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Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Publishers' Weekly Coraline Review Posted by puck at 9:33 PM PDT | Comments (0) Thanks "Gwynedd" for this: From the print version of Publishers' Weekly for 6/24/02 , on page 57 in a starred box on the lower right, with a picture of the book cover, even: Coraline Neil gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean. HarperCollins, $15.99 (176p) ISBN 0-380-97778-8 British novelist Gaiman (American Gods, Stardust) and his long time accomplice McKean (collaborators on a number of Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels as well as The Day I Swapped My Dad for 2 Goldfish) spin an electrifyingly creepy tale likely to haunt young readers for many moons. After Coraline and her parents move into an old house, Coraline asks her mother about a mysterious locked door. Her mother unlocks it to reveal that it leads nowhere: "When they turned the house into flats, they simply bricked it up," her mother explains. But something about the door attracts the girl, and when she later unlocks it herself, the bricks have disappeared. Through the door, she travels a dark corridor (which smells "like something very old and very slow")into a world that eerily mimics her own, but with sinister differences. "I'm your mother," announces a woman who looks like Coraline's mother, except "her eyes were big black buttons." Coraline eventually makes it back to her real home only to find that her parents are missing - they're trapped in the shadowy other world, of course, and it's up to their scrappy daughter to save them. Gaiman twines his taught tale with a menacing tone and crisp prose fraught with memorable imagery ("Her other mother's hand scuttled off Coraline's shoulder like a frightened spider"), yet keeps the narrative just this side of terrifying. The imagery adds layers of psychological complexity (the button eyes of the characters in the other world vs. the heroine's increasing ability to distinguish what is real and what is not; elements of Coraline's dreams that inform her waking decisions). McKean's scratchy, angular drawings, reminiscent of Victorian etchings, add an ominous edge that helps ensure this book will be a real bedtime-buster. Ages 8-up. (July)   Monday, June 24, 2002 Posted by lucy_anne at 3:00 AM PDT | Comments (0) From From the Splash Page of Comicon.com: ALA HOSTS COMIC CREATORS! LIBRARIANS LOVE GRAPHIC NOVELS! Special To The SPLASH By Sara Ryan June 24: It was June 14th in Atlanta. Neil Gaiman was there. So were Jeff Smith and Colleen Doran. Also reps from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, TokyoPop, Image, CrossGen, the CBLDF, Diamond, and Book Wholesalers Incorporated, among others. Oh, and Art Spiegelman did his first ever post-Pulitzer presentation sans cigarettes. (He did have Nicorette gum, however.) But there wasn't a dealer's room or an artist's alley, and nobody, not even Steve Lieber, was doing portfolio reviews. So what was this show? It was "Getting Graphic @ Your Library," a full- day preconference put on by the YOUNG ADULT LIBRARY SERVICES ASSOCIATION, as part of the AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION's Annual Conference. One hundred seventy five librarians learned about the history of comics, censorship and intellectual freedom issues, how to promote graphic novels once you've got them into your book collection, how to catalog them so that people can find them, and what manga you should buy if you don't know Japanese. The publishers and distributors were very generous. All the librarians who attended received huge bags of swag: Bone action figures, Simpsons comics, the 911 Emergency Relief anthology, Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", Debbie Dreschler's "Summer of Love", Jay osler's "Clan Apis", Enki Bilal's "The Black Order Brigade" and "The Dormant Beast", single issues of "Bone" and "A Distant Soil", among many other titles. Not to mention the actual bag to carry it all in: courtesy of Dark Horse, featuring Sock Monkey and Drinky Crow. Librarians across the country are putting graphic novels into their collections -- sometimes specifically for teenagers, sometimes for adults and kids as well -- and finding that there's a huge demand for the format. "It's a format, not a genre" was one of the refrains of the day, as people learned the breadth of material available. Several people also used the phrase "tipping point" -- from Malcolm Gladwell's book, "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference", which is about ideas and trends spreading through our culture like epidemics. People said that when these librarians went back to their libraries, they could really push comics and graphic novels to new audiences, and even help to give the format more mainstream credibility. There are nearly 9,000 public libraries in the United States -- that's public library *systems*, each of which may have dozens of branches -- and there are 98,000 school libraries. That's a lot of places for people to discover comics and graphic novels. There'll be another focus on graphic novels in libraries during the week of October 13-19. That's Teen Read Week, and the theme of Teen Read Week this year is GET GRAPHIC @ YOUR LIBRARY -- yes, just like the theme for the preconference. Many libraries will celebrate the week with programs featuring comic book writers, illustrators and fans. So if you don't know your local librarian, introduce yourself. Experts on comics and graphic novels are getting more and more valuable for librarians to know.   Thursday, June 20, 2002 Neilgaiman.com Redesign Posted by lucy_anne at 10:23 AM PDT | Comments (0) The redesign of neilgaiman.com debuted yesterday, on the first anniversary of the site. There are new essays in the Exclusive Material section on Sandman and Neil and comics by librarian extraordinare Cindy Lynn Speer, as well as the promise that the Neil essays there will change. The Gallery includes an Audio section with a Q&A from the first stop on the American Gods tour, long bits from the reading at St. Mark's Church for the CBLDF's Last Angel tour, and clips from audiobooks of American Gods and Two Plays for Voices(the long awaited Seeing Ear Theatre productions of Snow Glass Apples and Murder Mysteries). It looks like the Gallery will eventually have video clips as well. The Gallery also has links to pages from old friends such as the Neverwhere and American Gods sites. The About section has a new bibliography and biography. And finally, but not least importantly, the message boards and the journal both appear to be still running. Go look!   Monday, June 17, 2002 Clippings Posted by lucy_anne at 6:45 PM PDT | Comments (0) From the June 16th Contra Costa Times: ...GIVING KIDS THE CREEPS: The hype is hot and heavy from HarperCollins and elsewhere for what is being hailed as horrormeister Neil Gaiman's ("American Gods," the "Sandman" series, etc.) first full-scale novel for young children. "Coraline," which has a publication date of July 2, will be launched nationwide from the Bay Area on that date at a full-length reading by the author sponsored by Cody's Books of Berkeley. To cope with the expected surge of attendees, the event is being held at 6:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Gaiman, who began writing the book for his then-5-year-old daughter Holly 10 years ago, says children generally experience it as an adventure, but it gives adults nightmares. "It's the strangest book I've written, it took the longest time to write, and it is the book I'm proudest of," he says. Gaiman will read the work in two 90-minute segments broken up by an intermission at which time refreshments will be served. Tickets, available starting Monday at both Cody's locations, are $10 for 17 and up and $5 for ages 8-16. You can order at 510-845-7852 or at info@codysbooks.com... - Sue Gilmore ******* Scott, who always finds such neat stuff, forwarded the following WisCon Report by Hank Luttrell. In it, Charles Vess talks a little about the differences between the illustrated and Avon versions of Stardust. Vess allowed as how he had never read the Avon text, and he really wondered about it. Much of the story, he reminded me, was told in the illustrations, so he was uncertain how Gaiman had dealt with that when telling the story with text only. I said "I've talked to Gaiman about that, and I've compared the texts, and really he didn't change much. He said he 'tweaked' it a little." Some of the changes he did make are curious. I would have never noticed, but my wife pointed out that at a wedding, what were red and white roses in the graphic album become red, white and yellow in the novel. Yellow? This, from a fellow who dresses all in black and sees the world through smoke-colored glasses. ******* From the 13 June Scotsman, with reference to the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August: The children’s section of the book festival has doubled its events (to 300) and tripled its audience in the last three years, and this year’s programme is one of the finest yet. Expect two things: first, that no author will have a longer book-signing queue than the ever-popular Jacqueline Wilson; and second, that even if your children do not get the chance to see her, Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, and the mysterious Lemony Snicket will more than make up for it. ******* Jeff Kapalka reviews the P. Craig Russell illustrated Murder Mysteries in the June 16th Syracuse Post Standard ******* Neil is an honorary trustee of the New York City Comic Book Museum ******* And the Morpheus and Daniel soft toys are really neat.   Thursday, June 13, 2002 Rankings, Signing Posted by lucy_anne at 4:07 PM PDT | Comments (0) For the week ending 6/15, the American Gods paperback is at: #10 on the Book Sense list for mass market paperbacks for June 13th #14 on the Powells/Salon bestsellers list for June 12th #3 on the NCIBA mass market bestsellers list for the for June 10rd #15 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for June 9th Locus compilation list. ******* From the DreamHaven Books website: Saturday, July 20th, 2:00pm, Lake Street store(912 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408, map) Neil Gaiman will be autographing. His new graphic novel Murder Mysteries is now available, and his young adult novel Coraline will be arriving in late June. We will begin handing out numbers for the queue at 11:00am. There will be a signing limit of three items per person. If you can't make it to the event, you can reserve signed copies by calling our mail order dept. at 612-823-070. The website also notes that they are taking advanced orders for signed copies of 3 verions of Coraline (1st ed. hardcover US, special ed. US, and 1st ed. hardcover UK, which will not have the Dave McKean illustrations).   Tuesday, June 11, 2002 Coraline Reading - First Congregational Church of Berkeley Posted by lucy_anne at 4:52 PM PDT | Comments (0) Fowarded from Neil, from Amy Burton at HarperCollins NEW YORK (June 11, 2002) - HarperCollins Children's Books announced today that New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman will launch his first-ever novel for children, Coraline (July 2002; $15.99; ages 8 up), in the Bay Area. Cody's Books of Berkeley will host the exclusive West Coast launch event on Tuesday, July 2 at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley on 2345 Channing Way.(directions,map) Starting at 6:30 p.m., Gaiman will do a rare complete reading of Coraline, which has been called "bittersweet and playful" (San Francisco Chronicle), "magnificently creepy" (Kirkus Reviews) and is being likened to a modern-day Alice in Wonderland. Signed copies of Coraline, selected backlist titles and audio will be available for sale at the event. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children, and go on sale beginning June 17 at both Cody's Books locations (2454 Telegraph Ave. at Haste; 1730 Fourth St.); www.codysbooks.com; telephone orders to 510-845-7852; email orders to info@codysbooks.com. All major credit cards are accepted. The purchase of a ticket entitles the holder to a $3 discount on Coraline books and audio. A separate East Coast launch event for Coraline is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 11 at Barnes & Noble, Union Square in New York City. There will be no other U.S. events until the fall. Neil adds: And going mainly from feedback from here [ie the journal], we've elected to make this one a reading, rather than a signing. So it'll be three hours of comfortably listening to a story, rather than five hours of standing in a long line for thirty seconds of hello. We'll have an interval half-way through, in case any of the kids can't keep going, and for people to get lemonade and cookies etc. As you can see, it's a ticketed event, to cover the cost of renting the hall, but the tickets are cheap and easy to get (and will count against the purchase of a Coraline). We also got somewhere with enough seating that we're not worried about it selling out. Spread the word across the West. Cody's also has an interview with Neil from BEA posted on their website.   Monday, June 10, 2002 Clippings Posted by lucy_anne at 12:22 PM PDT | Comments (0) Both SciFi Wire and Locus have mentions of the 2001 Stoker Award winners (as noted on the journal, American Gods won for best novel). ******* American Gods is a July/August Book Sense 76 Pick for new paperback fiction. ******* from the DC NEWS 6/07/02 (reprinted in Comic Book Electronic Magazine): CHRONICLE BOOKS SANDMAN GIFT SETS SOLICITED IN JUNE PREVIEWS Chronicle Books continues to build its line of Sandman-themed stationery & gift items with two wire-bound journals and a boxed set of postcards. These items are solicited in "Collectibles & Novelties" section of the June issue of Previews (Volume XII #6). The Sandman Dream Journal (JUN023373) features cover art by Yoshitaka Amano from THE SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS and interior art by P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Charles Vess, and Mike Dringenberg. The Sandman Death Journal (JUN023372) features cover art by Chris Bachalo and interior art by Chris Bachalo and Brian Bolland. Each journal contains 128 lined pages. These items are scheduled to be in stores on August 28 and are priced at $9.95. The Sandman Postcard Set (JUN023374) contains 40 postcards featuring art by Dave McKean, Chris Bachalo, Jon J Muth, Moebius, Yoshitaka Amano, Jill Thompson, Michael Zulli, Bill Sienkiewicz, Teddy Kristiansen, Matt Wagner, George Pratt, Kent Williams, Mike Dringenberg, Shawn McManus, and more, presented in a deluxe foil-stamped box. This item is scheduled to arrive in stores on August 28 with a price of $15.95. Chronicle Books' 2003 Sandman: King of Dreams wall calendar, solicited in the April Previews (APR022845), priced at $12.95, is still available for advance reorder. ******* CBEM also listed the results of the 5th National Comic Awards (UK) from Comics 2002 Festival in Bristol. Neil ranked 4th in the Best Writer Ever category, and 10th in the Best Writer Now one. ******* From "Summer Listening Fun" from the Publishers Weekly website: HarperChildren's Audio is trying something new and different this season. The company will release the audio version of Coraline by bestselling adult author Neil Gaiman in June, a full month ahead of the book's hardcover release. The audiobook will be a giveaway at Harper's booth during the American Library Association's convention in Atlanta later this month. Slush Factory Posted by lucy_anne at 10:10 AM PDT | Comments (0) Not sure if this was in the journal or not and I just missed it, but it should be considered required reading: Dan Epstein's interview with Neil is up at Slush Factory. It's long and wanders all over the place in interesting ways, like a conversation or a journal piece. It's full of a lot of newsy bits, including the status of the film versions of Good Omens, Death: The High Cost of Living, Neverwhere, Murder Mysteries, Books of Magic and Coraline. There's also information on "Sandman: Endless Nights" (the artists involved are Moebius, P. Craig Russell, Miguelanxo Prado, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Milo Manara), and a very small bit on the Marvel comic (which is still being refered to as "1602")   Thursday, June 6, 2002 American Gods Rankings, Week Ending 6/8 Posted by lucy_anne at 3:26 PM PDT | Comments (1) The American Gods paperback is at: #14 on the Publishers Weekly mass market paperbacks list #37 on the USAToday Bestsellers list #8 on the Book Sense Extended Bestseller List for mass market paperbacks, for June 6rd #7 on the Powells/Salon bestsellers list for June 5th #1 on the bestseller list for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association for June 3rd #20 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for June 2nd Posted by lucy_anne at 10:58 AM PDT | Comments (0) There's a short piece on the Good Omens movie on Sci Fi Wire. And the SF Chronicle Coraline review has yet to show up in my resources, so I will now go off and knock Factiva soundly about the head... -la who needs to make her own South Park character...   Sunday, June 2, 2002 Posted by lucy_anne at 4:25 PM PDT | Comments (0) posted on alt.fan.neil-gaiman by Shane Ivey: RevolutionSF has published a new interview with Gaiman... http://www.revolutionsf.com/article/1177.html ...and a review of the forthcoming Coraline, reprinted from Zealot.com: http://www.revolutionsf.com/article/1178.html Enjoy... Powered by Coranto   Looking for books by Neil Gaiman?