An Evening with Neil Gaiman - My First Author Experience

It's taken me a long time to write this post as the day after I went to Neil Gaiman's event, I flew out to Edmonton from Toronto to do a job helping out some friends and seeing plenty of old and new faces. I had a great time, but now it's back to real life (or at least another week until I work at Fan Expo Canada.) 

I've never been to an author or book event in my life and my friend Coles got a pair of tickets for us to see the show. Let me tell you about how Coles was the first one who introduced me to Gaiman's novels; I had started reading Sandman a while ago but didn't realize he had such an amazing collection of books that are just some of the most fun things I've read. His child-like wonder, imagination and unique storytelling makes him one of my favourites so it was only fitting that the first book related event I would go to would be An Evening with Neil Gaiman.

This event... was COMPLETELY SOLD OUT. I had heard that this was a rare occasion that the Danforth Music Hall's waiting line was so flippin' long. No, seriously. It stretched down the end of the road and around the corner, it was long but as soon as people started to fill in, the wait was cut down tremendously. We had some seats close to the front, and had a very good view of Neil's crazy hair! That's an important detail, really.

Neil is great live (which, I think is incredibly difficult to be an author in front of a large audience - how do you be entertaining to a live crowd of readers?!) He's everything I imagined him to be in real life; witty, humorous and engaging. He read passages from his latest book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and from his upcoming children's book, Fortunately, The Milk. I, myself, have a copy of Ocean, but unfortunately, I couldn't stick around to get anything signed as that portion, I imagine, would have ran well past midnight and I had an extremely early morning flight I needed to wake up at 5AM for. That was kind of poopy but I admit that just being able to sit in an audience full of people who admired Gaiman as much as Coles and I do was exhilarating. Speaking of an audience full of people, I also met Chandra from the Indigo Teen Blog - she was sitting in my row and after a few tweets, we met each other, said hello and she's super cute and darling! 

The reading of Fortunately, The Milk was one of the best bits, and I think I need a copy despite being in adulthood (but I have a feeling that Neil would tell me that that shouldn't stop me and really, I'm still a kid.) The Q&A portion was a lot more amusing than I expected as Neil was super funny and had some wonderful stories to share. I admit that he's one of those authors who speak exactly like they write and I think it's amazing he leaves that kind of impression.

I took home (or rather, on the plane with me) something rather unexpected from Neil. Some how, he managed to tap into the imagination that I had while I was a child, and a sort of poetic dialogue seems to be playing in my head when I see something in my mundane, every day life as enchanting. I would love to see him again in the future and y'know... actually get something signed from him and hopefully not before I leave for a trip across the country. Thank you, Neil Gaiman, for some books, a great live appearance and for inspiring a massive whole group of people worldwide!

On Morality and Controversy

FACEPALM.

So not too long ago DC comics put "on hold" a project that caused a lot of controversy. Why? Well, it involved a very prestigious sci-fi writer whom we know as Orson Scott Card who's stirred a lot of feelings from expressing his personal criticisms about homosexuality. LGBT community loves Superman and they really don't like homophobia. Neither do I! This writer's vocal opinions really make me want to hit my head against a wall and scream words that would set my eloquence back to elementary school.

I read Ender's Game a long time ago and really enjoyed this book so it frustrates me knowing Orson Scott Card (OSC) is a crazy meanie-head. I really enjoyed reading Ender's Game, and I'm a fan of the book. That's the thing, however; I'm a fan of the writing, but not the writer. My relationship with his work is suddenly complicated and I think it's a damn shame. His older work reflects definite themes and messages that are relevant and positive to our times that we should pay attention to. I can't deny that he's a pretty good writer but a good person? That's questionable.

OSC has related homosexuality to pedophilia and is adamant that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. This makes me want to kick over a sandcastle so much! OSC, you're a science fiction writer! You write stories that takes place in the future and here you are, setting us back a few centuries! If you want to see a positive future, you have to open up your mind a little and embrace changes, forgive, and try and create a positive experience for yourself and everyone around you. Sigh.

I think I've come to an aversion to recommending his work to others at this point and I'm not sure if I'm even going to be watching the new Ender's Game movie. OSC, why do you have to be such a poop? I want to say "You should try reading this book, Ender's Game!" but I can't without feeling a pang of uneasiness building in my gut. 

I think there's a moral to this whole ordeal; if you write to spread good messages and ideas, it's only fair to keep an open mind if other people are welcoming your words into their heads.