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fandoms to nominate next yuletide, a list in progress [Nov. 6th, 2009|10:55 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | contemplative]

~ Music video for Vienna Teng's "Gravity."
~ Music video for Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger." (WARNING: Video may be triggery.)
~ Music video for Lamb's "Gorecki."
~ The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (?)
~ Moulin Rouge! (forevermore, possibly)
~ Anyband again (add soccerball soldiers and chair-dancing soldier to character list)
~ Ten Inch Hero (love, seriously)
~ Bride of the Water God (I thought someone else might cover it this year, but nope)
~ CSJH forever
~ I should perhaps add Chae Yeon to Asian solo artists, if she's not in there already. I'm sure BoA is, but I'll double-check.
~ If we can do music videos, does that mean I could nominate "Purple Line," in which DBSK are incubi high class rentboys in a futuristic world? Ooh! Bae Seul Gi's "Tomboy!"
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Final Reminder for Bookshops [Nov. 6th, 2009|10:37 pm]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/final-reminder-for-bookshops.html

A quick reminder (as I was just asked) that today is the day that the bookshop Graveyard Book party reports have to be in to Harper Collins. By 9 pm PST.

http://files.harpercollins.com/Mktg/HarperChildrens/PDF/GraveyardContest_rules.pdf are the rules and info for those who lost them.

Hi Mr. Gaiman,

I was disappointed today to read you won't be part of the judging for The Graveyard Book contests. My not-wealthy, middle-of-nowhere bookstore just sent in its entry, and something we're concerned about is the fairness of judging.

For example, independent bookstores like Powell's (I'm sure you know) easily have enough money and are in a convenient enough location to ask you to come at one time or another. Against stores like that, who were able to put more money into their parties, we stand little chance.

I don't think that it's a lost cause for us; we were very creative. I'm just nervous to know you won't be judging. Can you tell me whether you think the judges will take things like size and location of bookstores into account? It would make me sleep a little easier until the results are announced.

Tusen takk,
Allison

Well, per the rules, the judging is based on:

(i) Overall creativity of the Party, as demonstrated by the invitations, signage, decorations, activities, entertainment, and refreshments.
(ii) Customer attendance and response (i.e., enthusiasm, costumes, participation).
(iii) Ability to capture and represent the spirit of The Graveyard Book.
...specifically to reward creativity, and not the ability to outspend other shops. (That was also why the party had to actually be at the bookshop, and not at another location.)

I asked my editor, Elise Howard, and she said,

Gosh, yes. Here's what we think is happening. We are looking at all the entries. On Monday, we'll send you the best 11, from which you will choose the Grand Prize Winner. The rest will get the first-prize package. So the short answer is that you ARE helping to choose.

The longer answer is that we will be very fair and will consider creativity, which includes work done with available resources, along with pure execution. (Don't you think? We haven't done anything yet; still waiting for more entries to come in.)

...which means that

a) I was wrong and will be the ultimate judge, from the shortlist. (Damn.)

and

b) everyone's on a level playing field.

Does that help reassure you?

PS -- Widgett's Graveyard Book Dessert competition winners have been announced over at http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/11/06/graveyard-book-dessert-challenge-winners/.

This one had NOTHING to do with me at all. But lor' the winning desserts look tasty...
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How not to cross genres [Nov. 6th, 2009|12:37 pm]

branchandroot
[Tags|]

Genre crossing, when done well, can be a very effective storytelling technique, allowing the author to hit the reader with unexpected plot turns and presentation that is sufficiently unusual that it will make the reader think twice about the scene. Alas, when not done well all we get is a hot mess.

Amano is currently demonstrating Not Well with Katekyou Hitman Reborn.

This is especially a shame considering that her first cross went off very well. When she had written sixty issues of a gag manga, full of underwear shenanigans, and suddenly decided she wanted to write a serious, indeed dark in places, battle manga, she made the transition quite smoothly. The underwear phased out and was replaced in a plausible way, the change presented as a moment of personal development for our main character, such as we might expect in a good battle manga. The initial premise, that our hero is slated to inherit a mafia family, offered plenty of material for a darker turn. So far so good. The next two and a half arcs were a marvelous sweep of fast-paced action with personal development and growth for the whole ensemble of characters.

And then we hit the bump. Possibly even the shark. Somewhere, for some reason, the decision was made to extend the Future arc with a new set of villains, and the storytelling fell apart. The pace jinked and faltered, new characters got no background or development, the fights were truncated and disappointing compared to the intense confrontations of previous arcs, and even the first half of the Future arc.

Worst of all, Amano turned back to the gag genre, and, at this juncture, failed to make it work.

This is most evident in our hero, Tsuna. Tsuna has always flailed a lot, to be sure, but less so as time went on; indeed, when he came to the future, the pressure of events and responsibility seemed to wash the flailing out of him and push him toward a more mature presentation even when he isn't wrapped up in Dying Will. With this latest turn, however, the flailing is suddenly back to early levels, to the extent that his weapon reflects it and allies comment on it. The plot provides us with no explanation for this.

This is characteristic of the gag genre: character development is neither necessary nor, in most cases, desired. The character quirks that are used for gags must remain constant, and the nature of the genre is such that readers are usually willing to suspend any disbelief and accept them, however implausible. It's part of the genre expectations.

The genre expectation of a battle manga, and especially a serious one, is that characters will develop, both technically and emotionally. Sudden backsliding of personal development needs some kind of cause or explanation.

As I said at the beginning, these expectations can be crossed, if it is done well. Many battle manga use brief gag moments to break tension; bathroom humor is a favorite. Even the development of the hero can be let to fail briefly, for the sake of increasing dramatic tension. But if the audience is not to reject that tactic, it must be framed, supported, explained in some way--it must be presented as a dramatic moment, in order to be accepted as such. Tsuna's reversion is not.

Hence my fear that Amano has no clue where she's going with the current sub-arc and has fallen back on her roots because she is at a complete loss. If this is due to editorial pressure, to draw out the Future arc more, I hope someone kicks that editor in the teeth soon. If it is due to Amano losing her grip on the story, paging editor!Reborn, please. In either case, the current issues are a fine example of how not to do it.
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Note to self: Nights are for sleeping, Days are for Being Awake. [Nov. 6th, 2009|05:09 am]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/note-to-self-nights-are-for-sleeping.html

Still trying to get back onto a diurnal schedule. (And, I should add, failing.)

Maddy and I started watching the new season of Sarah Jane Adventures tonight, which seems back on form after a dodgy second season.

Many amazing things waiting for me when I got home -- I still haven't gone through them all yet -- but today's mail brought me a copy of the Fantagraphics Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons book. Three glorious volumes. I wrote the introduction to Volume 2, and thus got it for free. (If you're curious, there are many Gahan Wilson Playboy cartoons up at this website. There's a Gahan Wilson virtual museum over at http://www.gahanwilson.com

And, of course, although I posted it before, it bears repeating that you can watch the film that Steven-Charles Jaffe made of the "Dark and Silly Night" comic Gahan and I did for art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Little Lit at the New Yorker site, or here:



And if I'd been here for Hallowe'en I would have posted it here then. Which reminds me, The Graveyard Book party season is over. Over thirty independent bookshops had Graveyard Book parties (The ABA's Bookselling This Week reports on thirteen of the parties -- and the shops -- at http://news.bookweb.org/7149.html.) The very best one of all will get me in their shop doing a signing in December and, looking at these thirteen, I am very glad I am not any kind of a judge for the awards.

My only hope is that the shop that wins will be somewhere warm. But most of the places on the party map will be just as cold by December as my house. (Vague and only climate-based relief that HarperCollins said No to Alaska in the rules mingles with vague and selfish disappointment that they also said No to Hawaii.)

It looks like the CBS Sunday Morning profile on me is going out this Sunday, the 8th, 9:00-10:30 AM, ET. According to this website:

Correspondent Serena Altschul visits author Neil Gaiman -- the tender-hearted master of the macabre -- whose books, including Coraline and The Graveyard Book have topped best-seller lists for 25 years.

.. which left me wanting to go "I am NOT a tender-hearted master of the macabre, I am in fact VERY SCARY INDEED," but I suspect I would convince nobody.

Thrilled to see that Odd and the Frost Giants was listed as one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2009. While I was in China The Graveyard Book was listed as one of the ALA's teens top ten for 2009 as well, an award voted on by over 11,000 teens. (And I made it onto the list with lots of other good people.)

Also, Fragile Things was awarded the French 2010 Les Grands Prix de l’Imaginaire Award for translated short fiction. My thanks to the judges, but mostly to the translator, who in this case is the incredibly talented Michel Pagel. If I ever look good, do well, sell books or am popular in a foreign country, it's because of the translators, and they never get enough thanks or acclaim. And I think I'll post the cover here, because I never have.



I am becoming hooked on http://curiousexpeditions.org.

I was extremely disappointed by the news on the current status of Argleton in Lancashier, especially so since I was hoping to buy a house there. I was going to move to Chako Paul City in Sweden instead, but appear to be the wrong gender and orientation. So probably I'll stay home.

(Hmm. You know, posting that French book-cover reminds me that there are some really beautiful new covers out there right now, especially from Poland and Russia. I know for I have signed them for people. I'll try and get some nice clean examples to put up here.)

And finally, a link to Joanne Leow's blog. It was lovely to see her again, four years on, when I went to Singapore - it was a great interview, and you can watch us chatting about writing, what I'm currently up to, signings, and why I don't write the same sorts of things twice in a row, at the Primetime Morning site: here's part 1 and part 2.

...

Dear Mr. Gaiman,
I was wondering if you would be so kind as to mention an upcoming art auction on your blog. The art auction is “art for hearts”. It is an auction of artwork donated by children’s illustrators such as Korky Paul, Lynne Chapman and An Vrombaut. Most of the artwork is original although there are also some signed digital prints and screen prints too.
All proceeds from the auction will be donated to help fund research by the transplant team at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Transplanted organs do not have the same life expectancy as non-transplanted organs and the transplant team is looking at finding ways to combat this.
Full details of the auction are available to view at http://art-for-hearts.blogspot.com

It will run on Ebay for a week starting on the 2nd of November. To locate the items people will need to type "art for heart" into the search area and choose "Art" or "books" for items.

Many thanks,

Kristine Stacey


You're welcome. I think this link has everything for sale in the auction: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/scrawldog/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
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The Author Comes Home, and displays many photographs of his travels [Nov. 5th, 2009|04:17 am]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/author-comes-home-and-displays-many.html

I went to XinjiangProvince in Western China to continue researching my Monkey/China book. This is the photo I took of a scenic building that, I discovered when the men came out to arrest us, turned out to be a police station. If you're in Kashgar do not take pictures of this building. Trust me on this.


This is what I was researching and working on. (As seen in a little town square, on the way to Yarkand):


Xinjiang Province is going to be hard to write about. It's like walking into the Arabian Nights in some ways, and like going back in time in others. It was especially like going back in time on this trip, as, following the Uighur riots in Urumqi in July, the Chinese Government turned off the Internet, text messaging and all international phone calls in or out of the region. I had a great guide who was terrified I'd talk politics, and I rapidly discovered that everything except conversations about the spice-sellers in the market...

... or discussion of the pomegranate crop, counted as politics. It made my journey even stranger than it might have been already.

While I was there my camera started misbehaving: I hadn't even realised it had a motor in it, but the motor started vibrating gently, producing some very beautiful shots that weren't really what I wanted...
Like this shot of a lady in Yarkand market selling peppers and tomatoes that seem to have turned into jewels.

After a great deal of reflection I decided not to buy a camel in the market in Kashgar. Here are two camels I didn't buy.

In the Russian market in Urumqi I bought a new camera I don't like anywhere nearly as much as my old, sporadically-vibrating one.

I went from there to Jinan, Wuqiao and Beijing.

This photo, taken in Beijing was one of the highlights of my trip -- and was one the main reasons I went back to China. I wanted to talk to Liu Xiao Ling Tong (the stage name for Mr Zhang Jinlai), who played Monkey in the Chinese television version of Journey to the West. (Here's his blog.)

Then I went to Chengdu. I don't have photos on my camera of the Galaxy Award ceremony, or the speech I gave at Sechuan University, or the visit to the Earthquake Zone and the talk I gave to the kids there. (Science Fiction World and I are starting a library for them.) (If I can get some photos I'll put them up.)

And I was not able to take photos of the encounter with the fourth holiest Buddhist in China, because he is not to be photographed.

So instead here's a photo of Amanda Palmer, who joined me for my last few days in China, on the side of a mountain having been recognised by some happy Chinese tourists...


More photos of China and Singapore in my next post, I hope. In summary: Singapore was wonderful, but the visit was much much too short: we were there for about 50 hours altogether. Once again, the food was amazing and the people delightful.

...

Let's see. A quick handful of links...

A theatrical production of Neverwhere in Chicago next year is producing a fascinating visit-to-London blog over at http://neverwhat.blogspot.com/.

I'll be at the Arts Festival in New Zealand in March. Here's the Town Hall event - http://www.nzfestival.nzpost.co.nz/writers-and-readers/town-hall-talk-neil-gaiman, and it looks like I'll be doing some other events while there. It may sell out fast, so if you're interested, get tickets early. (And do not miss Margo Lanagan, who will also be there, for she is an Incredibly Good Thing.)
....

Through most of this summer I was playing with a Lomography Camera. The kind with film in, where you have no idea what you took until it's developed. (The one I used was an LC-A+.) I'm starting to love the results, especially when everything comes in slightly oversaturated. They look like pictures of dreams.



(Middle photo of the amazing bubble by Miss Holly Gaiman. Who is fundraising.)

(And you can, of course, click to embiggen the pictures.)
...

And finally, people sometimes write in and point out that, when I return home, I post pictures of my dog, rapturously dashing somewhere or dancing or stick-wielding to welcome me home. "Why do you not ever post pictures of cats?" they ask.

Good point. Here is Coconut welcoming me rapturously home:



Here is Princess, doing her version of a rapturous welcome, glad that I have not forgotten the trick that she taught me to do, during my time away. The trick involves turning on the tap in the guest bathroom and letting her alternately drink and attack the water with her sharp teeth, until she gets bored:

I'm sad to say that while I was away, Hermione died. She was the surviving member of the two mad cat sisters who live in the basement library and Do Not Mingle, and she was almost eighteen. You can see her in this Photosynth of my library downstairs (needs Silverlight). It feels strangely unbalanced to be in a house without Pod and Hermione in it.

There. Goodnight.
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THANK YOU! [Nov. 5th, 2009|12:24 am]

thete1
[Tags|, ]
[Current Mood | full]
[Current Music |Sufjan Stevens: "Dear Mr. Supercomputer"]

OMG, Mystery Fangirl is all paid back and I'm so weebly that I just can't deal. Yes, weebly.

So, in thanks for all that you -- and you, and you, and also *you*! -- have done, I'm offering snippets. I'm actually working on four different stories right now and so won't be able to do them immediately, but I promise to try.

Rules: DC or Malazan Book of the Fallen. I might be able to manage a Buffyish thing here or a Marvelish thing there, but odds are waaaaay low on that. You can pick one of my icons, or give me a three- or four-word prompt, or two or three character names, or whatever you'd like. Note: I'm about to add a Roy icon to the mix, so keep that in mind. :D

No, you don't have to have contributed to ask for a snippet, but if you *did* contribute, I really hope you *will* ask, even if it turns out I can't manage it.

*hugs you ALL*

From Mystery Fangirl:

"I only hope that you all feel like incredibly, wonderfully, extraordinarily kind and virtuous people because that's what you are. None of you had a reason to help me but you did. I will always be grateful."
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did i mention productive? [Nov. 4th, 2009|05:05 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Mood | bouncy]

Accomplished:

~ Draft of second Nuna Exchange story, for which I had to Frankenstein the first one, so I guess I don't have a spare pinch hit story anymore.

~ Started drafting Master Fic List post shootmenow.

~ Yuletide Sign-ups Are Open! I did my preliminary sign-up. Preliminary because I need the visual of the sign-up confirmation email to see some of the combinations of characters for which I inadvertently signed up. I'm one of those writers who tries very hard to accommodate the optional details, so it's best for me to fill out my sign-up in such a way as to avoid potential sexual pairings that would make me take up heavy drinking.

Speaking of Yuletide, two things:

Anyband got accidentally categorized as "RPF" in the final list of available fandoms. As one of two people who nominated it, my interest is actually in the fictional world and characters presented in the cf itself, and I've clarified that in my Dear Yuletide letter. So if you're considering requesting or offering this fandom, know that it's not intended to be RPF.

There's a limit of requesting and offering up to four characters maximum in any given fandom, and the way to get around that in terms of offering still does not allow one to offer, say, a fivesome, so, uh, if you plan to request Chaotic Koreans, it might be good to just pick your favorite and then in details specify if you want the others involved and also involved, *ahem.* But you didn't hear that from me, because I would never give away a fandom I might perhaps have signed up to write, nooo.

Also, did I mention [info]musesfool is conducting a poll to find out if there's enough interest to run a Dark Angel fic exchange? Because she is. We'd like to get at least ten people playing, but no more than fifty, so if you'd like to participate, fill out the poll!
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Dear Yule Goat letter [Nov. 4th, 2009|02:32 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|, ]
[Current Mood | excited]

Putting this here now that I've confirmed the fandoms I want made the final cut, so I can point to it in my sign-up form.

Dear Yule Goat*,

First of all, I like you already for the fandom or fandoms we share, and I want to thank you so much for signing up to write one of my fandoms. You rock just for that! If you have been hanging out around the [info]yuletide comm, you might have noticed me talking up Anyband and Moulin Rouge. Do not freak out if neither of those are the fandom on which we were matched. Anyband is my gimme fandom this year, so I wanted to give people access to it and explain some of what I loved about it. The eligibility of Moulin Rouge was in dispute, so I was overjoyed when it was deemed eligible. But CSJH is my carryover request from last year, so I would be really delighted to get fic in that one, and Ten Inch Hero fast established its place as a favorite movie, so fic for that would also be awesome like you wouldn't believe.

Like last year, my requests this year seem to have fallen into two categories: fandoms with a focus on female relationships, and fandoms with speculative elements. Well, and the theme that music will save your life, even Ten Inch Hero has a carefully chosen soundtrack. I'd broaden it to art of any kind saving your life, and call it good. Despite the heavy focus on music, though, please do not write songfic of any kind. The characters quoting a few lyrics at each other is okay, but please don't have them quote entire songs to each other, and please don't include song lyrics in the narrative as a substitute for relationship exploration or character insight.

( Details for my requests, including Anyband, CSJH, Ten Inch Hero, and Moulin Rouge )

Most importantly, write what gets you excited. Your enthusiasm will shine through in the story, and that will make it a better gift for me.

Leaving out tamales and cocoa with chile,

Rana

*I'm Scandinavian hyphenate, so the Yule Goat is, in fact, in my tradition and ancestral cultures to use, as tamales and Mesoamerican cocoa are in my environmental culture.
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heads-up for the da peeps [Nov. 4th, 2009|07:49 am]

ranalore
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | hopeful]

[info]musesfool has posted a poll to gauge interest in a small Dark Angel fic exchange (capping participation at fifty people, but we're both betting the numbers will be much, much smaller than that). Timing and format of the challenge are answered in the poll post, so check it out if you were sad to see DA is ineligible for [info]yuletide, and would be down with adding to the pool of stories via an exchange.

We're not advertising in the comms, because we don't want this to get huge, but feel free to let individuals know that you think might have an interest in participating.
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it's that time of year when i get productive, for certain values of the word [Nov. 3rd, 2009|05:51 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|, ]
[Current Mood | cold]
[Current Music |Snow Dream (expected!Heechul balanced by the presence of CSJH and that hot guy from, I think, BlackB]

Yesterday, I wrote a draft of my [info]nuna_fanworks fic exchange story, but I decided I wasn't quite satisfied with how it met my prompt(s), so I started over. I guess that means I have an extra in case someone needs a pinch hit that matches the pairing (OT5 is axiomatic, but that don't mean it's always explicit), provided I manage to finish the new draft. Possibly I will, though the current scene is frustrating me.

After losing all the in-progress files for updating my website in the External Hard Drive Crash of Aught Nine, I have even less motivation than usual to continue the project (also, I would have to comb back through my LJ to see which stories I don't still have on the list as needing to be coded, but that aren't already on the site, and then comb through the site looking for the files I was fixing while updating, and in short, I am the bad example and object lesson of why you should not do huge updates about once a year instead of little updates every few months, and let that be a lesson to you all). I have pondered creating a Fic Master List in my DW account as a temporary fix while I pep talk myself into getting back on the wagon to update the site, but that would be even more extra work, and extra work and me are clearly unmixy things. Also, not all of my stories were ever on my LJ, to be imported to my DW, and I'd have to decide if I wanted to do backdated posts to get them in there, or just point people at the site as it stands and say, "Older stories can be found here." Thoughts? Y'all are the ones who have to use whatever system I come up with; I just write the things.

Somebody (not me, and not [info]musesfool, since she gave us Remix Redux and is sort of set for Contributing to Fandom for life) should look into creating a Dark Angel fic exchange. I'd so totally be on board for that, not least because it would give me something to trick my brain into finishing some of these WsIP. Of course, it would only work if I could specify the characters and pairings I will and won't write, because I don't write Ames White at all (okay, look, he is not even creepily fascinating when you spent most of your life going to church with hundreds of his pod buddies, got it? And I have Opinions about his popularity in the fandom and what it says about unexamined racism and misogyny, but that's a rant I'll save for when I'm feeling like blowing things up), and I do not write Logan having sex. Ever. With anyone. So yeah, if you can specify characters and pairings to offer, that should happen.

Is it Yuletide yet?

How about now?

Now?
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Help? [Nov. 2nd, 2009|09:30 pm]

thete1
[Current Mood | hopeful]
[Current Music |Mos Def: "Leavin' On A Jet Plane"]

More than a year ago, my computer was hit with several thousand virus files at once. I still don't know how that happened, but the upshot was that, even after reformatting my computer, nothing worked. It forgot it had a sound card and would crash every couple of hours no matter what I did or didn't do. The sheer number of times I lost parts of stories... well, that's enough of that. I salvaged what I could from the machine and went begging. And one particular fan stepped up and helped me out. I can't share her name -- she really wants to stay private -- but she went out of her way to find me a new computer. One that *works*.

Now she -- we -- need your help. I have the computer and I'm using the ever-loving *hell* out of it, but the fangirl in question is out over four hundred dollars. I'm asking for your help. Even if you can only afford a few dollars, it would be vastly appreciated. I don't know how to thank her for what she did for me, and I don't know how to thank all of you who choose to participate in this. But I'm damned well gonna try and *keep* trying.

Thank you.

OMG THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
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a brief note about the yule goat [Nov. 2nd, 2009|04:45 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | calm]

If you are signed up for [info]yuletide and are following the community, you probably already know both about the idea to address detail-expanding request letters to the Yule Goat, and the rather rudely-worded anonymous objections to same. Anonymous did not bother to identify hirself as either Scandinavian or Scandinavian hyphenate, and declared the concept of addressing one's letter to the Yule Goat as universally offensive.

I am here to tell you, that assertion is factually incorrect. As a Scandinavian hyphenate, the Yule Goat is part of my cultural heritage (a related heritage to the one from which we get Yuletide, in fact), and I am personally rather tickled at the passing of the concept into the wider Yuletide community's consciousness. Everyone, of course, must determine for themselves if they are comfortable using the term, and I cannot speak for every Scandinavian hyphenate (or any Scandinavian) any more than can anonymous. For myself, I will be using Yule Goat, because now I can be fairly certain my author will know what the term means, and, very importantly, I can't appropriate what's mine. Really, I'm not quite sure how to feel about anonymous' implicit assumption that no actual Scandinavians or Scandinavian hyphenates might be taking part in Yuletide, therefore the term Yule Goat is absolutely inappropriate for any Yuletider to use, but uh, they'd be wrong.
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Manga recs - Drifters and Shut Hell [Nov. 1st, 2009|11:59 am]

white_aster
[Tags|, ]

I follow the updates RSS feed on OneManga, so I see when they get new series. Usually I'll check out unfamiliar titles just to see what they're about. I've found a few interesting things that way. Recently, these are two that caught my eye.

Spoiler free!

Drifters - by Hirano Kouta (ie, Hellsing)
Premise: Warriors from various times/places (mostly feudal Japan, at this point) get drawn in to a fantasy-ish world after their deaths, where they are known as Drifters.

( Read more... )


Shut Hell - by Itoh Yu
Premise: In the modern day, teenager Sudou keeps having nightmares. He meets a girl named Susuki, and shortly after is transported into the Chinese historical world of his nightmares, where he is the female warrior Shut Hell and Susuki is a young Mongol prince, Yurul. Having sworn vengeance on the Mongol commander who conquered her home country and slaughtered her friends, Shut Hell has abandoned much of her humanity to become the deadliest enemy of the Mongol army. Along the way, she...allies with? Uses? Takes as bait?...Yurul, who is fascinated by the art of writing and is trying to take the written heritage of his mother's people to safety.
( Read more... )
This entry was originally posted at http://white-aster.dreamwidth.org/548764.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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"You'll end up wasting your life at the Moulin Rouge with a can-can dancer!" [Oct. 31st, 2009|10:37 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|]
[Current Mood | drained]

I have just re-watched Moulin Rouge in all its steampunk Orphean glory (Satine is both Eurydice and Persephone; red is for pomegranates). So that's one fandom prepared for Yuletide. Preliminary offered list is 18 fandoms. Subtractions may happen, additions are unlikely. I used to try to beat myself by one added fandom each year. Now I figure, if I'm offering more than I'm asking, and what I'm offering is what it would be a gift to myself to write, then it's all good.

No trick-or-treaters in the new neighborhood, and most of the houses on our block are dark. Kinda creepy.

Happy All Hallow's Eve, y'all. I figure the Yami boys are an appropriate choice.
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What I'm working on at the moment. [Oct. 31st, 2009|09:50 pm]

thete1
[Current Mood | sore]
[Current Music |Outkast: "Call the Law"]

( The AU sequel to ending #2 of A way so familiar )

( The one with Roy in the middle. )

I make no promises that I'll finish either of these before I dash back over to orig. fic land -- I really am just *that* scattered, these days -- but I thought I'd just give y'all an update.

Happy hauntings!
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I go, I go; look how I go, [Oct. 30th, 2009|01:36 am]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/10/i-go-i-go-look-how-i-go.html

Mr. G is too busy to use the internet, so I'm still here.


Item, the first :: CBS Sunday Morning has moved the segment on Mr. G from this Sunday, November 1 to (tentatively) Sunday, November 8. More as it develops.

Item, the second :: Thanks to reader Tony McFee and Audible.com's director of direct marketing, we have the NYC subway ad!


Item, the third :: Reader Aurora RuPert carved Death into a pumpkin:

Death pumpkin



And then there was the mailbag:


In honor of the many Graveyard Book Halloween parties being thrown this weekend, Emily P. submits her own goblin variation, journal as an algorithms problem set:
Between the hours of 11pm on Friday October 30th and 11pm Sunday November 1st, 15 bookstores will be hosting Graveyard Book Halloween parties. Mr. G would like to visit as many as he can in these four hours. Assume you can model these bookstores as a connected graph G(V,E) where each vertex v corresponds to a bookstore. Positive edge weights w(u,v) denote the time (in minutes) it takes to travel between bookstores u and v.

a. Give an algorithm to calculate the maximum number of bookstores Mr. G can visit in four hours by traveling along the edges of this graph.

b. Give the run time of this algorithm.

c. Assume each bookstore also has a weight B(v) which tells you how long you can stay at that bookstore. Mr. G does not want to play favorites so on a given path p of n bookstores, he will stay k minutes at each bookstore where k = min(B(v1),B(v2),...,B(vn)). Given this constraint, give an algorithm to determine how many bookstores Mr. G can visit in four hours.

If anyone manages to provide a suitable answer set, they shall have an imaginary cookie.


Brittany H. writes:
Hi Lorraine!

I just wanted to say thanks for the link to BDFAR in Durham! I've lived in the area my whole life, but somehow how I had never heard of it. I am G-mapping directions there as we speak and now have a fruitful occupation for my afternoon.


1.) I'm not Lorraine. (She's far more fabulous.)
2.) You're welcome! I hope you liked it. I picked up some incredible used books there over the years, as well as the comics and music.


Teresa J. writes:
Any chance of you posting a photo of yourself before you hand the reins back? I'm sure the ladies would appreciate seeing another staggeringly good-looking, funny, and smart gentleman over whom they can swoon. :)


I'm sure they would, but I thought you were asking for a picture of me? *rim shot*

I like my quasi-anonymity. The closest you're going to get is this:


This is Eben, my spirit animal.


Apropos of nothing, except that Mr. G has been known to mention his Android phones, I'm playing with the Motorola CLIQ this evening. It's fun and cute, but I don't think I'll be trading my (deliciously modified, optimized) G1 in for anything short of a significant upgrade in processor and RAM.

I am feeling serious gadget lust for both the Motorola Droid and the Nokia N900, but the former is only on Verizon (and possibly, next quarter, AT&T), and the latter has a great deal going for it (including, but not limited to, my love for my N810 and the superiority of Maemo judged purely on the bases of openness and linux-completeness), but I've become rather partial to Android and its Google apps. I can only hope that T-Mobile quickly gets on the ball and announces something on par with either. (Surely Google won't bring out an inferior ADP2, or switch carriers?)


National Novel Writing Month begins Sunday. I've been participating successfully since 2005, and recommend doing it at least once if you have any sort of writerly ambition. It's a good deal of fun, and completely mad.


I've received several queries about where else I may be found online. I'm willing to go as far as re-stating that I have a largely neglected livejournal.
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Yuletide pimping post: Anyband [Oct. 29th, 2009|05:49 pm]

ranalore
[Tags|]
[Current Location |trapped on youtube, saaaaave meeee]
[Current Mood | high, clearly]

Since I'm making Anyband my gimme fandom for [info]yuletide this year, I thought it would be a good idea to write up a bit of a pimping post for it, as well as link to the cf (commercial, basically) on youtube. The uncut cf is still under nine and a half minutes long, and while I'll be providing some background on the performers in this post, you really don't need to know much beyond what's in the cf itself to write for the fandom. This is just in case you want more information for grounding purposes.

Anyband is part of the Anycall series of cfs put out by Samsung for their cellphone called, appropriately enough, Anycall. The Anycall series takes various Korean entertainment celebrities and puts them together in interesting configurations for mini-stories that usually run about five to nine minutes and then get chopped into thirty to forty five second fragments for airing on TV and commercial websites. In the case of Anyband, those celebrities are BoA, an insanely popular female pop music soloist who recently debuted in the U.S. (at the Gay Pride Festival in San Francisco, if I remember correctly), Xiah Junsu, member of the also-insanely popular male acapella (this is not all they do, but it's significant they can and do sing live unaccompanied and sound awesome doing it) quintet, Dong Bang Shin Ki aka TVXQ (internationally), Tablo, member of the ridiculously popular male rap group, Epik High, and Jin Bora, female jazz pianist. The premise of the cf is that the four, close friends since grade school, fight an oppressive military regime via the revolutionary medium of pop music (though they dress punk), using their Anycall cellphones to get the signal out, since the regime controls the technology-based information network. The cf was filmed in Brazil, I believe specifically Rio de Janeiro, and the oppressive military regime featured is derivative of works like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Brave New World in ways not seen since Equilibrium, though of course minus the drug use (hey, kids could see this!).

So, umm. Derivative, industrial, near-future dystopia and pop music in the service of selling a cellphone. Sounds like a winner, don't it? Well, surprisingly, it is. Of course, it helps if you are already a fan of any or all of the four performers involved. So let me focus on them for a bit.

Actually, first, let me show you the cf. Because if you can't watch it without wanting to stab your eyes out, or listen to it without wanting to shatter your own eardrums, then it doesn't matter how much I talk it up, it's not going to work for you. The songs are in Korean and English, as is what little dialogue there is, but the text of street signs and such is English. I've got links to English translations of the songs later in this post.

( Cut for embedded videos, fangirling, and longass nattering about singers and musicians )

Also, I mentioned translations of the songs that appear in the cf, since that's pretty much all the dialogue you get. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the following, since I neither speak Korean nor read Hangul, but this way, you'll have as much of the sense of the meanings as I do. Also, I am putting these under a separate cut, so if you already know and love the cf, but are curious about the translations, you can skip right down to this bit.

( Translations of the Anyband songs from the cf. )

And that, folks, is Anyband.

Also, if this pimps some of you into DBSK fandom, I am totally okay with that.

...Shame? I think I looked that up in the dictionary once.
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playing with forms: Journal as a list of disclaimers [Oct. 25th, 2009|12:14 pm]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/10/playing-with-forms-journal-as-list-of.html

[My apologies to those of you seeing these posts again in your feed reader. I am attempting to diagnose the current LJ syndication fail. -your faithful web goblin]


  • Lest I give a mistaken impression by referencing The Guild and The Legend of Neil, please know that I am the very antithesis of a gamer. I have never played a MMORPG. I haven't played a first-person shooter since the original Castle Wolfenstein. Never the less, I enjoy a good laugh, so I avidly follow things like Penny Arcade and The Guild. (Am I the only one who thinks it's strange that PA has never featured Mr. G, by the way?)

  • I am not the knavish sprite I once was; it now takes me more like eighty minutes to put a girdle 'round the Earth, and twice that to get one around myself.

  • I don't, in fact, have a secret network of subway-photographing New Yorkers. Unless by "photographing" you mean "dwelling".

  • There is no sanity clause.

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playing with forms: Journal as "Weekly World News" tabloid [Oct. 25th, 2009|12:13 pm]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/10/playing-with-forms-journal-as-weekly.html

[My apologies to those of you seeing these posts again in your feed reader. I am attempting to diagnose the current LJ syndication fail. -your faithful web goblin]

Due to his special needs and peculiar physiology, Mr. G is shipped from place to place in a specially designed steamer trunk filled with a brandy-like solution. Upon his return home, he is not so much re-installed as he is decanted, the solution slowly replaced with tea. Mr. G spends the first subsequent week in a zombie-like fog as he marshals his power and bids his senses return to him, like Odin summoning Huginn and Muninn.

During this delicate period, care must be taken that nothing unusual intrudes upon the process, lest ZomblieN go wandering into the forest after deer and hapless hikers. It is rumoured that the lye pit is getting full, and Woodsman Hans needs a new shovel.
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playing with forms: Journal as back-page letters column [Oct. 25th, 2009|12:11 pm]
official_gaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/10/playing-with-forms-journal-as-back-page.html

[My apologies to those of you seeing these posts again in your feed reader. I am attempting to diagnose the current LJ syndication fail. -your faithful web goblin]

Clare M. writes:
I haven't a question, more a spot of praise for Dreamhaven Books that I'd like to share with you, if I might be so bold.

Some time ago, Neil told us that Dreamhaven had a new batch of signed stock. I was looking for a special gift for my honorary neiece and so ordered a signed copy of Blueberry Girl, feeling slightly apprehensive about having it shipped to the UK. But, it arrived wonderfully packaged, very quickly and for a modest shipping fee. Thank you Dreamhaven.

Three cheers for Dreamhaven Books! It has bought, sold, and even published a lot of awesome stuff over the years.

In the spirit of this, the Graveyard Book Parties contest, and Tor.com's serialization of Cory Doctorow's Makers (for which he has requested that readers share some of their favorite booksellers or bookstores with the rest of the community in the comments sections after each post), please allow me to wax nostalgic about one of my favorite ones.

My local independent book store, growing up, was Books Do Furnish A Room in Durham, NC. From third grade through college I was there at least once a week. When I was little, buying Batman and X-Men comics, I had no idea that the store owners had great taste. By the time I discovered what I'd been missing, the Miracleman TPBs and the Dave McKean art books were gone, but I did manage to snag "Angels & Visitations", "Warning: Contains Language", "Violent Cases" (numbered and signed by Mr. G and McKean!), the whole run of From Hell, several Sandman shirts and posters, and "Signal to Noise".

It's an awesome place.



Eden writes:
How did you first get into Neil Gaiman's work?

That's a good question. I hadn't actually thought about it in, well, possibly, ever, so the answer surprised me. My first exposure to the idea that there was a "Neil" was when I bought a used CD of Tori Amos' "Under the Pink" for $9 at Books Do Furnish A Room. I loved it; later, I got online and found out what "hanging out with the Dream King" and "Neil says hi by the way" meant.

The next time I was in BDFAR, I picked up the Sandman "Dream Country" TPB, because it was the shortest and least expensive. It hooked me completely, especially the Midsummer Night's Dream story with Vess. I picked up the earlier Sandman trades, started getting the monthly issue, and then got into his short fiction and other comics work. The rest is history, long-boxes, and continually upgraded bookshelves.



Sandi L. writes:
Are you enjoying your time updating Neil's blog?


Yes. I wasn't sure at first; I was feeling decidedly unwitty and unworthy this time 'round, convinced that Non-Birding Bill would be doing a much better job. In the past few days, though, I've received many nice notes, so I guess my meager attempts are not all rubbish.

I hadn't planned on doing any guest blogging at all. Mr. G isn't going to be gone all that long. I'm only posting because he keeps sending me little things he wants posted. I think he's kindly humouring me.



audra writes:
"goblin ears knit cap" ???

photographic evidence please. thank you.

and Angela W writes:
I should love to see a picture posted of you wearing your goblin ears knit cap.


I just knew, when I wrote that, that I was going to get a "pics or it didn't happen!" in response. And here it is.

Somewhere, in one of my previous posts from last year, I mentioned that the Web Elf and I had made grand plans for on-site bios of ourselves, complete with pictures in which we would be masked, or otherwise facially obscured, and wearing ears. I was going to commission a knit goblin ears cap from etsy or someplace. Alas, it did not come to pass.

If I did have a goblin ears knit cap, though, I imagine it might look something like this:
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