Lego and Sawdust

Backstory Part 1: Neil Gaiman is a fantastic author. He has written so many great things in so many genres that it makes me wonder what it’s like to live in his head. It must be quite crowded in there. American Gods and Neverwhere are on my list of favourite books, and have been since the end of the second chapter of each.

Backstory Part 2: Esther contacted me and told me (she knew from Britain, I didn’t know and it was 2 miles from my house) that a local bookseller had a Hallowe’en party to celebrate the release of Neil’s The Graveyard Book, a retelling of the Jungle Book story set in a graveyard. Bookstores across the continent had parties and documented them so Mr Gaiman could choose his favourite and visit that bookstore for a reading. We didn’t attend the party, but Winnipeg was chosen as a winner anyway. On the tie between Decatur, Georgia and Winnipeg, Neil had this to say:

I wondered if I could legitimately award points for climate, or for whether I actually wanted to go there or not, (suddenly throwing Octavia Books in New Orleans into the lead), or deduct points for it being probably rather cold in, say, Winnipeg, in the winter.

In the end he declared a tie and went to both.

End of backstory. The point of the post is that on December 15, 2009, Neil Gaiman came to Winnipeg and we went to see him, along with about 800 other people:

He read a good-sized section of Odd and the Frost Giants and answered a number of questions from the crowd. He read and spoke at a podium in the center of the large crowd, and we were fortunate enough to be right in front of him:

He was a witty and intelligent speaker, as one would expect from his writing, and he has a deep voice and a not-too-strong British accent. I think he should be required by law to narrate everything. Yes, everything.

Afterwards he went over to a seating area and signed books. Staff was walking around throughout the evening handing out slips of paper with random 1-to-10 numbers on them, and people were to be called in numerical order. All the 1′s first, then the 2′s, etc. We were in the middle somewhere (6, I think) and we were ready for a long wait, and it was after 9pm by this time. Then, in a wonderful show of empathy and class, Mr Gaiman announced that he has kids and he knows how difficult it is for kids to sit for things like this, so anyone with small children would be taken first, before anyone else. I think this took the handlers by surprise, but it was wonderful news for us. (Thanks, Neil!)

He was surprisingly open, and he chatted with the kids for a minute. A very pleasant guy. We discussed the origins of our name and his (they are very similar) and he drew a picture in The Graveyard Book and signed the others with little comments.

Here’s me looking like I’m going to leap over the table and attack him:

Here’s McNally Robinson’s writeup of the event, with more photos.

A good time was had by all, though it was a little late for some:

And, as a sad footnote, that McNally Robinson Bookselller was closed very shortly after in a cost-saving measure for the company. :(

I’ve been meaning to post reviews of the books I read as I read them, but I never get to that. So, here’s a data dump of all the books I’ve read in the past couple of months as I make notes on them and erase them from my ebook reader.

Alvin Maker - a fantastic series from Orson Scott Card. A 7 book alternate history of early America, where earth-type magic is real and people have “knacks”, which are minor magical talents such as making people feel at home or making barrels that never leak. Alvin knows from childhood that his power is something special. He is a “maker”, someone who can alter and create anything, as a force for good in the world. Of course, the world is full of petty, jealous and ambitious people who have something to say about that. I’ve read the first 4 (Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin and Alvin Journeyman) pretty much back to back because I want to know how it turns out. Riveting.

Starfire: Insurrection by David Weber and Steve White – I loved David Weber’s “Empire of Man” series with John Ringo, but I couldn’t get into the Honor Harrington books that he wrote on his own. This series looks like another non-starter for me. Three times I’ve tried to start it, and three times I’ve been confused and angry by the time I finished the first chapter. I feel like I can’t figure out who is doing what and who everybody is, even just a few pages in. I guess it’s the John Ringo part of the Empire of Man that I like…

Adventures, Encounters, Exploits by Mike Resnick – These are three separate novels detailing the adventures of a scoundrel in British colonial times. He goes by “The Right Reverend Honorable Doctor Lucifer Jones”, and he has decided that the best way to make a quick buck is to set up a church somewhere and rake in the dough. These books document his stumbling from one scam to the next trying to raise enough money to build his “Tabernacle of Saint Luke” and settle down. In Adventures, he eventually gets kicked out of every country in Africa, so he moves to the Orient in Encounters, and then by necessity moves to Europe in Exploits. The first is gut-busting funny. The next two are more of the same, but they seem to get rather formulaic and a bit bland. Enjoyable, nonetheless.

The World Jones Made, by Philip K Dick is the story of a man who can see exactly one year into the future, and therefore lives every moment twice. The story is told from the perspective of a government agent in the big-brotherish organization that is tasked with investigating him. Dark, philosophical and surprisingly readable for a Dick novel. I’m surprised there isn’t a very poor nothing-like-the-book movie adaptation yet.

The Sirens Of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a bizarre little book, a science-fiction acid trip. It radically changes gears and becomes a different book at least three times during the course of the story. It’s very enjoyable and I will definitely read it again, but all the way through it I couldn’t help this nagging feeling that I was back in high school and I should be writing an essay on what each character and event symbolized.

Heart of the Comet by David Brin and Gregory Benford - I like Gregory Benford, and David Brin is one of my favorite authors (Kiln People is brilliant) so I jumped when I saw this. It was more than I expected. A massive tale of scientists who set up a research station on Halley’s Comet and ride it through a full 70+ year orbit. The entire story is well told, has a fascinating group of characters, and takes a couple of sudden right-angles at two different points in the book that leave you wondering where it’s going. You don’t wonder long, as the story picks up and rockets off in the new direction and you can’t help but get pulled along. It’s got deep things to contemplate about human/machine interactions, racism, community and the definition of “human”. Exciting, meaningful, deep and well written, it’s a keeper for sure.

End of part one, more tomorrow.