent, so I chose the agent who had just sold book four in the US for the UK publisher for a lot of money, and she’s been my agent ever since.

A little over a year ago, you posted a link to Hot Key Books' first ever contest, The Young Writer's Prize, and I wouldn't have known about it if you hadn't. I entered and made it to the finals, and though I didn't win, I'm now more confident as a writer and feel like this is something I can pursue. Thank you for posting about it, and for continuously supporting young writers! :)

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:53:50 -0500

You are so welcome, and congratulations for making it to the finals! HOT KEY books was founded my Sarah Odedina, who had been my editor for a decade at Bloomsbury, and is one of the best people in the world.

My first author copy arrived. I am proud as Punch. It’s a...

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:29:10 -0500

My first author copy arrived. I am proud as Punch. It’s a beautiful design.

View more Neil Gaiman on WhoSay

The final one of the BlackBerry Keep Moving videos. This one was...

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:07:30 -0500

The final one of the BlackBerry Keep Moving videos. This one was filmed last month in the UK, in Regent’s Park, in the St Pancras Hotel, and in Soho, where I had dinner with some of the artists… The end of it is magical.

So I was wondering, I live in the middle of nowhere and really am not able to attended a book signing or event you are at. I know you can get presigned copies of The Ocean at The End of The Lane. Was wondering if you ever presign any of your older books? Stardust is my favorite and would love a signed copy.

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:53:00 -0500

I’ll be signing a lot of books for the various bookstores I’ll be attending on the tour. I’m sure some of them will have copies left after the signings. Email or call them afterwards and see what they’ve got and if they’ll ship.

Audible is offering an excerpt of the audiobook for THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE if you pick up COLD COLORS, which is free. Question: What are the differences between the US & UK versions of the audiobook for THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE, besides the covers?

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:52:20 -0500

Not sure. Maybe a couple of words are different (I probably recorded “apple-pie bed” and “short sheet”, which are descriptions of the same thing in the UK and US edition of the book respectively). But there are almost no differences between the two editions.

The Keep Moving Projects with BlackBerry 10, Featuring Neil Gaiman

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:44:02 -0500

The Keep Moving Projects with BlackBerry 10, Featuring Neil Gaiman:

People have been asking me now for a while about when the Calendar of Tales website would go live. And the answer is, today. It’s really beautiful. They did an amazing job. Go and look.

So much wonderful art was made by people for this project.

(You can see a lot of the art at http://keepmoving.blackberry.com/desktop/en/us/ambassador/neil-gaiman.html along with my comments on the winning images.)

Water Tower In Chelsea Manifests A Secret Life

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:15:00 -0500

Water Tower In Chelsea Manifests A Secret Life:

A water tower atop a neglected building in Chelsea hosted a discreet nightclub for adventurous guests who had been given a mysterious timepiece.

…

And for the record, this was every bit as magical and mysterious and unexpected as you might imagine. The night we were there, the bass-and-accordion band recognised Amanda and told her they knew Missed Me. So I sat in a secret watertower nightclub while she sang and was perfectly happy.

I realize you get many, many asks a day so I might send this multiple times, but I hope I can get an answer. 1. How much will signings cost at Comic Con? 2. Can I get more than one book/item signed?

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:35:57 -0500

1) Nothing. I don’t charge to sign at conventions.

2) Probably not.

The last few times I’ve been at SDCC, the signing line was done by some kind of lottery or by a limited number of tickets being available somewhere or other (the CBLDF booth, for example). I’d be given an hour to sign in, and given a hundred or so people to sign for in that hour. So the trick is to be in those hundred people.

I made it rebloggable right when it happened, but no one noticed. I guess the sassy gif made all the difference. Life lesson? Yeah.

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:03:33 -0500

Nope, it was the person who did it sending me a message on this ask line with the link to the post in it that did it. I did not go looking for them. (Life lesson is actually probably something more like, if you do something clever or useful, tell people about it.)

From http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2013/05/22/video-mashup-neil-gaim...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:45:45 -0500

From http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2013/05/22/video-mashup-neil-gaimans-speech-zen-pencils-comic-come-together-to-make-good-art… a great animation of the comic, with me talking.