Driving Around With The Dream King

I got all excited today about going to use the library for the first time today in 2008! After my last post, I had a few suggestions that I read something shorter to break the monotony of this chunkster that I'm in the middle of. Then I read this wonderful review of The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain that Becky wrote, so I was going to go get it at my library. Then I started thinking of other stuff I wanted to check out ;) Oh yes...this could just as much of a hindrance to my TBR shelf as the bookstore, but at least I'm not adding permanently to the TBR shelf. I was also going to check out Alice in Sunderland since I've been dying to read it since Nymeth's review and I've been wanting to listen to Neil Gaiman's American Gods on Audiobook for ages, so I was going to get that too! Well needless to say, I'm so disappointed with our library system here. We have 12 libraries in our parish...yes 12 libraries that I can use my card at!! Not a single one of them carries any of those three items...not even the Mark Twain book! I searched the online catalog and I called. No luck. It makes me so mad!

Well after that, I had a craving for American Gods on audiobook and I just happen to have a brand new shiny iPod that I treated myself to last weekend ;) So I went to iTunes, and of course they don't carry it. But I did find the author's preffered, complete unabridged text of Neverwhere read by Neil Gaiman and bought it! It's an audio book, so it's fair game. It's not taking up shelf room and I listen to it while I drive or walk, so it's not cutting into other reading time :p I am in love with this thing so far and I'm only 2 chapters in! I've always loved Neverwhere. It's my favorite of Gaiman's after American Gods. I've never really been sold on audio books before, but now I see how they can work. To hear an author read their own work is truly an amazing experience. I didn't want to get out of my car. It's wonderful to hear the story exactly as Gaiman intended it, exactly as he saw the scenes and created the characters. And I could just listen to Gaiman's voice for hours....as I will be because it's nearly 13 hours long. Seriously, this man has a voice that is meant for reading things aloud and you can hear his passion for his work in his voice. It makes me appreciate his work that much more. Carl has been plugging this one for quite some time and I don't know why it took me so long to buy it, but I'm so glad I did. I add my recommendation. Neverwhere is an incredibly unique, dark, eerie, quirky story and the audiobook adds a whole new dimension to it...and it's great to revisit the story again.

A Post Of Things...

I was keeping this one under wraps for a few days because I didn't know if it was really going to happen, but it looks like it will now. You've heard me rave about Brandon Mull's Fablehaven books on my site before. If you haven't read them yet, I can't recommend enough that you go out and pick up copies of his first two books in the series. They're written for children/young adults, but can certainly be enjoyed by readers of all ages. They're a couple of my favorite young adult books to be written in a long time. It's fantasy/fairy folk/mythical creature story telling adventure delight all told with a complete air of pure fun. Well about a month ago, I got an email from Brandon Mull's publisher asking me if I would be interested in reviewing the third book which is due out on April 8th. It's called Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague. Now it looks like not only am I going to get to review it, but I'm getting an interview with Brandon Mull! Needless to say, I'm thrilled. So I'm letting everyone know in case you have any questions you'd like to ask. The interview is going to focus mostly on the third book in the series, but if you have any questions for him (I already have a couple from Deslily) I'll be more than happy to try to fit them in and see if I can get some answers ;)

I'm also back to trying to do a little bit of editing on my own book, A Sunset in Nowhere, that I wrote for NaNoWriMo and I'm really excited about it now! Why, you might ask? It's become a collaboration with Megan! I want to do a Stardust type of thing with it...the Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess version of Stardust that is. Megan is an amazing artist and she's done a comic in the past with a friend of ours as well as quite a few of her own creation. It's one of the many things that first attracted me to her. So she has my book now (in it's god-awful first draft) and she's going to start drawing some scenes that will be interlaced throughout the book. I can't wait to actually see some of my characters!! I have a few examples here of some of the pieces that she's given me, but none of her characters. I wish I had them to show you! The first two are a series of "hand drawings" that she's done for me...the first for our 1 year anniversary and the second for another anniversary. The third is a little Buddha that she drew me for Christmas this year. My photos don't do any of these justice.

And finally, I had to go download "Oh, you pretty thing" by David Bowie today and put it on my iPod because I couldn't stop singing it after I got my copy of Coraline in the mail from Subterranean Press! It's by far the most beautiful edition I've ever bought from Subterranean. I'm just blown away by it. The new McKean art is gorgeous, the Irish puppet production photos are incredible and it's signed by Gaiman and McKean :D And I got a really early copy...number 174 of 1000. There are still some copies left for sale on the website...go get it!!!

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

What's left to say about Neil Gaiman? There won't be any surprises here. Fragile Things is another masterpiece by the master of modern fantasy. For those who don't know, Fragile Things is another collection of Neil Gaiman's short fiction and poetry. This is my second journey into his short stories this year. My first was with his book, Smoke and Mirrors which I adored. In fact, I'd place Smoke and Mirrors higher on my list of favorite Gaiman books than Fragile Things. This isn't to say that the stories in Fragile Things weren't superb, I just enjoyed the ones in Smoke and Mirrors even more.

But this review is focusing on Fragile Things! Once again, he starts off the book with a wonderful introduction in which he gives some background on each one of the stories and poems in the book which I think is so cool. It adds a special little touch to each story to know why it was written or the inspiration for it..."lagniappe" as we call it in New Orleans. For Smoke and Mirrors I gave detailed descriptions for each story that I enjoyed, and I'm not going to do that for this one, because this review would be ridiculously long. But I really did enjoy every story in this book! Not all of them were favorites, but each one was an enjoyable read.

Gaiman's main gift is that his stories are so unique. They aren't something that you've heard before. Even his retelling of classic tales become brand new. He's a writer who can have the month of October tell a story, can personify an albums worth of Tori Amos songs, can perfectly describe the atmosphere of New Orleans on a muggy night, can create a beautiful poem that you want stenciled onto your walls, tell countless stories that all haunt and remain vivid, and best of all they're all packaged neatly into one beautiful book with a novella at the end that revisits Shadow from my favorite novel of his, American Gods.

I don't do well with short stories usually, but Gaiman makes anything work. I just love reading his short stories and hope that we have more collections to see from him in the future...though of course some more novels would be nice too. I'm anxiously awaiting the Graveyard Book now! So guess what...this actually concludes the RIP challenge for me! Well, it concludes my official reads. I signed up for 6 official reads, so I'm done my obligation. Now, I'm reading just for fun and will continue to read nothing but bonus RIP reads for the rest of the month of October!

Stardust, Short Story Sunday, And A Sad Article

I finally made it out to see Stardust tonight and I was so pleased with it! I can't wait for the DVD release of this movie now and I came home wanting to dive right back into the novel for the second time this year. The movie started out a bit rocky for me. It took me a little while to get out of critic mode. My main complaints were with the beginning of the movie in that it was too rushed, the every 9 years fair didn't exist (it was instead just a part of "Stormhold"), and all of Faerie became known as simply Stormhold...but I can overlook that with how wonderful the rest of the movie was done. Sure there were some other parts that weren't exactly like the book, but what movie is?

The casting was absolutely wonderful! Claire Daines as Yvaine was a perfect fit. She played the part wonderfully and I think they did a terrific job with translating her character onto the screen. Michelle Pfeifer deserves a nomination for her portrayal as Lamia. She did such an amazing job and I so looked forward to her screen time. Her final battle was superb. Charlie Cox as Trist(r)an was another great casting decision. This guy did such a great job with the part. Perfectly done. And Deniro...I was so leary about what they were doing with Captain Shakespeare, but it was....well, fabulous.

The ending, which I won't talk about, was totally different from the book...well not totally, but yes totally, you'll just have to see for yourself. But it worked for the movie version. I wish that they would have filmed the book ending as well to put on the DVD, but Neil has already said on his blog that they did not :(

All in all, I was very pleased with the movie, the special effects were amazing, the acting was top notch, and the story...well it's Gaiman! Entertainment at it's best. I loved it. For fans of the book, as hard as it is, go into it realizing that no book is going to translate perfectly to the screen...some changes are going to have to be made for the wider audience and for times sake. Just pretend that Peter Jackson didn't do such a good job with Lord of the Rings :p

Next topic: I've decided that I'm still adding stuff to the RIP Challenge! I'm also going to take up the additional peril of Short Story Sunday. For this peril, I'm going to be imbibing in the Wizards collection, which contains 18 stories by some amazing authors. This will work out nicely with 2 stories per Sunday, so I think I'm going to start that this Sunday! And it begins with the first chapter of Neil Gaiman's forthcoming The Graveyard Book!

And finally, I wanted to point everyone to this very disappointing article on CNN's website that you may have seen floating around on other people's blogs. It's an article about the reading habits of Americans. According to the article, "One in four Americans read no books last year". I couldn't believe that! That's so sad. The whole article is sad really. I sort of surround myself in this little book blogging bubble where everyone reads and forget how small of a chunk of the population we really are. It's unfortunate that more of us don't read. The "typical reader" of America....the person who actually does read, still only reads 4 books a year. Which I'm not complaining about, that's still wonderful! But it's so sad how unpopular reading has become. So I really, honestly want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone out there who does sponsor these reading challenges, or works as a librarian, or works in a bookstore, or writes, or reads, or recommends a book to a friend. It's important to keep books out there and to keep those minds working!

OK, I'm off my high horse :p

Smoke And Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

"Stories are, in one way or another, mirrors. We use them to explain to ourselves how the world works or how it doesn't work. Like mirrors, stories prepare us for the day to come. They distract us from the things in the darkness."

Smoke and Mirrors is Neil Gaiman's first collection of short stories, or as he subtitles the book: Short Fictions and Illusions. This book was perfect! It was just the book that I've been waiting for after the reading slump that I've been in. I knew that I wouldn't be disappointed with Neil Gaiman, but I was even more pleased with these than I thought I would be.

As I read through these stories, I found myself continually amazed by the scope of Neil Gaiman's work. The man has an endless array of the most unique, far-fetched, bizarre, fully entertaining, haunting, and genius ideas and he writes them all so well. Put in the wrong hands, some of these story ideas could turn out really awful, but Gaiman makes them true literature (I'd love to hear what our Once Upon a Time basher blogger friend has to say about that sentence!). I have no doubt that Gaiman will live on as one of the great fantasy/horror writers of our time...he's already secured the title for himself in my book and in many others'.

Smoke and Mirrors starts off with a wonderful introduction that includes one of my favorite stories in the book "The Wedding Present". He then goes on to give a little history behind each short story in the collection which I absolutely loved. One very cool thing that I noticed from the intro is that 3 of the stories in this collection are based on sculptures by Lisa Snellings-Clark. He also mentions a sculpture of hers that he has sitting on his mantelpiece that he "suspects is a novel"....I'd be curious to know if that will see the light of day.

I enjoyed nearly every story in this collection, and counting "The Wedding Present", you get 31 stories in this book! Some of my favorites were:

Chivalry: about a woman who buys the Holy Grail at a thrift store

The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories: about a man who flies to L.A. to meet with Hollywood execs who are interested in a screenplay he has written. While there, he meets a very interesting janitor who holds age old secrets of the hotel he is staying at.

Troll Bridge: a young boy runs into a troll under a bridge and makes a deal that his life will be spared until the next time he crosses.

Changes: A man invents a cure for cancer that also changes the gender of the person who uses the drug...the drug soon gains a street value.

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A tourist happens upon an English pub and meets a couple of strangers who buy him a couple of drinks....a strange night ensues.

Looking for the Girl: A man spends the better part of his life looking for a girl that continually pops up in Penthouse as a nineteen year old model.

Bay Wolf: Modern take on an ancient epic.

We Can Get Them For You Wholesale: I really liked this one. A man decides to put a hit out on one person and decides that he can't pass up a bargain....

One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock: Another favorite, this one was nostalgic...about a few young boys at school, their favorite author and the problems of life.

Foreign Parts: Alien STDs...

When We Went to See the End of the World: Written by an "11 1/4 year old", a tale of a young girl who goes with her parents for a drive to the end of the world. Very sad at times...deals with issues of abuse.

Babycakes: Very disturbing, but meaningful story about animal cruelty.

Murder Mysteries: The investigation of a fallen angel's death

Snow, Glass, Apples: Another absolute favorite, Neil's much darker telling of Snow White. The kiddies won't like this one ;)

OK, so I should've just given a summarization of all of them :p This was such a great collection and I can't wait to read Fragile Things now! I'm very excited to have another collection of his short stories waiting for me. I just can't believe I waited this long to get to this one. If you're looking for a book for the RIP challenge in September (right around the corner) this is a definite winner.

Tiny Revelations and Being Bad!

The results from Carl's Tiny Stories contest are in and the stories are all amazing. I have to give a big round of applause to everyone who participated in this one. I really enjoyed reading everyone's stories and the amount of effort put into these really shows. They were all top notch. Many were very touching and all of them were quite powerful. Elaine's (Quixotic) amazing story Father took home the top award, and rightfully so. Very touching, haunting, and something I can relate to. Great job ;)

For those not in the know, the contest was to write a story that was exactly 100 words and you could not repeat the same word twice! Very challenging. If you haven't tried it already, you really should. It was quite fun. My story was titled Jaden's Nakaya. Jaden was to be the main character of my NaNoWriMo story and Nakaya was the world in which it was set, but that idea has been laid aside for now and a new one has taken it's place...but I'll revisit them later. Here's my story:

His eyes shifted to an egg shell white – pupil and iris removed. Jaden was tranced.

He re-appeared where childhood ended. That dark memory when imagination could no longer play the savior.

It had worked until then.

Couldn’t face pain…always running…

Wicked thoughts awoken Nakaya, my bright world…I’m safe here, free. There are others – some like me, winged creatures, sparkling nymphs, things of water who create mystical sounds…All stolen away.

Bang…blood…sirens…funeral…

…It’s time to grow up…

…Gotta be the big boy…

Kaya’s gone forever…innocence lost.

I have a choice in this.

Beauty reclaimed.

The End! I'll pursue his story and go much further in depth in the future. It's so hard to tell a story in 100 words. I know what I'm saying in this story, but I don't know if anyone else would! I wanted to capture the imagination as a place of escape and how we often lose that or feel that we have to lose that as we grow older...how we're sometimes forced by "real life" to lose our imaginations...but I also feel that to an extent we have a choice...we can choose to use creativity as a means of expression and a means of escape and release...

OK, so enough with the heavy stuff...on with the being bad! I spent a lot of money on books and I only bought 2 of them! Both are pre-orders. Subterranean Press had to go and announce 2 really incredible books. The first is their new edition of Neil Gaiman's Coraline with an all new cover by Dave McKean. The book will also be signed and numbered, though they haven't specified if it will be signed by Gaiman and McKean or just Gaiman. It will also include a few new illustrations by Dave McKean and will have several full color photos of Coraline puppets from an Irish Puppet production of the book! If you preorder the novel, you are entered in a drawing to win one of three Coraline dolls made by puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal! The other 2 dolls are going to Gaiman and McKean. How frickin' cool is that!

The second book that I bought is Lye Street by Alan Campbell. This book sounds amazing. It's a prequel to a book called Scar Night that is available now that has gotten wonderful reviews and has been compared to Neil Gaiman and Charles Dickens. I'll be picking up that one soon. Lye Street won't be released until January 2008, so I have plenty time to read Scar Night first. The main reason I ordered Lye Street (aside from the fact that it sounds cool) is that Dave McKean did an incredible wrap around cover for it! I love it. That one's only $25 for a signed hardcover which really isn't bad for a Subterranean Press edition.

Alright...that's all I got!

More Stardust Stuff To Fill Requests!

After the post last night, a couple of people wanted to see what some of the interior art of Stardust looked like. I'm hoping that Mr. Vess and Mr. Gaiman wouldn't mind me showing it here as hopefully it will lead to more buyers ;) I found most of these by doing a quick Google search rather than taking photos of the book (I don't have a scanner). So here they are:

This one is one of the new pictures included in the back of the book and is one of my favorites. It is Yvaine (the star) singing with her sisters:Next up is another of my favorites because it's Tori Amos! Gaiman and Vess wanted to put Tori into the story, so she became a red tree...and here she is:This one is the print that I was talking about that I bought off of eBay that I want to get framed. It was also the cover of issue 3 of the initial release of the Stardust graphic novels:And here are just a couple more examples of images from the book. All together there are over 100 paintings and sketches. Really beautiful and diverse work. I hope that anyone who has the chance to pick it up cherishes it and enjoys it.

'Tis Mine At Last!

Out of boredom tonight, I decided to go to Barnes and Noble...big surprise there, right? I meandered my way over to the sci-fi/fantasy section (another big surprise there) and what do my eyes fall upon but the new hardcover Stardust! I am in love and I have a new favorite book! I'm going to have to disagree with Carl and Jeff here, but I have my reasons. I do agree that the pages are a bit thin and the quality could've been a bit better. I think the main reason I disagree though is because I've never owned an illustrated version of Stardust! With my B&N discount card, I got $8 off too, so I only paid $32...not much more than the soft cover version. However, I can understand how if you already own the $30 soft cover version you would be disappointed with this one. With that being said, here's why I wasn't disappointed being an illustrated Stardust virgin:

This book is gorgeous. I can't stop looking at it. The cover is beautiful as you can see and the picture doesn't even begin to do it justice. It's presented very well. The end pages are amazing. The detail that Charles Vess puts into his work never ceases to amaze me. I could stare at his work for hours. I can see now that this novel was indeed meant to be read as an illustrated novel and I will always recommend it to be read as one in the future. So beautiful.

I loved the extras in the back of the book. I agree that there could've been a bit more, but I loved what was there. The first is the original proposal that Gaiman and Vess wrote up and it's really neat! Gaiman wrote an updated note at the end commenting on how different the novel ended up being from what he originally perceived it to be and apparently Croup and Vandemar of Neverwhere fame were originally slated to be in Stardust! Interesting fact.

Next up are Vess' original sketches in progress for the four covers of the original comic book form releases of the novel. These were neat, but nothing overly exciting. I recently acquired a print of the cover for the third book from the San Diego Comic Con through eBay and I love it! Plan on getting that one framed.

And the next couple of sections, I absolutely love. There are six newly revealed scenes from Stardust and some more preliminary sketches that Vess did. My favorite new painting that Vess included is one of Yvaine singing with her sisters surrounded by faerie folk. Absolutely beautiful. There are also a couple of sketches for an unwritten Stardust sequel! As Vess says, there is no mention of when and if this will happen, but the idea is out there, and a couple of sketches have been done. And then there are 4 busts and the sculpture of Yvaine that's been shown on his website that should be released around the time of the movie.

I'm so happy with this purchase and I'm sure that I'll be staring at this book for days. Megan will surely be sick of me pointing out every little detail to her while I'm in Texas as I tend to do with things like this ;) Though she's a Gaiman fan too, so she should appreciate it!

I also picked up three other books while I was there! On Carl's recommendation and wonderful review, I had to get Annette Curtis Klause's Freaks: Alive, on the Inside. As he said, the cover is amazing. Looking forward to this one. Sounds like my kind of book. Because of Winn-Dixie should feed my Kate DiCamillo addiction for now as they still didn't have any copies of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. And finally, I picked up Bram Stoker's Dracula for the R.I.P. Challenge. B&N had all of there Classics on sale for 30% off, plus members get the extra 10% off. B&N does a great job with their hardcover editions of classics and I've always thought that they were a steal at $7.95...with the discount, it came out to only $5! Can't beat that.

Anyone else get any good books lately?

The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo and Gaiman/Vess News

I've gotta stop reading these tear jerkers! The Tiger Rising was another great book by Kate DiCamillo. I picked this one up after reading The Tale of Despereaux and falling in love with that one. I've become a huge fan of her after reading these two books and can't wait to get my hands on a copy of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

The Tiger Rising centers around a young boy by the name of Rob who keeps his emotions wrapped up inside. His mother has died recently and he and his father have moved from Kentucky to Florida so that his father could escape the heartbreak of losing her. They now live in the Kentucky Star Motel. His father has instilled in Rob that he should not show tears over his mother's death and that he should be strong, so Rob packs all of his emotions away "into a suitcase." He does this in all aspects of his life. He's picked on at school and instead of getting upset, he ignores it. Instead of voicing his dislike of anything, he pretends to not be bothered by it.

There's a new girl in town by the name of Sistine and she has the opposite problem of Henry. She has too much anger and displays it outwardly to everyone and comes off as quite arrogant. In a twist of events, Rob and Sistine become friends.

Rob has made a discovery that there is a tiger being kept in a cage in the woods behind the motel that he and his father are living in and shares this secret with Sistine. Thoughts and emotions are shared between the friends and a wise maid by the name of Willie May who works for the motel.

The Tiger Rising, like Despereaux, faces issues head on. Kate DiCamillo is not afraid to work with strong emotions and when she does address them, she does so beautifully. This book is written wonderfully and can be enjoyed by anyone. It's a story of being trapped in a cage...having all of those emotions locked up inside begging to be let out. I can see it being especially meaningful to a child who has gone through loss of any kind at a young age.

One of my favorite passages in the book:

"I know something that's in a cage," said Rob, pushing the words past the tightness in his throat.

Willie May nodded her head, but she wasn't listening. She was looking past Rob, past the white sheet, past the laundry room, past the Kentucky Star.

"Who don't?" she said finally. "Who don't know something in a cage?"

In other quick news, Charles Vess has announced a collaboration he has been working on for Harper Collins. It is a 32 page children's picture book - A poem by Neil Gaiman called Blueberry Girl. Yay! Doesn't look like we should expect it too soon though, but it does look cool!

Hanging Out With The Dream King

If you need me, Me and Neil’ll be
Hanging out with the Dream King…
-Tori Amos, Tear In Your Hand

I’ve often felt that I should have the above quote made into a sign that I can hang on my door while I’m reading. My love affair with Neil Gaiman’s writing started about 10 years ago. I was a pseudo-depressed goth kid who dressed in all black and liked to burn patchouli incense in my room. On the recommendation of friend, I picked up a copy of Good Omens and fell in love with it instantly. I was familiar with Neil’s Sandman comics and the wonderful artistry that went along with it, but I was unaware that he had published a novel!

Good Omens had a theme of angels and devils at work after the birth of the Antichrist and the coming of the apocalypse; all done in the most humorous of fashions. What I loved about this book is that it was all set in the world around me. It was in my own backyard. Not literally, but it was in someone’s backyard. It’s a theme that travels through all of Neil’s works. It’s part of what makes his work special to me. Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Good Omens, and Coraline, all take place in our own towns and cities – places we travel every day.

Neil invites us to look for the fantastic in the world around us. Sure, we may not find a London Below quite like the one that Richard Mayhew finds….We may not go on quite the adventure that Shadow does in American Gods, but the fantastic awaits us in everyday life if we invite it to find us. I would love, for example, to travel the streets of London and visit London underground with a copy of Neverwhere. Or take a long road trip around America with a copy of American Gods. Gaiman has set up the experience…all we need is to suspend disbelief and a little imagination.

It is that invitation to the fantastic that I most admire about Neil Gaiman. Gaiman has a gift that I have not yet found in any other author. There’s a sense of magic in each project that he produces. That magic might be found in a house on a rock in America, or it may be found in a more mythical land such as Faerie, or even in the walls of a girl's bedroom where wolves have been hiding. That magic is always there in Neil's books. And it's portrayed so elegantly and in such a captivating way.

I keep a book of quotes; a book that I write down favorite passages in. When I’m reading Neil Gaiman books, I rarely transcribe passages into it. The reason being, I would literally copy the whole book! I felt this way most with American Gods. There was one passage in particular that gave me chills like no other ever has and I’d like to share it with you. It ends Chapter 5 of American Gods…the chapter where Shadow is in the House on the Rock:

“Shadow heard himself laugh, over the sound of music. He was happy. It was as if the last thirty-six hours had never happened, as if the last three years had not happened, as if his life had evaporated into the daydream of a small child, riding the carousel in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, on his first trip back to the States, a marathon journey by ship and by car, his mother standing there, watching him proudly, and himself sucking his melting Popsicle, holding on tightly, hoping the music would never stop, the carousel would never slow, the ride would never end. He was going around and around and around again…

Then the lights went out, and Shadow saw the gods.”

There’s magic in that passage and the scenes that follow it. There’s magic in many quotes of his.

Neil has collaborated with so many wonderful creative forces and through those collaborations has created amazing works of art. These include collaborations and inspirations with Dave McKean, Charles Vess, Terry Pratchett, Lisa Snellings-Clark, Tori Amos, Terri Windling, and a rumored collaboration now with Guillermo Del Toro to produce Death: The High Cost of Living into a motion picture!

Neil’s latest collaboration, and the original reason for this post, is with Michael Reaves, a writer for Star Trek: TNG and the author of the upcoming Star Wars: Death Star. The result of the collaboration is the new novel, Interworld. Interworld revisits Neil’s idea of duality in existence. It is the story of Joey Harker, a young boy who is particularly skilled at getting lost. He soon finds himself more lost than he’s ever been as he soon exists in more than one dimension…more than one world…and there are more than one versions of himself. Joey is a Walker, a person who is able to walk in and out of different planes of existence, and he's one of the best around, totally unbeknown to himself. He soon finds himself in worlds that are fascinating, new, and dangerous. There are forces out there though that could use a skilled Walker...it is the job of Interworld to keep these forces at bay and to keep the altiverse balanced. This is for sure the most Sci-fi of Gaiman's books and feels a little different than his books normally do. The story is told from a first person point of view which was also different…but I enjoyed it. Overall, I liked this book! It’s not my favorite Gaiman, it took awhile to get into, and I think the collaboration was a little strange; but once I finally got into it (about 100 pages in), it really grabbed me and kept hold! I think this may have been more of a Michael Reaves’ book due to the amount of sci-fi, though I’m not certain on that, so don't quote me. It's no American Gods or Neverwhere, but it's a fun read and it kept my interest. The cover art is wonderful and is done by James Jean. Oh...and I'd love to have a pet Hue!

Gaiman has proved himself to be quite a force in literature, comics, and now in cinema! I’m so happy for both him and Charles Vess for the upcoming release of the Stardust film and am extremely excited about the new illustrated hardback being released. Also on the way are Neil’s adaptation of Beowulf and in 2008 we will see Coraline brought to the screen. Interworld has also been optioned by Dreamworks animation to be made into a film. Neil has also done the English adaptation of Princess Mononoke and of course there was the beautiful collaboration between him and Dave McKean, Mirrormask in 2005.

Where the road will lead him in the future…who knows? But we can be sure the journey will be filled with beautiful words and realized dreams.

Merry Christm...er Neil Day!!

Last night I could not fall asleep. No, it was not because I kept thinking of all of the horrible things that the dentist was going to do to me this morning (which actually wasn't too bad), it was because of new Neil Gaiman books!! The long wait is over and I am now the proud owner of 2 (yes, only 2) brand new, hardcover, first edition, Neil Gaiman books.

The first is Interworld, a Young Adult novel written by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves and is apparently about a boy at war against himself in two different dimensions of reality. At least that is what I gather from the jacket flap. I may be totally wrong about that. We shall see.

The second book is M is for Magic and is a collection of short stories for children. Most of these have been published before, but it's a great collection and the cover is wonderful. I have another signed, numbered, limited edition of this book coming to me later from Subterranean Press!

A word to the wise. If you go to Barnes and Noble to buy these, don't freak out if you can't find them in the fantasy/sci-fi section. I found Interworld in the Teen section and M is for Magic in the Children's section. So I suggest you look there.

While in the children's section, I also picked up the last three books I need for the Newberry challenge. They are Bridge to Terabithia, The High Power of Lucky, and The Tale of Despereaux. All three look great and all are new to me except for Bridge which I read ages ago, so it might as well be new to me. So I now own all of the books for that challenge and can get started on it!

I couldn't find the new illustrated Stardust or the Stardust visual companion, but that's ok, because I couldn't afford them anyway! I spent enough money today as it is....thank God I signed up for B&N's members program when I had the money for that ;) But in other Stardust news, I'm happy to welcome Deslily to the Stardust ranks as she received her copy in the mail today...you're in for a treat! Also, Friends of English Magic (a wonderful site for Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman, and Charles Vess related news) has started a Stardust movie news blog! How cool. I suggest visiting it often ;)

A Friendly Reminder of Impending Doom

So in the last couple of days I've applied for another 4 jobs. Two of these jobs are ones that I've really been hoping for. Well just a few minutes ago my phone rings and a number that I don't recognize shows up on caller ID. Immediately I go into panic mode and of course I don't answer the phone, letting it go to voicemail....I'll call back my future employer. I check the voicemail and alas, it is not my future employer...it is my dentist reminding me that I have to get a cavity filled at 8:00 tomorrow morning. How rude! I hate the dentist.... At least Neil Gaiman is kind enough to reward me with gifts for sitting through the torture of drilling in my mouth. I just hope that the kind people at the bookstore checkout do not wish to have a conversation with me as I will probably drool on the counter as my mouth will still be numbed with Novocaine...

Lots of Neil Gaiman News!

I'm sure that if you're a fan, you've heard most if not all of this already, but there's a whole bunch of Neil news lately!

Nymeth and Carl informed me in the comments section of my Beowulf review that Beowulf has already been filmed and is being released in November of this year! From Carl: "It is being done by the same people who did Polar Express on that form of animation is supposed to be miles more impressive than it was when they did P.E." Here's the official website.

Neil Gaiman also announced on his blog yesterday that Dreamworks Animation has officially optioned Interworld and it will be made into a movie! Yay!

Interworld will also be released on June 26th (just a few more days!) as will his short story collection M is for Magic. At the end of a post from today, Neil has given us links to the first couple of chapters of the audio version of Interworld.

And last but not least, a big congratulations to Neil Gaiman for picking up two Locus Awards: the first for "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" in the Best Short Story category and the second for Fragile Things in the Best Collection category!

Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman

The Dream Hunters is the first book I have read this year that I would recommend that everyone should own a copy of. What a special book. It's quite a beautiful tale told through the lustrous words of Neil Gaiman and the amazing oil paintings and charcoal sketches of Yoshitaka Amano. Both are among my favorite artists of today, Neil being one of my favorite authors and Amano my favorite artist.

The Dream Hunters is Neil's version of a Japanese folk tale called The Fox, The Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming. It is the story of a solitary monk who tends a temple on the side of a mountain in Japan. One day, a fox and a badger decide to fool the monk into leaving the temple so that they may make it their home. Though they fail in doing so, the fox falls in love with the monk in trying and transforms into a woman.

While back in fox form, the fox one day over hears a group of demons speaking of plans for the monk's death. The monk will have 3 dreams. In the first he will dream of a box, in the second, a key, and in the third, the key will open the box. When the box is opened, the monk will be caught in the world of dreams and will therefore starve and thirst to death leading to his death. The fox goes to the King of All Night's Dreaming to try to help her monk.

This was one of my favorite Neil Gaiman work's that I've read. The whole book was such a moving experience. The tale was beautiful. Neil was able to keep the feel of a traditional Japanese folk tale. Amano's artwork never ceases to amaze me. There's no artist like this man. So much emotion and detail captured in his paintings. Amano and Gaiman work together perfectly. As I mentioned earlier, I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this tale. It's a fairly quick read at 126 pages and is a pleasure to read. This one pulls at the heart strings and paints a world that the reader can get lost in. Enjoy.

Web Wanderings (3/15/07)

I'd like to start off the web wanderings of the week with Lisa Snellings-Clark's amazing PoppetPlanet. The site is "officially being launched on Saturday" but is now open for the viewing and it is wonderful! It's everything that a poppet lover could want an more. Included is a poppet registry, photo's of poppets traveling the world, beautiful art by Lisa, a wonderful forum that I shall be joining shortly, and a store. Lisa is opening up the Vernal Equinox Sale on March 17th (this saturday) which I'm sure will feature all kinds of amazing art.

Next up is Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. In the most recent letter from the editor there is talk about Peter Beagle doing an all new short story and interview for the next issue. I'll definitely keep everyone updated on when the issue arrives online. I've never read anything by Beagle, though The Last Unicorn always seems to be on my list and i saw in this letter that he recently wrote a sequel to The Last Unicorn called Two Hearts which is a novelette that won the Hugo for best novelette and is also nominated for the Nebula.

Neil Gaiman has announced his new corporation website by the name of The Blank Corporation which looks to be very cool. Not alot is up there yet, but the site is still great already.

And finally, Endicott Studio's did a great little short article on one of my favorite artists, Mark Ryden. Ryden's work is extremely commercial yet there's so much meaning and hidden details in his paintings. I just love the look of his stuff so much. It can be so bright, set so somber and sinister at the same time. If by any chance anyone from Los Angeles reads this, I recommend that you go to his exhibition called the Tree Show at the Michael Kohn gallery from now until April 28th.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

It really doesn't get much better than this. Stardust is everything that a fantasy lover, a romantic, a historian, an astronomer, a lover of books could possibly want. Gaiman has never disapointed me and has always over exceeded my expectations. Stardust is no exception to this.

Stardust is the beautiful story of Tristran Thorn and a fallen star. The story takes place in the village of Wall, but mostly in Faerie, located right outside of Wall. Every nine years, the inhabitants and creatures of the land of Faerie host a market right outside of Wall. People come from all over the world to visit the market where all sorts of magical things are traded for promises and contracts. Young Tristran Thorn is a product of this market as the reader will discover in the early chapters. Tristran falls in love with Victoria Forester, and on one night vows that if she will marry him, he will retrieve a fallen star that has fallen into Faerie. Stardust is the story of finding that star.

Tristran is not the only person looking for the fallen star. There are three princes who's right to the throne depends on finding the star and there is a witch who seeks the star so that she may gain the beauty of youth. It is Tristran who finds the star first and we find that the star is a beautiful woman named Yvaine. I'll leave the rest of the thrilling, warm, romantic, awe inspiring story to the reader.

Stardust is one of the most magical books I have read in a long time. Gaiman has an amazing ability as an author to pick the perfect word each and every time. I felt a warmth inside the whole time I read this book. It's absolutely beautiful and everything that fantasy should be. He has a gift like no other when it comes to his power with words and ideas. This is very much a classic fairytale, but at the same time, he makes it just not another fairytale. There are witches, princesses, spells, talking things that don't normally talk, castles, revenge, romance, yet it is such a beautifully unique book.

There is another version of this book that was illustrated by the amazing Charles Vess that was published in 1999, and I would love to get my hands on that. Gaiman and Vess are releasing yet another version of Stardust on May 2nd with all new illustrations that will be published by Vertigo.

In addition, we can all look forward to Stardust the movie to debut in August I believe. I can't wait to see this movie on the screen, but at the same time, I have my apprehensions. I'm having a hard time picturing Michelle Pfeifer as the witch and with Robert DeNiro as anything at all. But I have no doubt at the same time that I shall enjoy it.

Add this book to your collection if you don't already have it. It's a beautiful story that you'll want to start all over again as soon as you turn the last page.

A Long Overdue Sick Day AKA Tons of Cool News

Due to maybe a fever and mostly horrible sinus pain, I decided to have a day of rest. And it has been most appreciated so far.

I woke up feeling horrible and sneezing my head off, but still got dressed and headed to work. After getting my coffee and still not feeling better, I decided that I would be doing myself a favor by taking the day off, and I've made it quite an enjoyable day off.

First things first, I went and finally got my passport. I've been needing to do that for awhile, so I finally got my butt to the post office and payed an arm and a leg for a passport that should be here in 6-8 weeks.

Came home for a little while, layed in bed and read some of Stardust, which is wonderful so far. Gaiman never fails.

While laying in bed, I saw on CNN that Marvel is killing Captain America in the latest issues that hit the stands today, so I decided to stop on by the local comic shop and check it out. I haven't been to the comic books store in probably two years now, and it was great to go back, but I don't think I have the finances to support that habit again.

While I was there, I picked up the Captain America issue in which he does in fact die. However, I recommend that you also get Civil War: The Initiative #1. Not saying anything, just get that as well. All the marvel books are kind of combined into one right now with this whole "civil war" series. I also picked up old favorites Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men which are still as great as when they first appeared on the shelves as well as the first 2 Dark Tower books, a 7 issue run of the Stephen King series that Marvel is putting out. The artwork for the Dark Tower books is done by Jae Lee and is really beautiful. While at the shop I also found Stardust fully illustrated by Charles Vess (the older version) but did not buy it because I didn't have the extra 20 bucks. A new version is being published soon though with all new illustrations by Vess.

I picked up a special movie issue of Wizard which has plenty of cool stuff in it, one of which is a feature story on the Stardust movie with quotes from Gaiman and Vess. Wizard published a list of 100 upcoming cool movies in the back. Many were surprises and many were movies that I have been looking forward to for awhile. Here are my favorites:

28 Weeks Later (sequel to 28 Days Later, May 11, 2007 (my b-day))
Batman: The Dark Knight (2008)
Books of Magic (Based on a comic written by Neil Gaiman)
Castlevania
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16, 2008)
Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
Fraggle Rock: The Movie (Ahmet Zappa writing screenplay for Jim Henson Productions)
Halloween (directed by Rob Zombie, Oct 17, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov 21, 2008)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (June 2008)
Indiana Jones 4
Jurassic Park IV
Magneto (yes, the Magneto)
Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds's End (May 25, 2007)
Power of the Dark Crystal (Sequel to the Dark Crystal, in production at Jim Henson Productions, May 2008)
Resident Evil: Extinction (Sept 2007)
Shrek the Third (May 18, 2007)
The Simpsons Movie (July 27, 2007)
Spiderman 3 (May 4, 2007)
Star Trek XI (about the early days of Kirk and Spock, 2008)
STAR WARS TV!!!! (will run at least 100 episodes, set between eps III and IV, early years of Luke)
Wolverine (yes, the Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman)
Wonder Woman (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

edit: also just saw from Reel Fanatic's blog that M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie entitled The Green Effect due out in 2008! His description is that "his new flick will be part-"War of the Worlds" sans aliens and part-"Soylent Green" madness."

One more piece of news...according to Locus Magazine's incredible online list of upcoming books, Orson Scott Card will release 2 more books in edition to SubPress' Space Boy. The first comes out in September. It's written by Card and Aaron Johnson, is published by TOR and is called Invasive Procedures....based on one of his short stories. The other one comes out in November and I've been looking forward to this one for 3 years. It's called War of Gifts, is published by TOR, and is basically "christmas in battle school"...an Ender's Game book.

That's all I've got....that's enough.

Some Fun Book News

This post is mostly about Subterranean Press. You'd swear that I work for them, but I don't...they won't even send me ARCs which I would happily review ;)

I was very excited to wake up this morning and see that M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman shall be coming out this summer from SubPress. Even more exciting is that they have a limited edition that will be signed by Neil and Gahan Wilson, the artist who is doing the artwork. They are also numbered. So I pre-ordered it. It is a collection of short stories for "all ages". The price is normally $60, but if you buy it today and mention the newsletter in the special instructions box, you can get it for $48 dollars. But only today. And that is precisely what I did.

The second book that I ordered through them is The Space Boy by Orson Scott Card which is coming out in August. Artwork is done by his cousin (or nephew...can't remember). This one is limited to 2000 copies of the limited edition and is signed and numbered by the author.

SubPress' newsletter also mentions 2 new books forthcoming from John Scalzi. The first is Old Man's War which is a Hugo nominee (or was..not really sure) and the second is The Ghost Brigades. I keep advertising for John Scalzi on here, but I've yet to read one of his books! What can I say, he just sounds like an author I would like. I think this mostly because of Carl's review of The Android's Dream which sounds right up my alley.

SubPress is also carrying a free online magazine with all kinds of cool stuff including short stories by Poppy Z. Brite, John Scalzi, and Joe R. Landsdale. Very cool.

If you order any book from SubPress between now and Friday, they will enter your name into a drawing for 2 very rare editions of Stephen King books that they have published. Free stuff rocks!

Finally, on Endicott's blog, they have published a review of China Mieville's Un Lun Dun. It sounds great. I really want to read this book. I've hears so much about it and it's all good. Plenty of people are comparing him to Neil Gaiman, a connection which is once more maid in this article on Endicott's blog.

Happy Monday everyone! Hope your week got off to a good start.

Web Wanderings and Fun Finds

Plenty of fun stuff on the web today. I'll go down the blog list. In this post, Neil Gaiman talks about an upcoming issue (April 2007) of Fantasy and Science Fiction that is somewhat of a tribute to Gene Wolfe. He wrote an article about Gene Wolfe as did two other authors and there is something (maybe a short story) called Memorare by Gene himself. In the same issue, Charles DeLint does book reviews. I used to subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction a couple of years ago and I'm not really sure why I didn't renew. I think I just may have to once again.

Next up is the second entry in Literacy Chic's Lenten Meals series. In this entry she gives a delicious recipe for Shrimp or Crawfish jambalaya. I know her from living here in New Orleans, so I can assure you that this is a great, authentic recipe. I highly recommend that you try this one out for a taste of real New Orleans cooking, and use Louisiana crawfish if you can find them (much better than Chinese crawfish. We had boiled crawfish for dinner tonight and they were deeeelicious.

Lisa Snellings-Clark writes about an interview she did for Fantasy Magazine which I'm looking forward to. She also talks about Poppet Planet and mentions that the gallery will be open again around St. Patrick's Day. Can't wait to see the poppets for that (assuming she makes them). Neil Gaiman has also changed the Magnificent Oracular Journal to hold a Lisa Snellings-Clark poppet.
In Carl's Friday Favorites, he introduces us to an artist by the name of Raymond Swanland. His images are breathtaking and he has the ability to capture so much life in his paintings. I especially like the second one down by the name of The Golden Hills of Westria. Great stuff!

Subterranean Press offers their edition of I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury which looks wonderful. But unfortunately at $150 for the cheaper version, I will not be buying this one. If you have the money, I'm sure it's worth it though. It's numbered and signed by Bradbury himself.

Finally (in web wanderings at least) in his latest Uncle Orson Reviews Everything column, Orson Scott Card reviews a new documentary called Done the Impossible: The Fans Tale Firefly and Serenity. It is a DVD that captures the huge underground fan base for Firefly, in my opinion, one of the best shows ever on tv that was unfortunately canceled after only 12 episodes to make way for reality shows. This DVD looks great and I can't wait to check it out.

Enter the fun finds. While not as numerous as the web wanderings, still great stuff.

I got in my car today and caught the tail end of an ad on XM Radio for some new show with Orson Scott Card! I knew there was a reason I loved XM so much, they love my favorite author! I'm not entirely sure what it is though, and their website and a Google search did nothing for me. Anyone know about this? What I do know is that he will apparently have a show on Sonic Theater, XM channel 163. I just discovered this channel today after hearing the ad. It's so great! It's like audio books 24/7 and every night they play sci-fi stuff. How cool. Alot of these are the great old time sci-fi radio shows. Can't wait to see what Orson Scott Card is doing with this channel.

Finally, I decided to make a stop by best buy tonight and picked up a couple of goodies. The first is the soundtrack for Children of Men, and what I've listened to so far is great and just as haunting as the movie. I've been wanting this since I saw the movie. The music was great. Glad I finally bought it. I also picked up The Prestige on DVD. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm sure I'll love it. First of all, it has something to do with magic. Anything related to fantasy in some way is ok by me. Second, the actors are great. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, and the smoking hot and still talented Scarlett Johansen. Can't wait to see this. I'm sure my review will be posted later tonight.

For Dave McKean Fans

Now that I think about it, if you're a Dave McKean fan, you probably know about these, but if not, you may find your new favorite artist.

The first is Dustcovers. I just got this in the mail today and it is a wonderful book. It is a collection of all of the Sandman covers that Dave has done for Neil Gaiman's masterpiece comic series. Along with his covers, the book also collects some other illustrations, sketches, and an extra little short collaboration by the duo. Each picture has commentary from both Neil and Dave. I would say it's a must have for any Sandman, Gaiman, and/or McKean fan.

The second is another great collaboration of Gaiman and McKean's. It is entitled The Alchemy of Mirrormask. It's another great art book collecting Dave's art for the film Mirrormask. It has early sketches, paintings, sculptures, etc. along with original ideas and brainstorming for the film from both McKean and Gaiman. It would make an excellent coffee table book if you're brave enough to put it there (I tend to be slightly protective of my books). It's an amazing book that brings you from the beginning to the end of the production of Mirrormask and has all kinds of treats in between. Highly recommended.

Finally, Subterranean announced a new title by author Gordon Dahlquist entitled Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, which is a victorian-era novel from what I get with wonderful cover art by McKean. This one may be worth it for the cover. The novel sounds interesting as well.

That's all I've got for now.