Neil Gaiman

wolvensnothere:

These are from the Neil Gaiman Signing, last night in Decatur. Eagle Eye Books, NeedCoffee.com, Agnes Scott College? You heard about it.
Now, these are certainly not the Best pictures in the world, but they give you a sense of things.

As I said, last night/early this morning, everything went Really Well. About Neil got in around 5.30, and immediately started signing books for the store. After/During that, he got some tea, and we all generally just hung around a bit as people filed in, and took seats. With the help of the intrepid Widgett, Maegan, and Jenna, friends of Neil got to come backstage and hang out a bit, where smiles and laughs and hugs abounded.

Neil went on right around 7, and read chapter 2 of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and did a great Q&A session with the audience. After the Q&A we had a brief break to let everyone collect themselves, and to start forming the signing line.

The signing line went with the precision and touching compassion of a freaking huggable robot factory. Neil was great with everyone, and had a tiny bit of chat with each fan who came up, and even sung happy birthday to one lucky lady. Some people decided that the wait was a bit too much for them, and opted for one of the presigned books, but everyone who stayed got in and out by 1am on the dot. Luckily, no one was, in fact, there for Author Murder. :)

Neil got good food—both homemade and from Leon’s Full Service—and good tea. UnknownBinaries hit the DeKalb Farmer’s Market for loose tea, both black and green, and provided her own personal French press and tea ball. She and Leslie went and got another mug when it was needed, and Leslie also provided Milk (whole and Almond), and a cooler full of ice, which came in SUPER handy, later in the evening.

I cannot express enough how good it was to see people in the crowd. Friends, former roommates, trivia friends, people I used to see at the coffee shop all the time, husbands of coworkers. It was Really wonderful.

At one point, I got to go up to the overflow room (who had the best A/C in the house, all night) and hold a tiny trivia contest for a bottle of one of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Brand New Coraline scents: The Other Mother’s Right Hand. The trivia question: Who provided the Singing voice for Coraline’s [Other] father, in the movie version?

All my admiration and respect to Cat Mihos, for everything she does. She is a superhero, an incarnate deva. Some kind of logistical goddess. For Real.

Everyone had a fine time. Just a fine time.

Now, if you were one of the unfortunate many who were unable to get a ticket in time to come out last night, never you fear: Eagle Eye Books has literally hundreds of signed copies of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, just waiting for someone like you to come through and pick them up. Or order them online.

Thank you, everyone, for a fantastic night.